Mcminnville Oregon police, open carry AR-15 VIDEO

[bzltyr]

Person filming a video trying to get a rise. Waste everyone's time and the city resources for you stunt. They told you they received multiple 911 calls. We all know the right to bear arms, etc. Just being a douche on a nice day. Just use common sense and see what the public see's.

 

[Modly]

Didn't watch, since I've already seen some of his other videos.

If you have a right, but are too afraid to exercise it, you've lost that right. If you are unable to open carry because of public stigma towards your actions, then why even bother to proclaim it as a legal right?

My brother open carried in California for several years until the law was repealed. It was the only way he could live in LA county and carry a firearm while he was repossessing cars. It sure didn't make many people happy, and he had a few police encounters about it, but he still did it until it was declared illegal by the state.

He moved back to the safety of our homeland (Detroit) where he now has the most powerful concealed permit in the country, and can legally pack to protect himself.

The "He shouldn't open carry for any reason" crowd might as well sign over our rights entirely.

 

[Swedish K]

Regardless of anyone's opinion of what this guy does I have to say I think that people working toward expanding 2A rights through supporting legislation and bringing new shooters in to the fold do 10 times the good of what this guy is doing. If we each were to introduce at least 2 or 3 people to shooting each year, maybe, just maybe, people wouldn't freak out every time they see someone carrying a gun in the open. It's amazing the number of people who think a gun is more dangerous because of the appearance or the magazine capacity. I realize that there are many who will never become converts and will continue to fight against our rights regardless (and some honestly believe that outlawing guns would have saved someone they lost).

 

[Asp]

You may not like to hear it, but that's an apples to oranges comparison.

And who are you to decide who is the apple and who is the orange?
The right to bear arms concealed isn't in the original document IIRC. But neither is carrying openly.

On many police cruisers you might have seen to protect and serve, serve us? Protect our rights?

 

[Member 18201]

Yes, and don't forget the Black Panthers open carrying shotguns on the steps of the California Capitol. That worked out really well, didn't it?

Yup.
The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was bringing to light the selective ban on certain weapons.
Afterward, Reagan signed another infringement because it was the popular thing to do.

This lyric should be familiar by now. Politicians need no reason to enact a law. Unpopular groups may be defending the rights of all men.

 

[MountainBear]

So your answer is to hide your passions for firearms and the second amendment like some sort of secret shame? To cower and cater to the will of the socialist agenda?

This same issue has been on this forum countless times.
All those in favor of open carry versus those who may or may not have the stones to stand up for their god given rights.

Let it be known, we're finding ourselves pushed back more and more into a corner because we didn't have the courage to do something in the first place.
Now our very rights are on the line, and even still we are divided within our own community because most seem to be appeasers rather than patriots.

Id rather side with that guy you called an "A**" than a coward any day.

I'm not sure where you got coward out of my response.

 

[jimwsea]

How could he exercise his rights AND not draw attention?

I exercise my rights and somehow don't have any video confrontations with police on youtube.

And you don't draw attention? Drawing attention means doing something that makes another person take notice. It does not have to include a police stop or videotaping.

 

[DieselScout]

I try to look at situations like this through the minds eye of how I would react. Many on this site post and promote be pro-active about one's own security, both at home and while out and about and I do my best to do so. So, if I saw sitting in my kitchen admiring my dying lawn and some guy who I didn't know, who wasn't one of my neighbors starts strolling around outside my home with an AR slung over his shoulder how would I react?

Well I'd want to find out what he was doing, so my choice are

A) Confront him unarmed......not going to happen
B) Confront him armed......this bring up other questions, the least of which is do I want to bring a pistol to a potential rifle fight?
C) Call the police and let them confront him.....not ideal, while I have had great experiences with my local police I don't want to call them unless I absolutely have to.
D) Let him go about his business and mind my own.....I have a very hard time with this. I look back on the Clackamas Town Center shooting and wonder why no one intervened there when they saw a man with an AR walking towards the mall. Had someone intercepted him and asked WTF maybe the two lives would be saved?

For my own security, the only choice is for someone to confront him be it me, or my local police because at this point (still looking at him through my kitchen window) I don't know him from Adam, the crazy guy at the Baldock rest area.

