Gray Peterson
Founder's Club Member - Moderator
imported post
Last week, I went out to Spokane to a convention, and when I went out here I happened to attend the Spokane OC meetup over at Steelhead Grill.
Near the end, I had Dave The Welder come up to me outside and tell me something along these words.
"You are the reason why I open carry without hesitation now. You've been so open about so many things in your life in posting on the forum, that you'd never hide who you are, whether it be a gun owner or a gay man, is the reason I do so today."
It took a few minutes for those words to sink in, and to quell the ego. :what:
A lot of folk here, as far as I have seen, look up to me. I try to be very humble but sometimes it's pretty difficult due to the praising.
I do however have one thing to say to all of you.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
When my endeavor started three years ago, I never expected it to all occur this way. I honestly did not know if I could turn the tide originally.
At the beginning, it was a pretty lonely battle. However, what occurred afterwards is a variant from "Field of Dreams": If you build it, they will come. Well, they did, in droves.
There's a few specific people I want to thank:
Mike Stollenwork and John Pierce for creating opencarry.org in the first place. We simply would not have had any sort of forward movement on open carry in Washington without the website.
Jim March (of equalccw.com) who led the fight for equal CCW issuance in California before moving here and being probably the reason we made so much headway. He was the person who pointed out the possible link between the hated 9.41.270 and the Black Panthers, which gave us the evidence we need to prove that peaceable open carry was completely lawful. March provided the historical reference that led to the breakthrough, and simply enough, without him, we would not be where we are today.
44Brent for giving me the original out of town perspective as an open carrier in many states.
Both Joe Waldron and Dave Workman, the "official gun lobbyists" in Washington State, for giving me the recent legal and political background. They generally gave me guidance on how to approach the PD's. I believe it was one of them who originally told me that the departments really needed to train their officers on this subject. This is where the training bulletin idea came from.
Last but not least, the rest of you on this forum, with NWCDL, and other associated organizations who have pushed us this far, and brought open carry back from the brink in this state, from brutally suppressed by all urban law enforcement to now even Seattle PD knowing that it's legal. Without you following the example, it would have made my efforts for naught. Thank you all!
:celebrate:monkey
Last week, I went out to Spokane to a convention, and when I went out here I happened to attend the Spokane OC meetup over at Steelhead Grill.
Near the end, I had Dave The Welder come up to me outside and tell me something along these words.
"You are the reason why I open carry without hesitation now. You've been so open about so many things in your life in posting on the forum, that you'd never hide who you are, whether it be a gun owner or a gay man, is the reason I do so today."
It took a few minutes for those words to sink in, and to quell the ego. :what:
A lot of folk here, as far as I have seen, look up to me. I try to be very humble but sometimes it's pretty difficult due to the praising.
I do however have one thing to say to all of you.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
When my endeavor started three years ago, I never expected it to all occur this way. I honestly did not know if I could turn the tide originally.
At the beginning, it was a pretty lonely battle. However, what occurred afterwards is a variant from "Field of Dreams": If you build it, they will come. Well, they did, in droves.
There's a few specific people I want to thank:
Mike Stollenwork and John Pierce for creating opencarry.org in the first place. We simply would not have had any sort of forward movement on open carry in Washington without the website.
Jim March (of equalccw.com) who led the fight for equal CCW issuance in California before moving here and being probably the reason we made so much headway. He was the person who pointed out the possible link between the hated 9.41.270 and the Black Panthers, which gave us the evidence we need to prove that peaceable open carry was completely lawful. March provided the historical reference that led to the breakthrough, and simply enough, without him, we would not be where we are today.
44Brent for giving me the original out of town perspective as an open carrier in many states.
Both Joe Waldron and Dave Workman, the "official gun lobbyists" in Washington State, for giving me the recent legal and political background. They generally gave me guidance on how to approach the PD's. I believe it was one of them who originally told me that the departments really needed to train their officers on this subject. This is where the training bulletin idea came from.
Last but not least, the rest of you on this forum, with NWCDL, and other associated organizations who have pushed us this far, and brought open carry back from the brink in this state, from brutally suppressed by all urban law enforcement to now even Seattle PD knowing that it's legal. Without you following the example, it would have made my efforts for naught. Thank you all!
:celebrate:monkey
