Posted on 07/10/2016 9:33:24 PM PDT by Theoria
As a demonstration against police shootings made its way downtown here on Thursday, it differed from others around the country in one startling way: Twenty to 30 of the marchers showed up with AR-15s and other types of military-style rifles and wore them openly, with the straps slung across their shoulders and backs.
In Texas, it was not only legal. It was commonplace.
The state has long been a bastion of pro-gun sentiment and the kind of place where both Democrats and Republicans openly talk about the guns they own and carry, on their person, in their vehicles, at their offices, at their homes and even in the halls of the Texas Capitol. And in recent years, as gun rights continued to expand, activists have exploited a decades-old freedom to openly carry a rifle in public by showing up at demonstrations with their so-called long guns.
Advocates have carried their rifles at the Alamo in San Antonio and outside mosques in the Dallas suburbs. But city and county leaders said the presence of armed protesters openly carrying rifles on Thursday through downtown Dallas had created confusion for the police as the attack unfolded, and in its immediate aftermath made it more difficult for officers to distinguish between suspects and marchers.
Two men who were armed and a woman who was with them were detained, fueling an early, errant theory by the police that there was more than one gunman.
Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas suggested in an interview on Sunday that, in the wake of the attack, he supported tightening the state’s gun laws to restrict the carrying of rifles and shotguns in public.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
As NYT blurred the line between the 1st Amendment and its support for Nazi Germany.
It has been Texas law for many years that you can carry a long gun (rifle or shotgun) openly, as long as it was on a sling and unloaded. NOTHING at all to do with recently enacted Open Carry.
“Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas...”
Communist to the core.
Male Bovine Scat. Another leftist lie.
Time to leave the US Texas. Time to get the hell away from this cesspool....#TEXIT
Read Texas laws before spouting off. We have the option on sidearms, open or concealed.
Long guns have been legal to carry open for as long as I have been alive (59) and are not covered by the same laws as sidearms.
35 years does not make you an expert only gives you experience. Use it wisely.
#TEXIT
Hostile aggression toward police, guns pointed toward police = bad guys.
No hostile aggression toward police, weapons slung, not pointing at police, = neutral or good guys.
Not hard, been there, done that.
New Yorkers once again lavishing their wisdom on the rest of the nation.
I’m all for free speech but not at the expense of police safety and taxpayers footing the bill of security and cleanup.
If these A-holes want to “riot” then they can rent a stadium and pay for their own security or the media can pay for it. There are plenty of venues for these type of agitators to peddle their propaganda.
Putting the safety of our police officers, citizens, destruction to businesses and closing down roads and commerce SHOULD BE AGAINST our laws.(probably already is against our laws) Every state needs to pass a law to force these A-HOLES to move their riots to “paid” venues where the rioters are responsible for all of the cost and security.
No open carriers were arrested that I know of, none were shot, none were molested that I know of...
But the NYT concern trolls are concerned...
WTH?
The police checked the open carriers early on and cleared them. Not a big deal in Texas.
I ordered a truck load of nice fainting couches for the editorial board of NYT. Should be arriving on Wednesday morn.
It stayed peaceful, didn’t it?
The NYT is all upset because the pieces are starting to fall off its pretty, black toy. The problem, as you point out is not open carry. The problem is the tone and content of communication from the March organizers.
The march organizers knew long guns were being carried and did nothing to stop it. Why? Because intimidation and implied violence was their intent. The open carry issue, to the extent it is an issue, falls on the organizers and the March participants.
Freepers marched in Dallas in nearly the same spot against Gore during the 2000 recount. I know, I was one of the marchers, carrying a sign. Open carry of long guns was legal and a common tactic of black demonstrators even then. No Freepers in that March displayed a long gun. If anyone had, the Freepers who organized the march, as well as Freeper marchers would have put a stop to it. I know big would have. I’d love to hear comments from any other Texas Freepers who were there.
I know I was afraid of violence against us as marchers. So I left my CHL carry gun locked in the car. I did not want to have anyone say that because I had a gun, I must have started or participated in the shooting.
Oops, hit post instead of preview on that last one. I know I would have stopped anyone from carrying a long gun, or it would have left the march. We were peaceably assembling for redress of grievances, as was our Constitutional right. Openly carrying weapons detracts from that. The BLM toys of the left and the NYT had no intention of doing that, and they are reaping what they sowed.
The length of an AK or similar is not its salient feature.
According to Dallas-source stories one person who was open carrying was mistakenly labeled as a "person of interest" and others were stopped and questioned. I don't know if you consider that "molested" or not.
I wonder how calling "I've got your back, officer" would work.
Unless you were known to multiple officers, it would not work at all well.
“No open carriers were arrested that I know of, none were shot, none were molested that I know of...
But the NYT concern trolls are concerned...”
Yes. Because this blows their who anti-Second Amendment, anti-self defense narrative all to HE11.
Lots of open carriers carrying long guns. Not one shot. Not one shot at police. No problems.
It blows their agenda completely up, so they have to create a problem where none exists, and make the narrative about that.
Despicable propaganda.
Seems to me, if the police jump to conclusions and start shooting armed people because they are armed, that's escalation, not preserving the peace. IMHO.
Does make you feel more secure?
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