I was driving home from work the other day and pulled into my neighborhood (it’s a typical middle-class neighborhood with the homes built around 10-12 years ago) and there was a guy, his wife (I guess) and a small dog on a leash walking along the sidewalk. Completely normal, but this guy had a rifle slung over his shoulder… looked like an AR-10 but I’m not a gun guy so who knows.
I guess he’s just “exercising his rights”, I never felt scared or worried or anything, but I can’t help but imagine what would happen if this guy was black instead of white. I think someone would have called the police and I don’t the guy would have survived the encounter. It’s really clear to me that gun rights are meant for whites, and any black or hispanic man trying to exercise those same rights is gambling with his life.
It’s too bad because I think the quickest way to get new gun laws passed is to encourage all minorities to start openly carrying guns in protest.
We’ve had the same breed of moron in our neighborhood, as well. They make sure they video anyone challenging them, including cops, so they can post it on Youtube.
I didn’t see it, but I was told that several years ago a guy a couple of houses down was prowling around one night with a gun. Apparently he was looking for Aliens in the trees.
I grew up around firearms, in a culture where hunting and shooting was common, and with several mentors who were former military, many of them in various special units where carrying and using firearms was second nature. Most kept firearms around or on person, but there was an understanding that responsible ownership and carry also meant you didn’t pose or display weapons in public venues without good cause or context so as to not make other people feel uncomfortable or threatened. The modern, NRA-driven radical ‘gun rights’ movement seems to have not quite grasped that last point, or the general principle of just not being a raging asshole just because the law doesn’t say you can’t.
They grasp it quite well. Just like literacy tests used to be neutral in wording but racist in both intent and effect, knowing that as a white man you can make others feel threatened by “just exercising your rights” with an AR-15 at the ready while non-whites who try to do the same risk being killed by mainly white cops who run little risk of conviction is a continuation of white supremacy in the US.
They know they can play a game of “I’m not touching you!” with guns and if it degenerates, they won’t be the ones who get the worst of it. That’s part of the fun for them, the power they feel over others.
That and the fantasy of sparking a race war they’ve had for decades.
This is another one. Another reason not to live in a town or neighborhood. We have guns. I use guns. Mr.Wrekker hunts and cc’s.
My children all know how to shoot. My son is the only one who actually owns guns and hunts. He cc’s also. Carrying a gun out like that is just ignorant. He could say it’s for protection. Protection from what? A dog barking at you, your neighbors? Are you prepared to kill someone in your neighborhood? Or to shoot a pet? Maybe there are wild animals out there in the suburbs, bunny rabbits and squirrels rarely kill people. I know there are coyote sightings in urban areas all the time, (You should see them in the country), If you see a coyote in your suburb. I suggest staying indoors or carrying bear repellant. And calling a wildlife officer to report it.
Stupid Jerk carrying an AR or AK is just stupid.
If you, unknown person, have a gun like that, and are walking around a peaceful suburb, No you don’t look cool, you look like the jerk you are. Furthermore, you are asking for trouble!
When Obama spoke at ASU graduation, a bunch of ‘patriots’ walked around as close as they could get and openly displayed firearms. Arizona is an open carry state and they weren’t even being subtle about how they wished Obama would be assassinated.
So true.
If I were African/American, or any brown shade, I would not be anywhere near a firearm.
If I had sons of a brown shade, I would guard them with my life.
I don’t know Af/Am mother’s can sleep at night. It must feel like sitting on a loaded grenade.
What white men have done to this country, staggers me.
I was going to say the same thing. I lived in Texas the past ten years, and never saw single gun, except in the Walmart sporting goods department. I don’t even remember seeing one on a rack in the back window of a pickup.
I open carry my 9 mm whenever I’m out-n-about. This includes shopping at Walmart, eating lunch at a restaurant, etc.
I have no problem if someone wants to open carry their rifle; it’s a free country, and they have a right to do it. I don’t do it simply because I don’t want to lug a rifle around. OTOH, I would carry a rifle if I were expecting a fight and knew LE couldn’t fix the problem. Thankfully I have yet to find myself in that situation.
When I was a child, it used to be very common to see pickups with a gun rack with a couple of rifles/shotguns on it mounted in the back window. Now, I can’t remember the last time I saw one.
Many African-Americans do find themselves in that situation. The fight they expect is with law enforcement, and they know that law enforcement can’t fix the problem because they are the problem. And open carry will make that situation worse for them, not better.
I’m not sure that’s a smart idea in Florida. I wonder how many people seeing those vigilantes will be in reasonable fear of their lives. There is no requirement to flee, after all.
Like in a holster on your hip? I hope this doesn’t derail the thread but I’m curious: why open?
I only ask (and genuinely so, I have no intent of getting disrespectful) because my personal philosophy on packing is that “nobody knows you’re packing until they’re dying.” That means no intimidation, no active or passive brandishing, no bluffing. You draw the gun, you draw blood. If you’re not prepared to draw blood, then that must mean there is some other way to deescalate the situation you’ve allowed yourself to wander into.