Olympia, WA Open Carry Rally Backfires

General General Discussion
1

Okay… I get the open carry thing. I don’t agree with it for tactical reasons, but I get the purpose. But please get some chaperones for these events! It seems there are always a couple in the crowd who think it’s appropriate to have long guns at the low ready. If you’re open carrying a long gun (or in this case an AR pistol) then sling it like a responsible adult please.

This group caused the Lt. Governor to make firearms illegal to possess at that location because of this nonsense. If anyone knows this Jason McMillan please help him because his cranial-rectal inversion is the most severe case I’ve seen in years. Honestly given the recent events in the world, if I was on a jury for a person (LEO or private citizen) shooting this clown as he entered the legislative building like this I would vote to acquit.

http://www.guns.com/2015/01/19/gun-rights-rally-at-washington-senate-gallery-results-in-ban-on-firearms/

Gun rights advocate Jason McMillon carries his AR-15 pattern pistol into the Legislative Building at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015. (Photo: Ted Warren/AP)

Blaming a rally by a group of legally armed Second Amendment advocates at the state Capitol in Olympia Thursday, Washington’s Lt. Governor ruled Friday that guns are now banned from the chamber.

The rally of some 200 gun rights activists on the steps of the Capitol building Jan. 15, was a continuation of the vocal opposition to the state’s background check ballot referendum, I-594, passed by voters last November. However, when the protest spilled over into the public gallery, there was an altercation between an open carrier and a state police lieutenant that ended with threats of removal and arrest.

The next day, Lt. Gov. Brad Owen (D) who serves as the president of the state Senate, announced a prohibition on the open carry of firearms in the public gallery moving forward.

“I don’t want the people who are on the floor being fearful of doing their job,” Owen told the Seattle Times, stressing that he had the support of both caucuses in the Senate in his move. “I don’t want parents concerned about the safety of their kids as pages.”

The event that led to the ban occurred when State Patrol Lt. Mike Eggleston in the gallery confronted an activist Jason McMillon on Thursday. Eggleston advised McMillion that he was carrying his Rock River LAR-PDS pistol in a “tactical” manner. After threatening McMillion with arrest, the activist, a 20-year military veteran, concealed the firearm.

Eggleston contended that the manner McMillion was carrying his gun was in violation of state law, which prohibits displaying a firearm to “intimidate another or that warrants alarm for the safety of other persons.”

One of the harshest critics of the events behind the crackdown in the state Capitol came from Alan Gottlieb, chair of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, both of which are headquartered in the state. It is the SAF that is leading the charge against I-594 in the courts.

“This is the result of a few stupid extremists on our side who not only handled their firearms unsafely, but made the hundreds of Second Amendment supporters at the rally look foolish,” Gottlieb told Guns.com. “Irresponsible actions get us bad results. Unfortunately, some of the fools in town are on our side. This kind of childish theater hurts our cause. The gun ban crowd is having a field day over this.”

Gottlieb was largely correct in his final assessment.

Over the weekend, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence used images from the event published by the Associated Press on their social media page Saturday, labeling the activists, “Insurrectionist thugs.”

This was followed up by a post Sunday from Moms Demand Action, now allied with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who blamed the National Rifle Association for the event. This stemmed from the fact that NRA lobbyist Brian Judy spoke at the rally on the Capitol’s steps.

“This isn’t your grandparents’ NRA,” read a statement on the Moms’ Facebook page. “Instead of spending their resources on promoting sportsmanship, the NRA cheerleads armed gun extremists who brandish their weapons at statehouses.”

The open carry ban in the Capitol’s gallery is expected to take effect as early as Jan. 19.

2

That’s not open carry, that’s brandishing a firearm. Thanks mouth breather you’re really helping our cause. On a side note, are my eyes deceiving me or is he missing sights?