My second though is this. We have many freedoms granted to us by local, state laws and the Bill of Rights. In Oregon I have the right to be naked as long as I am not doing it for my own or someone else arousal. Now I am not a nudist, I don't have the body or the confidence for it, however if I wanted to, there is nothing stopping me from driving naked, mowing my lawn naked, lounging in my yard naked or working in my garage naked. I can do it, but many people would be offended. Last year we had a thread about the naked bike ride and Portland and many here on this site were offended, so how is that offense different then someone who's offended by this style of open carry.

In the long run, I don't think it really matters what I think or what I feel. I have the distinct impression this guy doesn't care what anyone things or feels, which is fine. However, personally I would not choose this style of open carry or at least not choose his style of confrontation. There is a difference between doing something to educate the public that it is okay and being an azz about it. I agree with the above posts, more would be accomplished through more direct political action and getting more people involved with the sport.

But to each his own, it's a free country (yes Burt it is) and he can do what he feels is right.

 

[Member 18201]

I appreciate the tone of your post, DieselScout. I will take exception to this: " We have many freedoms granted to us by local, state laws and the Bill of Rights".
Laws only describe penalty for non-compliance, and the Bill of Rights enumerates those rights held by free men from birth. It grants nothing. It is in place to prevent restriction of those rights by any entity.

 

[DieselScout]

I appreciate the tone of your post, DieselScout. I will take exception to this: " We have many freedoms granted to us by local, state laws and the Bill of Rights".
Laws only describe penalty for non-compliance, and the Bill of Rights enumerates those rights held by free men from birth. It grants nothing. It is in place to prevent restriction of those rights by any entity.

Yes I will agree, including the Bill of Rights in that list was incorrect, but I don't think it interferes with getting my point across.

 

[Burt Gummer]

Carrying an AR for self defense purposes, short of the zombie apocalypse, is just show boating

Like the survivor from Argentina said, if you are prepping for SHTF and you want something practical get small pistols, not ARs and Rifles for carry/transport/movement. People that believe they are going to be badass walking around with an AR strapped to their back post-SHTF/collapse are going to last about an hour. You'd be an instant target.

 

[RB87]

Yes, and don't forget the Black Panthers open carrying shotguns on the steps of the California Capitol. That worked out really well, didn't it?

Well, not in CA but these days they seem to be doing quite well elsewhere. The "New Black Panthers" anyway. They put a bounty on a FL man last year, dead or alive and no Feds or State cops busted them.

 

[Steve M]

If the guy rolls out of bed every morning and straps on his pistol and AR15 and wears them all day while at work and until he goes to bed at night then I'd defend his actions. Instead he dresses in a specific manner designed to arouse an emotional response then goes out on the street with a camera looking for trouble. Those cops saw right through him and were very professional, reducing him to sounding like a liberal squeaking about being the 99%.

 

[BroncoFan]

To preserve or gain rights, you have to exercise them and test the boundaries.

Just how far would women, gays, blacks, and others have progressed if they didn't do a little "in your face" exercise of rights they (had or wanted)?

Things like: Pride parades, gays openly kissing in public, mixed-race couples actually holding hands, women burning bras, blacks actually sitting in the front of the bus..... etc....

All of these seemed "outrageous" at one time, and yet these groups are gaining ground rather than losing it. We should follow their lead on how to exercise/keep/gain rights.

Respect your point but I would submit to you that political strategy and grassroots activism won the day, not this nonsensical behavior. And comparing this video guy's behavior to Rosa Parks is like comparing Al Sharpton's antics to MLK. Not even the same game. My hope is that one day sanity will win out and folks will realize that the 1a and 2a allow everything else on both sides of the political spectrum (Hey, I know, but a guy can have hopes!).

 

[Asp]

Like the survivor from Argentina said, if you are prepping for SHTF and you want something practical get small pistols, not ARs and Rifles for carry/transport/movement. People that believe they are going to be badass walking around with an AR strapped to their back post-SHTF/collapse are going to last about an hour. You'd be an instant target.

