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Counter Protest at Summit County Gun Show

NEOOpenCarry

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2012
Messages
132
Location
Akron, Ohio
The following E-mail was received in reference to the recent shooting down of legislation to ban gun shows at the Summit County Fair Grounds, and passed along to us:

"Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence
Ohio September Activities
Protest
*Protest the gun show at the Summit County Fair Grounds *
*Call for background checks*
*September 28 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
near the Rt 91 entrance in front of the parking lot for the soccer field.
Summit County Progressive Democrats Gun Violence Prevention Issue Team
*___________________________________________________
Stand Your Ground
*Ohio HB 203
*
*Ask a friend to sign our petition against this bill*
*Everyone should have a 'duty to retreat' to prevent violence. *"

It seems our friends on the left are unhappy with the county's decision to not ban gun shows, and are unhappy in general with the state of firearms rights in OH. They have decided to picket outside of the gun show next weekend. From their website, and calendar, it is unclear whether or not they intend to go forward with this protest. This will however be an opportune time to hand out our literature and share our support for the progress being made in OH. We will meet at the parking lot at the front entrance near the soccer fields. Bring signs!

As if you needed another reason to go to the gun show.

Here is the link for more info and to RSVP

https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/554148891316969/
 

eye95

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
13,524
Location
Fairborn, Ohio, USA
I am off on the 28th, so guess where my gun is going to be. The show likely makes my gun unwelcome, so I won't go in nor give them my money. But I will happily hang around outside and demonstrate the the antis that guns, even lots of them nearby, don't jump out of holsters and do nefarious things.

Please post the details here. Some of us refuse to do facebook.

Any details posted here will be echoed on the eye95 Twitter feed, which is dedicated now to posting information about Ohio gun rallies. I suggest that we plan to be there BEFORE the antis. I'd love for them to arrive and find us already there.
 

eye95

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
13,524
Location
Fairborn, Ohio, USA
Gun shows ought to have the same rules as places like Bass Pro Shop: If you have no plans to handle the firearm (try holsters, replace the grips, etc.), just carry. If you plan to handle the firearm, clear it prior to entry and secure it in some fashion. I only plan on doing one thing with my firearm that involves handling it at a gun show, to wit, defend myself if necessary. Zip-tied guns can't do that effectively.

Again, if the OP will post details of the meetup here, I will cross-post them to the eye95 Twitter feed. I (and many others) refuse to do facebook.
 

Brian D.

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2007
Messages
937
Location
Cincy area, Ohio, USA
So precisely what the heck is it with gun shows that make you tie your action open?!

Werz mentioned the "morons and negligent discharges" aspect. That may come off as snarky but he is correct. (Don't get your ego all puffed about that, Werz! ;) )

I would add that it was long reported to me by gun show operators that the 'unloaded gun rule' was also stipulated by their insurance carrier. It took a while but one promoter finally showed me written proof of that. As you can imagine there aren't many insurance companies willing to write coverage for a gun show. In fact to the best of my knowledge currently the shows in this area all use the SAME company.
 

SteveInCO

Regular Member
Joined
May 3, 2013
Messages
297
Location
El Paso County, Colorado
Werz mentioned the "morons and negligent discharges" aspect. That may come off as snarky but he is correct. (Don't get your ego all puffed about that, Werz! ;) )

I would add that it was long reported to me by gun show operators that the 'unloaded gun rule' was also stipulated by their insurance carrier. It took a while but one promoter finally showed me written proof of that. As you can imagine there aren't many insurance companies willing to write coverage for a gun show. In fact to the best of my knowledge currently the shows in this area all use the SAME company.

It is amazing how insurance can rule the world. The mere fact that mortgages require insurance, for instance, gives insurance companies effective control over many of the things that are generally handled (coercively) by building inspectors and the like. One could "go libertarian" in this arena and remove the government aspect entirely, with almost no actual effect, because insurance companies would insist on many of the things the government requires, anyway!
 

eye95

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
13,524
Location
Fairborn, Ohio, USA
Remember, many of us refuse to do facebook. If the details are cross-posted here, I will also cross-post them the the eye95 Twitter feed.

