imported post
I am a newbee here, just joined today after watching this site for several weeks.
Let me ask a question about an open carry meeting but before asking the question, let me describe 2 scenarios:
Scenario 1: At the last oc meeting at Arby's, suppose 15 - 20 people showed up, all open carrying. Everyone will not arrive at the same time, so people will trickle in for 15 minutes or so. Now suppose there is someone in the parking lot getting ready to enter Arby's. Let's call her Bertha. Bertha sees a few people walk into Arby's with guns on their hips. See is confused by this and while trying to figure out if anything devious is taking place, a couple of more people enter Arby's. She sees their guns, and is now convinced something devious must be taking place inside, so she dials 911 on her cell phone and hysterically reports that several people have just entered Arby's and all of them are carrying guns. The 911 operator can tell by Bertha's voice that Bertha is terrified.
Scenario 2: all 15 - 20 attending the get together are either seated in Arby's or waiting in line to place their order. A customer, let's call him Horace, strolls in to have dinner. He sees several people standing in line with guns. Horace assumes there is a robery or some such taking place, and runs out of the restaurant to dial 911 on his cell phone. He tells the 911 operator there is a robbery or something going on at Arby's and he is scared to death.
Being that a call has been placed to 911, law enforcement must respond. Being that guns are involved, more than likely multiple law enforcement personnel will be dispatched. They will arrive with sirens blaring and blue lights flashing. The parking lot will quickly be filled with blue lights.
The police may or not see Bertha or Horace in the parking lot. If they do, they will probably get a distorted picture of what is taking place inside. At any rate, the police will enter Arby's to assess the situation. Depending on the officer's experience they may use extreme measures to either enter Arby's or to get the perceived situation under control.
Worse case scenario, they cordon off the parking lot; call for more backup; or whatever.
While the officers are trying to assess the situation, Arby's parking lot is full of blue lights and potential customers will not enter on their own, or else the police will prevent them from entering the parking lot.
It is reasonable to assume it will take at least a half hour for the police to question those inside with guns; Bertha and/or Horace; Arby's management and employees; and any other customers that are in the restaurant.
Meanwhile, the manager has just lost a minimum of a half hours business. He may loose other business if Arby's reputation is damaged because of all the blue lights in the parking lot.
Now Arby's is in business to make money, so the manager will look for a way to prevent this from happening again. The simplest and most cost effective thing for him to do is to print a sign stating all firearms are prohibited from Arby's.
Now to my question, assuming either of these scenarios take place, and the end result is another business posts a sign preventing fire arms, have we not just defeated our purpose for oc in the first place?
rlk
I am a newbee here, just joined today after watching this site for several weeks.
Let me ask a question about an open carry meeting but before asking the question, let me describe 2 scenarios:
Scenario 1: At the last oc meeting at Arby's, suppose 15 - 20 people showed up, all open carrying. Everyone will not arrive at the same time, so people will trickle in for 15 minutes or so. Now suppose there is someone in the parking lot getting ready to enter Arby's. Let's call her Bertha. Bertha sees a few people walk into Arby's with guns on their hips. See is confused by this and while trying to figure out if anything devious is taking place, a couple of more people enter Arby's. She sees their guns, and is now convinced something devious must be taking place inside, so she dials 911 on her cell phone and hysterically reports that several people have just entered Arby's and all of them are carrying guns. The 911 operator can tell by Bertha's voice that Bertha is terrified.
Scenario 2: all 15 - 20 attending the get together are either seated in Arby's or waiting in line to place their order. A customer, let's call him Horace, strolls in to have dinner. He sees several people standing in line with guns. Horace assumes there is a robery or some such taking place, and runs out of the restaurant to dial 911 on his cell phone. He tells the 911 operator there is a robbery or something going on at Arby's and he is scared to death.
Being that a call has been placed to 911, law enforcement must respond. Being that guns are involved, more than likely multiple law enforcement personnel will be dispatched. They will arrive with sirens blaring and blue lights flashing. The parking lot will quickly be filled with blue lights.
The police may or not see Bertha or Horace in the parking lot. If they do, they will probably get a distorted picture of what is taking place inside. At any rate, the police will enter Arby's to assess the situation. Depending on the officer's experience they may use extreme measures to either enter Arby's or to get the perceived situation under control.
Worse case scenario, they cordon off the parking lot; call for more backup; or whatever.
While the officers are trying to assess the situation, Arby's parking lot is full of blue lights and potential customers will not enter on their own, or else the police will prevent them from entering the parking lot.
It is reasonable to assume it will take at least a half hour for the police to question those inside with guns; Bertha and/or Horace; Arby's management and employees; and any other customers that are in the restaurant.
Meanwhile, the manager has just lost a minimum of a half hours business. He may loose other business if Arby's reputation is damaged because of all the blue lights in the parking lot.
Now Arby's is in business to make money, so the manager will look for a way to prevent this from happening again. The simplest and most cost effective thing for him to do is to print a sign stating all firearms are prohibited from Arby's.
Now to my question, assuming either of these scenarios take place, and the end result is another business posts a sign preventing fire arms, have we not just defeated our purpose for oc in the first place?
rlk