Armed residents clean up...

[spin]

STEUBENVILLE - To participate in a cleanup on the streets of the Labelle neighborhood, about a dozen residents brought not only rubber gloves and plastic garbage bags.

They also brought handguns, which they kept in holsters worn around their waists - some in plain view and some not - in a move they said was aimed at promoting awareness of laws allowing Ohioans the right to carry firearms in public.

****snip****

Johnson said the cleanup was announced through an Internet forum called Ohioans for Concealed Carry. He said other events, including a picnic at a Cleveland park, have been held through the informal group.

He said the purpose of the cleanup is to change perceptions on those who carry concealed weapons.

"We're normal, helpful citizens. Just because you carry a firearm doesn't make you any less the kind of person you'd meet in a Wal-Mart or on the street," Johnson said.
http://www.hsconnect.com/page/content.detail/id/522550.html?nav=5010

I remember growing up in the fifties in Ohio near a city named Ashtabula. I would occasionally see an older man walking down the main street of town with two ivory handled revolvers on his side.

No one paid any real attention.

[Chulanowa]

1. No broadswords or battle axes?

I mean arms is arms, right? And if you're going to look ready to kill someone while cleaning trash, might as well have a little Conan mixed in with the Dirty Harry...

[jeepnstein]

8. A sword...

would make a good "litter sticker". It sure would beat bending over to pick up dirty diapers and beer cans. :puke:

[slackmaster]

23. I keep a replica Hoplite short sword as my primary home-defense weapons

Fortunately I haven't had to use it.

[jeepnstein]

30. I'd say that's very fortunate, indeed...

[TheWraith]

9. Carrying a sword in public is illegal in every state. nt

[Chulanowa]

10. I'm aware! Pretty fucking ironic, huh?

[slackmaster]

21. I can't speak for all states but carrying a sword in public is definitely legal in California

As long as it isn't concealed. So is carrying an unloaded handgun, rifle, or shotgun.

There are a few municipalities that restrict open carry of edged weapons (e.g. Berkeley and Los Angeles, unless it's part of a theatrical costume) but generally it is perfectly legal to carry an exposed knife of any size here as long as it doesn't qualify as a "switchblade knife" as defined in Section 653k of the California Penal Code.

[spin]

24. Perhaps not in Florida...if you can conceal one and have a license...

Florida has a concealed weapons permit. Note the word "weapon".

Chapter 790
WEAPONS AND FIREARMS

790.06 License to carry concealed weapon or firearm.--

1(1) The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is authorized to issue licenses to carry concealed weapons or concealed firearms to persons qualified as provided in this section. Each such license must bear a color photograph of the licensee. For the purposes of this section, concealed weapons or concealed firearms are defined as a handgun, electronic weapon or device, tear gas gun, knife, or billie, but the term does not include a machine gun as defined in s. 790.001
http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0790/Sec06.HTM

Chapter 790
WEAPONS AND FIREARMS

790.001 Definitions.--As used in this chapter, except where the context otherwise requires:

**snip***

(3)(a) "Concealed weapon" means any dirk, metallic knuckles, slungshot, billie, tear gas gun, chemical weapon or device, or other deadly weapon carried on or about a person in such a manner as to conceal the weapon from the ordinary sight of another person.
http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0790/Sec001.HTM

I never have known of anyone with a Florida concealed carry permit who carried a sword (or even considered it). I do know a number of permit holders who carry a concealed knife and several who carry a concealed switchblade.

I suppose a sword cane might be a practical concealed weapon.



Cold steel Sword Cane

Obligatory disclaimer: I am not an attorney nor do I play one on the internet. The above post should not be viewed as legal advise.

[Tim01]

2. I'm glad to see gun owners educating others.

It is the cure for gun control.

[damntexdem]

5. I guess it beats having a brain.

And sure beats using one.

[Chulanowa]

11. What I've seen is that gun activists relish ignorance

Quick, define "assault weapon"!

Congress could do it, but gun activists can't. It's funny.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

20. Actually RKBA types know what an assault rifle is, its the pols who are clueless

The key is selective fire, not hand grips and flash suppressors

[Katya Mullethov]

26. and the arm thingies !

Dont forget the arm thingies , and they MUST go up !

[ProgressiveProfessor]

27. I have not idea what you are talking about

[slackmaster]

22. The expired federal definition of "assault weapon" did not accomplish the intent of its authors

It was a complete failure as public policy. One of the dumbest laws ever written.

[Katya Mullethov]

25. " They have the arm thingies that go up "

You're pullin' our collectives legs , aren't you ?

[X_Digger]

29. That references Rep Carolyn McCarthy..

.. who when asked exactly what a 'barrel shroud' was (she used the word in the legislation she introduced,) she said she thought it was "the shoulder thing that goes up."

eta: ahh, Statistical beat me to it.

[Tim01]

31. *snort* nt

[Statistical]

28. Sure about that?

They banned things they couldn't even explain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rGpykAX1fo

[Tim01]

32. People on this site have told me guns are bad no matter what the facts are.

Are you one of those emotional people? Guns are evil scary terrible killing machines?
Is that you?

[YOY]

3. Putting Steubenville up on the pedestal for anything is a mistake.

The armpit of Ohio.

[damntexdem]

6. They should simplify the spelling of the name: Stupidville.

And stay off the pedestal -- no telling when these nutters would start taking pot shots.

