Dallas open carry rally (courtesy dallasnews.com)

“About 150 people, many of them bearing strong opinions and semi-automatic rifles, assembled on a busy street corner Saturday to make their case for a change in Texas gun laws,” dallasnews.com reports. “The heavily armed contingent came from the Tarrant County offshoot of Open Carry Texas, an organization that works to ‘condition Texans to feel safe around law-abiding citizens that choose to carry’ guns.” Hats off to Home Depot for not telling the OC’ers to piss off, but what’s up with the AR-schlepping Momma above. Either she has the world’s widest baby or she’s carrying a brace of rug rats. Either way, that’s not tactically sound nor PR-friendly. Which is why the News placed the image atop the article. And quoted a bunch of random nay-sayers. What say you to this? Yay or nay? [h/t James]

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133 COMMENTS

    • That was my first thought. Then it was “her ultra-wide child doesn’t have matching shoes”.

      • Sorry if I sound pedantic, but you do realize that is two different kids, right? BTW, I’m no AR guy, so it’s an honest question; since you can’t see the end of the barrel, how do you know there are no sights?

        • There’s no (visible) rear sight, and the front sight on an AR isn’t on the end of the barrel. It’s usually above the gas block (where the two tubes come together: the barrel and the gas tube. On this gun, immediately forward of the large round foreword grip.) On classic ARs, it’s the big triangle looking thing just forward of and above the grip. It can be further back however if it’s not using the old A2 style sight. In the case of this gun, she may have flush fitting folding sights incorporated in the picatiny rails, though doesn’t appear to.

        • That’s a flat, picatinny rail top. even if there were an A1 style sight on the barrel (I’m almost certain there isn’t) there’s no integral sight/carry handle to look through.

        • I’m yet to see a sight of any kind forward of the gas block. There’s clearly no rear.

        • Thanks for the info, I was thinking the triangle looking thing was close to the muzzle. Maybe she has an optic that she would otherwise mount the rail? But not today, with the kids and all?

      • I might be being overly judgmental here, but I’m going to go ahead and bet a week’s pay that this lady can’t accurately fire from the back of a moving motorcycle.

        • And im going to bet that the red dot or scope that typically resides on that rifle was removed specifically for the event. No need to send the antis into fits with a sniper rifle right?

          And as for the usual comments about protesters not exercising tactically sound postures all the time… get over it. While I wouldn’t take it as licence to get really lazy and stupid carrying a few kids in the middle of a group of well armed friendlies in full public view with cameras rolling and live media coverage is hardly a notable risk. traveling through a sparsely populated park with those kids? Sure, keep a hand free to grab the gun but this is about the safest place I could imagine for a mother to concentrate on her children.

        • Is the second paragraph directed at me? Cuz I was talking about the video where Kirsten accurately fired from a moving motorcycle.

          Re: Your first point – I find the assumption that this woman thought “Uh oh, don’t want to scare anyone with this aimpoint” as she was scooping up her AR (and kids!) for an open carry protest completely ridiculous.

        • How do I lose? “That lady” was a reference to the one in the picture, as compared to Kirsten in this video.

    • You obviously haven’t watched the Kirsten Weiss video.

      Anyway, it was about a statement, not any actual danger.

      For a second, I was concerned she was holding one very, very wide child!

    • It is an A4 upper and I think it may actually have sights on it. I think it has fold up sights. they are just in front of the charging handle attached to the rail.

    • Useless? Didn’t you watch the point-shoot without sights video posted on TTAG recently?

    • It looks like it has sights to me.

      While the resolution isn’t high enough to be 100% sure, it looks like there is a low profile rear BUIS and a low profile gas block sight. In fact, the front sight looks like the Midwest model as that model has the bayonet lug you see.

      It’s harder to make out the rear BUIS, but there is certainly a bump right over the charging handle, but I can’t make out which sight it is.

      I use low profile sights on some of my setups, and I have a gas block sight as well, so I may be more familiar with them than some people.

      The sights are not deployed, but the that doesn’t mean they are not there.

