Georgia-Guns Everywhere-in action

[packman]

The chickens have come home to roost. Man carrying gun , strutting around ball park while game is going on terrifies children and parents. Sheriff called and basically says tough shit, he's allowed.
Can't wait, sad to say, for the shot-out in the bars.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/27/1294972/-I-ve-Got-A-Gun-And-There-s-Nothing-You-Can-Do-About-It

[oneofthe99]

1. How could this not be deemed strange behavior by the sheriff?

Even one of the parents said if had come to watch the game with the gun in his holster
it wouldn't have been a big deal , but just walking back and forth in a parking lot is bizarre

[hlthe2b]

2. Law-abiding "responsible" gun owners that say nothing about this kind of grotesque intimidation....

deserve the building disdain and backlash that is surely coming. Sorry, but saying "nothing" allows these creeps and the NRA to speak for all gun-owners.

May the Moms group fighting for responsible gun laws be every bit as successful as the Moms against drunk driving have been.

[aikoaiko]

5. If I were there I would have told him that he made his point and to stop acting strangely.

There is no point to scaring children or their parents.

[hlthe2b]

9. Exactly..

[oneofthe99]

14. What was the point he was trying to make?

Didn't Georgia always have an open carry law?

The only thing that changed is now they can carry in places that serve alcohol.

[BrotherIvan]

22. ^^This!^^

The "responsible" gun owners need to speak out and condemn the crazies, if not they own them. They need to accept safety laws and restrictions, or they own the "tragic accidents" and "who could have known" deaths. But every time a toddler shoots someone, it's brushed off as just one of those things. The idiot didn't treat his totally benign, safe, magickally responsible death weapon properly. Oops! And then we're all supposed to just back off because Freedom!

[Eleanors38]

3. Even in GD dupes. Can we squeeze in a 3rd?

[Duckhunter935]

7. why not

I have seen this same story a few times and even most gun owners do not approve of this guys behavior. But lets post it again and see if we can get a different reaction that plays to the narrative they want.

[otohara]

11. The More The Merrier

as far as I'm concerned.

People need to know which states have gun crazy laws that protect gun owners more than non-gun owners. I wouldn't step foot in Georgia and would encourage others to avoid GA, FL, NC and a host of other states.

[Eleanors38]

43. Just where do you hang out?

[otohara]

46. The Mildly High City

there has been a 45% drop in homicides this first quarter. Only 9 people have been killed and Denver is growing by leaps bounds. Men can't prance around with guns strapped to their hips intimidating the rest of us.

My little liberal neighborhood is the safest hood in the city - 29th in the nation.
Lived in Denver CO my whole life. My Japanese husband is also concerned about gun violence so we just
stay put.

We do worry about our son who does production for an up & coming band. They play all the red states and were just in Atlanta after the Gov signed that insane law. We're oh so glad he's moved back here when he's not on the road vs NC where he saw men with scary assault type rifles occasionally.

If we travel, it's to Japan to see family and it's super safe in JP.

[aikoaiko]

4. Sounds like a benighted amateur activist.

Glad no one was harmed. Things will get normalized soon enough.

Activists will stop flaunting their arms stupidly and others won't panic should they see someone carrying.

The needle is moving. Even one of the parents in the news video said she would have been fine if he were just carrying and not acting strangely. Not too long ago the mere act of carrying a firearm would produce panic.

[oneofthe99]

6. If this guy was trying to prove a point about pro carrying a gun he needs some coaching

He came off as a disturbed individual with his antics

[aikoaiko]

10. Most activists pushing a new norm do.

As a gun owner and someone who has no problem with the GA laws, I think he asshatery is wrong headed.

[Eleanors38]

44. I don't get his game. If he wants to routinize open carry,

it should be in a positive manner that is acceptable in the community. Clearly, even in Forsyth, this is not the case. He should re-consider his goals and actions. But like you, this is more moral panic, and good taste, if nothing else, can slow down some hat & cane political prancing.

[busterbrown]

16. And she was Black..Surprised the hell out of me...

Considering the statistics of how many young black kids have died in inner city violence....

[oneofthe99]

18. That looked like a nice town she lived in. Maybe she would have thought

differently if she lived in the inner city.

[BrotherIvan]

24. Normalize???

So we're just supposed to accept to be surrounded by lethal weapons at all times? Did you see in the video that the parents and children were so afraid that they put the children in the dugout and stood in front of it to shield them with their own bodies? Is this freedom?

Our children have to pass through metal detectors at school now. They are surrounded by high fences with barbed wire so a shooter cannot enter. They have guards that roam the halls in large high schools here. What did our children do to deserve jail for gunners freedom?

Could you please explain WHY anyone needs a gun in a park filled with children and parents? What is there to be afraid of? And even if the guy had sat down with his pistol in a holster, what if the weapon accidentally discharged which happens all the damn time? How is this freedom for anyone but the person carrying the gun??

[aikoaiko]

26. Recorded incidents involving permitted carriers are very rare.

Even when they act obnoxiously such as this fellow.

On one hand you speak of your schools need to go to extreme lengths to protect the kids and then on the other you ask why anyone would need to carry at a park. Which is it?

[Ed Suspicious]

29. You guys are so fucking tedious.

[aikoaiko]

33. At least "us guys" are talking about issues and not going ad hominem

Thanks for stepping up to the plate and contributing all that you could.

