[betawolf33]

"one of our agents will be coming around to swipe you" <- I honestly don't know what this means.

[leephillips]

It means a secret service agent will feel you up with a metal detector to ensure that you're not armed. (I enjoyed the style and pacing of this article: fairly entertaining.)

[BlackDeath3]

And if you are (legally) armed?

[jmccree]

You'd likely have to leave or face a felony with 10 years prison sentence. (Per H.R. 347, it's 10 years for entering a secret service permanent or temporary restricted area without permission with a firearm.)

[BlackDeath3]

So, if I was there before anybody who had anything to do with the President showed up, and I had a legal firearm on me, and SS shows up and decides that I'm suddenly in a restricted area, I'm immediately a felon?

Am I missing something here?

[leephillips]

A couple of things: first, where the commenter you're replying to said "leave or face a felony" (emphasis added), and, second, where you happen to know that the author lives in DC, where there is no "had a legal firearm on me" unless he happens to be a law enforcement agent himself, which seems not to be the case.

[BlackDeath3]

I missed that important bit, my apologies. Though it seems a little fucked up that public places can just sort of be snatched up as restricted zones.

Also, I didn't realize that DC doesn't allow carrying of legal weapons. That's unfortunate. What if this had happened somewhere else?

[mpyne]

They would kick you out before they setup the restricted area, so you wouldn't be a felon. You just wouldn't be armed near the POTUS either.

[BlackDeath3]

And I have no particular desire to be armed near the President, but I may have a desire to be armed in public without being shooed away all of a sudden.

[vincie]

They need to scan the NFR chip embedded in the back of your skull to ID you.

[nelmaven]

Maybe it means they will pick him up later for a "walk"?