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I first saw this anti-open carry cartoon on the Campaign to Stop Gun Violence’s Facebook page. CSGV jefe Elliott Fineman posted it as a celebration of his hatred of open carriers. Knowing Elliott’s creative limitations, I wondered where he’d sourced this anti-ballistic bile. TTAG reader KC also encountered the strip. “It appeared in my Facebook feed, only to disappear down the memory hole. It took time and google-fu to relocate. Fascinating how he manages to conflate Open Carriers/Bundy/Ferguson all into one incomprehensible meme that only a Slate reader could love.” Slate. Figures.

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65 COMMENTS

    • I think this author was a closet racist and may have came out of the closet by implying that a black person has to turn white to avoid getting shot by the cops.

    • Hatred. Pure unadulterated red hot hatred. Yes they hate us, assume the worst about us. They are out their with unquenchable hatred so always be aware. Nothing would make most antis happier than aggravated a mob to commit violence against gun owners like the media did in Ferguson.

      • A situation like that would be lose-lose. If a mob attacked a group of open-carry demonstrators, and the demonstrators didn’t fight back, the antis would squawk about how guns don’t protect anyone. If the demonstrators did fight back to protect themselves, it would be another Boston Massacre situation.

  2. So… What was the number of people shot at Bundy Ranch? What was the value of the property destroyed by the “protestors”? I think both come out to be 0.

  4. Its so bizaro polar to reality that it’s funny. White guilt and patriots. Why of course if you lack all reasoning ability they are exactly the same thing.

  5. The difference being one group was using a protest as a screen to burn and loot a community.

    Police apparently need reasons to put the boot on the neck of your protest.

    Point guns at police but destroy nothing in your protest, carry on.
    Protest unarmed but destroy everything in your protest, expect issues with the police. Am I missing something here?

    • I think you’re spot on. I’ve been asked by lefties how tea partiers avoided being arrested at our huge rallies. Was it because the police favor conservative, majority white groups? No, dumba$$, it’s because we didn’t break any laws, and not only that, but we tried to leave every rally site cleaner than we found it. Last night the communist Berkeley protesters, who are also majority white, broke store windows, set cop cars on fire, and flipped over every single garbage bin on the street. Some were arrested. Duhhhh

    • Truthful, right. The part about open-carry demonstrators literally (as opposed to figuratively?) pointing weapons at federal agents really hits home, because you see that so often in reality.

      Tell me, Mr. from St. Louis: if you’re too busy here defending this stupid garbage, how do you expect the rest of your team to take Bronze in the Special Olympics?

  8. Hey, maybe all those antigun rags( Huffpo, mother jones, and slate, apparently) are having a contest to see who can be “The most Bigoted and Ignorant” when it comes to guns.

    I dont know if this is first place, but it sure is a contender.

  9. for the love of all that is America, put Slate, Salon, and their evil taskmaster Microsoft out of business.

  10. So…wait…a twelve year-old white kid can legally open carry an AR-15. Who knew?

    Ironically, didn’t the police show up to the playground in Cleveland in a “campaign to stop gun violence”?

  11. The gun community needs to face the fact that mostly this cartoon is true. There is implicit racism in our attitudes, even the history of our gun (and drug) laws. Let’s face it, if you hear about a white man carrying a gun you think its normal, if you think about a black man carrying a gun you think urban drug dealer.

    We need to confront this head-on, not pretend that the subtle racism does not exist. The way you break a stereotype is to just break it. Rather than whining, we need to see and promote responsible, safe, law abiding minorities exercising their natural constitutional rights. If all we ever see are OFWG open carriers, that’s all we will ever get.

    While we talk a good game, the fact is that it’s just talk. The police thought the kid in Cleveland was 20. So, 20 year old black people with a gun are automatically dangerous? The reality is that the only way society will see black people with guns as not dangerous is to see them walking around with guns, doing nothing dangerous. Not police either.

    • Good points, but a lot of the open carry activists ARE minorities, and women too. The press make sure to crop them out of photos or at least put their focus only on the white male carriers. This behavior by the press and the anti-gun groups is in itself racist and sexist.

      • Not an excuse. That’s why we have blogs and alternative news sources, to break the back of the mainstream media monopoly. A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words.

    • You can speak for yourself. I don’t assume that a Black man with a gun is an “urban drug dealer.”. If you do make that assciation then that is your issue, not mine.

      And this;
      “The police thought the kid in Cleveland was 20. So, 20 year old black people with a gun are automatically dangerous? The reality is that the only way society will see black people with guns as not dangerous is to see them walking around with guns, doing nothing dangerous. Not police either.”
      He wasn’t automatically seen as dangerous because he had what appeared to be a handgun. He was pointing a realistic imitation at members of the public, one of whom then called the police. We can argue whether the kid had enough time to comply with police orders when he reached for the imitation firearm, but to claim that he was seen as dangerous because of his skin color and not his behavior is disingenuous at best.

      • Watch this video and read the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/27/us/video-shows-cleveland-officer-shot-tamir-rice-2-seconds-after-pulling-up-next-to-him.html?_r=0
        and tell me if the kid had enough time to comply with police orders. The police pulled up to the kid, jumped out of their car, and shot him straight away. It happened in about two seconds.