I recommend that we shoot to show up an hour before the antis do. We should be there waiting on them.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk.

<o>
 

papa bear

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Messages
2,222
Location
mayberry, nc
EYE looks like we agree on this. my thoughts on this is like 'dummy lights". if you take the awareness of loaded guns from people. they will do stupid things. it's like the head lights that come on automatically, if people don't think about it they will become dumber
 

NEOOpenCarry

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2012
Messages
132
Location
Akron, Ohio
Eye95, we will be parking just inside the entrance to the fairgrounds in the parking lot near the soccer fields. We will meet up after we park, just outside of the entrance right off of Rt 91. Bring signs, flags, any type of legally carried firearm, pro 2A shirts and anything else you can think of. If anyone needs to get ahold of me or has questions, please email ohiocarry@yahoo.com.
 

eye95

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
13,524
Location
Fairborn, Ohio, USA
Eye95, we will be parking just inside the entrance to the fairgrounds in the parking lot near the soccer fields. We will meet up after we park, just outside of the entrance right off of Rt 91. Bring signs, flags, any type of legally carried firearm, pro 2A shirts and anything else you can think of. If anyone needs to get ahold of me or has questions, please email ohiocarry@yahoo.com.

Time? I think one hour prior to the antis would be effective.

Cross-posted to eye95 Twitter feed. Will update time with any new information.
 
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NEOOpenCarry

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2012
Messages
132
Location
Akron, Ohio
Time? I think one hour prior to the antis would be effective.

Cross-posted to eye95 Twitter feed. Will update time with any new information.

We will try to be there starting at 10. I would say an official time of 1030 would be ok. Antis have said they will be there at 11.
 

eye95

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
13,524
Location
Fairborn, Ohio, USA
I am leaving here about 7, will shoot to be there shortly after 10.

Let's make this another anti rally that turned into a pro rally!
 

JustaShooter

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2013
Messages
728
Location
NE Ohio
I'll let folks with more details chime in, but it was a good day all in all. It started off with my wife and me not being sure where to meet everyone and ending up at the entrance to the fairground itself, which was a bit farther down the access road than the protest. Eye95 and one other of our group made the same miscalculation and we all met up, and right about then one of the gun show attendees coming in mentioned the antis were beginning their protest so off we went.

I think I said something like "time to take a walk" and it just happened that Officer Friendly from the Summit County Sheriff's Office (who we had exchanged pleasantries with earlier) was near enough to overhear and attempted to bait us - kept asking whether we were protesting the protesters, and didn't we think that would cause problems? Eye95 and I looked at each other and said something to the effect that "I'm not going to cause any problems, are you? No, I'm not going to cause any problems!" He kept asking what we were doing, and was clearly getting agitated that we weren't answering and finally said "just answer the <expletive> question!" to which Eye95 replied that we were just going to meet some friends. Guess he didn't like that answer because he took off in his little cart and headed down the road toward the protest site.

We had to walk by the antis on our way to meet up with our group, and eye95 was actually accused of threatening the antis as we walked by them! All he did was turn around and walk backward as we passed them (I assume to see their expressions & hear them better) which also happened to put his firearm in full view (surely he wouldn't have done it for that purpose alone, now would he? lol). When we met up with our group I noticed that there were a few more antis in their group than we had pro-2A folks in our group, but not by a whole lot. I'd guess we had 15, they probably had 20 at their peak. Hopefully someone actually counted lol!

Regardless, they certainly knew we were there - one big and many small Gadsden flags, a big Molon Labe flag with an AR-15 on it and another big flag I didn't get a good look at. Add to that a guy on a bullhorn and we got a lot of thumbs-up and horns honked from the folks going to and from the gun show - some of the folks leaving the show that passed by the antis first were clearly under the impression we were part of the antis till they heard us and actually saw our flags. Unfortunately, NEOCarry forgot the signs in his garage, and nobody else made any - I only got free from another obligation at the last minute so didn't have time to make anything before coming.