    • I have an AR15 with no sights. If it is useless, I challenge you to go down range and waive a flag when you feel safe. You should not have to go far since my rifle is useless.

    • Maybe she didn’t want her Eotech or even larger red dot banging around or hooking on stuff while schlepping two kids.
      After all, it was unlikly she would or could have brought it to bear with no available hand.

  2. I can’t help but feel that just regularly open carry of EDC while going about daily business in a POLITE and FRIENDLY manner is a far more effective conditioning agent than rallies like this.

    Most of the general population sees people willing to rally publicly regarding any cause as extremists. However, when they see me at the grocery store OC’ing in the summer as I calmly go about my shopping, stopping for a few minutes to jabber with a co-worker, and making friendly small talk with the cashier, all with a smile, perhaps they’ll entertain the notion that “regular people” carry guns during their lives and it’s nothing to freak about.

    That said, I’ll never disparage citizens right to assemble peaceably for obvious reasons. I’m just don’t think it’s the most effective PR move in *this* battle if the end goal is in fact acceptance of firearms by non-owners/carriers.

    • That would be useful if Texans were allowed to open carry their EDCs. The whole point of these rallies is to try to get handgun open carry passed.

      • I recognize that, but I feel it would be more effective to lobby politicians with data. And/or assemble and publicize the data and sources as part of the demonstration.

        The gun-rights argument in Texas shouldn’t be “We should have open carry of handguns” (even though this is a valid argument), it should be “We should have open carry of handguns BECAUSE….insert sourced data about benefits of gun rights here.”

        Education and awareness are different, primarily in that awareness is useless. Here’s why:
        http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/23/18-awareness/

        • Education in this area is useless, for the media will blast 7000 lies at top volume for every word said by rational people. That is proven, they have been doing exactly that for 50 years. That is what has created this whole mess in the first place. Awareness that the media lies constantly is what is needed now. And to build the awareness that normal people can go about their normal lives, armed, and harm no one(as they all used to in the past, so it’s proven), people will have to do just that to prove it, yet again. And that is what is happening here.
          LOGICALLY, therefore, this is exactly right and proper.

    • I agree with your thoughtful and well written comment. Anything more than OC while going a bout your daily business seems to open the act to more scrutiny. Most acts done naturally tend to leave us with the strongest impressions, rather than deliberate displays. But I’d be the last to try to disparage citizens from exercising their right to assemble.

      Also, my first thought before reading this post was about the wide baby. 🙂

    • I disagree; while I have OC’d for almost six years now; this large of a gathering also shows men, women, mothers and fathers also are passionate about their gun rights to the non-gun people. This is a multi-faceted endeavor,. this is just another way; along with individual OC, calling your politician, voting in pro-gun politicians, writing on different blogs countering the lies and distortions of the anti-gun people. etc.

      Just don’t go chasing after and trying to intimidate anti-gun people when they curse you out.

    • I agree completely with Jandrews. I think open carrying while going about your day-to-day business would be a much better approach. In terms of the optics, it’s more organic and the public would probably be much more responsive to such an approach.

      I understand what these activists are doing is perfectly within their rights. I just don’t believe it’s really helping the cause.

    • I’m not sure I understand the point. Being ex military, and an NRA instructor for many years I would rather conceal to keep the element of surprise and not draw attention to myself. But seriously, OCing an AR is just foolish and serves no purpose whatsoever. You aren’t going to win an OC challenge that way, you are going to give the anti’s one more thing to put on the liberal media. These rallies with rifles are just foolish.

      • The ongoing debate of concealed vs. open carry typically revolves around the concepts of surprise vs prevention, respectively.

        Considering the number of DGUs, not known exactly but known to be high, that resolve without a shot being fired, there is real value to the open-carrier argument that if a potential criminal sees the victim is armed ahead of time, the assault won’t even take place to begin with.

        Now, conversely, there is also very real value to the concealed-carrier argument that if a truly heinous person is intent on doing harm, they will target any known resistance first, which makes an openly carried firearm act as a bullseye. The element of surprise may both keep you alive and improve your ability to successfully respond to the situation.

