M-Taliesin
Regular Member
Howdy Folks!
We had a terrific meet & greet at Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que restaurant in Colorado Springs on Tuesday, February 28th.
It was our great pleasure to meet our friend from Virginia, Red Dawg, and get to know the man over a big plate of ribs!
We had a large table for our group, owing largely to my contacting the restaurant before we left Aurora to let them know about this nefarious band of gunslingers that planned to show up for vittles and to shoot the breeze in their establishment. They don't actually take reservations, but were still happy to know that we'd be showing up with a group so they weren't caught by surprise.
The folks at Famous Daves in Colorado Springs were outstanding and entirely welcoming of our group. During dinner, the manager came by to see to our needs or wants, and was going beyond the call of duty to make certain we were all happy and well taken care of. We thanked him for his making us all feel at home and honoring our 2a rights of carry. Since9 also told him about the OCDO forum and invited him to check us out on the net. Maybe we've made a new friend and given him something to consider.
About a dozen or so showed up, and I'll let them speak for themselves. It's an ethics thing. I don't want to point anybody out who hasn't given consent to being pointed out. Besides, I think it would be more interesting for them to post on their own, giving their view of the evening's festivities.
There was lively banter throughout our meal, and photographs were taken that should show up when the man gets time to post them all. Hopefully we'll see them soon, right here in this thread.
Our primary focus was what we might do to help raise public awareness of open carry in Colorado. That topic got a bit blurred to include concealed carry too. We considered a variety of options to help promote a favorable impression of legally armed citizens carrying openly. Many folks have a negative perspective about folks wearing handguns in public, and those attitudes are built largely on negative sterotypes they've been programmed with by political organizations (i.e., the Brady Bunch), talk shows on radio and televsion (especially those with an anti stance on 2a RKBA issues), and social movement groups with an anti agenda.
Considering many in our community may hold stereotyped views of gun owners in general, and carriers in particular, we debated what might be done to help dispell some of the misconceptions folks hold, and to replace such stereotypical notions with a much more positive view of law abiding citizens who carry their firearms to defend their lives, those of their loved ones and even their neighbors should the need arise.
Among suggestions were to do a highway cleanup, with those volunteering open carrying the sidearm of their choice. It was supposed that we might garner media coverage for such an effort. On a similar note was for a bunch of us to gather to clean up a local park, again with an eye toward getting media coverage. That such a highway cleanup or volunteers working to clean up a local park should merit media coverage seemed unlikely considering how media runs on the theory "If it bleeds, it leads!" The last thing we want is anybody bleeding while picking up litter! Another suggestion involved doing a toy drive or similar effort. A suggestion what we might go door to door handing out flyers explaining we hope to gather donated toys for delivery to Children's Hospital or some similar charitable effort was cautioned on grounds that some folks might become alarmed by armed men coming to their door. A reasonable point, all things considered.
Similar efforts such as a food drive to help stock a local pantry might be good.
The aforementioned toy drive would be spiffy too.
Or how about an effort to round up warm clothing for homeless folks?
Suggestions were placed on the table, but we would like to hear the opinion of other Coloradoans.
There is a terrific idea out there, we just ain't heard the one yet that sounds like the winner so far.
Suggestions would be welcome.
Finally, we discussed how it might not be best to affiliate such efforts with OCDO, because it might not be welcomed by the folks who created and manage Open Carry Dot Org! Without express approval from the OCDO folks, we probably would be wise to do something put together by Colorado open carriers for our fellow Coloradoans on our own.
With the foregoing in mind, it was suggested that we might create a new informal coalition of gun owners and carriers to promote 2a/RKBA in our community with an eye toward improving the view of us as responsible, law abiding, friendly and safe folks. The point being to replace those negative stereotypes created by various propaganda groups of anti's, and substitute our own side of the story with a more positive and accurate view of gun owners and carriers in Colorado.
When considering a name for such an informal, loosely organized coalition of gun owners and carriers, several were proposed. Colorado Open Carry was suggested but we don't really want to exclude others who prefer concealed carry.
Another suggestion was CLAC - Colorado Legally Armed Carriers!
Alternatively: Colorado Law Abiding Carriers.
Alternatively, the Sequel: Colorado Legally Armed Citizens.
No decisions were reached at this meet and greet, and suggestions are welcome and encouraged.
Please think about ways that we, as armed citizens, and work together to change public perceptions built by propaganda groups (antis) and replace it with a more positive one. If you have any desire to help with our proposed informal and loosely organized coalition of gun owners and carriers, we'd love to hear about it. And if you think up a good name for such an informal and loosely organized coalition of gun owners and carriers, we'd certainly love to hear those suggestions as well.
Hopefully some others who were at the Meet and Greet will come along to share their impressions of the evening. At least one of our number took photos and hopefully will post them soon in this thread or another.
The short story is, we had a marvelous evening, enjoyed terrific food, and received splendid hospitality from the folks at Famous Daves in Colorado Springs. it was a real pleasure to gather up and catch up with friends and make new ones along the way.