The highlight of the day for me was being called a terrorist as my wife and I walked back toward the fairground buildings in search of a restroom for her. That was a repeating theme for them I guess as at least one other of our group was similarly accused. There were probably some other epithets tossed at our group, if you were there and heard them be sure to post!

We all had a great morning supporting the 2nd Amendment to be sure! I wish more people had joined us so we could have dwarfed their turnout like what happened at the MAIG "event". In many ways, here in Ohio the pro-2A folks appear to have momentum on our side, but we have to keep it up, and the only way to do that is to make sure that every time the antis show up, we show up in greater numbers and with more support from the public.
 
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NEOOpenCarry

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2012
Messages
132
Location
Akron, Ohio
I'll let folks with more details chime in, but it was a good day all in all. It started off with my wife and me not being sure where to meet everyone and ending up at the entrance to the fairground itself, which was a bit farther down the access road than the protest. Eye95 and one other of our group made the same miscalculation and we all met up, and right about then one of the gun show attendees coming in mentioned the antis were beginning their protest so off we went.

I think I said something like "time to take a walk" and it just happened that Officer Friendly from the Wayne County Sheriff's Office (who we had exchanged pleasantries with earlier) was near enough to overhear and attempted to bait us - kept asking whether we were protesting the protesters, and didn't we think that would cause problems? Eye95 and I looked at each other and said something to the effect that "I'm not going to cause any problems, are you? No, I'm not going to cause any problems!" He kept asking what we were doing, and was clearly getting agitated that we weren't answering and finally said "just answer the <expletive> question!" to which Eye95 replied that we were just going to meet some friends. Guess he didn't like that answer because he took off in his little cart and headed down the road toward the protest site.

We had to walk by the antis on our way to meet up with our group, and eye95 was actually accused of threatening the antis as we walked by them! All he did was turn around and walk backward as we passed them (I assume to see their expressions & hear them better) which also happened to put his firearm in full view (surely he wouldn't have done it for that purpose alone, now would he? lol). When we met up with our group I noticed that there were a few more antis in their group than we had pro-2A folks in our group, but not by a whole lot. I'd guess we had 15, they probably had 20 at their peak. Hopefully someone actually counted lol!

Regardless, they certainly knew we were there - one big and many small Gadsden flags, a big Molon Labe flag with an AR-15 on it and another big flag I didn't get a good look at. Add to that a guy on a bullhorn and we got a lot of thumbs-up and horns honked from the folks going to and from the gun show - some of the folks leaving the show that passed by the antis first were clearly under the impression we were part of the antis till they heard us and actually saw our flags. Unfortunately, NEOCarry forgot the signs in his garage, and nobody else made any - I only got free from another obligation at the last minute so didn't have time to make anything before coming.

The highlight of the day for me was being called a terrorist as my wife and I walked back toward the fairground buildings in search of a restroom for her. That was a repeating theme for them I guess as at least one other of our group was similarly accused. There were probably some other epithets tossed at our group, if you were there and heard them be sure to post!

We all had a great morning supporting the 2nd Amendment to be sure! I wish more people had joined us so we could have dwarfed their turnout like what happened at the MAIG "event". In many ways, here in Ohio the pro-2A folks appear to have momentum on our side, but we have to keep it up, and the only way to do that is to make sure that every time the antis show up, we show up in greater numbers and with more support from the public.

Well said! That about summed it up! I liked that we had a few people actually pull over and join us while leaving the gun show to show their support and step up for the cause! I also found quite humorous how one of the anti-gun people pulled up next to us, thought we were the anti group, got out with her little background check sign and started asking us questions. We told he she probably meant to be with the group down the road and it was at that point that she saw all of the "scary guns" everywhere, turned around, walked briskly back to her vehicle and practically peeled off toward the correct group lol! It was a great day though and if anyone ever hears of anti-gun people protesting ANYTHING please let us know so we can be there in force.
 
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