[Lex]

32. People who feel the need to show off their weapons lke that are creepy & unstable

unless it's law enforcement--and that's part of their job so I get that.

[aikoaiko]

35. Maybe so. I would have told him to stop if I were there.

He was scaring children and their parents and thats not ok whether you agree or disagree with the "demonstration".

[BrotherIvan]

37. ONE accident is too many

The fact that you find injury or harm to a person/kid who was minding their own business to be acceptable and downplaying it as rare shows how little gunners actually care. You can read an article about an accident every day of the week. Mass shootings are so regular, they hardly make it past the 24hr news cycle.

And my question above was simple. Why do kids need to be in jail? Why does anyone feel the need to carry guns to a park filled with kids? You answered it. Both of those scenarios are supposedly protection from GUNS. So now we all have to live in bunkers and pack heat because the country is awash with guns? What kind of fucked up logic is that?

[aikoaiko]

39. Not all schools are reacting as yours. Not all are buying into the fear mongering.

Prudent safety procedures are one thing, but no one has to turn a school into jail.

[Ed Suspicious]

41. Fear is justified when you have paranoid racist people like my stepfather like my walking around

with a loaded gun at his side. In a world armed with hammers, it's a forgone conclusion that somebody is going to misdiagnose a problem as a nail. This doesn't even factor the real potentially life threatening increased risk of accidental discharge. Reality dictates that there will be more gun deaths as rates of open and concealed carry is increased. The question needs to go to the acceptability of an increased level of risk based on more relaxed gun policies. I am not willing to accept the risk. Your attempts to minimize that risk potential are not persuasive. The question is a simple one. How many death and maiming incidents are you willing to accept in your cost benefit analysis when living in a reality that shows risk of incident increases along with the number of armed citizens in our population?

[aikoaiko]

42. No non-justified deaths are acceptable, but civil liberties always allow bad people to do bad things

Like I said prudent safety measures are a good thing. I don't think I'm minimizing the safety issues, but then again, I'm not doing "the sky is falling" because one activist was rude and scared children and parents.

[Eleanors38]

45. Mass shootings: 62 in 31 yrs, according to MJ.

[Ed Suspicious]

28. My thoughts exactly.

Dodge city had the good sense to ban guns in city limits for a reason.

I don't want nudniks and cretins brandishing weapons in my formerly peaceful community.

Guns are still are still the single most strongly correlated variable in gun deaths.

[rrneck]

8. Was there a Starbucks nearby? nt

[PumpkinAle]

12. I am sure the sheriff could

have done something if he really wanted - I imagine there are many laws on the books that deal with intimidation and disturbing the peace.

I wonder if this guy was even questioned by the officer. The gun toting man's behavior was a red flag for talking to him and telling him to leave the area.

[Thinkingabout]

31. Especially since the new law does not immediately into effect. The state house is

Exempt, go figure, guns are good enough for the ball park but not the statehouse.

[pipi_k]

13. I'm middle

of the road when it comes to guns, but this new stuff going on in Georgia cannot end well.


I don't go to bars, but some restaurants have them. I wouldn't want to be sitting there minding my own business and have bullets flying around from a shoot-out between two or more drunks with guns.

Or in a store or bank that's being robbed, maybe.

I have a healthy respect for them. They are scary enough without being turned into a weapon of choice in a bar fight.


No...this will not turn out well at all

[Thinkingabout]

36. A shooting occurred in Houston with a CHL individual accidently dropped his weapon and it

Fired striking a lady at a nearby table injuring her. It could have also killed the lady. Its just nuts.

[KT2000]

15. they are like "flashers"

The purpose is to see the response they get - fear etc. If this guy can cause an uproar at a kids baseball game it has made his day. He has POWER!!!

Some men do equate their guns with their manhood and their body parts. Some of these open carry guys are doing just that.

[busterbrown]

17. Even though I agree with you..

“Flashing” is a first step which does not mean that someday he might carry his fetish a step further..It’s not that simple...

[KT2000]

20. I don't know

if the flasher or the open carry guy will advance to anything worse. All I know as that sometimes their motivations are the same - getting a reaction and feeling powerful.

[winetourdriver]

40. flashers

You are right, its all about that power rush.

[lindysalsagal]

21. Add this to stand your ground, and it's just old boys playing cowboys and Indians.

Way too many of us just refused to grow up. I'll probably retire in the north just to avoid this childish crap.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

23. That's what the "bear" part of "keep and bear arms" means.

Last edited Sun Apr 27, 2014, 04:16 PM - Edit history (3)

You can have gun control, or you can have the second amendment, but not both.

If you don't want one American in 10,000 or so to be shot to death every year, you'll need a constitutional amendment.

And there's no chance of that happening, and trying it would be political suicide.

So grit your teeth, bare it, and try and improve things by working on issues where the bad guys don't have an overwhelming majority.

[Lex]

25. bear

[Donald Ian Rankin]

30. Fixed, thanks.

[tridim]

27. Can we maybe get warning labels on state line signs?

If it's not illegal (uh wow), then we must use shame.

[Turbineguy]

34. Eventually these laws will start showing the economic impact of the restraint

they impose.

[Ed Suspicious]

38. That's when we'll get serious about finally defining the

kind of society we want to live in. Regulation is imposed on many tenants of the constitution. I have yet to understand the reasoning for people thinking the Second Amendment should be excepted from that reality.