Posted on 09/11/2015 3:35:46 PM PDT by nickcarraway
After years of protest over the annual Urban Shield conference at the Oakland Marriott, this year's event has been moved to the Alameda County fairgrounds in Pleasanton. Urban Shield is a trade show and training exercise for law enforcement agencies and emergency crews.
Far from the prying eyes of pesky activists, dozens of law enforcement agencies will spend today at the conference's vendor show, browsing the guns, ammo, armored vehicles, surveillance technology, and robotics before commencing 48 hours of training exercises and war games tomorrow.
Plus, there are t-shirts.
Chuck Garcia, proprietor and designer for American Spartan Apparel, says that this year's "top seller" is a new design: "Black Rifles Matter."
Garcia has been selling his wares at cop shows, gun shows, and fairs since 2008.
"You know what that means, right?" he asks. "Black rifles — that's like M16s or M4s. That kind of gun is black. Myself, I have a collection. California is always trying to ban them. So, you know, black rifles matter, that's what that means."
The "black rifles matter" t-shirts are indeed a big seller and are garnering more than a few chuckles from the crowd as word spreads.
One uniformed law enforcement agent walked by the stand and pointed out the shirt to his friend. "You know, that's going to make the news."
I think the t-shirt and its message are just fine for a plain old gun show.
But they are inappropriate at a law enforcement convention especially in a city like Oakland where too many questionable shootings have taken place and people are on edge. Someone is demonstrating a severe ignorance of optics in the PR sense.
I’m not in law enforcement, proud of it as a matter of fact but I sure ordered one of those shirts to go with my black rifles.
This is my favorite!
I have that shirt. On the back it says “My guns aren’t illegal.... Just undocumented.” Lol!
Everyone on this board would be utterly shocked if I told you where I last wore it!
Tell us, tell us!
The evening guard at my building asked me what did I have on the back of my minivan because so many people were staring at it (I hadn’t noticed).
I told him to go take a look.
It says “TRUMP for President”. Right next to our “Cuccinelli for Governor” sticker.
Gonna put my Vietnam sticker on next to them and then an NRA sticker for those who want trouble.
Let them crap in their pants.
My old saying (like that of the photo of the dogs in a sled team), “If you’re not in the lead, you’re not #1”.
My guesses.
State DMV.
Unemployment office.
Welfare office.
Home Depot parking lot.
Boo Frikken’ Hoo.
SFWeekly ... ridiculous.
War games?
Please.
Yes, I do in fact know in detail what goes on inside U/S.
And it’s not a war game.
I guess they were surprised a Virginian would support a New York City liberal?
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