        I carry in both fashions at different times under different circumstances. I think regardless of preference, we can all agree that open carry should be legal purely from a 2nd Amendment standpoint.

  3. There’s a PR game going on here to win the hearts and minds of America.

    The antis play three-dimensional chess with the support of most major media outlets.

    These folks play checkers…and lose. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

    • How do you figure?

      Open Carry will be coming to Texas because OC activism won.

      Every metro police department has been made fully aware of the ramifications of trying to suppress people rights to carry within the law. The law suits that accompany said jack bootery are proof again that OC activism won.

      Staples, Chillis, Starbucks etc. have not made any kind of actual policy change or posted any of their stores in spite of what you may have read from MDA and the media.

      OC activists have changed policy, changed law and raised awareness with people who matter, meaning law makers and law enforcers. What a bunch of menopausal mothers and liberal media outlets care to think means precisely bupkis

      They may lose PR battles but they are winning where is counts. Changing law, policy and perception in favor of exercising rights. That’s called winning the war.

      And exercising ones god given, civil and constitutionally protected rights, any of them, is not a freaking popularity contest.

      • Legislative activism. That doesn’t apply to the private establishments being targeted by activists over the past couple years. Thus far it would appear it’s only really effective at energizing our opponents and causing formerly neutral companies to formally say “no guns please.”

      • Yep, well said. I also find it telling that the attacks by fellow gun owners initially made on people that began the OC’ing of pistols;; are the exact same attacks being made against these OC’ers of long guns.

        So because of those few; in being willing to face the initial emotional, demeaning and derogatory attacks by fellow gun owners in OC’ing a pistol; are now more the accepted norm and it is the long gun people coming under the same attacks for practicing the same civil right.

        I predict that in a few years, the OC’ing of long guns will just be another accepted norm. Because of these dedicated few.

        • How do you know it’s all the same people? I live it a state where people don’t bat an eye at open carry pistols. My guess is the same open minded folks would be more than a little spooked if they saw someone walk into a 7/11 with an AR slung over their backs.

          But I digress. The best way to normalize something is to act normal. These people aren’t. The best form of activism is legislative activism. That’s not what these folks are doing. Legislative activism is going to get us open carry in Texas. This sort of activism get’s formerly neutral organizations like Starbucks and that place that makes me poo fire to formally ask us to leave our guns at home.

        • You keep saying :”the best way” this and “The best way” as to how to get pro-gun laws passed. There is only one way to do something and that is my way. The definition of only “my way” is being a bigot.

          I happen to agree with most of what you said; except there is also the way of group demonstration; such as being done by these OC activists.

          Because in the end; BP; many gun people said that OC’ing a pistol would cause restrictive gun laws to be passed (and being roundly insulted in the process) and in some states it did, like CA. But in other areas this process increased the acceptance of OC of pistols, including the group demonstrations of OC pistols,

          If done properly; the same process; including group OC of long guns, will do the same.

        • I just did a quick ctrl F to confirm that I’ve said “best” 3 times here over the course of 8 or 9 comments. 2 of them were in the comment you’re responding to, largely for effect.

          Using correlation = causation with California and Texas is massively flawed. Texas has been going in the right direction for 20 years; California in the wrong direction for 30 years. Attributing to all that progress, or lack thereof, to open carry protesting is illogical.

    • Really? Is that why we are winning and why the mass of new antigun legislations got almost all shot down over the past couple years? Because we are losing and losing and losing? I think not. The reason it might APPEAR that way to you is because if all you do is watch the lamestream media, that is the impression they strive so hard to achieve. And why they are going so rapidly downhill. THEY are losing now, although that was not the case twenty years ago

  4. I have no idea what kind of message she is trying to send, Carrying an AR with two rug-rats. What would she do if she was accosted? Drop the kids, and go for the gun?
    Leave one or the other at home.

    • When I was living in Latin America a very common purse snatch tactic was to use a seatbelt cutting tool and rip the straps of a purse or backpack in the blink of an eye and the second person snags the goods off the ground and they both run away.

      It would certainly take some cajones to try that here but there is sweet FA (channeling my inner farago) that helga (name seems to fit the errr size of her) can do about it if they tried. If she is standing near the edge of the pack, I wouldn’t put it past some opportunistic punk to give it a go.

