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http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/thane_burnett/2010/04/22/13683826.html- see embedded video
SNIP
News Columnists / Thane Burnett
Shopping with guns
By THANE BURNETT, QMI Agency
Last Updated: April 24, 2010 2:00am
NEW BERLIN, Wis. - There’s some bother near the broccoli.
Anxiety spilled on aisle four.
But the concern is not from customers, who seem fairly oblivious to two armed people moving through their supermarket on this Sunday afternoon.
. . .
On Nik Clark’s hip is a jet-black Glock - its full clip bulging like the weightlifter’s arms.
Hugging Kim Garny’s slender hip is a more diminutive - but still formidable - Smith and Wesson .38 Special. And it’s just that, with its soft pink, girly grip, that waves just above her holster.
Neither holds a permit for their loaded guns. But no sirens wail.
Instead, a lone, nervous looking manager of some sort moves in. It’s not the guns he’s concerned about, but rather the Canadian journalist’s camera that’s now shooting up the area.
Once reassured, the manager breathes a sigh of relief, before warning: “Please, just don’t video any of the empty bread shelves. Looks bad.”
The store’s name? Appropriately, Sentry Foods.
. . .
Across the U.S., shopping with a displayed weapon - called "open carry" - has become the new Gettysburg of gun debates.
. . .
Backed by whispers of sympathy from the U.S. Supreme Court, gun owners feel it’s time to flex.
There are "open carry picnics," as well as mass gatherings to test the nation’s mood.
Some estimates say open carry has as many as 30,000 followers.
Not only does it bring some of the 196 million guns in the U.S. out of the closet, but open carry may pressure lawmakers to make carrying a concealed weapon easier.
. . .
“A lot are law abiding citizens, until they pull the trigger.”
Living in a place ranked last year as the 34th Best Small American Town to live in, Nik and Kim say they’ll only draw if their lives, or loved ones, are at risk.
The pair is a poster couple for the cause.
They’re attractive, successful, urban, and bring their guns almost everywhere - though federal laws mean they can enter a bank armed, but not a post office.
“I even play kick ball with it on,” says Kim, a 39-year-old mom who’s a nurse in an emergency room.
“I hope it’s a deterrent,” she says of the message her pink gun gives off to evildoers.
“Criminals watch you, and it sends out a statement.”
. . .
Nik believes the right to bear arms and protect your family is more universal.
“It’s a human right,” he assures. “I believe Canadians have just as much of a right to keep and bear arms for self-defence as I or anyone else does, though the Canadian government may deny that right to you.”
. . .
Canadian activists aim to carry in the open
Norman "Griffon" Lapierre has fond memories of walking into an American sandwich shop with a loaded gun.
The Quebec man ordered his sub, then left.
“And it didn’t raise an eyebrow ‹ no more than if I had an iPhone,” he recalls from his home in Saint-Constant, a suburb of Montreal.
Lapierre, a Canadian gun rights advocate, was on a private training course when he walked into the deli with a 40.-calibre Smith and Wesson. He has four permits to carry a weapon in the U.S.
“So the Americans trust me enough, but my own country doesn’t,” he says.
Lapierre, who is involved with a number of gun lobby efforts in Canada (www.canadacarry.org), has little faith this country wants him to stroll into a Tim Hortons with a gun on his belt.
Instead, he’s hoping for a change to allow more Canadians to carry concealed weapons.
His group, the Canadian Association for Self Defence, says only 13 concealed gun permits were allotted in Ontario in 2008.
“You can’t tell me not more than 13 people in Ontario (fear) their life is in danger,” Lapierre, a 54-year-old grandfather and vocational school teacher, argues.
“Up until 1978 in this country, concealed carry did exist ... and yet blood didn’t run in the streets.”
. . .
When asked by QMI Agency for their position, the executive director of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police responded that no one would be available to speak on "open carry."
http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/thane_burnett/2010/04/22/13683826.html- see embedded video
SNIP
News Columnists / Thane Burnett
Shopping with guns
By THANE BURNETT, QMI Agency
Last Updated: April 24, 2010 2:00am
NEW BERLIN, Wis. - There’s some bother near the broccoli.
Anxiety spilled on aisle four.
But the concern is not from customers, who seem fairly oblivious to two armed people moving through their supermarket on this Sunday afternoon.
. . .
On Nik Clark’s hip is a jet-black Glock - its full clip bulging like the weightlifter’s arms.
Hugging Kim Garny’s slender hip is a more diminutive - but still formidable - Smith and Wesson .38 Special. And it’s just that, with its soft pink, girly grip, that waves just above her holster.
Neither holds a permit for their loaded guns. But no sirens wail.
Instead, a lone, nervous looking manager of some sort moves in. It’s not the guns he’s concerned about, but rather the Canadian journalist’s camera that’s now shooting up the area.
Once reassured, the manager breathes a sigh of relief, before warning: “Please, just don’t video any of the empty bread shelves. Looks bad.”
The store’s name? Appropriately, Sentry Foods.
. . .
Across the U.S., shopping with a displayed weapon - called "open carry" - has become the new Gettysburg of gun debates.
. . .
Backed by whispers of sympathy from the U.S. Supreme Court, gun owners feel it’s time to flex.
There are "open carry picnics," as well as mass gatherings to test the nation’s mood.
Some estimates say open carry has as many as 30,000 followers.
Not only does it bring some of the 196 million guns in the U.S. out of the closet, but open carry may pressure lawmakers to make carrying a concealed weapon easier.
. . .
“A lot are law abiding citizens, until they pull the trigger.”
Living in a place ranked last year as the 34th Best Small American Town to live in, Nik and Kim say they’ll only draw if their lives, or loved ones, are at risk.
The pair is a poster couple for the cause.
They’re attractive, successful, urban, and bring their guns almost everywhere - though federal laws mean they can enter a bank armed, but not a post office.
“I even play kick ball with it on,” says Kim, a 39-year-old mom who’s a nurse in an emergency room.
“I hope it’s a deterrent,” she says of the message her pink gun gives off to evildoers.
“Criminals watch you, and it sends out a statement.”
. . .
Nik believes the right to bear arms and protect your family is more universal.
“It’s a human right,” he assures. “I believe Canadians have just as much of a right to keep and bear arms for self-defence as I or anyone else does, though the Canadian government may deny that right to you.”
. . .
Canadian activists aim to carry in the open
Norman "Griffon" Lapierre has fond memories of walking into an American sandwich shop with a loaded gun.
The Quebec man ordered his sub, then left.
“And it didn’t raise an eyebrow ‹ no more than if I had an iPhone,” he recalls from his home in Saint-Constant, a suburb of Montreal.
Lapierre, a Canadian gun rights advocate, was on a private training course when he walked into the deli with a 40.-calibre Smith and Wesson. He has four permits to carry a weapon in the U.S.
“So the Americans trust me enough, but my own country doesn’t,” he says.
Lapierre, who is involved with a number of gun lobby efforts in Canada (www.canadacarry.org), has little faith this country wants him to stroll into a Tim Hortons with a gun on his belt.
Instead, he’s hoping for a change to allow more Canadians to carry concealed weapons.
His group, the Canadian Association for Self Defence, says only 13 concealed gun permits were allotted in Ontario in 2008.
“You can’t tell me not more than 13 people in Ontario (fear) their life is in danger,” Lapierre, a 54-year-old grandfather and vocational school teacher, argues.
“Up until 1978 in this country, concealed carry did exist ... and yet blood didn’t run in the streets.”
. . .
When asked by QMI Agency for their position, the executive director of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police responded that no one would be available to speak on "open carry."
