20 May 2014

Once Again

I like open carry. I'm an open carry advocate, although I'm not rabid about it. I belong to a group here in the greater Raleigh area that goes to different places for lunch while open carrying. Our goal is to show the normal folks that we are more like them than the nuts they see on the TV.

Chipolte restaurants recently became the latest battleground on the War on Guns, and as is typical once the jackasses got wind of it they thought it would be a good idea to bring their Evil Black Rifles in to, I don't know, "make a statement" or some such bullshit as that. (I have been informed that there was no organized response, it was a photo taken while having an after-event meal that the antis jumped on and another completely unrelated photo that they astroturfed on to increase the visibility.)

Chipolte has now "made a statement" and that statement is, don't take your guns to town.

It would serve our cause much better when the antis pick the next battleground (as they have picked Starbucks and now Chipoltes) and the business in question says they will follow state law, to just say "thank you," perhaps with a nice letter to Corporate, and let it go at that. Leave the EBRs at home, don't bother the individual storefronts with our "show of support" (the exception would be to have a quiet word of support for the manager of any store that is besieged with antis), and most of all...DO NOT ENGAGE ON A BATTLEFIELD OF THEIR CHOOSING (please do take the time to notice very carefully where that last link points. It was deliberately picked. Know your enemy).

 We may be winning the legislative war so far, but the activists will always win the PR battle if we choose to engage them on their own ground. Let the public see them acting like nuts, not us, is what I say. I'll carry the Glock in a holster on my hip in plain view, but I haven't ever run into a situation where I've said "Man, it sure would have been handy to have that Saiga with me." (Yes, yes, I know, a pistol is what you use to fight your way back to the rifle you shouldn't have left behind in the first place, but seriously folks, the biggest point of risk assessment is determining likelihood and in my mind the risk of alienating the public on an otherwise unremarkable day is far far greater than the risk that I will have to engage zombies at range on the same unremarkable day.)

Starbucks and Chipoltes, all they wanted to do was run restaurants, but we...yes WE...allowed ourselves to get carried away and now both of those places have decided they don't want our business. Boycott if you like but given the numbers I don't think there is much danger of them folding, and keep in mind our goal is not to alienate John and Jane Public, it's to show them we're not rabid foaming at the mouth lunatics. What do you think they think of us now?

Nice job jackasses. I guess it stops when every business in America posts signs to leave the guns outside.

7 comments:

Sean D Sorrentino said...

"as is typical once the jackasses got wind of it they thought it would be a good idea to bring their Evil Black Rifles in to, I don't know, "make a statement" or some such bullshit as that."

No, OC of a handgun is illegal in Texas. It's long gun or no gun for OC in the Lone Star State.

The problem isn't that they're OCing rifles. It's that they can't leave them slung and they can't stop posing for photographs instead of just getting some food.

Anonymous said...

Larry,

I think there is a misconception that the Open Carry Texas folks staged some sort of demonstration at Chipotle.

That simply isn't true. They were doing a walk and stopped to eat. Just exactly what normal people would do; we have to show that carrying a firearm doesn't change people.

Moms Demanding Attention saw the picture and started the issue up with Chipotle. Let's call them out because they are putting the restaurants in the middle of the fight; not the Open Carry folks.

The other misconception here is that Open Carry of Handguns is possible in Texas. It isn't.

It is illegal.

Open Carry Texas is showing how ridiculous it is that we can carry rifles and shotguns openly but not handguns.

Let's keep the focus on the antis who are pushing against our rights, eh?

Bob S.
3 Boxes of BS

Larry said...

Thanks for coming by Sean and Bob, and thank you for your input.

I am aware that OC of handguns is illegal in Texas, surprising but there it is. This is a legislative battle that I'm sure is ongoing, and I have no doubt that eventually it will be won.

I'm also quite sure that in certain parts of Texas having a rifle close at hand is a very good idea. I'm just not convinced that Chipoltes is one of those places.

Bob, thanks for pointing out this wasn't an organized demonstration; I didn't really know the intimate details. What I saw...and more importantly, what John Q Public saw...was folks toting AKs and ARs around like it was Somalia. This loses the PR battle for us.

I will agree that calling the antis out for pulling places like Starbucks and Chipoltes into the fight is something we need to counter, but if we play their game, on ground of their choosing, we are going to lose. So we either pick different ground...or we play a different game.

Robert Fowler said...

"I will agree that calling the antis out for pulling places like Starbucks and Chipoltes into the fight is something we need to counter,"

We need to call Bloomberg and the plastic demanding mommies out for the bullies they are. They are bullying these places into making a choice between following the law and doing their bidding, which is the complete ban of all guns.

Of course Tweedledee dumb and Tweedledee dumber weren't helping anything. One thing they need to do is learn how to dress. The fat one looks like he just crawled out of bed. Clean jeans, a nice shirt, even if it's a t-shirt would help a lot. And that other idiot holding his SKS at low ready was really a stupid move.

Larry said...

Robert, from what I've been able to gather that's the photo that actually had nothing to do with the event...but that's the picture that everyone has seen. Not exactly covering ourselves with glory here.

Thanks for dropping by!

angrymike said...

Very well said, posted...... ;)

Larry said...

Thanks for dropping by Mike.