    • I think you missed the whole point. This is a rally full of people open carrying. No criminal would accost anyone at a rally full of dozens of armed riflemen. Not even a crackhead in withdrawl is THAT stupid! The whole idea is to get the average unarmed sheeple used to the idea of armed men and women going about their daily lives. And that means going about their daily lives, in public, armed.

      • 150 armed people at gathering! ZERO people shot!

        More people have been killed in “gun-free” zones than at gun rallies, gun trade shows, and gun stores combined!

  5. I think this strong lady has two children in arms and the ability to defend them, any way she chooses!

    This likely is not the best way to get their point across, but I must commend the HD management not to panic and tell them to leave. The manager or assistant manager gained much good will with the group anyway, and with me. I don’t usually go to HD because the young people they hire are not professionals or even semi-professionals. They don’t usually know as much as I know about floors, paint, electricity, plumbing, lawn & garden, and other things they sell and service. I usually shop at Lowe’s where they do hire at least one professional in each department who can answer my questions, but now I will likely shop HD every once in a while.

    • My dad, a 60 year old with considerable experience in carpentry and hardware, worked for Home Depot for about 4 months. The problem isn’t that they don’t hire professionals, its that they don’t pay professionals what they deserve, and screw them with bad hours.

      For example, my dad was the most knowledgeable person working on the floor, helping customers. He was paid the exact same $10/hour as all the high school students/dropouts who worked there as a summer job. He also only wanted to work part time, but they ended up sticking him with 5 opening shifts a week, because he was the most competent.

      Rewarding knowledgeable people with crap pay and worse hours is a quick way to lose them. At least at this particular Home Depot, they couldn’t hold onto any worker who was older than 35 for more than a few months.

  6. Open carry with handguns is perfectly acceptable most places. Open carry with semi-auto rifles and shotguns just makes you look like an attention-grabbing idiot.

    At a demonstration where multiple people are open carrying long weapons, it might serve to drive home a point, MAYBE.

    But just walking around your average town/city with an AR on your back is not doing any good.

    My $.02

    • In Texas you can only open carry long gun, the whole point of open carry Texas to get people too become more aware of idea that open carry of hand gun in Texas should be legal. how ever these guy need to work on there PR skills.

    • Are you aware that, in Texas, open carry of a handgun is forbidden by the authorities, but open carry of rifles is not? If you are aware of that, it should be obvious that Texans have little choice in the matter.

  8. So I guess nobody thought this was just good timing? Perhaps she picked them up for safe keeping.

    On the other hand, I don’t think with her two kids she’d be the first of the first responders to drop a kid or both kids to take anybody down. I would assume her priority would be to get them to safety then respond accordingly.

  9. Screw the naysayers. She’s about as prepared as she can be carrying two kids. If the SHTF, set down the kids and whip out the bang stick. Would you prefer she remain unarmed? Sure a pistol in a holster might be better (or not) but that’s the point of the protest, she doesn’t have that choice.

    • Prepared for what? Shit hitting the fan during her stupid “Look at me” rally? She doesn’t even have sights on the damn thing. She isn’t at all prepared – she’s an idiot.

  10. I roundly reject conspiracy theories and baseless nonsense, but if Mayor Mother’s Demand All Guns Illegal were behind these, less surprised I could not be. Either that, or a bunch of idiotic dipshits who don’t even bother keeping sights of any kind on their rifles simply care more about being the center of attention than they do about preserving our rights and freedoms.

    • Well BlinkyPete; all you show by using your ad-hominem attacks on fellow gun owners actions you disagree with is that you have no logical. factual or otherwise rational reasons for your dis-agreement.

      In other words, you sound much like an anti-gunner in their use of emotional, derogatory and demeaning insults against all gun owners because they have nothing to contribute to the discussion except bigotry, hate, and intolerance.

      • If I ever find the jackass who taught keyboard warriors everywhere the term “ad hominem” as a catch all for “you said something mean about a person I agree with.”

