Open Carry

13 posts

Lamenting the Inevitable

I suppose the rifle open-carry guys needed something to do. They haven’t been in the news the last few months, so they decided to strut around recruiting offices in the wake of the Chattanooga shooting.

In Lancaster, Ohio, a guy named Christopher Reed had a negligent discharge in the parking lot. Apparently, someone asked to see his rifle and he fired it while he was trying to clear it.

He has been charged with discharging a firearm within the city limits. As it turns out, this isn’t his first rodeo. He was convicted and fined $50 for a similar incident in 2013.

Way to go, Reed. You’re on a roll.

“I’m nobody special,” Reed said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “I’m just a guy doing my job because my own government wouldn’t do it.”

He downplayed what happened. “It is what it is,” he said. “Nobody got hurt.”

Oh, OK.

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Civil Rights

And Now Target

Target department stores have been the latest battleground in the public-image war between Moms Demand Action and the Texas open-carry rangers. The tone-deaf actions of the latter have already cost us on several fronts. As of today, it has happened again:

Our approach has always been to follow local laws, and of course, we will continue to do so. But starting today we will also respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target — even in communities where it is permitted by law.

We’ve listened carefully to the nuances of this debate and respect the protected rights of everyone involved. In return, we are asking for help in fulfilling our goal to create an atmosphere that is safe and inviting for our guests and team members.

This is a complicated issue, but it boils down to a simple belief: Bringing firearms to Target creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience we strive to create.

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Civil Rights

Irreconcilable Differences

We all know who the NRA is, right? They’ve made a statement on the ludicrous practice of carrying rifles into public businesses as a form of “activism.”

Let’s not mince words, not only is it rare, it’s downright weird and certainly not a practical way to go normally about your business while being prepared to defend yourself. To those who are not acquainted with the dubious practice of using public displays of firearms as a means to draw attention to oneself or one’s cause, it can be downright scary. It makes folks who might normally be perfectly open-minded about firearms feel uncomfortable and question the motives of pro-gun advocates.

You may not know Charles Cotton. He’s an NRA board member and Executive Director for the Texas State Rifle Association. Alice Tripp is one of the TSRA’s lobbyists. These are the folks actually doing the work to get open carry legalized in Texas.

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Civil Rights

Still Not Getting It

“I told my daughter it’s not safe to be here. We gotta go,” says the guy who’s got the muzzle of an AK-47 sweeping his daughter.

First Starbucks, then Jack in the Box, then Chipotle. Now it’s Sonic. The Texas open carry crowd is practically phoning in content for the anti-gunners to ridicule us.

This isn’t activism. It’s a fun prank for some reprobates to occupy a lunch hour. The rest of us deal with the consequences forever. They need to knock it off, and we need to start telling them that.

Civil Rights

We Just Can’t Have Nice Things

2 comments

Last year, Starbucks asked customers to stop carrying guns in their locations because people walked in with rifles slung over their shoulders. Last week, Jack in the Box asked customers to stop carrying guns in their locations because people walked in with rifles slung over their shoulders. This week, Chipotle asked customers to stop carrying guns in their locations because people walked in with rifles slung over their shoulders.

Are we seeing a pattern here, folks? Are we really that obtuse? This isn’t civil activism; this is a malicious sort of attention whoring that hurts the very cause these dinks claim to support.

And they have the audacity to pretend they don’t even get it. This isn’t happening because of some culture war. It’s happening because people can’t show simple discretion and manners. They get a picture to show to their friends on social media, and the anti-gun groups get to chalk up a very public victory.

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Civil Rights

Really Not Helping, Gang

Political advocacy is hard. It’s boring, and there’s all those letters and phone calls. Joining gun organizations costs money you could be spending on Gadsden bumper stickers and Nickelback concert tickets. There’s no instant gratification when your friends can’t see you doing it.

On top of that, you leveraged your mortgage and overpaid for that AR-15 a few months back, and you’ve got to do something with it, right? Why not carry it around your local Capitol building? If somebody complains, you can say you’re “educating” people. You can go home and get fist-bumps from your friends and bask in your own sense of righteous ideological purity. If the folks who actually do the work for gun rights complain, they’re just sellouts who don’t get it. After all, you’re on a mission, right?

Well, that’s what a guy in Santa Fe chose to do this week. Now, Senators on both sides of the aisle are talking about not only banning guns from the Capitol building, but from any location in which “large numbers of individuals that gather for a very specific purpose.”

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Civil Rights

Was It Worth It?

