Carrying guns on the beach may be legal, but it's not civil: Guest opinion

oregonlive.com ^ | 4/19/2014 | Matt Love

[rktman]

Let us consider the stories of two Oregon Coast men who enjoy walking on the beach but go about it in dramatically different ways.

One man, Matt Love from Astoria, walks on the beach at least five times a week with his 15-year-old husky and has been known to build driftwood forts and plunge naked into the ocean. He just turned 50 and works as a writer, publisher and educator.

The other man, Dustin Harris from Lincoln City, walks down Highway 101 and across the beach open carrying a rifle, pistol and a permitted concealed weapon and causes multiple people to call 911 and report a potentially dangerous situation. He is 26, has two young children and works as an assistant manager of a restaurant.

[TigersEye]

The younger man replied, “Not really. I am in charge of my feelings, as others should be in charge of theirs. It’s not my job or responsibility to cater to others’ feelings. I don’t buy into people when they say my gun will scare kids. Most kids think it's awesome. It seems to me the frightened parents use their kids as an excuse for their own feelings.”

The younger man nailed there!

That calls for a little wake up music!

Young Man Blues

[esquirette]

35 comments and no references to Mae West?

[headstamp 2]

The older man asked, “Does it concern you that some people, including children, might be frightened by the appearance of a young man open carrying a weapon on a public beach?”

No. That only happens when you run around bare assed, sir.

[Shimmer1]

Yes, and let the open carry proponent carry his rifle bare naked, see how fast he’d get arrested for that!

[Charlemagne on the Fox]

Here's the key paragraph: One man goes to the beach to work through pieces of writing and ask the ocean for answers to life’s limitless questions. He is thankful for the tangible benefits of Oregon’s socialism, meaning publicly owned beaches and their free use forever. One man goes to the beach carrying three guns, demonstrating his passion for a limitless Second Amendment and raising alarm about the prospect of creeping intangible socialism. One man frames his personal identity through his relationship to the ocean and his writing life. The other man frames his personal identity by his relationship to firearms and his shooting life and accepts no responsibility for the menace and fear he knows he will invoke in people who encounter him when fully and openly armed.

Just wow . . .

[IrishBrigade]

if he rubs the wrong cop the wrong way, he could have a going armed in terror of public charge.

...could you please rephrase that...

[Bratch]

I fail to see the problem.

[Charlemagne on the Fox]

A number of predictable photos can be found in Google: “Matt Love lives in Astoria”. The photo of Matt nuzzling a fish is nice . . .

[andyk]

One man, Matt Love from Astoria, walks on the beach at least five times a week with his 15-year-old husky and has been known to build driftwood forts and plunge naked into the ocean. He just turned 50 and works as a writer, publisher and educator.

Yeah, Jimmy likes talking in the 3rd person.

[Charlemagne on the Fox]

I get the feeling he listens to Garrison Keillor

EXCELLENT!

[Charlemagne on the Fox]

Carrying guns on the beach may be legal, but it's not civil

Kind of like abortion--right, Matt?

[Tijeras_Slim]

This dude’s dog is probably named Nambla.

[trisham]

I’d feel much safer around the man with the guns than around the naked weirdo.

[rktman]

No magazine in the well. Other than that.....yawn!

[rktman]

ouch! Don’t take it out on the dog.

[tioga]

If there was a creepy old man frolicking naked on the beach armed with driftwood, I would carry a gun, too.

[elcid1970]

Israeli girl soldiers, who must carry their weapons at all times. Always nice!

Too bad the tramp stamp has come to Israel, though.

[Organic Panic]

Man on beach with gun scary.

Throw a blue uniform and a smokey hat on man with gun, who has the full backing of the state to KILL YOU with impunity, and it’s all fine and dandy.

Naked 50 year old man frolicking on the beach is cute and whimsical and embracing his inner child.

[WayneS]

The older man asked, “Does it concern you that some people, including children, might be frightened by the appearance of a young man open carrying a weapon on a public beach?”

The younger man SHOULD have replied: "No, does it concern you that some people, including children, might be frightened by the appearance of a middle-aged man open carrying his penis on a public beach?”

[WayneS]

Darn.

I had to look at the picture three times before I noticed the rifle.