I agree with you if said "badass" wants to walk around like Josey Wales, but what about small communities banding together?

 

[Kevatc]

I think it needs to be widely known that this is lawful. Anyone slamming him is on the wrong side.

So I am on the "wrong side" because I recognize its lawful to open carry but I don't agree with how he went about it?

 

[DeanfromOregon]

So I am on the "wrong side" because I recognize its lawful to open carry but I don't agree with how he went about it?

Just because someone is doing everything perfectly legal doesn't mean that person is not being a d-bag.

 

[The B]

I have a hard time trying to understand why people think this crap is a good thing. I love how the guy above cites pride parades, as though those are somehow good things also. As if shoving offensive bubblegum down peoples' throats is somehow going to bring them to your side. Gay rights might very well be a lot farther along by now if it wasn't for abuses like that... and I personally think gun rights would also be better off if we didn't have bubbas all over the place maintaining the stereotypes nons and antis have against gun owners in general.

I'm a member of some sub-cultures that tend to be left-of-center. People look at me like I grew a second head when I tell them my views on gun rights. "But I thought you were a normal guy," is the sentiment. Your average inner-city 20-30-something thinks carrying guns is pretty exclusively redneck and/or extremist Teabag. Definitely fringe... indicative of questionable social melding... off-kilter... "wacko."

You think a slightly stupid, slightly funny looking guy standing on a street corner with an EBR slung over his shoulder, making a hella weak argument against cops irritated at his stunt is helping to improve those stereotypes? No, it's bubbleguming making it worse.

Stop viewing the world as black and white. It's not. It's not us v. them.. America does not consist of pro-gun and anti-gun. The vast majority of Americans are extremely non-committal on the topic- they could go either way, but they'll always err on the side of caution. So stop making us look like the thing that needs to be erred against.

 

[Stevenav]

Here's my thoughts on this and it's based on my discussions with someone who I just bought a firearm for, for her use/training in proper firearm handling and protocol.

A firearm is not a fashion accessory, nor is it something that you decorate your house with or that you should ever see as something other than what it is. A weapon. It's a tool for dealing death. That's what firearms do. You can talk all day about shooting clay's or groupings or it being a sportsman's hobby. But ultimately the thing you must always realize is that ownership of a firearm is an adult responsibility that requires clear thinking, humility, and a duty to your fellow man to keep and use firearms with a solid sense of caution for the wellbeing of others.

I impressed on her that a firearm is NEVER a toy. It's not something you talk about to others to appear to brag about or show off with. A firearm owner has to have a sober mind and a clear purpose for the use of that firearm when he or she puts their hand on it.

Think about it this way... it's like an axe.

When do you pull out an axe? You do so for some simple reasons. First, when you're maintaining it; sharpening it, cleaning it, oiling it, getting is ready for storage, or getting it ready for use, that sort of thing. and second, when you're using it for its intended purpose. You heft it in your hand and take it over to the wood pile or to the tree you intend to use it on.

When it's not in one of these two situations... you generally don't do anything with it. You certainly don't go down to the store with it strapped to your back do you? The last time I checked the occurrences of roving bands of wild evergreens and hardwoods attacking or raiding human settlements has been pretty sparce.
As such, I treat my firearms as the tools they are. They stay home unless I have a particular use for them in mind.

The right to arms is a right, but it's also a responsibility. It's something that we need to be adults about and I'm sorry if you disagree with me, but this fellow was not being adult or sensible in his choice to carry that AR around without reason.

A firearm is a responsibility... it's not something you should be toting around like a fashion accessory or to draw attention. If you want to carry a firearm for self defense... I'm 100% behind you doing so. But if you're doing it just to draw attention... then no.

People need to be sober and sensible when it comes to firearms. Acting like an adult when carrying one will satisfy police the instant they encounter you. They'll know "This guy/gal is an adult, they're treating the weapon with care and concern for the well being of others... there's no danger here" But acting like a dingbat... well, that gives them cause for concern.

 

[rumblebee1967]

I thought it was interesting that the Police got 2 911 calls from people who saw him. I wonder how many people saw him and were not alarmed enough to call 911. That is an equally important number.