        The 911 caller who reported the incident sounded like an old man. He described himself as “sitting in the park.” He described the kid as “sitting on a swing.” The caller did not sound alarmed. One of the first things he said was the gun is “probably fake.” The dispatcher told the responding officers the gun was probably fake. Why could this old man keep his cool, but the police officer couldn’t stop himself from firing for more than two seconds?

        The point of the cartoon is that police don’t get trigger happy when they see white people with (real) guns. The Bundy Ranch incident is a good illustration of this. This incident in Cleveland illustrates that police do seem to get trigger happy when they see black people with (toy) guns.

        As for the police saying the boy looked 20, what do you think they’re going to say after they realize they killed a 12-year old and the dispatcher’s info that the gun was probably fake, shockingly, turned out to be correct?

        • I thought they gave the kid about 0 seconds. The whole thing was a farce, even the caller said the gun was probably fake. I did not see the kid actually pointing the gun at anybody in the video. Maybe off screen, but not in the video.

        • In case you missed it the first time; ‘ We can argue whether the kid had enough time to comply with police orders when he reached for the imitation firearm, but to claim that he was seen as dangerous because of his skin color and not his behavior is disingenuous at best.”

          • But he was perceived as dangerous (or, at least, more dangerous that circumstances would otherwise warrant) because of his skin color. That’s the whole point of the strip – that the reason why his toy gun was automatically interpreted as a real gun, and his behavior as threatening and not playful, is largely due to him being black. There’s a whole slew of assumptions that this triggers, and unconscious associations, like black = gang violence.

    • The only armed black men I know are technology professionals and police officers.

      Don’t project your bias on me, thanks.

    • Most inner city blacks live in areas that are mostly governed by progressives. When I lived in Oregon, there were areas where OC’er were certain to face the business end of a police officers gun regardless of skin color. In Arizona, I see people of all skin colors OC’ing, and I suspect many more conceal carry….and no one cares.

    • “Let’s face it, if you hear about a white man carrying a gun you think its normal, if you think about a black man carrying a gun you think urban drug dealer.”

      No. No I don’t. Nor do I first picture a black man as the perpetrator when I hear about a crime that has been committed.

      Did you ever stop to consider that the reason so many gun owners have a hard time accepting that racism woven into drug laws, is that many of us are not racist, even a little bit? The idea that those of a certain race are inferior is so foreign that we have a hard time conceiving of it playing a major role in policy creation, especially considering that a vast majority of accusations of racism are false, and used only to stop legitimate discussion and induce ideological lockstep.

      • Historically, drug and gun laws were specifically aimed at minorities. In passing the Harrison act, supporters overtly played on racism. Modern enforcement disproportionately affects minorities.

        Did you ever stop to consider that the reason so many gun owners have a hard time accepting that racism woven into drug laws, is that many of us are not racist, even a little bit? The idea that those of a certain race are inferior is so foreign that we have a hard time conceiving of it playing a major role in policy creation, especially considering that a vast majority of accusations of racism are false, and used only to stop legitimate discussion and induce ideological lockstep.

        Hang on there. I’m nice so everyone is nice? I’m law abiding so everyone is law abiding? I’m not racist so no one is racist?

        Reality check: not so very long ago an NRA President called the civil war the war of northern aggression. The NRA’s outreach is abysmal. http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/04/robert-farago/rick-ector-why-the-nra-doesnt-include-blacks/

        When I see law abiding minorities in urban areas openly carrying weapons to protect themselves against the drug dealers, I will actually believe we have turned the corner.

      • You probably don’t. At least, you consciously don’t – of late, there have been several studies that have shown that subconscious bias is pretty strong even in people who are outspokenly against racism; it’s a cultural thing that is extremely hard to override.

        But even ignoring that, you’re just a single data point. Again, all the statistics clearly and unambiguously show a severe bias against blacks. All other things being equal (i.e. the same situation and background), they are arrested more often, cops are far quicker to use violence against them, they are convicted more often by the juries etc.

        Let me ask you a blunt question. Do you really think that a black man openly carrying an AR-15 on a city street would be at the same risk of being confronted by the police as a white man in the same circumstances, in most places in the USA? And, once confronted, do you think that the likelihood of that confrontation turning violent (i.e. officer using force) is the same for black and white OC guy, or different?

  12. The cartoon either intentionally or not touches upon the race tactics the powers that be are trying to use in setting a negative tone/perception for gun rights. Like it or not, in our politically correct environment, whites are openly portrayed negatively.

  13. See, here’s the thing.. anybody who actually is familiar with people wearing those kinds of t-shirts and open carrying an AR.. know that it is the LAST person to worry about.

    The “Be white now” thing confuses and annoys me.

  14. Totally ridiculous cartoon representing an empty insult with no logical coherence whatsoever. You have a guy in the armed forces? turning a african american kid, with a toy gun, with dark colored clothing and hoodie – into a white kid/2nd amendment supporter (extremist in their eyes) with a don’t tread on me t-shirt.