        I insulted her and her friends by referring to them as idiotic dipshits, and expressed my sentiments that A) they are helping our adversaries, and may as well be one of them via (using my own much maligned term) a conspiracy theory, B) they (or at leas the woman in the phot) don’t even have sights on their rifles, which kinda limits the practical purpose for carrying one and therefore C) they’re just a bunch of attention seekers and not legitimately interested in protecting the 2nd amendment. You basically used that last one against me, which, by the way, is kind of a No True Scotsman fallacy.

        In short – Insult, Argument, Argument, Argument does not equal ad hominem.

        Also, disagree is one word… you don’t have to hyphenate it.

        • “If I ever find the jackass who taught keyboard warriors everywhere the term “ad hominem” as a catch all for “you said something mean about a person I agree with” I’m going to strangle him” is the full (and hyperbolic) first sentence I was going for.

        • There you go BlinkyPete; by pointing out that when I misspelled the word “dis-agreement” , you did that to show me to be some what ignorant and the rest of what I was saying was possibly ignorant as well.

          So I am doing you the same favor; when you use an insult or two, even if the rest of your “argument” is valid, it doesn’t really matter; you just look like a bigot, intolerant, ignorant. Just leave out the insults, and maybe the rest of your argument might make a valid point. .

          And mean while, I will continue to check my spelling so that i won’t come across as ignorant.

        • Way to ignore everything but the last 20 or so words I said, Thomas. It’s telling that you focus on the fact that I’m a big fact meanie head as a means to avoid having to coherently articulate your own point of view.

        • “I insulted her and her friends by referring to them as idiotic dipshits, ”

          Yes, that’s name-calling, referred to as ad hominem “at the man,” and it displays the emotional maturity of a 4-year-old.

        • So BlinkyPete; let’s say this again; when you insult, demean and put down someone you disagree with; you are saying that their beliefs are dirt, they are dirt, they deserve no respect; even when they have a valid point of view. To me you are being intolerant, a bigot and hateful. Or in your words “A big fact (fat) meanie head” . So when you then put your “arguments” forward, since they are based on a total disrespect for the person(s) your writing about, I have no respect for what you have to share with this web site or with me.

          Is that clear enough?

        • Rich, let’s ignore for a second that you’re apparently above name calling here but fine with calling folks weenies below and focus in on the (once again) misconception that ad hominem is any form of name calling. It’s not. It’s attack on one’s character disguised as a logical argument. Calling someone an idiot is simply saying they are an idiot. It’s an insult. That’s it. It doesn’t invalidate the three logical arguments for my viewpoint that followed.

          Thomas, you keep calling me a bigot but I’m not entirely convinced you know what the term means. I’m saying you’re wrong. I’m saying this woman and her fellow protesters are wrong, and idiots, and ill suited to defend the second amendment. How does that make me a bigot? And I mean as it applies to the actual definition of the word.

          • “misconception that ad hominem is any form of name calling. It’s not.”

            Well, evidently what you’re speaking isn’t English.

        • It must be Latin I’m speaking, then.. Seriously, if the entire basis of your argument is that ad hominem is just a fancy way to refer to name calling and not a fallacious rejection of a claim or argument solely based an irrelevant fact about the person making it (ie, open carry protests are wrong because all open carry protesters are idiots), then you aren’t worth my time. Particularly because, as I pointed out, you aren’t terribly shy about behaving like a 4 year old, as you put it, either.

          Also, Thomas and Rich, by clinging to the whole ad hominem thing, you’ve also inadvertently concurred with me on one thing – that this lady is an idiot. I mean, since AH requires me to dismiss her argument with an irrelevant fact, and you’re so certain it is an AH attack, she simply must be, huh?

      • When I was growing up there was a death metal band who had a shirt that read “Jesus was a c*nt”. That’s fully supported by the 1st amendment, but wearers of that shirt shouldn’t be surprised if they find themselves unwelcome at private establishments of all sorts.

        In other words, there are tons of ways to use it and lose it. Unwise strategies tend to lead to undesired outcomes.

