Last week, Leonard Embody donned a fetching camouflage and GoreTex ensemble and paraded around Radnor Lake Park carrying this:
It’s an AK-47 pistol, with the tip painted orange to resemble an Airsoft gun. His reasoning is that “cops don’t shoot people with airsoft guns. If this handgun looks like an airsoft the cops won’t shoot me.”
I can certainly see his concern. Apparently, he’ll be repeating this questionable behavior. According to one paper, “I guarantee that when I carry in Bicentennial Mall I will be stopped. You’re more than welcome to come and watch or video.”
This is the crux of the matter: Mr. Embody (known as kwikrnu on the forums) likes to be the center of attention. His hobbies include freaking out the squares, being stopped by the police and filing lawsuits.
Yep, this guy’s a winner. Far from being alone, he’s emblematic of the self-defeating caricature that is overtaking the open carry movement.
Case #2 is Cassidy Nicosia. Back in August, she decided to strut around suburban New Hampshire with a visible weapon. Her particular gimmick involved doing so topless. If you want to sit through it, video of the event is posted here (there is no nudity on the video).
What were Cassidy and her friends protesting? According to the charmingly-titled NH Brass Balls site:
Cassidy displayed courage in the face of gender oppression when being arrested for walking around topless to protest indecency laws that affect women in Keene, NH. While the males around her were also topless, they were not detained. Cassidy was able to remain calm and even got the arresting cop to agree that she had some valid points.
What “gender oppression?” When in her suburban white anglo-saxon life has Ms. Nicosia ever been oppressed?
The answer is, “never.” So, being 18 and bored, she went out looking for it. Did anyone end up questioning disparity in gender roles? No. All they saw was a waifish teenager walking around topless. If they didn’t have video cameras and a website, the “protesters” wouldn’t have done this.
I don’t see activism here. What I see is people deliberately baiting police officers for their own amusement. This is lurid exhibitionism, made even more offensive by the fact that it involves treating the gun as some sort of symbol.
And treating a gun as anything but a weapon can be a very dangerous thing.
In 2003, the Colorado Springs City Council banned the carry of firearms in city buildings due to the particular (and peculiar) behavior of one Don Ortega, who had a habit of showing up to Council meetings with a shotgun. While Tennessee recently passed a law allowing the carry of guns in state parks, individual cities and counties can choose to pass local bans. The Nashville government has made their hostility to gun rights known. Want to guess how long it will take Nashville to ban guns from Radnor Lake if Mr. Embody’s buffoonery continues?
I’d hoped that the debacle with Chris Broughton and Josh Hendrickson would have given these people pause. Evidently not. Instead, they get hopped up on Alex Jones lectures, emo music and Ron Paul slogans, and they decide to act out. They assume that their behavior is not only excused, but deserving of credit, because it’s vaguely political.
Of course, if she really wanted to effect change, Ms. Nicosia could have thrown on some decent-looking clothes and combed her hair that morning. Then she could have done something useful, like speaking to her legislators about her concerns. Apparently, that’s too much effort, so she settled for slapping on something that looks slept-in and prancing around half-naked in public. With a gun. Because anything else would be work, heaven forbid.
I’ve no clue what Mr. Embody is trying to achieve, other than bringing back memories of the Zodiac killer and Gunkid.
If someone wants to open carry, there are such factors as proper time, place and presentation. I’ve seen abysmal failures at the first two, and these cases certainly cover the third. Frankly, if I encountered either of these idiots, I’d be wary. There’s something to be said for discretion.
It’s only a matter of time before the opposition pounces on this story and uses it as a brush to paint all of us.
7 thoughts on “Is this where it’s going?”
I remember reading that thread. The AK-style “handgun” in question is not styled like an Airsoft gun, it IS an Airsoft gun, or as he says, an “Airsoft clone”, whatever that is (see posts 39-40 of that thread). It’s bad enough that he trolls the Internet, but by carrying that around and intimating that it is real he’s trolling the police and public in real life. If it IS real (and I don’t see how it could be, in spite of his confusing protestations) he’ll find out rather quickly that his suppositions about “painted muzzles” are quite inaccurate, perhaps fatally.
These incidents do nothing but incite people to pass laws further abridging our rights. As you say, it’s the one idiot that makes things hard for the rest of us.
Actually, he went so far as to post a picture of it disassembled to prove that it was a real gun.
Lord help us.
Well then. I stand corrected. Please allow me to amend my statement as follows:
“This is one of the most asinine things I have ever seen, and the person in question, based upon his posts, has no business holding even so much as a Red Ryder BB gun lest he shoot his eye out.”
It’s a shame that you and I have to carry his weight, too. People like this make me waver in my beliefs sometimes, if only for a moment or two.
Posted on a law-enforcement forum:
Mr. Embody has also chosen to paint the whole rifle orange, with the exception of the wood.
1. Nashville can’t ban carry at Radnor Lake State Park. It is a State Park, not a Metropolitan Nashville park.
2. Toy guns are not required to have orange tips in most places. In Tennessee it is legal to remove the orange tip or paint the orange tip a different color.
3. It is legal to paint a gun whatever color you want in Tennessee. There are also no Federal restrictions.
4. Open carry is legal in Tennessee. You can choose to carry concealed, but I choose to carry how I see fit.
5. Complaining about anyones legal method of carry, firearm type, or firearm color will only cause further firearm restrictions.
It’s also legal to paint “Free Candy” on the side of an old cargo van and cruise around an elementary-school parking lot. You won’t see responsible adults doing that, though. Same goes for what you’re doing.
This isn’t about carry preference, nor is it about what’s legal. It’s about childish, irresponsible actions performed with the sole intention of being the center of attention.
Can you give me precedent for that? Because I can certainly give precedent for more restrictions being enacted in the wake of irresponsible open carry. It’s my understanding that local Costco locations were posted off-limits following a similar adventure you had there.
Some of the people you’re “freaking out” (and to be truthful, that is your reason for doing this) have money, clout and connections. They will contact their congressmen. They will encourage their friends to vote for more restrictions.
If you gave a damn about the 2nd Amendment, you’d do something constructive, like getting politically involved. Tell me, have you done anything to actually help the cause? Otherwise, you’re just a tool for the other side, and I have no use for you whatsoever.
You know, I understand the point the guy is trying to make, and that’s fine. The idea, of baiting cops with a real gun, painted to resemble a harmless gun, is a very dangerous practice in many ways.
Although you may not be doing anything extremely terrible, the fact that your actions carry an intent to have the gun perceived as something that is not dangerous, not only recklessly puts your life on the line, but think about the people that could potentially be treated worse when in posession of a toy gun. The fact that law enforcement can now say that people are painting real guns to resemble an airsoft guns, means every airsoft gun needs to be treated like a real gun from a law enforcement perspective, which could easily lead to needless life lost at traffic stops.
I’m not saying that the cops are totally off the hook in that situation, I am saying that you make the environment for people you are both trying to defend and distinguish yourself from, much more dangerous. It’s not healthy or safe generally speaking, and you need to consider, nto just your own actions, but the way people may perceive the message you’re trying to send.
Politicians and media figures have agents and PR people for a reason, and it’s nto because when the general publice see’s somethign they think about it logically or evaluate the big picture. It’s because people know, that the general public will react first then research or investigate, and often the harm is done. I’m a very liberal person, but I’m ok with guns, and I know people who would now use your actions, Mr. Embody, to make a point that is not good for the discussion, but is totally valid because of your actions and potentially dubious intent of them or portions of them. You’ve got to think about the people, that even in a small way, are on your side.