There's a world of difference between something being legal and something being smart.
It's also possible to be entirely within your rights and obeying the law to the letter and still be doing something suspicious.
Showing up at a Wal Mart in a plate carrier carrying an AR slung to your chest is a prime example of doing something stupid and suspicious while also being within your rights and the law (at least in Missouri).
I say this as someone who fervently advocates for open carry here in Florida.
Lemme try another analogy.
Take a bottle of Coke and put it into one of those paper bags you get from the liquor store.
Go someplace where drinking in public is frowned on and drink your Coke.
You're going to get hassled even though there's nothing illegal about drinking a bottle of cola from a paper bag.
If someone has been throwing bottles of piss at passerby, and concealing the contents in paper bags, and you show up to make a point that drinking Coke isn't illegal... You're going to get more than just hassled most likely.
Stressing, with every interaction, that our moron in Missouri had not broken any laws and had a right to be armed openly just ignores that right after two prominent mass shootings by people dressed just like him: He looked just like someone getting ready to commit mass murder.
All we have at present is Moron's word he wasn't going to do more than carry there.
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My dad's dad had a saying that he used for situations like this: "just 'cause it's your right, it don't make it right".
ReplyDeleteOh, God. My poor fat body yearns for open carry, as I sweat at anything over 40 degrees.
ReplyDeleteBut, well, yeah, some common sense is needed.
That was really stupid. He's lucky he didn't get shot. So, there's one account I read, that he exited the store out of an emergency exit. But it doesn't say that others were exiting as well, since supposedly, somebody pulled a fire alarm. That right there is cause for confusion. It will be interesting to see what happens to this one.
ReplyDeleteReportedly, upon seeing Dipstick enter armed openly, the WalMart manager was who pulled the fire alarm, as the quickest way to evacuate the store he thought was about to become a amass shooting, without causing undue panic, and without waiting unknown minutes for the police to arrive before doing something.
DeleteDipstick did not put 2 and 2 together, and failed to realize his entrance was the reason for the alarm, and when he fell in behind everyone else exiting the premises, off duty firefighter read to him from the book of "Don't move or Ill blow your head off!"
Real heroes don't need capes.
That firefighter has balls. Not only did he risk being slower on the draw than Dipstick, but he's added the risk of, "is doing the right thing here going to land my ass in prison?"
DeleteI wouldn't convict him if I was on the jury.
But I can see the headline, "Government employee holds mentally ill person at gunpoint for shopping." As honest as the press often is, I'm surprised we haven't seen that headline yet.
I sometimes wonder if the idiots who do this sort of thing aren't secretly being paid by the gun-control nuts to make us all look bad.
ReplyDelete"There's a world of difference between something being legal and something being smart.
ReplyDeleteIt's also possible to be entirely within your rights and obeying the law to the letter and still be doing something suspicious.
I say this as someone who fervently advocates for open carry here in Florida."
I'm pretty sure I made that exact set of points about open carry in Florida, but you assured me then that I (and now you) was wrong on this point.
I remain no fan of people finding the stupidest way to stay within the bounds of lawfulness, while being complete jacktards.
Like the knucklehead in Missouri, who came within a gnat's eyelash of pleading his case at the Final Judgement, rather than in Springfield Superior Court.
He shouldn't face any criminal charge, he should be facing a sanity hearing.
If he passes it, he deserves a judicially mandated horsewhipping.
That kind of stupid should hurt, and leave marks.
Timing is everything.
DeleteThe reasons for doing things matter.
Florida Carry was making a point to the local police about the POLICE breaking the law. That's valid political speech, within their rights, completely legal. They made their point and it didn't happen again. Because they'd accomplished what they set out to do. Which, on the whole invalidates the panic shown by people who hate open carry. The people who hate open carry don't care why anyone would do it, they simply want it to never happen irregardless of legality.
Walking around a Wal Mart, a week after one got shot up by someone dressed just like you are... The carry part was legal. But it was stupid. Not a good time to make your political point, if indeed he was making a political point.
Fair enough.
DeleteI'm just not convinced there's ever a good time to test the intelligence, common sense, or goodwill of the local constabulary, regardless of the point you're trying to make.
Courts have ruled it's okay for municipalities to screen out the mentally bright recruits as unsuitable for police work.
We're all living with the consequences of those policies every single day.
The more I ruminate on it, Miami could also be a unique set of circumstances where it worked perfectly.
Delete