National Open Carry Day.

E

Ed Brunner

New member
Whatwe as gun owners need is to stand up and be counted. What better way to protest anti-gun laws than to pick a date and everyone openly (and peacefully) carry a gun?
Do you think we would be arrested? Is there room in the justice system for 80,000,000 peaceful gun owners?
A peaceful protest by citizens exercising a Constitutional right.

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Better days to be,

Ed
 
I like it.

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A vote for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil.
Vote Libertarian - For A Change.
 
I'm in. (Here in NM it's legal, provided you don't go into a govt. building (they're on to us!), bar or anywhere they sell alcohol - OTOH, no one ever carries openly (unlike our neighboring state, AZ) here. I wouldn't get arrested, but I'd probably get stopped. A lot.) Great idea, Ed!

cheers,
erich
 
I'd hate to have to wait until the 4th of July 2000 to do it but it might take that long to organize enough people to make it effective.

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Better days to be,

Ed
 
Hey if you guys promise to pay my legal bills count me in. Remember I live in Maryland and I got arrested for not wanting to sit in a hot car while the LEO ran a 10-28,10-29 on me. "I've decided to live outside the law--it's better defined."
 
Thanks ED and Gutt....

A bit of reality check....get it organized or else we have a bunch of lil Wacos with no connection....capishe?

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
 
Count me in as well. I may experience a little static (up to and including arrest), depending on where I may roam on that day, but I'm willing to risk it.
 
This is just a concept with me. However if it is supported I think that it needs a lot of advance press or other PR promotion. It has to be announced that on such and such date supporters of the Second Amendment will openly bear arms in peaceful protest of the illegal infringements of that right. And as there has to be a payoff we demand the repeal of all infringements.

We have to get the message out in advance. Any ideas??

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Better days to be,

Ed
 
I'm game, when???

How about setting a date like 3 months in advance then making up posters and getting them out?
 
This has to be bigger than posters but posters would be a start. This needs national publicity.
Any ideas????

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Better days to be,

Ed
 
This is just a brain fart...don't hold me to merit, but it makes sense right now.....
Notify yur local gun club, gun shops, then regional gun groups....use the Net....

I'm more and more convinced that grassroots is the key....I'm not trying to slam the national groups.....but....all bureacrasies
only respond from the very top or the unstable bottom

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
 
Joey and DC: I think youre right about starting locally. I have no idea how long it would take to get this moving. How do you get something like this off the ground? What do you think about a date?

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Better days to be,

Ed
 
I am from PA and I am in. This sounds like a great idea I will get a whole bunch of my shooting buddies in on it too.

I have a question for you all. What would you do if are goverment outlawed all guns? Would you comply with them. Or would you stand up and protect are God given right?

They would have to pry my guns out of my cold dead fingers!!!!!

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Criminals prefer unarmed victims
 
If we tell all the anti-self defense groups we can think of, they will surely tell the press, then we will get all the publicity we can handle.

Probably more likely to make the news than a press release from a RKBA organization.

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“The whole of the Bill (of Rights) is a declaration of the right of the people at large or considered as individuals. ... It establishes some rights of the individual as unalienable and which consequently, no majority has a right to deprive them of.” -Alexander Addison, 1789
 
Bad idea. What will happen, at least in my neck of the liberal Northeast, is that I will be arrested. When that happens, bye bye my pistol permit and any chance of purchasing any type of firearm in the future (remember NICS checks).

Now before you call me a coward or whatever, I do not intend to loose my permit over a silly statement. If I have to use the gun, I will and will face loosing my permit willingly.

The politicos are too smart for this and will use it to put law abiding citizens out of the shooting biz. The media will jump all over it like flies on fresh dog doo doo.

If you want to make a statement, find a way to do it without giving them an excuse to do what they want to do, get our guns!

Just MY .02
 
K80Geoff: I think I understand your position and I totally disagree and heres why.
The Constitution is either the law of the land or its not.
If it is then you dont need a permit. If its not what do you suggest?
You may very well be the type of citizen that the government wants. You appear willing to comply with their unlawful requirements however repressive they might be.
There is a time to say "Enough". It might not be your time yet, and if that is the case, I can understand that. The whole point of a demonstration is to have MANY people participate in a PEACEFUL exercise of their constitutional rights...not a mob or a riot.
Im not sure how that would cause you to lose your permit.
At this point Im just trying to get an idea of how well this thing would float.
As long as we accept all of the restrictions they pass,there will surely be more restrictions.

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Better days to be,

Ed
 
OK, Ed. I will explain my self and keep this civil. Bear with me, this is long winded.

I live in a state and county that is very restrictive as to handgun ownership. The county police commissioner has decided that I and other gun owners cannot CCW EVEN THOUGH I HAVE PASSED THE BACKGROUND CHECK FOR NY STATE CCW. We have fought this and have even had the county legislature pass a law requiring that the commissioner follow the state laws. He has refused, the county legislature is too cowardly to stand up to him. An individual from upstate with the same license can carry concealed, I cannot. I don't like it, I will work to change it and there is now a bill in the state senate that would require the commissioner to follow the state laws.

