Open Carry at Presidential Town Hall

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If this trend continues, open carry will end.
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For whatever reason, I agree. This makes people very antsy. And very antsy people start screaming at their legislators (just look at the healthcare "debate"). Perhaps this eventually forces the issue to the Supreme Court but you will see a knee-jerk reaction. Legislators across the blue states will start enacting more laws prevent it. You may say, "what good is a a right if you do not exercise it". This is a good point, but it does not change the fact that this is not really the kind of publicity that helps the cause. Sad, indeed, but true.
 
I love my state. If I want to carry, I can. Unless it is specifically prohibited in an area, I will. Did he need to? Probably not. But he didn't break any laws, and as far as I can tell, the First Amendment still has some weight to it, so he can hold up a sign saying almost anything he wants. He gets a thumbs up from me. And if I had been told about it, I would have been there too. And for the guy that compared this to the Black Panthers......Really? That was a totally nonviolent gesture. As opposed to yelling about killing police. It's time to tighten up your shot group my friend. The mind is a precision weapon, not a Street Sweeper.
 
Sorry, but this guy does nothing to further the rights of other gun owners. Most people who are ambivalent about guns and the carrying of guns will be swayed to the anti-gun side of this argument. Everybody knows it is legal to carry in New Hampshire.

it's legal to breast feed in a restaurant, but I would wager that most of us would prefer s mother not do it. it's legal to burn a flag, but most of us would frown on that too (I hope).

What good is accomplished by somebody openly carrying for the sole purpose of making a political statement? He makes guns owners look radical.

And the guy kept blinking. Made him look a bit nutty to me. And you think he could have found something else to wear other than a t-shirt?

And I would have told Chris Matthews to stop talking at me like I'm his child. Only man I would ever let raise his voice to me was my father.
 
there is a fine line

between exercising your rights and pushing them in a way that upsets people. There is a certain amount of decorum and respect that must be given to the office of President, even if you do not like the person holding the office. Open carry to a location where he is speaking truly does cross that line. Not to mention the fact that the SS have no sense of humor about this sort of thing.

Why shock people? Why bring up gun issues when we do not have a bad status quo right now? I would love to buy military spec weapons, but I will settle for what I can get now. I have no problem with background checks as long as those records of those checks are destroyed at the end of everyday, like they are supposed to be. Hell I would even go so far as to say you should have an endorsement on your license or ID to be able to purchase a different class of weapon or even conceal carry. That does not mean you will or have to do or make either. Yet when you go in, you flash your ID and that is all that is needed for a purchase and the purchase is not recorded by the government in any way. That would also take away the Brady types argument against cross state CC permits. It is not a paper permit of questionable authenticity, it is an endorsement right on your ID. I already have a class A CDL with BPNT endorsements... I am just trying to get an entire alphabet on my ID :)
 
I just want to tell those of you who think this was a "bad" are wimps. Somehow I think if you all had lived in the 1700's you all wouldn't have had the guts to stand up to King George like our founding fathers did. What the guy did was legal and we should all be backing him up. Yes, there will be the anti-gun people that will freak out, but they would freak out just the same if he had been carrying a sign that supported the 2d amendment rights. The people who freak out have no common sense and it's impossible to reason with them. However, you have forgotten the good that this has possibly done. Maybe there are some people who have seen these people carrying and have been re-energized to take back our country. I think it's good that people get used to seeing other people exercise ALL their rights and not just the ones they think should be "rights".

Matthew
 
The Black Panthers were all about intimidation, as they were last year when a couple of them showed up with clubs at the voting precinct in Philly. (I think it was Philly)

They weren't trying to intimidate anyone. To borrow some of your words, they were just "peaceful, law abiding folks, who happen to be armed, having a calm dialog."

After all, it was just clubs, not guns. What's the big deal, right?

There really is no such thing as someone who "happens to be armed." It's a meaningful act, and open carry is especially meaningful. Hypothetically, if I were having a heated argument with you in person, then I go to my car and come back with a shotgun slung around my shoulder to continue the argument, would you consider this an unremarkable thing to do?

Introducing guns into a political dialogue is literally anti-American. We don't do politics with violence here -- or, at least, when we're at our best we don't.
 
Introducing guns into a political dialogue is literally anti-American. We don't do politics with violence here
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Respectfully Sir, but, you have not read much of this thread have you ?

This entire discussion has been about a non-violent protest.

Might I suggest you read back through this thread, beginning with the OP. I also offer some very reasoned words from a part of this very thread;

But it is crucial that the right, and means to violent overthrow be retained overtly. Meanwhile, there it is, right there in the holster, the ultimate monument to self-governance, where it peaceably remains until needed to oppose a immediate violent threat. That, we should not have a problem with.
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there is a fine line
between exercising your rights and pushing them in a way that upsets people.
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I would venture that most of "those people", that might get upset, do not even realize that they have the same rights. It's not about intimidation, but education.

