On Sunday, a lone gun rights activist bearing arms showed up at a demonstration in Cleveland’s Public Square. He admitted he had not expected to be alone the day before the start of the convention…. “This is a statement. I’m not going to be wandering around like this except in situations like this,” said Steve Thacker, a 57-year-old former U.S. Marine who had an AR-15-style rifle slung over his shoulder, an assortment of ammunition magazines in a vest and a .45 caliber handgun strapped to his thigh. He appeared shortly after a gunman killed three police officers and wounded three others in Baton Rouge, where police earlier this month shot dead a black man while responding to a report that he had threatened someone with a gun.
I’m all for having the right and the freedom to make a statement. Lords knows how Americans value their rights, knowhutimean? Those rights are important. They should be valued, and they should be exercised…within reason. Unfortunately, the “within reason” part is what too often gets lost in the Sturm und Drang- particularly in the debate concerning gun rights.
There comes a time when reasonable people recognize that even the broadest of rights have limitations- not that they should be curtailed, but in recognition that a larger interest, like public safety, might be in play. For example, there’s no- zero, zip, nada- reason why a man would need to carry an AR-15 in a public space like an airport or shopping mall.
Ohio is an open carry state (FREEDUMB!!), which means that, even with the Republican convention having taken place in Cleveland this past week, Brave Americans © and Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © may openly carry weapons whose only purpose is to kill human beings.
YAY, FREEDUMB!!!
Dear Cleveland Police: Good luck sorting out the murderous psychopaths from the good, God-fearing ‘Merican patriots exercising their 2nd Amendment rights, eh?