3

The idiocy displayed by these open carry imbeciles is uncanny. Open carry is just stupid. Period. If I’m at local restaurant, coffee shop, library, whatever, and someone enters the establishment holding a weapon in this manner, there is an excellent chance he will be shot, because the next words out of his mouth might be allah akbar, I don’t know. The open carry people do as much damage to gun owners as the liberal anti gunners.

4

I don’t see any sights.

I don’t even know what to type beyond that. Amazing, just amazing.

5

I would definitely be making plans to open fire if I saw someone looking like that with a weapon like that in that position like that in a place and time of peace. That picture has “mass murder in 5, 4, 3…” written all over.

Ho-lee shit.

6

It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that idiots like that are actually plants by Bloomberg.

7

I actually had this thought myself. That’s precisely the kind of tactic that **** likes to use.

8

[Sigh]

It’s almost enough to make me oppose open carry and I’m a huge open carry advocate.

I think the problem is the word “carry” and people with a room temperature IQ think that means you can play with your damn firearm. Rifles need to be SLUNG and not handled just as handguns are HOLSTERED and not handled.

But once again people think having a gun means they can engage in some kind of “live action” Call of Duty poses and take cool pictures for the internet.

GUNS ARE NOT PROPS.

You open carry a rifle for two reasons:

  1. You have a general valid need to be armed with a rifle.

  2. You are exercising your rights so that people are aware that such rights exist.

There is only ONE reason to handle a rifle you are carrying.

  1. You are preparing to use it.

Once again we seem to be at the mercy of the lowest common denominator. ****ing moron probably thinks he’s on top of his game because of trigger finger placement.

9

The picture proves that no matter on what side of an issue you stand on, there will be outstanding displays of stupidity. Someone among the protesters should have approached him long before and told him to sling it across his back or don’t come to these protests. We as firearm owners need to take care of the dumb on our own side.

10

Though I wouldn’t go as far as saying he was on our side, I do agree that self regulating is a necessity. Knowing the history and tactics of the Statist Left, the chance that this man was planted isn’t only possible but even probable. This is how it’s done, from Hating Breitbart: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vIWj8jR-c3Y

11

I have heard that these F’ing morons, inserting and removing mags, racking the charging handle WHILE IN THE CHAMBER GALLERY. Some of these open carry people have got to be the stupidest people ever born.

Now if you go to open carry forum, these people can do no wrong, try and say anything about these people and now you are the anti liberal.

12

That guy in the picture is asking to be shot.
I don’t understand how this demonstration had anything to do with " I will not comply I594"

13

He is wearing a Single Point Sling… prolly doesn’t want to get hit in the Twig & Berries… just sayin’

But yeah he should prolly be tarred and feathered for being such an A-hole…

14

When it is a pistol, does a sling count as holster?

15

Another prime example of OCR. This is very damaging to any and all pro-open carry efforts. This nincompoop obviously lacks the sense that God gave a fence post.

16

These open carry idiots are VERY bad for our 2a cause.

17

Agreed. You can hit the top of a fence post with a hammer, and it will quietly stay in one spot and behave.

These dimwits, not so much.

18

A start would be a sling appropriate for the situation.

19

Sigh.

Open carry is OK here in WA, but IIRC LE has been given guidance about what is OK and what is “threatening” (aka brandishing). (We have a law on the books about intimidation)

IIRC, the guidance was that holstered handguns and slung longarms fit into the OK category. You’ll probably get a LE “contact”, but as long as you seem OK, that’s about all.

A handgun in the hand was specifically in the not OK. Don’t remember specifically on long arms, but my guess is in the hands seems likely in the not OK camp.

The guidance seems pretty reasonable. The idiot in the photo would have had a long talking to pretty much any where else and clearly was given leniency due to the media coverage.

Unfortunately.

I agree with those that suggest these ignorant stunts hurt out case. If your going to advocate you should know the law, think about the repercussions and help convince people the right to bear arms is in their interest.

oy.

-john

20

I really want to call plant. That guy is an orgy of stereotypes: flannel shirt, trench coat, AR something in hand, rolled bill cap, drop leg holster.

My god that is damaging.