Congratulations are due to everyone who decided to open carry at Starbucks. The company has implemented a new policy under which guns are no longer welcome on their property.

Recently, however, we’ve seen the “open carry” debate become increasingly uncivil and, in some cases, even threatening. Pro-gun activists have used our stores as a political stage for media events misleadingly called “Starbucks Appreciation Days” that disingenuously portray Starbucks as a champion of “open carry.” To be clear: we do not want these events in our stores. Some anti-gun activists have also played a role in ratcheting up the rhetoric and friction, including soliciting and confronting our customers and partners.

For these reasons, today we are respectfully requesting that customers no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating areas–even in states where “open carry” is permitted–unless they are authorized law enforcement personnel.

The policy doesn’t just make open carry unwelcome; we are asked not to carry guns at all.

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Civil Rights

On Insensitivity

Three years ago, Starbucks found themselves an unwilling party to controversy when the California open-carry movement decided to make a stand of sorts in their restaurants. Despite pressure from the gun-control lobby, the company refused to ban guns, and they asked the gun culture to allow them to remain neutral on the matter. It was a fair decision, and it was more than a little brave of them.

Apparently, that just wasn’t good enough for some folks, and the decision was made to stage a Starbucks appreciation day. Of course, nobody asked the company whether they wanted such an event foisted on them, and they chose to close their Newtown location early rather than become a ideological battleground over open carry.

Yep, that Newtown. The one in which Adam Lanza went on a shooting rampage that killed twenty children and six teachers less than a year ago. Are people really so crass and self-absorbed that they thought this would be a good idea?

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Ordnance

They Said It Couldn’t Happen

4 comments

But it did. Blaine Tyler was openly carrying his handgun in a Richmond gas station when a teenage sociopath grabbed it. Unarmed, Tyler gave chase and was fatally shot with his own gun. To make things worse, his assailant went on to kill a second person hours later.

Tyler was deliberately targeted for his weapon, something people keep telling me never happens. Well, here we have it. Perhaps better situational awareness, equipment, or training might have helped, but at the end of the day, he would not have been targeted if his weapon wasn’t plainly visible.

Having the weapon exposed adds a significant element of risk back into an equation meant to mitigate risk in the first place.

Civil Rights

Mulford Act: Full Circle

Today, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 144 into law, making open carry of any sort a misdemeanor.

Since 1967, there’s been a loophole in § 12031 that allows an unlicensed citizen to carry a handgun, as long as it’s visible and unloaded. It’s a questionable mode of carry, but at least it’s an option when others are not available. Now, Californians don’t even have that. Who’s to blame? Portantino? Brown? Nope. We are.

For over 40 years, the whole technicality was something of an open secret, but it was never front-page news. That is, until a bunch of pro-gun folks decided it was their mission to make it an issue. They wanted controversy, and they succeeded. Now, California citizens are worse off, and the Brady Campaign can chalk up a win.

Losing is still losing, no matter how righteous some thought they might have been. This didn’t have to happen.

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Civil Rights

Starbucks in the Crosshairs

2 comments

I’ve had an on-again-off-again relationship with Starbucks for as long as I can remember. Their prepared drinks are spendy, but as a guy who grinds his own, I’ve found their Cafe Verona to be very versatile, and the Ethiopian Sidamo balances nicely with steamed milk.

I’d never really considered their policy on guns. Heck, it’s a coffee shop. It’s frequented by pseudo-intellectuals whose offspring are white kids with dreadlocks. Despite the lack of any signage stating so, I’d always assumed they wouldn’t be too fond of guns.

Therefore, it came as something of a pleasant surprise to find out that they’re not caving to pressure from the Brady Campaign to ban guns from their stores.

I may have to spend more money there.

Civil Rights

Is this where it’s going?

7 comments

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.

Civil Rights

Sharks in the Water

1 comment

Lots of people are openly carrying guns to political rallies. It’s something of a big deal at the moment, what with a Chief Executive blatantly ignoring the will of the people.

Still, overlapping the Open Carry movement with other causes is a bit disingenuous. These rallies are about health care, taxation and debt rather than the 2nd Amendment. The signal is lost in the noise, and the media doesn’t hesitate to ask the hysterical question, “what’s that weirdo doing here with a gun?”

Fortunately, the whole thing has gone on without incident or accident. When the media has gotten snippy, the rebuttals have been heard.

Let’s just be very careful, folks. We need to be sure that none of this ends up being interpreted as threat rather than demonstration.

And we need to be wary of those among the ranks harboring less-than-noble intentions.