{"id":272,"date":"2014-10-16T16:00:18","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T21:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/conservativelefty.wordpress.com\/?p=272"},"modified":"2014-10-16T16:00:18","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T21:00:18","slug":"thoughts-and-follow-up-on-open-carry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/?p=272","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts and Follow Up On Open Carry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey friends. \u00a0I got called on the carpet by Bob S. regarding a post I made last week<\/a> regarding Open Carry of firearms and the Mom’s Demand Action pressure being applied to Kroger.. \u00a0While I actually agree with him, my wording\"IMG_0905\" was not as clear as it could have been. \u00a0I’ve already responded to him, but that response is also a great opportunity to further the conversation.<\/p>\n

Here is Bob’s comment:<\/p>\n

There were repeated incidences\u00a0of Open Carry in Kroger. The difference was not Open Carry but how pro-rights advocates responded to the protests and extortion attempts by the anti-gun groups. In the case of Starbucks, the pro-gun side flooded the stores with messages of support, images of them carrying firearms in the stores, images of firearms and Starbucks products together. Pro-rights advocates flooded the social media sites of Starbucks with thousands of statements and messages \u2014 many completely mis-stating Starbucks position.<\/p>\n

That is the difference. We learned from the problems we created at Starbucks and didn\u2019t do the same at Kroger. But it wasn\u2019t simply just \u2018Open Carry\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I wasn’t referring to incidents of open carry, at all, so I agree on that point hands down. As far as the\u00a0second position? \u00a0I.e. what went wrong with Starbucks and some of these other places? \u00a0That’s exactly what I meant and is the whole point of the post. \u00a0Let us NOT<\/strong> <\/em>forget the lessons we learned. \u00a0It’s particularly important in this case, because I believe MDA is doing their best to try and incite the kind of response you detailed so well.<\/p>\n

Allow me\u00a0to clarify my OC position a bit. \u00a0I know it’s a touchy subject in the gun community over the last couple years. \u00a0I have not problem at all with the principles of open carry. \u00a0In some cases concealed may be best, in other cases, open carry. \u00a0We should have the option to choose<\/em> what is best for the circumstances.<\/p>\n

\"How_to_open_carry\"<\/a>I’ve posted elsewhere – such as The Truth About Guns<\/a> – my thoughts on Open Carry activists. \u00a0There are two kind out there that I’ve seen.<\/p>\n

There’s one group that is a formal organization that organizes rallies, protests, activism, etc. \u00a0The public open carry marches, for example, set up by OCT would be in this group. \u00a0I think such events have done a good job in educating people about the problem in Texas. \u00a0Some of the informational open carry events, such as how a group in (I believe it was) Ohio was passing out educational flyers in neighborhoods was another positive example. \u00a0The Florida fishing trips are another clever method of activism that I think has helped. \u00a0It wouldn’t be hard to come up with plenty of other positive examples of Open Carry activism. \u00a0As you noted, these groups have made some mistakes in the past and have learned from them. \u00a0These were not the people to whom I am referring.<\/em><\/p>\n

There’s a second group out there. \u00a0These are the “We gonna do sum open carry” people who glob together, treat making a scene the same as holding an event, then post their selfies and YouTube videos from their phones. \u00a0God love these people! \u00a0I’m sure most have their hearts in the right place. \u00a0I don’t think most are simply attention seekers. \u00a0I am<\/strong><\/em> concerned that some are simply looking for a fight, or at least payback to Shannon and Bloomberg for the trouble they’ve caused. \u00a0These are the people to whom I was writing. \u00a0They are not helping the cause, in my opinion.<\/p>\n

