Posted on 06/02/2014 8:27:47 AM PDT by windcliff
The last couple of months have been rough for proponents of open-carry gun laws. No fewer than seven restaurant chains have taken a stand against firearms being brought to their businesses, after activists in Texas conducted provocative demonstrations in which they toted semi-automatic rifles into various eateries. Texas law allows rifles (though not handguns) to be carried on display in public, but some patrons and employees were unnerved and angered by the demonstrations, and a national group advocating for reforms, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, pressured the companies using social media campaigns. After Mother Jones published videos of the gun activists in action, Sonic and Chili's Grill & Bar became the latest to officially reject guns on their premises.
There has also been a particularly dark side to the story of the gun activists: As I first reported in mid May, members of Open Carry Texas and their allies have used vicious tactics against people who disagree with them, including bullying and degrading women. Just last week they harassed a Marine veteran, pursuing him through the streets of Fort Worth on Memorial Day.
In an extraordinary statement, the NRA denounced the open-carry demonstrations as "foolishness" and "downright weird."
Evidently the National Rifle Association has come to realize that none of this is good for business. In an extraordinary move on Friday, the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action—the organization's powerful lobbying arm in Washington—issued a lengthy statement seeking to distinguish between "responsible behavior" and "legal mandates." It told the Texas gun activists in no uncertain terms to stand down.
(Excerpt) Read more at motherjones.com ...
I do not believe this word means what you think it means.
And why is open-carry of a sidearm necessary, as opposed to concealed carry? Or even moderately-discrete carry (i.e., where, sure, there's a noticeable bulge on your right hip, but no gun is actually visible)?
Poor weapons etiquette is poor weapons etiquette. I was unimpressed and I grew up with guns, served combat duty and am a current CCL holder. How do suppose this affects the public that don’t have firearms exposure?
This crap is not serving our purposes, who do think it is helping?
Do you need pictures?
No one is immune for firearms exposure in this Country. Not unless you are a hermit who hasn't seen a movie or ANY TV for the last... Ever. Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz had a .38 revolver. Carried openly. Ponder that.
This crap is not serving our purposes, who do think it is helping?
Be more specific? "Conservatives" agreeing with Mother Jones' take on the issue? Or the open carry movement in particular?
If you don't have the desire to openly express a Right, don't. The more you don't, the easier it will be to take it away from you later... Haven't we learned that lesson yet?
Not really. Just enjoying reading the quislings with their panties in a wad.
You have to wonder if some of these people aren’t plants from the anti 2A crowd. They were instrumental in getting it banned in CA not long ago and if they left well enough alone it would still be there and you could easily win a court case over it (if you got picked up or harassed)without lighting up the libtards...
Bullcrap. Even in the past you wouldn’t saunter into an establishment with a long gun with any frequency. At the very best, the courteous thing to do would be to check it on a rack.
Given the media preoccupation with “mass shootings” (which are infinitesimal in number in reality) and the constant hammering of it into the public’s mind, you are definitely primed to eventually have one or two guys saunter into an establishment with long guns slung over themselves and some pro active customer with a CCW lights them up thinking its “gonna be a shooting”.
Regardless of what you think of the social and legal aspects of the situation, you HAVE to look at it from the worst case scenario and how the media and powers that be would subsequently mine it for Constitutional kryptonite.
The activists would generate way more benefit if they merely talked people up and brought new blood into the ownership and sporting aspects of riflery and handgunning. As it stands, they are in the very least cementing numbers of people into the opposition position by freaking them out at lunch or dinner...
California on purchase or transfer.
Apparently the MA proposal would require one to register every firearm you own, not just at purchase or transfer.
If someone DID want to practice open carry of a rifle, I suggest a bolt action or perhaps a 30-30, and KEEP it slung over your shoulder instead of waiving it around. Had I seen these activists, I’d probably pulled my CCW under the table and prepared to shoot them.
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