Posted on 01/10/2013 9:46:29 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Two men seen walking down a Portland street armed with assault rifles told police they were exercising their Second Amendment rights and hoping to educate the public on gun rights.
Several calls were made to 911 on Wednesday afternoon, with alarmed residents reporting two men with guns strapped to their backs walking through the area of Southeast Seventh Avenue and Spokane Street in Portland's Sellwood neighborhood.
When police arrived on the scene, they found two 22-year-old men carrying rifles openly on their backs. The two were also holding valid concealed handgun licenses in Oregon, according to Fox affiliate KPTV.
The men reportedly told officers that they were seeking to educate onlookers about their Second Amendment rights.
"Exercising my rights with a rifle to try to decrease the demonizing of peacefully exercising your rights in public," one of the men, who declined to release his full name, told the station.
Portland authorities later identified the men as Warren Drouin and Steven Boyce. Officers said carrying firearms openly is legal in Oregon and carrying a concealed gun is legal with a valid license, according to the station. But doing one or both may generate 911 calls and possibly tie up resources that are needed for a real emergency.
One of the men told the station that he hoped people would approach him and talk to him, instead of calling police.
"What they really should do is observe the person to determine if the person is aggressive," he said of seeing someone with a gun in public. "We're not doing anything threatening to anyone."
The Portland Police Bureau, however, asks anyone who sees someone armed with guns to immediately call 911.
Hopefully the switchboards are flooded with calls from everybody who sees a cop.
People already know that, but they want something done and done quickly.
Stupid move, given the current hysteria.
Idiots for exercising their Constitutional rights??? I suppose that makes you an idiot for exercising your first amendment right in your sniveling post. You don't believe in gun rights, you believe in fascist control as long as you are one of the controlers.
I think millions and millions of people don't understand the disconnect....
What would be really interesting if is some other law abiding citizen with a license to carry pulled his weapon and killed them. Who gets charged with what at that point?
“inflame the liberals”...I have the same response to that as I did to those that didn’t want to raise our flag at our place of business after 9/11 because they didn’t want to “inflame the terrorists”.
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY disagree! "Given the current hysteria," I believe MORE people should carry openly. We need to send a message to those who wish to do us harm: "We will NOT die willingly. You better be 'well-regulated' or you will be the first to die."
This strategy should be adopted in any state that allows open carry. Rifles slung on shoulders, pistols in holsters, shotguns and bandoleers, have them at the ready and go about your business. If every gun owner in the country carry openly during the commission of all of their business, violent crime in the public arena would PLUMMET! No criminal would be stupid enough to attempt seizure of that weapon at the risk of being killed themselves. It's all a canard.
Remember, when it comes to violent crime, there are 6 stages:
1) Intent
2) Interview
3) Positioning
4) Attack
5) Reaction
As a responsible gun owner, you should be intimately attuned to your environment and surroundings, and as such, you should be aware of anyone angling to do you harm, take your weapon, or commit a crime.
A few decades ago, no one would have been concerned about seeing men going about their business in public with a rifle slung across their shoulder, but the police would have been called if someone was acting insane in public.
Today, the insane wander the streets and no one is concerned, but carry a rifle in public and the police get called along with much handwringing.
We changed how we reacted to these two situations, and we’ve reaped the consequences. Perhaps we should change back.
Texas could certainly learn a few things like this...;-)
Mostly rural areas.....AK, of course is very common.
But yes...when I went to H.S. plenty of kids had guns racked in trucks...in plain sight.
Propaganda is a dangerous weapon....And the MSM is very dangerous. Period.
I believe in gun rights, but these two are idiots.
Why? Why are they idiots? Quite frankly, I kind of admire these two guys. I do not have the guts to do what they are doing but they sound like reasonable men that are simply trying to educate people that gun owners, by far, are reasonable and sane people particularly those that have the appropriate documentation (license, concealed carry, etc.).
Post of the day.
Actually, in some jurisdictions, they may very well have been charged with disorderly conduct...
I am surprised that they weren’t...
I do not believe they are idiots, they are making a statement, and since we kinda have that pesky little First Amendment, they were obviously backing it up with the Second Amendment...
All intents aside of course...
Just my opinion...
The way the self-defense laws in my state work, the shooter would be charged with murder - assuming these two guys were in fact just walking down the street with shouldered rifles.
We have open carry in my state. Pretty rare you see someone carrying open. Every now and then you hear of someone being arrested for disturbing the peace for carrying open. Our local cops have carry permit data as well. I got stopped recently for having window tint too dark and the office said: "I see you have a permit to carry. Are you armed." I put my hands on the wheel so he could see them and said: "Does a fat baby fart?" He laughed and let me go on my way. I've since wondered where that might have ended up if it was the wrong cop.
However, because of this latest media outcry and propaganda mission, I am starting to think these guys are right. The fact that there were a flurry if 911 calls about this proves their point: the public has been indoctrinated and are generally stupid when it comes to firearms and our rights.
Granted, there are few reasons to carry a full length rifle down the street in the city, but I am to the point where I think everyone who carrys a handgun should start carrying openly where allowed... for the sole purpose of demystifying the whole thing and forcing ACCURATE education onto the public. They have been sold faulty information for decades and they won't seek out the truth on their own. Only when it is in front of them are they forced to deal with it and then, finally, recognize it for what it is.
Maybe a few 911 calls when people see armed cops?
Might send a message.
There would be safer streets with a huge increase in open carry.
The Israelis aren’t psychotic about open carry. Media spoon fed, college indoctrinated citizens in America are. Maybe they should get over it and seek help?
A couple of questions occur to mind upon reading this story:
1. If these two young men had been exercising their rights in this way at Sandy Hook, would the monster have done what he did?
2. Even if he proceeded to do what he planned to do, which seems somewhat unlikely in the the presence of armed citizens, could he have possibly killed twenty-six people?
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