These days, carry should make a point, but not be done just for the purpose of making a point. He was not carrying the shotgun for any other purpose other than to be noticed carrying a shotgun. And he was noticed in a way that hurts the cause he purports to be promoting.
I carry for self-defense. I OC for several reasons: ease of use, no license yet in Ohio, deterrence, and to renormalize the sight of a routinely carried handgun. Making the point about the 2A is in there, but it is not THE reason I carry. It seems to be THE reason this person carried his shotgun. That does not help. It hurts.
Anyway, the school's new policy is stupid. Lockdown? Really? Every time a gun is seen off-campus???
It is the same old hoplophobia. However, this case illustrates, yet again, that when we go overboard, trying to move the country in one direction, backlash takes it in the exact opposite direction.
Carry on, but carry smart.
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<o>
Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
I'm terribly sorry, but, can you help me by pointing out where it is stated that a Citizen must have a reason and a purpose, to exercise their right to bear arms? And, how exactly, and constitutionally speaking, is it a bad thing to carry any sort of legal weapon, for personal reasons, both substantiated, and not, that purportedly harms our 'cause' to promote Open Carry, the Second Amendment, the First Amendment (as you cannot exercise the second, without the first), and the Gun owner community at-large?
I don't know much of anything regarding Oregon, or the consequences of Matt's carrying openly there. But, in states where Open Carry of a firearm is constitutionally protected, e.g., Kentucky, for example, A citizen who is not already disqualified by felonious crimes, or mental deficiency, needs no reason, purpose, or second-thought to exercise their right. And, I would argue that, there is no purpose, reason, or intent needed to exercise our right to free speech, or to follow any religion, or lack thereof, that we wish, and we don't need a reason to refuse to quarter troops in our homes... So, why all of a sudden, does the right to carry, come with an exception? "You have a right to carry firearms, except when you do it just because you want/can, and have no sufficient reason, and where it can be seen as an act that is a detriment to the gun owner, and gun carry, communities."
I wholeheartedly support the dude that OC'd a shotty, and would happily buy him a beer, and a pack of smokes.
**I don't know the laws, and legalities surrounding the implications of carrying a shotgun openly in Hillsboro, or where ever Mattmaxximus carried, in Oregon; But, I speak on a federal constitutional basis, with a dabble into my own state's constitutional facts.**
