• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

BBC - An armed America is ready to shop

Mike

Site Co-Founder
Joined
May 13, 2006
Messages
8,706
Location
Fairfax County, Virginia, USA
imported post

New Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/2010/03/armed_and_ready_to_shop.html

--

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/2010/03/armed_and_ready_to_shop.html

SNIP
Armed and ready to shop

Mark Mardell | Wisconsin Open Carry. Groups like this have been springing up all over the States in the last year and they've been making an impact in the last week or so, getting Starbucks in California to agree people should be allowed into their coffee shops carrying guns. The groups are made up of people who want to make a point about the Second Amendment right in the Constitution to bear arms, by bearing them openly. Some want to make a point and test whether or not private firms like shops and restaurants recognise that right.

The movement is slightly different in the state of Wisconsin where concealed guns are banned. Nick says wearing a gun in a visible holster is the only way he can carry a weapon legally and he wants others to be aware of their rights: he doesn't want to confront but to convert.

"You have a right to self defence and open carry is a great deterrent. It's about personal protection," he says.

. . .

"I've been open carrying for about a year and most people don't notice, or some might make a comment. It's a demonstration I am a law-abiding citizen, you have nothing to hide. Criminals never open carry."

He says that his group respects property rights and if a shop doesn't want their custom and they are asked to leave they are happy to do so: they don't want to patronise that business. But he says most big companies know the law and have a policy that allows them to shop armed.

Kim says for her it is all about self protection: "I can guarantee if I am going to my car late at night and someone sees me carrying a gun they won't make me a victim."

opencarry2.jpg
But Nick says he is also making a point: "I want people to see me and have a level of comfort, to know that if they are out walking their dog it is OK to carry a gun, if they are walking to their car after work it is legal to carry a firearm."

. . .

In Wisconsin, Open Carry is taking legal action against the rule that bans handguns within a quarter of a mile of schools. The supreme court judgement could have a bearing on that.

Still, when I meet around 30 people from Wisconsin Open Carry over lunch at a big restaurant there is a feeling that their rights need protecting. There are grandparents and mums and little children, and all the adults are armed.

Most tell me that this is mainly about protection but what they refer to as civil rights comes a close second A couple of people tell me for them say it is the other way around: the politics comes first. One man, whose name I don't catch, says he doesn't feel very threatened in suburban Wisconsin but it is about resisting the encroachment of the last two administrations, it's about not giving in to big government.

Matt Slavic, sitting next to his little granddaughter, observes that outside the United Nations is a sculpture of a gun, its barrel twisted in a knot. "The Second Amendment gives teeth to the rest of the constitution, it keeps tyranny at bay. I do feel it is under threat, not just from within the USA but from the UN - their small arms treaty would restrict hand gun ownership in the United States."

Several people tell me the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, underpins the first, freedom of speech. One of those eating with a gun at their side, John Laimon, goes further: "It's not about guns, it's about civil rights. It's growing because of the plain fear about inadequate politicians. They cut down guns but they've got bodyguards. Our rights are under fire."

. . .
 

sv51macross

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Messages
11
Location
, , USA
imported post

[mostly]Balanced reporting, largely devoid of hyperbole and rhetoric...Hmm. A Briton I can most certainly respect. Alot of the comments being left though...not so much.
 

Mlutz

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2010
Messages
758
Location
, ,
imported post

After reading EVERY comment, i have to say to each his own.If you want to carry do so, and obey the law, as I plan to very soon.
 

pvtschultz

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Apr 22, 2009
Messages
299
Location
West Allis, WI, ,
imported post

I too was quite surprised by the balanced reporting, especially from a BBC reporter. He should have proof read it first, but overall a very nice piece.

As to the comments, remember, our founders fought these same people that are so willing to relinquish thier rights todayjust as they were 234 years ago. Some things just never change.
 

hardballer

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2009
Messages
925
Location
West Coast of Wisconsin
imported post

MrFirstAmendment wrote:
Man, that dude's wife is so ugly. He should accidentally shoot her.
I don't like your comment, I believe you owe both Nik and Kim an apology. Further I don't think your comment is fit for publication and ask the mods to delete the comment and ban the poster.

Not funny.

Not in any way shape or form.

Hardballer
 

John Pierce

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
1,777
imported post

MRFirstAmendment has been banned as well as his IP which identifies him as an employee of icap.com ... probably from their New York office.

From their website, "The iCap Group is active in the wholesale markets in interest rates, credit, commodities, FX, emerging markets, equities and equity derivatives. ICAP has an average daily transaction volume in excess of $2.3 trillion, more than 40% of which is electronic."

If he does return, I will report his conduct while using their network to his IT and corporate public relations department and hand over the relevant log files. I am NOT going to do so unless he comes back because 1) I have no reason to wish ill to anyone's career regardless of how poorly they act and 2) the only leverage I have to insure he doesn't come back is to use this info.
 

John Pierce

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
1,777
imported post

Thanks! Did it go well from a listener's perspective?



CrossFire wrote:
Well done John. By the way great interview this morning.
 

CrossFire

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2007
Messages
407
Location
Irving, Texas, USA
imported post

It was a slam-dunk John. You and Laura had him on the ropes start to finish. I cannot believe that he actually said that the constitution and the 2A does not grant thepeople the rightto open carry. What a maroon.

jpierce wrote:
Thanks! Did it go well from a listener's perspective?



CrossFire wrote:
Well done John. By the way great interview this morning.
 
M

McX

Guest
imported post

clipped in from the comments posted on the bbc site; i've seen 2 people live their life the way they want to.

pretty much says it all.

hi mike- evil monkey sighting.:celebrate
 
Top