A few openly carrying are too easily marginalized as whackjobs; the government could pretty easily shoot them and just come up with a good cover story. Of course, I know “our” government would never do that; Democrat use of force at Waco and Ruby Ridge was entirely justified and measured to the circumstance.

Now, a thousand armed citizens in the street makes quite a different impression don’t you think?

Or should we ask them to not only come but to hold a prayer circle with Bibles in hand?

I know what I would do.

Some participants need to be intimidated.

On the list of threats, open carry has to be one of the lowest threats overall, as there’s nothing preventing the SS from identifying you and watching you. You do not forfeit your right to free speech in the presence of the president; nor should your right to bear arms be so abridged.

It was the left who started the violence with their union thugs – if you’re willing to send someone to the hospital for disagreeing with your policy goals, you had damn well be ready to face lethal force if you try it again in the future. That said, I do believe there is an overt message here for politicians, and that they would do well to heed it. There are many Americans who are angry and resent the direction we are heading in, and instead of attempting to change their minds, the left is trying to silence, intimidate, and marginalize them as standing in the way of “Progress”.

While one may believe that the 51% have the right to push whatever burden they deem “moral” and “necessary” onto the 49%, all would do well to remember that the 49% retain the right to provide new Guards for their future security.

there was a man there with a gun AND NOTHING BAD HAPPENED! Takes some wind out of the sails of the panty-wetting crowd that sees guns as evil things with a mind of their own whose mere existence causes widespread death and destruction.

have I finally crossed the line in some way?

I don’t think a few of the posters here are being intellectually honest with themselves. I am a gun owner and a proud supporter of the 2nd amendment, but carrying a loaded assualt weapon to a presidential event is beyond the pale for me. The President is not “just a man”, he is the leader of the free world. He is the commander-in-chief of our armed forces. And carrying loaded weapons to events where he appears, holding signs saying “It’s time to water the tree of liberty” – a not-so-subtle reference to watering the tree with the blood of tyrants, steps over the line for me.

I don’t think the posters above would be similarly dismissive of the issue if the anti-war nuts on the Left started doing the same things at rallies where Bush appeared post-9/11.

Civil protest is necessary, and healthy. Overt violent threats against our President is not. I agree wholeheartedly with the original poster.

Though I think that there are some political rallies where bringing guns is appropriate (Second Amendment rallies and the like), and while I don’t mind guns in the least, there are many who don’t feel comfortable around them, such as women, or couples with kids. We need to ensure that our rallies are as inclusive as possible (within reason) so that we can draw the most protesters possible; otherwise, we’ve missed the point of the whole exercise.

I thought the conservative espousal of liberty was generally understood to be constrained by not only one’s own conscience, but also that of one’s neighbor.

Whether acknowledged by the government or not, I know I have, with my fellow citizens created in the image of God, a right to:

Wear whatever sort of clothes I wish.
Work at whatever job I wish.
Enjoy conjugal delight with my wife.
Discipline my children.
Catechize my children.
Worship the Lord according to His precepts.

But then there are these little details about authority, and loving one’s neighbor, and doing things decently and in order, and the like, all factored exponentially by the fact that the image of God in which I and neighbors were created has been hopelessly corrupted, and I find that:

I really shouldn’t wear my Ronald McDonald outfit to a funeral.
I really shouldn’t be the bouncer at a strip club.
I really shouldn’t share with the rest of the world all of the conjugal delight enjoyed by my wife and I.
I really shouldn’t take my 2-year-old’s pants down and administer the spoon of justice in the middle of the elevator ride up to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building.
I really shouldn’t walk into my 18-year-old’s college classroom to correct his teacher about the insanity of evolution.
I really shouldn’t, with full passion and gratitude, a capella and fortississimo, start singing Newton’s Let Us Love, and Sing, and Wonder while standing in a long line at the bank.

Why not? Well there’s a whole bunch of reasons, some alluded to above, but there’s also this funny thing about the appearance of evil and making the most of every opportunity to persuade while the light remains.

But maybe I am once again overestimating “the movement’s” interest in persuasion.

But who cares? You and I are just tamed New Yorkers. There’s no point listening to anybody from there.

I’ve read this diary and thread for a couple of days. My conclusion, you’re both right. Marcus, I immediately agreed with your point. It is about perception and I believe that is why you propose restraint. Like being sensitive to others sensibilities. Having lived in both NYC (as a child) and Colorado, I have been around both mind sets. In New York, citizens wearing weapons publicly brings a different reaction than in the West. There is a difference in the cultural character of these two groups, that is just the way it is.

OTOH, Aaron brings up some strong points too. Aaron is right about the left marginalizing and making us seem guilty for exercising our rights, whether it is the 2nd Amend. 1st or any other. Besides the issues with guns, I look at the 1st amend. and how the left succeeds in suppressing our free speech rights, and connect that to our religious freedom constantly being assaulted. The left is defining and controlling us, his point-it has to stop.

