Counter protesting a rally against illegal guns by showing up with rifles. You can at least see why this makes them look like idiots(armed idiots at that) right?
I did call them dickheads earlier and I stand by that. I am not defending what they did, I am merely pointing out that I don't view it as being as big a deal as others in this thread or in the initial article from ThinkProgress.
I mean if I show up across from a NRA fundraiser with a protest sign decrying the use of nuclear weapons I'd look like a bit of an ass too. Because I was clearly missing the point. As these guys were. The difference being they were openly armed while they did it. Making a point of having the weapons loaded.
I actually watched the video where one of the guys was being interviewed and he didn't mention that the rifle was loaded until he was directly asked if it was loaded. For me, the rifle being loaded or not is a non-issue for a number of reasons not the least of which being because no one knew the weapons were loaded as it wasn't being broadcast and you couldn't tell by looking if it was loaded, unloaded or rendered completely disabled. Presumably these people were CCW holders and people who carry firearms on a daily basis soon start to view having them loaded as a normal part of their routine.
You, for whatever reason, trust that they aren't stupid enough to start shooting. I'm not sure how many other people are willing to make that leap of faith when these guys can't seperate real concerns about illegal guns, with imaginary attempts to take their guns away.
These people were at a planned rally in favor of stronger gun control and rallies of this type typically have a police presence to ensure that laws are obeyed and conflicts can be dealt with quickly before they spiral out of control. In the state of Indiana it is legal to carry a firearm openly with a permit. If these people were to show up to a rally with a heightened police presence and are still not arrested then it is almost certain that they followed the law and got a permit to carry their weapons openly. the other possibility is that the police were lazy and didn't bother checking, but considering that these were rifles, something not typically carried openly and would bring about higher scrutiny, I find this an unlikely scenario. Add to the fact that if one of them does decide to open fire, there are other people there with weapons who will likely disagree with that action, such as police and the other counter-demonstrators. They'd know that if they start sending lead at the protestors then lead will be sent right back at them. It isn't a leap of faith to think they'll behave themselves, it's knowledge of actions and consequences.
On another note; my issue with Mayors Against Illegal Guns stems from the fact that they're not campaigning against illegal guns as their name implies but rather advocating for more gun control. If they were trying to advocate against illegal guns they would be spending their time, money, energy and manpower into making sure guns are kept out of the hands of known criminals and trying to get the guns out of the hands of criminals who already have them. They could try advocating for increased police presence in known gang territories, for example, or try pressuring states to better report people ineligible to own firearms to NICS. But from what I have been seeing, I'm more inclined to think they're not Mayors Against Illegal Guns but are really Mayors Against Guns they think should be Illegal. I suppose this is just my issue with labeling, which I'll delve into in a separate thread should I feel the need to address this in greater detail.
When all is said and done, though, this is just my opinion. We have differing opinions and I don't see this changing anytime in the near (or distant) future. I just wanted to point out my views on this specific topic, I've done that, but right now I am just too burnt out on the gun control debate to be able to put much effort into it. But can you blame me for that considering we've been flogging this dead horse for three months now?