        • well said BlinkyPete!
          I am a gun owner, and i do not wish to live in a society where everybody is walking around with a gun displayed on their back/hip. These people do not represent me or my views. I live in a state with no laws against concealed or open carry in public or private, (we also have the lowest gun violence rate in the nation), and many people discretely carry as a private decision, but I have never seen somebody walking around town displaying a gun. If I saw this person and her kids walking around as she is in this image, i would be very uncomfortable.

        • If you live in the state with the lowest crime rates in the nation, you’re either here or next door. I do see folks carrying on their hips, and while I think tactically concealed carry is the best way to go (open carrying, it seems to me, is a good way to tell bad guys to shoot you first) I don’t really have an issue with openly carrying pistols. Openly carrying rifles, particularly when it’s solely as a means to protest, and even more specifically when it’s on private property, does strike a chord with me. I mean, not as big a chord it seems to strike with people here who have to suffer the outrage of being exposed to opinions that don’t closely conform with their own, but a chord non the less.

        • VT
          Yes, once in a while one sees a pistol on a hip, but everybody knows every house has a gun, and many carry concealed in their car and on their person, but we don’t need to shove these rights in others faces – it is not fair to those going about their business, and not friendly. I do not want to take my family shopping and be confronted by a person openly carrying a gun…sorry, that is my opinion. if you want to carry a weapon in public, please keep it private, as many do.

        • Rich, besides that being an obvious false equivalency, you’re conflating the issue of Parks’ refusing to obey the law (and getting arrested) because her right to sit wasn’t recognized over a white persons and this woman obeying the law and carrying because, um, Home Depot? Two absolutely, completely different scenarios. Just because they both have to do with civil rights doesn’t mean one justifies the other.

  11. I hope that’s a rifle shaped balloon and not a juggling act.

    If they behave such that mother Jones can’t make them look evil, it’s a win.

  12. Open Carry is coming to Texas next year … Unless we screw it up. These people seem to be doing their best to do just that…

    • You are dead on. I live in Texas and want the right to carry my holstered handgun openly. But these bozos are going to ruin it. If they would just go away, we would get what we all want.

      • So, what exactly are YOU doing help make sure it passes?

        Like it or not, OCT has helped bring the issue to the forefront in the minds of the people that will vote…and the politicians that campaign.

        All the negativity about this shows a tremendous amount of short-sighted thinking…at least as much as the protesters are accused of being.

  13. The AR-15 is overboard. Nice cloths and a side arm on the wast is enough. This gives us all a bad look. Of course this is my humble opinion of course. 🙂

    • “side arm on the wast”

      Which is illegal there. Are you suggesting that they openly commit a crime to advance their cause?

      It just boggles the mind how many “OC a pistol, but not a long gun” posts there are at this stage in this particular game.

    • The “side arm on the wast” is the point of the whole exercise. Currently that’s not allowed, but long gun open is. They’re pointing out how abysmally stupid that law is.

    • Are you aware, as I have said to many on this page that open carry of handguns is forbidden in Texas? In Texas it is a rifle or NOTHING. That is what they are protesting in the first place!

  14. I’m with George above. People have been conditioned well by Hollywood and the liberal media to fear firearms unless you wear a uniform and even then there is a heightened level of intimidation. I disagree with rally’s like this because it paints a negative picture of the majority of responsible CHL and general gun owners IMHO. We just don’t need more negative press!

  15. Frank; we can only OC rifles in Texas, the whole point of these rallies is to gain the ability to OC handguns

  16. What a pig, showing the signs of societies excesses. I would venture to guess her family gets tax payer money, yet probably screams/votes that we should reduce taxes.
    Having a gun for self defense purposes is a very serious and reasoned responsibility to take on, literally having another’s life at your fingertips,
    and this person’s appearance does not portray this message, even remotely.

    • Soooo…. no open carry for overweight folks? Yeaaah… the police are gonna have a problem with that one…

    • I’m thinking you meant to post on an MDA friendly site?

      You know, one of the ones where people think they have a place in choosing who actually gets to exercise Constitutional Rights and who doesn’t, based on all sorts of ridiculous criteria.

    • Wow! You got all that from her backside…

      I would venture a guess that you’re talking out your ass and I would further venture it is not your first time.

