I don’t know the laws of the state, but in many states, X distance around the school is a “gun free zone” and a gun within that range an arrestable offense. I “get” what these activists are trying to achieve, but they help no one by taking that approach in my view.
Open-carry activist speaks out after school lockdown scare
Literally in the faces of disbelieving school administrators and wary police, two Michigan gun advocates tested their rights in the last 10 days to openly carry in the most controversial of places allowed by the state — public schools.
One rifle-carrying man caused Madison Heights educators to lock down Lamphere High School twice in a week, including over Wednesday’s noon hour, although he barely set foot on school grounds, police said. And, the Ann Arbor School Board is demanding change after a man openly carried a handgun into a school concert.
Videos posted on the Internet show a confrontation near Lamphere High School between police and gun-rights activist Shawn Nixon, 39, of Royal Oak. Nixon was carrying a rifle slung over one shoulder and a semi-automatic pistol in a holster. Nixon shot the videos himself with a camera mounted to his chest.
First of all, I commend Officer Cole for his restraint in the face of such asshatery. No matter how hard the OCR tried to instigate a negative action by the officers, Officer Cole never took the bait. He never stopped offering hand in friendship. Even after the OCR’s proceed to school the officers on city ordinances, in which they were in violation, the officers kept their cool. I could barely watch the entire video, because I was so embarrassed for the OCR’s. OCR even took the opportunity to preach about officer shootings. Keep it classy OCR.
Who, in their right mind, thinks that it is a good idea to push their vision of open carry near a school? In between, parents and their children at school no less, you are going to prance down the sidewalk with your rifle. Who makes this shit up? <Palm to Face>
When a person walks around looking for confrontation in a day that would have otherwise been peaceful and uneventful, it never wins people to his cause. OC’ers need to take note of that. Know what is going to happen and then pretending to be outraged when it happens is the same playbook the leftists use. We hate it when they do it, why are some gun rights activists doing the same damn thing??
I know the point they’re trying to make: It’s our right to open carry, and it’s wrong that it causes any kind of disruption. But this jerk behavior is only setting us back. These guys even insinuate in the video description that the police were morally wrong for not ignoring the call.
Open carriers like these are NOT our friends. They are just as much an enemy as the anti-gunners. They view anyone who chooses to carry concealed and doesn’t lock step with them as cowards and traitors. Granted, I’d side with them over Michael Bloomberg, but still, they are a problem.
I feel that someone should tell these guys the old adage about public decorum and decency and how there’s nothing wrong with having sex in the street… except that it scares the horses.
Or the bit from Hunt for Red October (the book) where the US SecState (IIRC) tells the Soviet ambassador that a man is well within his rights to patrol his own yard with a shotgun… but the neighbors are going to get a little bit nervous and want to know what he’s doing.
On one hand by being activists the police are now AWARE of open carry laws and their rights are being respected, amazingly enough the cops are showing a huge degree of restraint and consideration and there was mention of a lawsuit that probably brought the entire thing to light.
But at the same time these “activists” need to be a lot more “good citizen” and a lot less “confrontational asshole” about these encounters. It is to be expected that somebody will call in, LEOs really don’t have a choice in the matter about responding to these calls and honestly if they blew off a “man with a gun” and it turned out to be a bad guy everyone will scream bloody murder.
If these guys are going to exercise their rights in an open manner such as this they should be as polite as the LEO who is talking to them. Being confrontation with police who are not being confrontational isn’t going to win you any consideration. And just because your rights were recently upheld is no reason to rub a cops nose in shit, it is the time to prove you are a decent guy who only wants his rights respected.
On a side note, open carry in Texas moved one step closer today. However, by the time it passes OCT retards will have effectively pissed off every business owner, woman, and child in the state, and there will be a vote to end it.
Not just them, some of us responsible gun owning pro-freedom men get pissed off too. Is there a way to get through to these idiots, or are they determined to ruin it for the rest of us?
The OC crowd is ignorant and stupid. Otherwise, they would not be damaging gun owners’ image as they do. My opinion is that many would not qualify for a CHL. Few would go to the trouble and expense to obtain one.
I think open carry is OK in theory, but bad in practice, simply because it invites crap like this. Personally, I’m OK with “shall issue” concealed carry permits being the norm, and open carry being legal but discouraged by businesses, LEO, etc. in order to reinforce what should be common sense without actually passing legislation which could limit 2nd amendment rights. The problem with these open carry idiots is that they intimidate normal folks, and the response is to enact “gun free zones”. A business which says open carry isn’t allowed is OK with me. A business which says “gun free zone” is just stupid, for reasons which should be obvious to any CCW permit holder.
OC is a Constitutionally-protected Right, and many OCers do it everyday without a problem and the need to draw attention to themselves. We should NOT call for any further limitations on our Rights. With that being said, some OCers intentionally provoke LE, which is generally not a good idea, and may backlash.
