At Protests, Guns Are Doing the Talking Carrying a gun in public doesn’t make you a man. Carrying it to intimidate folks posing no threat to you makes you a wimp, and a danger to society. Open carry is so infantile in my mind. “Across the country, openly carrying a gun in public is no longer just an exercise in self-defense — increasingly it is a soapbox for elevating one’s voice and, just as often, quieting someone else’s. “This month, armed protesters appeared outside an elections center in Phoenix, hurling baseless accusations that the election for governor had been stolen from the Republican, Kari Lake. In October, Proud Boys with guns joined a rallyin Nashville where conservative lawmakers spoke against transgender medical treatments for minors. “In June, armed demonstrations around the United States amounted to nearly one a day. A group led by a former Republican state legislator protested a gay pride event in a public park in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Men with guns interrupted a Juneteenth festival in Franklin, Tenn., handing out fliers claiming that white people were being replaced. Among the others were rallies in support of gun rights in Delaware and abortion rights in Georgia. “Whether at the local library, in a park or on Main Street, most of these incidents happen where Republicans have fought to expand the ability to bear arms in public, a movement bolstered by a recent Supreme Court rulingon the right to carry firearms outside the home. The loosening of limits has occurred as violent political rhetoric rises and the police in some places fear bloodshed among an armed populace on a hair trigger.
These folks are told non-stop that the other side is trying to take away their way of life, their livelihood, their children, and more. To their defense, they don't see any other option. They're told the political process has been hijacked and they have no other means to redress their grievances than violence or the threat of violence. To me the heart of the problem lies not in the open carry, but in the reasons people open carry (or storm the Capital). Until they understand they've been lied to, I'm not sure there's a fix.
Although in today's America open carry is supported by the right almost to the point that it has become an article of faith. I'm so old that I remember when California enacted the Mulford Act expressly prohibiting open carry because open carry was supported by the Black Panthers. Then Governor Ronald Reagan signed the law which was actively supported by conservatives and the NRA. When these guys advocated open carry conservatives actively opposed it (Photo outside California capitol circa 1967). Today the right loves open carry especially when it's practiced by clowns like those pictured below (Michigan capitol circa 2020).
We have 300,000,000+ people in this country picking a couple of incidents does not make your thread title correct. I'd be willing to wager 99.9% of the right wing has never open carried a gun in a public place. How many guns were there at that incident y'all lefties like to harp on, you know that Jan 6 thing? Now that we have talked about guns, let's talk about the lefts favorite protest activities, firebombing and looting.
You mean people who think it is OK to destroy property of not only people they disagree with but also their own friends and businesses?
Once again a poster incorrectly ascribes social protests to politics. As for the brandishing of weapons, I believe we continue to witness the frenzied symptoms of a dying political party.
The subject of the thread is people who feel the need to openly carry guns to protest gay rights, transgender medical care, etc. Instead we get "yeah, well some other people burned businesses ...!" and something about needing a gun to protect your family. Neither of those have anything at all to do with the subject of the thread.
Protests aren't politics? My point is you and the others quick to jump on this thread are calling a small minority of extreme right wingers the right wing, it is not, it is a few people making asses of themselves. The exception to that might be places like Kenosha where businesses were being destroyed. That said anybody who didn't have a vested interest in Kenosha should have stayed home but I don't blame anybody who was protecting their business or the business or residence of a friend for being there with an AR15.
Good grief. Just about everything is done by a minority of people, including the protests/riots of 2020. People are showing up at protests fully armed. That's something to discuss. But, apparently because they're conservatives, you don't think we should be talking about it at all. Instead, we should be talking about the summer of 2020 because, God knows, we've never had a chance to talk about that stuff before.
One thing I never have understood, why do so many right winger gun nuts play dress up? Pretend like they are soldiers? look at some of these pics…. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/14/jan-6-probe-sees-contacts-between-secret-service-oath-keepers.html (Article and pics at link)
Dallas Morning News' story is just a bit different. No mention of guns, no mention of Antifa .... Denton bookstore hosts Transgender Storytime during Transgender Week of Awareness
In regards to the ones I know and have experienced it comes from places of insecurity and feeling inferior to the male generation before them. They overcompensate for how "tough" they are because they've never seen any real type of conflict. Most have never even been in a fist fight. Although they talk big and think they could knock someone out with a few punches. A lot of them have never even played sports. Although if they did they "probably could've gotten a scholarship". They live through others and see themselves as the hero in every action movie they watch. I'm not speaking about Republicans as a whole obviously. Just the ones that play dress up and pleasure themselves while reading Soldier of Fortune.
How many people have been shot from open carry at any of these rally’s? All those guns out in the open.. how many deaths? My guess is there have been more shootings at inner city birthday parties, funerals, and rap concerts. I don’t like open carry. See no point in it. But many act like the mere presence of a gun is a death sentence. Your odds of being shot are much higher in any of the above mentioned situations.
You capture it! I’d love to see how those folks would do in Marine basic training. Forget Ranger or Navy Seals training. I also find it odd so many of them employ the Islamic terroists’ tactic of hiding their faces with masks.
Here you go river, do you really think this thread is about discussing a few people showing up at protests armed. Take your blinders off and you will see what I saw in the first 3 or 4 posts. Now the OP and his cohorts are continuing to discuss open carry......Oops no they aren't they are continuing to discuss those 1/10 of 1% of the extreme right who "are wimps that never played sports or served this country or never even got into a fight". LMAO at these internet bad asses.