      • I would further venture that he is one of the closet antis, just on here trolling. Ask some basic gun questions to check. Like “what is the difference between a clip and a magazine?”, or “What is the difference between a revolver and a self loader?”
        I’ll bet he doesn’t know.

  17. Why not oc black powder revolvers ? Its leagal and you can do it as a every day thing

    • Someone hereabouts did a little research and the legality of OC black powder handgun carry under State may be in question. Besides. they are trying to get the right to carry no-foolin’ firearms as recognized by law. And before you write me off as an OC zombie slave, read my last post on the previous OC thread (Quote of the Day: You Can Do It We Can Help Edition).

  18. Maybe she is using the kids has chest armor…

    What kind if protection do you think fat babies will provide?

    Level I, II, II-A, maybe.

  19. Does anyone else notice she does not have a scope, red-dot or back up sights on her AR? If she needs to use it, I hope she is good at point shooting.

    • Perhaps the scope cost more than the rifle and she wasn’t going to risk banging it up at a protest….

  20. It is my understanding that they can open carry black powder handguns. I would prefer to see that being done over long guns. They would not even have to be loaded. (If it was me, I would have a modern firearm CCW and the black powder for show at the protest.) I think OC should be legal everywhere, but I personally would not do it. I don’t like the attention it brings.

  21. My humble opinion, wear empty OWB holsters. I did that in college as a part of Students for Concealed Carry. There was occasional people who thought we were absurd no matter what but it did far more to educate that there were normal student that held carry permits and would like to carry, but were prohibited. It’s not intimidating, it’s a statement and opportunity to educate.

    I support TX though. I wish I could open carry in FL, but I don’t see it happening. We have a pretty happy “purple state” that gives us plenty while keeping what antis view as the worst out (open carry, college carry, etc…).

    • “empty OWB holsters”
      Yes
      Maybe the uninformed would ask, “Why the empty holsters?”

    • “My humble opinion, wear empty OWB holsters”

      That is one of the dumbest things that I’ve heard in a while.

      • How does a rifle convey that message any better? It scares people and they already have the right to carry one openly. An empty holster invites someone to ask why it’s empty, or what it is if they don’t know it’s a holster. Realistically they’re going for open carry of handguns… you might as well show what it’s like sans the gun.

        Like it or not a rifle is far more intimidating. For someone that thinks you’re one pissed off encounter away from shooting everyone with the rifle an empty holster shows no aggression to them.

      • To prepare for the day when OC is legal in Texas. Come that glorious day, there will be a run on them.

      • Pistol competition. Open Carry on your private property, not uncommon if you were rural. You could buy a really cheap one for the purpose, etc… Valid question, but there’s a few simple answers.

  22. Leave the kids at home. I don’t have a problem open carrying but get a babysitter. No sights is the least of her problems.

  23. I just read the actual article. 150 OPEN CARRY SUPPOTERS. I don’t think anyone’s gonna mess with the lady and her two kids. Or try to steal her sightless rifle…

    Also, involving the kids is important. Raising the next gen voters to vote correctly is important ya know.

    The internet says the moms demanded a counter rally? Guess the ONE family with two signs counts?

  24. “. . . ‘condition’ Texans to feel safe around law-abiding citizens that choose to carry’ guns.”

    They’re going to “condition” Texans? I don’t know if this is Tarrant County OCT or OCT proper, but they could not possibly have chosen a worse descriptor for what they hope to achieve. Not only is this organization beset with loose cannon mall-ninjas, it also has people writing its public announcements who are clueless about what words like “condition” actually mean or, even worse, how they sound when read by the general public. OCT is trapped in its own zombie movie. We’re doomed.

  25. While my post does not have anything to do this particular story, I do want to comment on a video I just saw. Earlier this week, and again today, the question was asked if open carry participants are their own worst enemies. Much debate went back-and-forth on the subject, in mostly respectful manner. What I just watched makes me want to enter into that conversation, though the incident in question is a week old.