Just to give a bit of further clarification, the single incidents of open carry such as have already happened with Kroger I don’t consider “activism.” \u00a0I don’t even put it in the category of “exercising his\/her rights.” \u00a0True, these may be the reason they are carrying. \u00a0But they may also be coming in from the field. \u00a0They may have been in a seedy neighborhood. \u00a0They may simply carry openly simply on principle. \u00a0That FNX-45 may just not be concealable. \u00a0There are lots of reasons to open carry. \u00a0For me, it’s simply a matter of someone merely going about their business. \u00a0I’m not worried about the guy I see carrying a gun. \u00a0I’m worried about the bad guy with\u00a0any<\/em> type of hidden weapon – gun or not.<\/p>\n

I had the opportunity to put action to words with my 11 year old son recently on this subject (and, yes, that’s him in the picture). \u00a0Now, I live in the St. Louis area. \u00a0In fact, I drive through North St. Louis county daily going to and from work. \u00a0My son had seen someone in the Ferguson\/Florissant area wearing a pistol on his hip. \u00a0He’s comfortable about guns, but since open carry is not legal on the Illinois side of the river where we live, he was<\/em> a bit concerned. \u00a0I was able to point out to him that in Missouri it’s Ok to carry openly. \u00a0I also was able to point out that the guy is almost certainly a “good guy” because the “bad guys” carrying in that part of town are going to invite scrutiny. \u00a0It was also a chance for me to talk to him about choosing when to open carry, conceal carry or carry at all.<\/p>\n

For the record, this was months<\/em> before all the unrest out here.<\/p>\n

\"Jefferson<\/a>As I said, I’m fine with open carry. \u00a0I do have a problem with people who don’t really understand the nature of this fight. \u00a0The general public is our mission field. \u00a0They are ripe to be won over, and there has\u00a0been great success in that regard.<\/p>\n

MDA, MAIG, Shannon Watts, Michael Bloomberg, however, are enemies to be destroyed politically. \u00a0Utterly and without mercy. \u00a0That, by the way, is very different from getting revenge. \u00a0If your goal is revenge, you will fail in the large game.<\/p>\n

This presents us a very fine line to walk. \u00a0Know and understand the enemy. \u00a0Remember that Shannon Watts is a PR professional. \u00a0That tells you right there the kind of battle in which we are engaged. \u00a0The reality is that it’s not ultimately about what our\u00a0rights<\/em> are, it’s about the hearts and minds of the public. \u00a0Making false associations or creating a scene in order to make a statement is generally not going to help win those hearts and minds.<\/p>\n

Notice what I said twice<\/span>?<\/em> \u00a0“Hearts and mind.” \u00a0We won’t win with just one or the other. \u00a0We need both. \u00a0Even though we easily win the mind part – i.e. the facts – we cannot neglect the heart – the emotional side. \u00a0Nothing blinds the mind to fact quicker than the emotions of the heart. \u00a0Shannon Watts understands this and is skilled in abusing it. \u00a0We, however have both the legal and moral high ground here. \u00a0If we really wanted to think about it and put some effort into communicating, we also have the emotional argument.<\/p>\n

Want a bit of help on getting the message to people? \u00a0Probably the best tool you will ever find is Dale Carnegie’s Golden Book of Rules<\/a>. \u00a0It has served me brilliantly for decades. \u00a0The Dale Carnegie Course<\/a> is something that everyone should take if they get the opportunity.<\/p>\n

I’ll try to be more specific in the future. \u00a0Or at least make sure I reference back to this article to avoid confusion. \u00a0I\u00a0am<\/em>\u00a0glad I’ve got readers like Bob who care enough to call these things out.<\/p>\n

What are your thoughts on Open Carry?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey friends. \u00a0I got called on the carpet by Bob S. regarding a post I made last week regarding Open Carry of firearms and the Mom’s Demand Action pressure being applied to Kroger.. \u00a0While I actually agree with him, my … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,8,10],"tags":[17,18,22,27,49,50,71,106,111,112],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-politics","category-second-amendment","tag-maig","tag-mda","tag-tcot","tag-2a","tag-culture-2","tag-culture-war","tag-guns","tag-progressives","tag-second-amendment","tag-shooting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5yCHs-4o","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}