If you let the "fear" that you might offend someone dictate your rights, then you have effectively already lost that right.


Open carry to a location where he is speaking truly does cross that line. Not to mention the fact that the SS have no sense of humor about this sort of thing.
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These men broke no laws, were in plain sight of police, and SS, and caused no violence. Pray tell to what "line" do you refer?

I will ask that you, as well, go back and read this thread from the beginning, as I believe you may have missed the point.
 
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Sure, what they are doing is legal, but it is not the politically smart thing to do. The average person seeing a guy show up at a political event with an AR-15 is not likely to think he is a normal, polite person. When you combine this with media spin from CNN, it gets even worse.

It's legal, and I (personally) have no problem with people peacefully open carrying. The problem is many people will have a problem with it, and public opinion does have an effect.

Open carry needs to be "normalized" in everyday society before it can be normalized at (often heated) public debates.
 
macville said:
I just want to tell those of you who think this was a "bad" are wimps.
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Wimps? Really?

So anyone who disagrees with you, merits some name-calling from behind the safety of your internet connection and arm chair. Yes siree! that's real macho of you.

There are real and tangible arguments, for and against, this type of action. Try joining the discussion, instead of just emoting and calling names. That is the tactics of our foes. :mad:
 
It is a simple question of decorum and maturity. Open carry is legal, okay. Yet exercising that right in an area with lots of armed and alert law enforcement makes about as much sense as going into a bar with a loaded AR when you intend to get absolutely sloshed.

Now if they organized an open carry march on the other side of town to let Obama know that they will defend their rights. Or maybe organized said march on another day, that shows taste and still makes the statement.

Carrying a firearm in the open anyplace an elected federal official is at just feeds into the fear mentality that the Brady nuts propagate! Want to open carry? Lets get a few thousand outside a Brady convention in AZ, that I would be down with. Though I fear someone would lose control and it would get ugly :(
 
Wow. I did not read ALL the replies on this post, but wow. This guy has a set of b****s on him made of iron. :eek:

I think we will now be seeing more carrying around protests from here on out. He has crossed a legal threshold that VERY few would do. I can see both sides of the argument. One side, I applaud him for exercising his 2nd amendment right and being articulate in explaining his reasoning behind it. However, I can see a nutjob do the same and accidentally brandish it or have a N/D.

Not trying to get political, but this shows the fortitude and perseverance of one American almost risking his life to show his disdain with the current path our country is taking.
 
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VinnyT said:
2nd amendment privilege
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Vinny, please fix.

Government has powers given to it by the People.

The People have Rights.

Calling those Rights privileges is a disrespectful thing to do, to those who fought and died to preserve them as rights for the last 234 years.

Subjects have privileges. Citizens have rights.
 
It can also be argued that it is disrespectful to the people that have died to defend this country to open carry around its elected leader.

Sorry but swords cut both ways.
 
It is a simple question of decorum and maturity.
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So, exercising my 1A or 2A rights, or both, is somehow immature?

Open carry is legal, okay. Yet exercising that right in an area with lots of armed and alert law enforcement makes about as much sense as going into a bar with a loaded AR when you intend to get absolutely sloshed.
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That is an illogical argument as one describes a perfectly legal act, the other an illegal one.

Now if they organized an open carry march on the other side of town to let Obama know that they will defend their rights.
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Had you researched this a bit, you would have discovered that these men were no where near any secured area.

Carrying a firearm in the open anyplace an elected federal official is at just feeds into the fear mentality that the Brady nuts propagate! Want to open carry? Lets get a few thousand outside a Brady convention in AZ, that I would be down with. Though I fear someone would lose control and it would get ugly
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It would seem that the very fear the Brady's propagate, has found you. As I stated earlier, if you let your fear dictate whether you exercise a right, you have already lost that right.
 
TP: I wasn't arguing the pro/anti angle of carrying around the Prez, whomever he may be and whatever policies he may be stumping.

I was arguing the use of the term "2nd amendment privilege."

Regardless of where you stand... no one with a proper understanding of our Bill of Rights calls any of those enumerated restrictions on our government a privilege of the people.

I hope you can agree with me on that issue, regardless of where you stand on open carry at political events.
 
It can also be argued that it is disrespectful to the people that have died to defend this country to open carry around its elected leader.

Sorry but swords cut both ways.
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No, it does not. Please explain to me how it is "disrespectful"
to exercise a right that the president himself has ?
 
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