    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/guns-open-carry-texas-harassment-marine-veteran

    I have just watched this video that was posted on Mother Jones website, but it is a video made by one of the open carriers at the event. Please, note that this is an excellent example of how not to create good will or how to act when carrying. I have no idea what happened before the video start playing. Perhaps, the person who is being followed called the videographer’s mother a whore. Perhaps, he spit on the guy’s foot–I do not know. What I do know is that it was stupid to follow this man around. It was not an attempt to de-escalate the situation. It was not very cordial, and the only place this encounter was going was south. There is no reason to call respond to the “douche bag” insult; there is no reason to want to “ruin this guy;” there is no reason to imply he is a homosexual.

    Again, I have no idea what started this incident, but the guys with the guns had every opportunity to walk away. They had every chance to be the bigger man. Instead, they ended up looking like bullies–they did nothing for the cause.

  26. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
    By open carrying long guns in a non-guns based business, you”re forcing them to make a decision that they want no part of.
    These business just want to serve their product. By forcing them to pick a side, you’re jeoparding their business ad in short, being a douchenozzle.
    Don’t be a douchenozzle.

  27. One shoe has shoelaces the other shoe does not. So either I dressed her kid or she’s holding two kids.

  28. I think these rallies are great. You see a lot of regular people who are not only firearms owners, but are proud owners and vocal about maintaining their rights and expanding their freedom. This is exactly the right way to go about it, for it shows diversity and intensity of firearms ownership, without the spookiness and perceived danger of a lone gunman lurking.

    Speaking of which, it’s much more difficult for the police to hassle, harrass, embarrass and intimidate 150 people in an organized demonstration, than it is for them to cite a single peaceful guy for “disorderly conduct” and ruin his life.

  29. In Seattle there’s a gay pride parade that highlights the extreme wing of the gay movement. As in black leather chaps, sado masacistism etc. Never mind the naked biker parade.

    The open carry group is our extremists. All they do is confirm the stereotype that the gun grabbers wants people to believe in. (“Hold my beer Bubba and watch this…”)

    • Guess that’s why Seattle is such a hotspot of homophobia and hetero fundamentalism. Actually, I would rather see the OC folks following the everyday activities route rather than the designated rally route. And as I mentioned elsewhere, if some of those ratty-looking guys from the Chipotle incident came to the front of my store handling their ARs like that, I would probably grab my own handgun with one hand and my cell with the other and make ready to repair to the back room. But a well-behaved rally might not be the PR disaster some folks make it out to be.

  31. If you need sights to shoot a gun you need to practice more. Perhaps she has a sight but just didn’t care to have it bumped around? Holding the kids is tactically at a disadvantage but sends the message of being less-aggressive.

    • Please differentiate between OC Hand Gun and OC Rifle/Long Gun.
      Seems every time there is a statement against carrying an AR or AK, people go off on the commentor as though they against OC in general, please don’t equate the two.

      • When the Texas legislature passes handgun OC, people will stop OCing long guns. This just shows the stupidity of the laws that allow you to carry a gun, but that you just have to hide it, and that the law allows you to carry a long gun openly but not a handgun.

  34. We need some pretty young females open-carrying. This picture plays into the stereotype that women who own guns such as ARs are ultra butch, un-feminine types.

  35. CC, OC Pistol, OC Rifle
    Three different things.
    I generally think OC rifle is a problem. In Texas, it may be a way put pressure on the legislature because of two forces. In Texas with laws on the books since the 1870’s against OC hand guns, they can’t go further and ban all open carry because it would be a bad political move.
    These long gun carry demos are making everyone uncomfortable. The solution for politicians is to face less blowback by allowing open carry of hand guns and then almost no one would carry the visualy unsettling Black Rifle.
    So the long gun demos have just a little touch of of extortion (wrong word if only making people do the right thing) to get OCHG legal so that it is a side arm rather than an EBR that people tote.

    • “The solution for politicians is to face less blowback by allowing open carry of hand guns and then almost no one would carry the visualy unsettling Black Rifle.”

      Exactly!

  36. Obviously a brace, and obviously gun just for show. Not sure why we are giving into any form of nay-saying on this. Other than telling them to pick a better location…

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