Blessings,
M-Taliesin
We had a terrific meet & greet at Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que restaurant in Colorado Springs on Tuesday, February 28th.
It was our great pleasure to meet our friend from Virginia, Red Dawg, and get to know the man over a big plate of ribs!
We had a large table for our group, owing largely to my contacting the restaurant before we left Aurora to let them know about this nefarious band of gunslingers that planned to show up for vittles and to shoot the breeze in their establishment. They don't actually take reservations, but were still happy to know that we'd be showing up with a group so they weren't caught by surprise.
The folks at Famous Daves in Colorado Springs were outstanding and entirely welcoming of our group. During dinner, the manager came by to see to our needs or wants, and was going beyond the call of duty to make certain we were all happy and well taken care of. We thanked him for his making us all feel at home and honoring our 2a rights of carry. Since9 also told him about the OCDO forum and invited him to check us out on the net. Maybe we've made a new friend and given him something to consider.
About a dozen or so showed up, and I'll let them speak for themselves. It's an ethics thing. I don't want to point anybody out who hasn't given consent to being pointed out. Besides, I think it would be more interesting for them to post on their own, giving their view of the evening's festivities.
There was lively banter throughout our meal, and photographs were taken that should show up when the man gets time to post them all. Hopefully we'll see them soon, right here in this thread.
Our primary focus was what we might do to help raise public awareness of open carry in Colorado. That topic got a bit blurred to include concealed carry too. We considered a variety of options to help promote a favorable impression of legally armed citizens carrying openly. Many folks have a negative perspective about folks wearing handguns in public, and those attitudes are built largely on negative sterotypes they've been programmed with by political organizations (i.e., the Brady Bunch), talk shows on radio and televsion (especially those with an anti stance on 2a RKBA issues), and social movement groups with an anti agenda.
Considering many in our community may hold stereotyped views of gun owners in general, and carriers in particular, we debated what might be done to help dispell some of the misconceptions folks hold, and to replace such stereotypical notions with a much more positive view of law abiding citizens who carry their firearms to defend their lives, those of their loved ones and even their neighbors should the need arise.
Among suggestions were to do a highway cleanup, with those volunteering open carrying the sidearm of their choice. It was supposed that we might garner media coverage for such an effort. On a similar note was for a bunch of us to gather to clean up a local park, again with an eye toward getting media coverage. That such a highway cleanup or volunteers working to clean up a local park should merit media coverage seemed unlikely considering how media runs on the theory "If it bleeds, it leads!" The last thing we want is anybody bleeding while picking up litter! Another suggestion involved doing a toy drive or similar effort. A suggestion what we might go door to door handing out flyers explaining we hope to gather donated toys for delivery to Children's Hospital or some similar charitable effort was cautioned on grounds that some folks might become alarmed by armed men coming to their door. A reasonable point, all things considered.
Similar efforts such as a food drive to help stock a local pantry might be good.
The aforementioned toy drive would be spiffy too.
Or how about an effort to round up warm clothing for homeless folks?
Suggestions were placed on the table, but we would like to hear the opinion of other Coloradoans.
There is a terrific idea out there, we just ain't heard the one yet that sounds like the winner so far.
Suggestions would be welcome.
Finally, we discussed how it might not be best to affiliate such efforts with OCDO, because it might not be welcomed by the folks who created and manage Open Carry Dot Org! Without express approval from the OCDO folks, we probably would be wise to do something put together by Colorado open carriers for our fellow Coloradoans on our own.
With the foregoing in mind, it was suggested that we might create a new informal coalition of gun owners and carriers to promote 2a/RKBA in our community with an eye toward improving the view of us as responsible, law abiding, friendly and safe folks. The point being to replace those negative stereotypes created by various propaganda groups of anti's, and substitute our own side of the story with a more positive and accurate view of gun owners and carriers in Colorado.
When considering a name for such an informal, loosely organized coalition of gun owners and carriers, several were proposed. Colorado Open Carry was suggested but we don't really want to exclude others who prefer concealed carry.
Another suggestion was CLAC - Colorado Legally Armed Carriers!
Alternatively: Colorado Law Abiding Carriers.
Alternatively, the Sequel: Colorado Legally Armed Citizens.
No decisions were reached at this meet and greet, and suggestions are welcome and encouraged.
Please think about ways that we, as armed citizens, and work together to change public perceptions built by propaganda groups (antis) and replace it with a more positive one. If you have any desire to help with our proposed informal and loosely organized coalition of gun owners and carriers, we'd love to hear about it. And if you think up a good name for such an informal and loosely organized coalition of gun owners and carriers, we'd certainly love to hear those suggestions as well.
Hopefully some others who were at the Meet and Greet will come along to share their impressions of the evening. At least one of our number took photos and hopefully will post them soon in this thread or another.
The short story is, we had a marvelous evening, enjoyed terrific food, and received splendid hospitality from the folks at Famous Daves in Colorado Springs. it was a real pleasure to gather up and catch up with friends and make new ones along the way.
Blessings,
M-Taliesin