Braving Gun Rights Haters' Nails: Lower Merion Township, PA Family Open Carry Rally

[darrenlobo]

Braving Gun Rights Haters' Nails: Lower Merion Township, PA Family Open Carry Rally (video)

Braving nails placed in the street by our car tires by gun rights haters (one wonders if there is no low they won't stoop to) we protested the fact that Lower Merion, PA won't repeal their local gun ordnance despite the fact that it's in violation of the state's preemption law.

http://theinternationallibertarian.blogspot.com/2015/03/braving-gun-rights-haters-nails-lower.html

 

[Aguila Blanca]

File a class action lawsuit under 42 U.S. Code § 1983

42 U.S. Code § 1983 - Civil action for deprivation of rights


Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.

 

[pnac]

File a class action lawsuit under 42 U.S. Code § 1983

I agree that whoever put the nails in place to inhibit the protestors should be sued, at least. But was this done under color of law, or just a basic criminal matter? Am I missing something?

 

[Tom Servo]

Is this about the Merion ban on park carry, or is it about some nails?

If it's about the latter, can you prove the nails were left there by anti-gun activists in an attempt to punish gun advocates? If not, the issue is peripheral.

 

[Snyper]

The suit just deals with the law

The nails are just vandalism by some idiots who will likely never be caught

 

[TimSr]

If local government is violating state law, a courtroom is a lot more likely to bring resolution than a rally, if that is what your going for.

 

[Snyper]

If local government is violating state law, a courtroom is a lot more likely to bring resolution than a rally, if that is what your going for.

I see the rally as a way to make people aware of what is happening.

The lawsuit is more likely when many people show their support

 

[darrenlobo]

Tom Servo,

An interesting question. I don't see the rally & the nails as 2 seperate things. They put down the nails because of the rally. It's just another incident in a long string of aggressive incidents from gun rights haters. See:

Gun Rights Haters: Victims or Aggressors?


Pointing out thier misbehavior helps us in the court of public opinion.

 

[carguychris]

They put down the nails because of the rally.

I think Tom's question stands; is it known with reasonable certainty who "they" are, and that the nails were placed specifically to interfere with the rally?

If not, and nobody was actually hurt, I would just drop the issue. In circumstances like this, it's helpful to remember Hanlon's razor.

The nails are just vandalism by some idiots who will likely never be caught

Without further information, +1. Aside from vandalism, it could have been a simple accident.

Pointing out thier [sic] misbehavior helps us in the court of public opinion.

Not always; one has to be careful not to overreact to trivial slights. Remember, one of "their" strategies is to portray gun owners as whiners who get upset when people object to their socially obnoxious behavior.

If local government is violating state law, a courtroom is a lot more likely to bring resolution than a rally, if that is what your going for.

Either that, or sponsorship of pro-gun candidates. Voter turnout is generally poor in local elections, thus, even a relatively small but well-organized and highly-focused group can turn an election if they play their cards right.

 

[Tom Servo]

They put down the nails because of the rally. It's just another incident in a long string of aggressive incidents from gun rights haters.

Do we have proof of this? Witnesses? The nails could have fallen off a construction vehicle for all we know.

It's better to argue from a position of authority than to claim we're being sabotaged by our opponents.