Went to shoot the Marine (as in USMC) band on the steps of the Capital Building in Wash DC with my father - same problem. Popped out my small tripod, my dad pulled his out, we attached our cameras very quickly and I was taking a meter reading (shooting with an old Rollie TLR 6x6 at the time) when a cop slowly walked up and asked if we had a tripod permit - just then some guy with a point&shoot walked by us and snapped a shot - Aahh! No tripod! The thought process was that you could "launch" something from a tripod - even though I'm shooting with a 45yr old TLR and my dad was shooting a Nikon manual camera! No bazooka in site, guys! After 45 minutes waiting for someone who apparently wanted to leave early for the day to sign a FREE permit that lasts for 1 week, and only let's you shoot on ONE CORNER of the Capitol grounds (the other 3 guys for the rest of the grounds' quadrants had left!) the band was gone... Gotta love beaurocracy..!