Anyway, as a female of the species, guns scare me personally because they can take a life, but I feel safe when I am in the presence of someone who has the right to carry one.

so that We The People may own and carry and lawfully use arms, including firearms. The founders even gave a reason for this. The protection of freedom from those who would try to take it away. That, my friends IS “intimidating” to the enemies of freedom wherever they may be. The founders intended to intimidate and they wanted the right to carry protected from those who would take it away. That’s why it exists in the constitution and not as a statute which could be easily repealed by congress. The founders didn’t trust congress, the president, or the states or the counties or the cities with this right. They wanted to ensure that carrying arms in public was a right of every member of the public.

Now let me ask you, if that man in the picture were a cop, would you feel any different? If so, then you put too much faith in the government. If people wanted their right to carry ended there is a process to do that, they can repeal the second amendment. If politicians are afraid of, or don’t want to be in the vicinity of people who are exercising their right to carry, then they shouldn’t appear in public. They should hold their rallies on private property miles away from the public and only invite those who don’t carry.

I just don’t get people who treat people who carry the same as people point guns at their faces, but then have no problem with cops carrying guns. A cop or a deputy is a member of the public just like anyone else. They don’t have a special right to self defense while others don’t, they rely on the second amendment for their right to self defense too. Every citizen is equal under the law, be he the president or be he a student, or be he a cop, or be he a plumber, we all rely on the same law.

Now different states have different ways of regulating the carrying of firearms. In some states a hand gun carried in public MUST be openly carried, in other states the hand gun MUST be concealed and at least one state a person may do either. Whatever the law says, that is what law abiding gun owners will do. You don’t like it, see if you can get enough people together to change the law. Short of that, you are free to go home and cower under your own bed, but you must leave the rest of us law abiding citizens alone.

The Democrats are on the verge of destroying the last illusion of an Enumerated-Power-restrained Federal Government

The Democrats are on the verge of collapsing the US Dollar

The Democrats are on the verge of creating law that will put the Federal Government into our biological and financial domains

And what do some conservatives worry about , “Don’t want to be seen as extreme”

Oh don’t worry fools… the Left knows how to play your fiddle. So God-Damned predictiable falling back because someone is engaging in a psy-op war against your own self-confidence and you play along.

Americans have the God-Given right to bear weapons for their own protection and the protection of America as a FREE STATE

The other side better feel intimidated by a armed citizenry

Obama better be damned worry about it in an abstract context. In the context that these are warning signs that the Federal Govt’s relationship with its people is reaching the breaking point.

(Of course Obama , being the same sort of radical revolutionary as are so many of his friends, want to break the Federal Govt)

We the People either do something about this or be complicit in the destruction of this country.

The time to be sedated is over.

I agree with Marcus and can see exactly what he means here. He is not implying that we forego our 2nd Amendment rights. I don’t think it’s even about doing it out of respect for those who are “afraid” to be around guns.

This is my take on the whole issue: it has more to do with the high-pressure atmosphere present at these events on both sides, and not about infringing on a constitutional right. I want to take my 12 year old to one of these events so that he can see democracy in action, however, I have reservations because of the possible danger. Remember, there are still some dems who also believe in the right to carry, too. All it takes is one heated incident where something does happen, and all hell may break loose. I don’t want my child in the middle of that chaos, and I have to believe there are many others who feel that way, too.

New Black Panthers carrying arms (dreaded, evil AK-47s, no less) at Texas Repbulican Party convention in 2000:

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2009/08/18/media-barely-noticed-legal-gun-brandishing-leftist-black-panthers-2000

Thanks NewsBusters!

They do no good there when I’m somewhere else. Luckily, living in NH we are a “shall issue” state so a CCW permit is easily obtainable and I always renew mine early. I prefer concealed carry just to quiet the “I’m scared and uncomfortable with a regular person having a gun” crowd. However, once in a while a statement needs to be made and the second amendment needs exercise. The tea party was one such place. The town hall meeting is another.

which could–but who knows?–shed more light.

The President appears at a town hall at which firearms are being carried by a sizable majority of the attendees. During one long-winded explanation, an attendee jumps to his/her feet, yells “I’ve had enough of your lies!” and aims his/her weapon at the President.

Letting F=number of firearms in the hall excluding those of the aforementioned citizen and those carried by Secret Service and other officers of the law, what percentage of F would you expect to allocated to the following categories within the next, say, 10 seconds?

a) remain, unaimed, on the person of the carrier
b) trained on the citizen
c) trained on a Secret Service/law officer
d) trained on the President
e) other

I would really like to know.

I was a little (just a little) askance at the sign the fellow in the video was carrying (kinda off-topic and could be considered a bit threatening to the President), and I personally wouldn’t pack a carbine to a political rally just for the weight and the logistics of weapon control, but I have and will carry a pistol to all the rallies I attend. Indiana has no delineation between “concealed carry” or “open carry”, so we carry as we please.

So how about that for a compromise? Sidearms, but no long arms? Or is a sidearm still too intimidating?

