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.
Crip, you’ve obviously been on the Earth longer than me; can you remember a time when people were involved in daily shootouts at gas stations and grocery stores because they were openly carrying a rifle, shotgun, or pistol?
Americans have been socially re-engineered to be averse to firearms as if they’re tools of great destruction. No one thinks twice about the clip hanging out of my pocket holding my knife in place. No one thinks twice about the lanyard for my defense flashlight. But if they see the hammer of a pistol or the stock of a rifle, you’re all of a sudden going to fly off the handle in public and go on a rampage massacre? C’mon!
There should be a loud call to action to all gun owners: if your state allows it, open carry your pistol and/or rifle when you go to the grocery store or the mall.
The nice thing about this strategy is that it unwinds decades of liberal social programming and throws the law right back in their face.
The Liberals are doing everything to make homosexuality, gay marriage, and abortion “normal.” They want everyone to accept it as a “right.” Well, we already have a right enshrined in our Constitution. It requires no additional laws or legislative wrangling. It’s call the Second Amendment, and it allows us to bear arms. A right not utilized is a right wasted!
Idiots for not knowing the proper time and place to exercise their Constitutional rights.
You probably won’t have your gun rights for long.
I don’t think they’re idiots, because they seemed to know what they were doing to carry in a manner that did not get them in trouble.
I hope they were handing out copies of the US Constitution.
That it causes hysteria to see a man with a rifle strapped to his back is a sign we may be too far gone already. You may say, “not now”. I say, “now, most definately”. The NRA should be in schools now, making sure that we are not a nation of hysterical bed-wetters who panic at the sight of a gun.
This Sandy Hook garbage is going to be beaten like a drum until your 2nd Amendment rights are gone.
ok
Wow, who knew rights come with time and place restrictions.
“I believe in gun rights, but these two are idiots.”
Disagree. We need to adopt a more “in your face” attitude that shows we are not cowed or feel guilty about being gun owners. Look at what the gays did when they were spreading AIDS everywhere and killed millions. Rather than be ashamed about it and their perversion they took the offensive and demanded MORE rights. It worked great. We should do the same.
Right now it appears that the liberals and anti-gun people are in the majority. Why inflame anyone when it really isn’t necessary or does any real good?
Well said! Nobody cringes when watching a John Wayne western, so what's the problem when it's not just a movie?
Good thing they were not carrying a lit cigarette. Can you imagine the outrage?
Judging by a lot of the people I see at the range, hunting, gun shows, shops and CC classes, there are a lot of gun owners/carriers, that simply are not responsible.
Agree with you -- the word "prudent" comes to mind. I have a lot of rights I don't exercise when they upset the social apple-cart to no benefit except to be 'different' and to validate one's own existence.
But these fellows were determined to make a point (rather than just being socially inept), and they did do so. I hope overall it will prove to be positive for them.
Acting insane in public...what exactly are you talking about?
In a discussion the other day on TV a Psychiatrist said in any group of people studied the data shows at least 20-22% had mental problems that could preclude them from owning a firearm.
If those figures are correct or even near correct could this mean that a group(say Congress) That one fifth of those SITTING in Congress are not competent to be writing laws?
It doesn’t take much to inflame a libera. I’m sure we are inflaming a lot of liberals right now by exercising our 1st ammendment rights and posting on this forum for all the world to see.
Actually, if you are in an intense close quarters combat fire fight, your pistol comes in handy if you do not have time to change magazines in your M4.
People with common sense
Rifles and shotguns slung on shoulders or pistols in holsters should never evoke a response of fear but one of well-being, especially if on the shoulders and waists of free men.
When you have enemies...foreign and domestic...you take action. Well, only when you have been under attack for 60 years...I guess. We've lost our way...
The Israelis know how to counter force....
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