The picture from this post is why open carry should be legal everywhere.
I noticed the "compliance" with NY's SAFE act in that picture too.
"Oh noes! We're going to scare people!" In the case of that photo, scaring people is the entire point.
Deterrence is another way to say "scare someone into inaction".
The thing is:
The anti-gun people will never ever like us. No matter how low we lay. No matter how polite we are. No matter how well we dress.
They will hate us forever.
The Jewish folks in that picture are also dealing with such perpetual hate.
An older hate, but still hate.
It's still astonishing to me how hate consistently gains power.
Hate gives power too. Gives it away to those who hate better and more fully.
Time and place, Angus.
ReplyDeleteThat picture is not fishing at the pier, or getting a soy latte at the strip mall, but rather after a succession of specific and brutal anti-Semitic attacks and murders.
One of these things is not like the other.
And that would still be true even if open carry were completely legal everywhere at all times.
Context matters.
I would be as happy as you would if Constitutional Carry were the unabridged norm.
But I'd still like people to exercise some common sense even then.
It's legal now to run a Klan march through town, in full regalia.
Even the town in that very picture.
That doesn't make it sensible, laudible, nor prudent.
And with about half of the country on the "control freak" side of the political continuum, even the most fundamental natural law rights will inevitably be circumscribed (or it will be attempted) because of the actions of idiots on the left end of the intelligence bell curve.
There is a sweet spot between what we might want, and what we should legislate.
The problem comes when some people see the two as interchangeable, which they are not.
Now, what was it you were saying a few posts up about slippery slopes?
I tried to argue context before and got called an idiot.
DeleteYou just equated open carry protests to a Klan rally. If you didn't mean to parrot the anti-gun position so completely, you should reply with what you really mean with a different example.
While you say you'd be happy with Constitutional Carry, I suspect you'd still condemn anyone who didn't do it to your precise liking.
Freedom IS scary, but you don't need to be afraid.
Have you ever considered explaining that nobody got hurt, no laws were broken, that this is a protest and by its very nature is supposed to be extraordinary and to be noticed?
You're going to be called an idiot, of course. I suspect you've been called worse for less.
I don't think that open carry is freaking the mundanes as much as it's freaking the "pro-gun" people who're content with the status quo and don't want more freedom despite the front they present to the outside. Open carry is not freaking the anti-gun side out at all, they are already freaked by the mere ownership of guns and are THRILLED that the "pro-gun" side is agreeing with them that it's shameful and should be hidden from sight.