They came there to make the real protesters look bad.

I don’t think anyone should bring any weapons to these rallies
because it gives the lefties ‘ammunition’ against them, and also
could deter more people from the conservative side from
attending. We don’t want to diminish our numbers. Lastly,
when tempers get heated a disaster could potentially occur.

I’ll admit that seeing the National Guardsmen with menacing guns in the airport made me a little uncomfortable. To me the issue isn’t so much about guns as it is safety. If everyone at the event had a hunting knife or a chainsaw it would bother me in a similar way.

The guy standing around with a gun slung over his shoulder just looks unsafe to me. When I see police officers with guns properly holstered and snapped into the holster it doesn’t bother me – in part because I know (think) they have extensive gun safety training.

I thought to ask this question … Isn’t the President ALREADY surrounded by guys with guns all day every day?

The bottom line is the discussion isn’t should there be guns near the President? The discussion is, which people should be allowed to carry weapons near him?

Re: the guy in the picture and his large weapon. Is the weapon his protest sign? If so, then his protest is effective, but only so long as those looking at him or his picture understand he is appearing at the protest with his large weapon as a form of anti-gun-regulation protest.

If the guy is just showing off his mine is bigger, then, not so much.

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Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots

But I still feel concerned.
Mainly, I think many of these guys are pro-Obama types trying to
scare people away from attending townhalls, and the
MSM is playing up these stories to accomplish the same
thing, in addition to demonizing protesters.

I’ve hung out at DailyKos long enough, years ago and for years, to know that this is a tactic they’d use in a heartbeat and is against every fiber of our being.

Now, I’m not claiming that’s the case here, but I am claiming they contrived of it and agreed in ‘group think’, that it’s a good idea-that’s enemy we’re dealing with here.

Leave the guns at home.

I have no objection with any law abiding person’s right to own a gun. It’s just a matter of being appropriate. If these people want to affirm their right to own guns, there’s a better time for it. This debate is about HEALTH CARE. Guns have nothing to do with it…as I understand, there is no provision in the bill that says “And by the way, even though it has nothing to do with anything, no guns!” Guns at town halls are distracting from the real issue.

If the aim is to intimidate…well done. Guns are intimidating. They just are. If I see a person with a gun, I don’t know who they are or what they plan to do with it (if anything). When you have a gun, you by default have power over everyone near you. It is intimidating. Just accept it.

I know a lot of people may not realize how intimidating they are being…but what can I say about the person who actually wants to purposely intimidate those around them? I know that you have a constitutional RIGHT (by God!) to own a gun, and I have no explicit constitutional right to not be intimidated, but just in the name of human decency, do you really have to carry a gun just to make everyone around you uncomfortable? It’s inconsiderate and rude.

Maybe people are bringing guns for “self defense” …against what? Some liberal idea? You can’t shoot an idea (though I know we’d all like to).

There is no place safer nor more respectful gathering on earth than law-abiding American citizens exercising their inalienable (Constitutionally protected) right to defend themselves. And I can think of no better place than in the presence of an openly treasonous hoplophobe of a president.

Once the people have become accustomed to carrying and being around firearms again they will no longer shriek in hysteria and shrink from the mere thought of their presence where the incapable of shame can no longer refuse to be responsible for their mannerless words and actions nor attempt to gain politically from it…Unchecked fear is such a disgustingly weak character flaw.

Bring them where it is legal to do so (expel the illegal legislation which forbids them where it is not) that we may take a great step in becoming a civilized, principled and brave population once again.

Trust the sentinels you paid to know to teach and train you the only way that will keep you safe and worthy of being free.

“The great object is that every man be armed. Everybody who is able may have a gun.” – Patrick Henry

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” – Richard Heinlein Beyond This Horizon (1942)

“A government that doesn’t trust it’s law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms is itself unworthy of trust.” — James Madison

I’m sure there is another side to this story but the truth has little meaning to lefties.

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/idaho-gop-leader-tea-party-organizer

Regardless of who that gent in the video is (real or a plant), I humbly offer one item missed that many folks may not realize…….

Some state’s concealed carry statutes proscribe any individual from possessing a concealed (or otherwise) weapon at what is called here in Florida “a place of nuisance” – ie. political rallies, protest marches, hospital emergency rooms, etc….. places where emotions can and often do run high.

Arizona is NOT one of those states proscribing the where and when.

—————-

Oh yeah….. I’m back after three weeks off the grid…… needed a break and checked out of reality…. music business stuff, some golf and not even looking at any websites, newscasts, etc. I’m a tad relaxed now.

Cheers !

They would never have let him around the pres if they had not been aware of who he is and what he was up to. All they have to do is make people nervous about this situation and they can start lobbying for their gun control. Watch out and remember what Old Saul told the protestors at George HW’s speech in LA. He told them to dress up like klansmen and to cheer for the exact opposite of what they wanted.

You have to always be looking for the opposite, because these people play by a different set of rules. Sad, so sad!