Posted on 12/28/2009 3:51:18 AM PST by marktwain
The sight of a man openly carrying a firearm in a Nashville-area park has scared some people, resulting in a law enforcement response. From the Associated Press:
A man carrying an AK-47-style semiautomatic pistol was detained at Radnor Lake State Park on Sunday after startled hikers complained to park rangers.
Some would consider that a scary-looking gun. Some would consider coloring the muzzle tip orange so it looks like an Airsoft gun scary. And some would consider gun owner Leonard Embody's choice of apparel, "a camouflage jacket, military boots and a black skull cap" scary.
That's how hiker Ellen Thomas described her encounter with Embody. And even Minneapolis Gun Rights Examiner and Open Carry.org co-founder John Pierce, who is quoted in this story, concedes appearances can be problematic.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Attitudes like yours and others on this thread are the very reason our second amendment rights are in danger and have been gradually eroded away in some states.
The painting the gun tip orange is stupid, and I am talking about toy guns, and not for the safety of children but for the appeasement of anti-gun types. When I was a kid we all played with toy guns, constantly, no orange tips and no dead children by cops.
Cops who shoot children with toy guns are idiots and should be prosecuted.
People who panic merely at the sight of a firearm are first class cowards. 60 years ago someone walking around with a firearm would not have even stirred a comment other than some of the hikers would have wanted to look at the unusual piece.
Our country has come a long way and the appeasers on FR, on this thread and similar threads, show why PC is so effective: "OH", says the idiot that wants to keep all weapons out of site, "we can't show our weapons this will make people not like us!". This is appeasement at its highest order and totally stupid. If it is legal, then there is nothing wrong with him doing it. The orange tip doesn't make the gun any more lethal, and the fact that people went bat sh** over it shows how ineffective painting the tip of a toy gun really is.
This kind of BS makes one almost ashamed of some FReepers.
I’m a bit stunned by it. And it’s not just FR, it’s other ‘pro-gun’ sites like glocktalk and ar15.com that are rampaging against this. It’s a joke.
I am not sure how i would rather be killed, by a policeman trying to shoot some one who had a gun that looked like a toy or by the man carring the gun that looked like a toy.
Its for sure if you carry a gun like that no one is going to try to rob you, but if some one is threatened by it they could end up killing you just out of panic, ( police or private person ).
If some one wants to kill you for any reason, a gun no matter how big will not save you except if you are aware of it. so i think a small hand gun is the only thing that makes any sense, because common sense tells me its just telling those would be muggers to leave you alone.
But if you are going to start a war then you would need a big weapon.
As you can probably tell, i am not a gun expert but i believe in the bill of rights and i believe any laws concerning the right to keep and bare arms is an infringement.
“You seem to have great disdain for America.”
Read it again. America was great for the first 35 years of my life. Her people loved freedom and were not afraid of it. Now America is filled with people like you, which has spoiled the last 35 years of my life.
I love America. If you think what we have today is America, you never knew her.
Hank
‘Now America is filled with people like you, which has spoiled the last 35 years of my life.”
Judging from your attitude I am glad I can ruin your day even though it doesn’t appear to take much. However I love freedom and have fought for it.
Acting irresponsibly is not ‘freedom’ it is irresponsible. A basis for freedom requires honor, integrity and a duty to those around you. Freedom does not mean you can do anything and everything you want whenever you want. That is anarchy.
BTW, letting others dictate your level of happiness and “ruin” 35 years of your life indicates you have made some very poor decisions.
With that I agree. I suspect he is really a nutso liberal pretending to be a gun advocate so as to hurt the cause.
I have many friends and neighbors in law enforcement and what I said (about their being against individual gun ownership) is true of about half of them. The other half agrees with me and you.
I know. God save me from idiot reporters.
He likely saw a picture of a gun, once, and that made him the most qualified to comment.
“Cops who shoot children with toy guns are idiots and should be prosecuted.”
Thats a rather broad statement. There were many cases where cops shot children in justifiable situations.
“People who panic merely at the sight of a firearm are first class cowards.”
And people who ignore an irrational person carrying a firearm are just plain stupid.
Did you see the picture of the firearm?
I smell a setup. Do something legal, have someone else cry to the Law about it, get a Legislator to ramp up the laws to crack down our Rights further.
Protections for our Rights are important specifically to protect some of those individual behaviors that might "scare the sheep" a bit.
Also, I've seen at least one person bring up the "fire in a theater" canard. People need to stop using that one. You cannot FRAUDULENTLY yell fire in a theater, but you damn well can if the theater is on fire. This isn't an infringement on speech, but an injunction against fraud and causing willful bodily harm.
Who is harmed by some idjit carrying a pistol like this? He walked past several people, without doing anything overt to scare them apparently, and is a known quantity in the community. A bit of a tard, but harmless.
Let's not fight our enemies battles for them.
bfl
The left has been very very successful changing American culture by pushing for gradual changes.
The conservatives give in time after time. IMO its partly their conservative nature and partly because they aren’t organized.
A few people insist we go back to the cultural norms of 100 years ago in one fell swoop. There is no way to do that without an extremely violent civil war.
People like this make it easy for the left to discredit more rational gun owners. Arguing this guys behavior is about freedom only advances the causes of the left.
lfb
So where have you been for 35 years?
Your generation allowed the leftists to take control of the education system and many of the changes that have happened since.
lol
Calling me a liar without explaining yourself only deserves ridicule.
You are correct!
The conservatives give in time after time. IMO its partly their conservative nature and partly because they aren’t organized.
I have been preaching the same here on FR for quite some time but usually not as succinctly. I get verbose at times.
When did I do that? "bfl" is an acronym for "Bump For Later", nothing more.
L
That being said, a weapon like the one in the article doesn't strike me as being much good, unless it has an attachable stock. Too heavy for a pistol, and not accurate enough for a rifle, I'd think. I've never fired one though, wonder if any Freepers could comment?
Scrolling though the comments, I think that this guy's actions .... while legal .... were completely irresponsible. I've heard of painting the end of a shotgun (helps for a quick aim), but I can't imagine why you'd make up a pistol/rifle to look like a toy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.