It is also the author’s federally-protected Constitutional right to view open-carry in supermarkets and while mowing one’s lawn as “obnoxious”, and to share that view with the general public. He is simultaneously recognizing that there’s no rational basis for outlawing this form of “obnoxiousness”.
His approach is more likely than yours to convert people who oppose the attorney general’s position, into people who support it. He’s writing for a college audience, and it’s certain that a majority of Wisconsin college students think people who open-carry in situations where there’s no particular threat are “obnoxious”. He’s telling them, “Yes, fine, I hear you, that’s what I personally think of them too. But here’s why you still shouldn’t be opposed to the AG’s recently pronouncement that open-carry is perfectly legal.”
I want to know how you KNOW there is no particular threat to a particular person? How did you and the author both arrive at that assumption? Do you know if the guy has had death threats from certain people? Perhaps he is a small business owner that carries monies with him when he goes to the bank? Maybe he lives in a dangerous area of town? Maybe he’s got physical problems that he can’t handle getting beaten up without suffering serious permanent injuries and wants to be able to prevent that from occurring.
I mean you can make a snap judgment and say he’s obnoxious, but realize that you are doing so from your own point of view, and do not have all the facts and reasons the guy actually carrying, does.
The whole point is that the guy made a value judgment (that the guy planting a tree in his yard was obnoxious) but had no basis for doing so. He has no idea why the guy is carrying, and it is clear it did not matter and that he didn’t take two minutes and think about why a peaceful guy might want to be armed.
It’s a problem because he’s trying to say there are times when exercising your right to have protection is obnoxious, and some times where it isn’t, and that who decides whether it’s obnoxious is NOT the guy actually doing the carrying. And that is dangerous, because only the person carrying knows why they are exercising that right. They don’t need to justify it to everyone else and have them say, “OK I guess you can carry” before they can actually carry.