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Gun bullying? Gun-toting protesters deny intent is to intimidate
by Kate Kilpatrick - @Kate_Kilpatrick |December 10, 2013 |5:00AM ET
Since school shooting in Newtown, Conn., gun advocates have ramped up public displays of firearms
When four members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (MDA) were having lunch at a suburban Dallas restaurant last month, a couple of dozen men, women and children rolled up toting rifles and shotguns, posed for some group photos in the restaurant parking lot, then reportedly scooted off to a nearby Hooters. The women inside were aghast.
The message from the pro-gun activists — members of Open Carry Texas — was clear: I see your diaper bag and umbrella stroller and raise you an AR-15 and AK-47.
. . .
“Open carry refers to wearing a handgun in a holster where people can see it,” said Dan Baum, the liberal, gun-loving author of “Gun Guys.”
“Guys showing up with rifles is intimidation,“ he added.
Robert Farago, who runs the Truth About Guns blog and supports the Dallas protesters, said open-carry activists are controversial even within the gun-rights community.
. . .
“We’re not stating they’re doing anything wrong,” said John Pierce, who founded OpenCarry.org, an online portal for the open-carry movement, in 2005. “We believe there are issues with long-gun open carry that are outside what we want to address — muzzle control, etc.”
But he said the differences don’t represent a split in the open-carry movement.
“It’s very much along the lines as if you had an organization that might be advocating for children’s meals for disadvantaged children and another group advocating for health care for disadvantaged children,” he said. “Their missions are different, but it doesn’t mean they don’t share a common belief that children need greater protection.”
Texas is one of five states (plus Washington, D.C.) where openly carrying holstered handguns is illegal, according to OpenCarry.org, but openly carrying long guns — rifles, shotguns and the like — is permitted.
If the four moms or anyone else felt intimidated, Open Carry Texas supporters say, it just shows their irrational fear of seeing law-abiding citizens exercising their Second Amendment right to bear arms.
. . .
Whether or not open-carry tactics are becoming more aggressive, both gun-rights and gun-control advocates say the movement is becoming more popular.
. . .
SNIP
Gun bullying? Gun-toting protesters deny intent is to intimidate
by Kate Kilpatrick - @Kate_Kilpatrick |December 10, 2013 |5:00AM ET
Since school shooting in Newtown, Conn., gun advocates have ramped up public displays of firearms
When four members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (MDA) were having lunch at a suburban Dallas restaurant last month, a couple of dozen men, women and children rolled up toting rifles and shotguns, posed for some group photos in the restaurant parking lot, then reportedly scooted off to a nearby Hooters. The women inside were aghast.
The message from the pro-gun activists — members of Open Carry Texas — was clear: I see your diaper bag and umbrella stroller and raise you an AR-15 and AK-47.
. . .
“Open carry refers to wearing a handgun in a holster where people can see it,” said Dan Baum, the liberal, gun-loving author of “Gun Guys.”
“Guys showing up with rifles is intimidation,“ he added.
Robert Farago, who runs the Truth About Guns blog and supports the Dallas protesters, said open-carry activists are controversial even within the gun-rights community.
. . .
“We’re not stating they’re doing anything wrong,” said John Pierce, who founded OpenCarry.org, an online portal for the open-carry movement, in 2005. “We believe there are issues with long-gun open carry that are outside what we want to address — muzzle control, etc.”
But he said the differences don’t represent a split in the open-carry movement.
“It’s very much along the lines as if you had an organization that might be advocating for children’s meals for disadvantaged children and another group advocating for health care for disadvantaged children,” he said. “Their missions are different, but it doesn’t mean they don’t share a common belief that children need greater protection.”
Texas is one of five states (plus Washington, D.C.) where openly carrying holstered handguns is illegal, according to OpenCarry.org, but openly carrying long guns — rifles, shotguns and the like — is permitted.
If the four moms or anyone else felt intimidated, Open Carry Texas supporters say, it just shows their irrational fear of seeing law-abiding citizens exercising their Second Amendment right to bear arms.
. . .
Whether or not open-carry tactics are becoming more aggressive, both gun-rights and gun-control advocates say the movement is becoming more popular.
. . .