[YOY]

13. I already do for reasons that have nothing to do with firearms and carrying.

n/t

[proteus_lives]

4. Good for them.

This sends a good message.

[DonP]

7. OMG!! How many died?

With people carrying guns openly on the street I'm sure that there were multiple shootings, right?

It's just a matter of time until one or more of them "just snap" - or so we seem to be told frequently.

How dare these obvious far right wing-nuts pretend to do a public service. Thank heaven there were no "real" Democrats out there cleaning up the streets!

(Where's that damn sarcasm tag?)

[iverglas]

12. yeah, because

in a move they said was aimed at promoting awareness of laws allowing Ohioans the right to carry firearms in public.

nobody actually expected them to say it was a move to squat on a few more square feet of the public agora, to let a few more members of vulnerable groups know, loud and clear, that the public spaces of their sociey do not belong to them, that they are as nothing in the great scheme of things, and that they may as well sit down and shut up right now, because resistance is, really, futile.


I remember growing up in the fifties in Ohio near a city named Ashtabula. I would occasionally see an older man walking down the main street of town with two ivory handled revolvers on his side.

Sounds a bit like the oldish bald guy my buddy and I (the buddy who owned the handgun that was barred from the apartment he rented from me) saw shuffling past our front porches on a sunny Saturday morning a few years ago. In his bathrobe and slippers and apparently nothing else. We did what any thoughtful person would do: called 911 to alert the emergency services to what was quite likely an individual with dementia on a wander. My buddy followed at a distance to keep an eye on him, I called it in. As I was relaying the report on which way he was heading, my buddy came back and said it's okay, he's on his way home. And there he was with the Saturday papers and his 7-11 coffee, going back where he came from.

Mind you, if it were firearms, pearl-handled or those "modern-looking" ones, when 911 said "police, ambulance or fire?", I wouldn't be saying "ambulance".

The militant right wing hasn't occupied my public spaces yet to the extent that I have to put up with that kind of shitty intimidation and show of force.

[friendly_iconoclast]

14. It's refreshing to hear what *really* was going on there from someone who knows!

in a move they said was aimed at promoting awareness of laws allowing Ohioans the right to carry firearms in public.

nobody actually expected them to say it was a move to squat on a few more square feet of the public agora, to let a few more members of vulnerable groups know, loud and clear, that the public spaces of their sociey do not belong to them, that they are as nothing in the great scheme of things, and that they may as well sit down and shut up right now, because resistance is, really, futile.

You've got the inside dirt on them, and will of course be posting your sources here for our edification Real Soon Now, amirite?

[burrfoot]

15. well,

is it possible that they were, in fact, telling the truth about why they were doing what they were doing?

And who are these vulnerable groups? And how do you know that they received the alternative message you propose? How do you know that the non-gun carrying people didn't think "wow, those guys aren't that scary after all" or "hey, that's Bob! I didn't even know he was into guns!"

I obviously have no way of knowing either. I just like to point out alternative possibilities, since none of us know for sure.

[spin]

16. At the time I was only nine or ten years old...

If my memory serves me the guy had a cowboy hat on.

I was with my father and asked him, "Are those real guns?"

He replied, "Yes, and I'll bet he never has ANY problems with anybody."

Surprisingly, my father was anti-gun and never had any firearms in the house with the exception of a small .22 cal S&W Ladysmith revolver that my mother had used to stop a guy who tried to attack her as she was walking home form work in the 1920 time frame. (She fired two shots over his head and he ran.)

I believe that because of the incident she had some attachment to the firearm. My father wisely disabled the weapon by removing the firing pin.

Although the revolver was carefully hidden, I, of course, found it. When I was alone in the house, I would occasionally play with the revolver and load the .22 caliber bullets that were in the box in the revolver's cylinder. I don't believe I ever cocked the firearm and pulled the trigger while the firearm was loaded, but if I had, it wouldn't have made a loud noise.

After my father died, I learned from my uncle that he used to practice shooting a revolver with a neighbor who was a police officer and was quite proficient with it. I never did find out why he opposed owning firearms.

[iverglas]

17. the things you never find out

http://www.amazon.com/Astas-Book-Barbara-Vine/dp/0140176616

Probably not your cup of tea, but a pretty good mystery.

I read it just after my grandmother died, and my mum and I went through her long-ago photo album (circa 1918) and saw one picture missing from its little black corners. Then we found it - at the very bottom of her bottom bedside table drawer, under stuff and stuff. Her as a very young woman sitting on a fallen log with a young man, not my grandfather (who had died 20 years earlier). How long ago had she taken it out of the album and put it in the drawer? How long since she had looked at it? Years, decades, days? ... Who was he?

The things you never find out.

[spin]

19. I was 16 when my father died...

I missed the opportunity to sit down and talk to him at an older age when I could have appreciated the experiences he had in his lifetime.

I might have learned something. At age sixteen I thought I knew it all.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

18. Armed residents go about thier daily lives...

About 1 in every 80 persons in Ohio is permitted to carry a concealed firearm.
Anybody who can legally own a pistol can open carry it (no permit required).

I would not concern myself with a scant dozen rootin' tootin' gun-totin garbage collectors.
Odds are more guns drove by them in the strees than they had on thier hips.