I do not like many of the restrictions placed on me by various levels of government, many of these restrictions are probably un constitutional. I would be willing to bet there are laws you are subject to that fall into the same category.

As it stands now, any problems with the law require me to report same to the county police and they will evaluate whether I should have my permit, any problems. I have seen friends loose their license because they were undergoing a divorce, another was involved in a shouting match with someone at a gun show and was required to write an explanation to the police. A third was involved in a bankruptcy and problems with the IRS (Bye Bye permit).

Some of you folks complain about California, believe me New York is worse.

Carrying openly is considered brandishing, immediate arrest and bye bye handguns. Is this a police state, you bet, I will try to help change things but this is my home and I 'm not running.

I hope that the govt thinks I am the type of individual they desire, a sheeple if you will. The less they know about me the better. If you know your enemy, and know yourself, you will win every battle. I will comply with their system untill I can change it, and I won't be able to change it as a felon.

If you folks want to make a statement, why not a march on Washington, UNARMED, to make our point. They won't arrest anyone if we all behave and we might make a difference. Of course this will be difficult for some of us but great things are rarely easy. The media would just love a bunch of cowboys struttin around packin' their pieces. You know they would spin it this way, find the one jerk among thousands of normal folk and put him on the 6 o'clock.

If you really want to make a point, do it without arms but en masse, it will work!

Geoff Ross
 
It's a nice idea, however...

Personally, I don't like the whole idea of CCW. This, to me, amounts to skulking about like a criminal. States that "allow" this generally require submission of a battery of data for their eager computers and a fist of cash from your pocket, neither of which I am particularly fond of parting with. Of course, one should be able to "bear" in any fashion one desires.

I'd like to open carry, and it's technically legal (depending on how one reads the statutes) in my state. But I know that this would not be accepted by our indoctrinated law enforcement. Open carry ("bearing arms") will be ignored, and "brandishing" would be applied. Then it's bye guns (I imagine a home raid for more "evidence" would be "justified" also), hello jail cell and legal fees. LEO associates have confirmed this in the manner of "Well, you can but..."

This isn't nice, and it's unconstitutional, but it's a fact. We live in a land where every time law enforcement gets involved, it's "Police confiscate an arsenal of guns, film at eleven" (video clip of a pair of .22 pistols and a old shotgun). I don't know what to do to reverse this, but things aren't looking good.
 
Another thought...

Many of our members live in states where carry of certain arms is legal, but highly "discouraged."

Texas is a great example. Why not sling a legal-length shotgun or rifle over your shoulder while going about your duties on that day? It's legal, it's conspicuous, and it's frowned upon by the law. Also, if you could find yourself a pistol made before 1898 (check the Penal Code now!), it's an antique or curio, and not a pistol under TX law. Open carry! Nope, you might not beat the ride, but you will beat the rap, anywhere you go.
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BUT:

We really don't need to develop records on our people here. Protest is one thing, but think of:
A)How the media will report it. ("Ultra-right-wing radical extremists arm themselves and call for overthrow of the government. Are we safe? Dr. Hoplophobe explains their motives..."
B)How are you going to be restricted in the future with a "weapons violation" conviction. Remember that in many states, "places where weapons are prohibited" laws are FELONIES! Are you willing to give up your right to vote? Travel? Think hard.
C)What does this accomplish that other protests does not? I'm actually asking for my edification, hear, not just rhetorically.
D)We will come across as fragmented. I've gotta admit, guys: I will not knowingly break some laws in my state right now. I've got too much at stake personally. Mark me for a coward, but I've got to feed my family. If I won't, you'd better believe that there's 10 other gun-owners who won't for every one that will. We'd better give a show of solidarity.
E)If we can't get marches[i/] together in our own state capitals, what makes you think we could float something this proactive?

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I hate to be the nay-sayer, but I sure would hate to see all of this good energy be wasted, and see some good guys get the dirty end of the stick because they were gung ho when others weren't!

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Will you, too, be one who stands in the gap?

[This message has been edited by Long Path (edited August 08, 1999).]
 
This idea of carrying a rifle or shotgun is an interesting alternative . . .

Perfectly legal where I live to carry either of these in the open when in public, as long as you don't point them at anyone.

And I have some personal experience with how the police might respond to such a thing:

The PD that I dispatch for got a call of a man carrying a rifle. He wasn't pointing it at anyone, or doing anything else that might arouse suspicion. The supervisor on duty admonished the officer responding not to detain this man unless there was obvious probable/reasonable cause, and the mere carrying of the rifle was not cause. As I recall, the officer spotted the man, didn't see anything amiss, and cleared.

This was in a wealthy suburb of Seattle.


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“The whole of the Bill (of Rights) is a declaration of the right of the people at large or considered as individuals. ... It establishes some rights of the individual as unalienable and which consequently, no majority has a right to deprive them of.” -Alexander Addison, 1789
 
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