'A bunch of armed open carry advocates showed up to a Sandy Hook Memorial walk with guns… https://t.co/9kPapnDUTG
— Political Line (@PoliticalLine) December 17, 2015
Orange Walk participants had some uninvited company Sunday night as an estimated 100 members of group Nevada Second Amendment showed up across from the walk’s kickoff point and strolled along the walk route, chanting slogans and carrying their own signs. Neither group engaged the other, and the walk proceeded peacefully and without incident. Earl Loewen, a spokesman for the group, said the organization wanted to show its support of the Second Amendment in Nevada…. “Everytown and Bloomberg has made a big presence in Nevada to basically try to change our rights,” he said. “We’re here just to say we believe in our Second Amendment rights. We believe in being peaceful, being armed, basically protecting our rights.”…. Loewen said the group wasn’t trying to “take anything away” from the Orange Walk participants…. “We just want to let them know there are two ways to go about being peaceful and that having law-abiding people being armed doesn’t end peace.”
It was supposed to be a quiet and peaceful walk by folks who came together to support common sense gun control. The Orange Walk to #EndGunViolence in downtown Las Vegas was one of many similar walks across the country intended to commemorate the third anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre and honor the victims and survivors of gun violence.
Evidently, that sort of selflessness and collective peaceful self-expression was more than Proudly Closed-Minded Gun Control Foes © could stomach.
It should have been a quiet, uneventful walk where like-minded souls could come together to share their stories, grieve, and discuss the need for change. It would have been all of that, until about 100 armed members of Nevada Second Amendment arrived, outnumbering the 70 marchers and making it clear exactly WHY the Orange Walk to #EndGunViolence is so important. While many in the march talked about being intimidated by those who openly carry weapons in public areas, the Nevada Second Amendment Contingent arrived to demonstrate what a threat Proudly Closed-Minded Gun Control Foes © pose to those who wish to go about their lives without having to worry about random, senseless gun violence.
It fascinates me that Proudly Closed-Minded Gun Control Foes © can with a straight face and no hint of irony talk about how they’re not trying to “take anything away” from or intimidate those who support common sense gun control, when their mere presence is an indication of just how far they’re willing to go. The truth is that they care for NOTHING more than their precious gun rights. They’ll breathlessly deny any intent to intimidate…but when 100 armed and angry White folks show up at a rally of 70 gun control advocates, it doesn’t take a Ph.D. to understand the message being sent. Denying any intent to intimidate doesn’t mean that intimidation isn’t occurring and won’t be a welcome byproduct of one’s action.
The underlying theme seems to be that being an open carry advocate means having a self-ascribed license to be an asshole in public. One need not care a whit for public safety, or for the fear created when someone shows up in a public space with an assault rifle slung over their shoulder. Exercising one’s 2nd Amendment rights means accepting no responsibility for how others might react to an armed person in a public area. It means assuming that your rights supersede any and all other rights and considerations. It means being an asshole who feels no responsibility for how those around him might perceive the exercising of 2nd Amendment rights around innocent civilians.
Believing in the immutable, inviolable, and sacrosanct nature of the 2nd Amendment shouldn’t be coupled with a willingness to completely ignore the sensibilities of those who believe differently and/or choose not to openly carry a weapon. It doesn’t render any and all other considerations as being of lesser value, and it certainly isn’t a license to intimidate and frighten those who don’t elevate the 2nd Amendment over all else- unless you’re trying to be an asshole, of course.