    Ridiculous animated rhetoric implying that a white kid with an ar15 (and don’t tread on me shirt) looks safer than a black kid with a BB gun.

    Funny how you have a cop that shoots a african american kid – and somehow, someway, we take that incident and shift the focus (and blame) to… 2nd amendment supporters.

  15. Police aren’t stupid. There is a distinct difference between a person carrying a secure holstered pistol, or a slung rifle – especially in context of a pro-2A protest/assembly – and that of a young teen all by himself, carrying a handgun packed into his pants waist, or simply out in the open in his hands..

    One is making a statement through a combination of their 1A and 2A rights, or in the case of an open carrier, simply carrying on about their business. Appearances and behavior say everything about a person’s intent.

    The author of the cartoon apparently can’t make that distinction.

      • Not seeing the whites are privileged narrative in this cartoon; but seeing guns are bad, whites are bad, whites with guns are real bad(and stoooopid).

        • @Oak, that is not how I interpreted the turning white. Just don’t see that, where are you getting that impression?

        • @Lucas, as I said above, I interpreted this as….guns are bad, whites are bad(and stupid), whites with guns real bad and real stupid. I think that was the intent, but the cartoon doesn’t pull it off very well. Poster above nailed it , Marcus (Aurelius) Payne- “The only way this works is if you take it to be a satire of anti gun thought.”

          Where are you getting the white=harmless thing? Don’t see it.

        • @PG2

          “Where are you getting the white=harmless thing? Don’t see it.”

          The bubble in the last panel LITERALLY says “Great. You look harmless.”

          Also, the cop in the back is tipping his hat with a smile, and forests are made of trees.

        • It was abundantly clear in the last two cells of the cartoon
          “Now turn white. Be a white person now.”
          **turns white**
          “Great. You look harmless. PLAY SAFE!”

  16. 5% of fact, 95% of BS

    Makes a great legal high pill for the anti-gunners.

    They must be all running naked by now.

  18. Were protesters at Bundy ranch pointing rifles at federal agents? I know the agents had them pointed at protestors.

    I have seen this racist cartoon prior. It was shared on facebook by a Vietnam veteran who claims to be a liberal. Any cartoon that changes the color of the skin of the subject character to fit a naritive is racist. Even if the cartoon was white turned black, red, blue or greenit would be racist.

    • So the cartoon that changes the skin color of the character to demonstrate the different reaction of people to the same actions by said character (which has been proven to be the case so many times now that only an ignorant person can dispute the fact that it is something that happens all the time in US), is racist? Showing real, existing racism is racist?

  19. BORS is a pretty well-known cartoonist I think, has been around for awhile. As a couple of posters have intimated, sometimes it’s hard to tell whether he or she is just a typical bat-guano crazy leftist, or a really over-the-top satirist–or maybe both. I’m thinking he or she is something in the mold of the South park creator who said, “I hate conservatives–but I [eviscerated form of ” firetruckin’ “] hate liberals”. Only for Bors it might be the reverse.

  20. THEY have done this, not us. Their culture war on a Constitutionally protected civil right has turned what was once normal to see into something to be feared and shamed. Kids used to have real guns and certainly have had toy guns for generations, I had toy guns and BB guns as a kid, so did my friends (regardless of race), we carried them around, we played cops and robbers, cowboys and indians (oh sorry, native Americans), and most of all GI Joe. The orange ends came in part way through being a kid, we pulled them off. The cops weren’t called and no one got shot by the cops (again no matter what race).

    Sensationalization by the media and Liberal fear are entirely to blame, not those who wish to reintegrate the freedoms that firearms represent into society. They are the racists who fear minorities with guns, not us.

    • Mike, it is more than a culture war against the 2A. It has been open warfare on the Bill of Rights for decades, full throttle since 9/11. Just look back to the war on drugs if you’re unsure. The culture war you are sensing is the politically correct agenda that is marginalizing whites and portraying them nearly always in a negative manner.

  22. Bundy ranch: peaceful protesters go out into the middle of nowhere, armed, to protest government overreach. No property destroyed, no-one harmed.

    Ferguson: “peaceful” protesters rally in the streets, armed illegally if at all, to protest a decision they disagree with, citing opinion and ignoring fact. Lots of property destroyed and stolen, numerous people harmed.

    Occupy Wall Street: peaceful protests rally at Wall Street, unarmed, to protest… uh, people making money, or something, they weren’t quite sure either. No property destroyed, numerous people harmed by people working for local and state agencies.

    Just remember though: we are the crazy ones.

  27. I didn’t see this as anti open-carry, I saw it as buying into the race-war narrative being pushed by the left.

  28. I see it as very funny.

    Now to your post. There are “wild vigilante no home training” folks in America, white and black.

    If blacks assembled and pointed weapons at Federal agents as at Bundy Ranch the escalation would have been serious. Because they are white they are called patriots.

    The fact that you can’t separate in your thoughts the demonstrators from the looters says you are willing to see all of “those people” as the problem.

    There are lazy drug addicted violent entitled people in America. Some are white, some are black. All blacks aren’t on welfare. All blacks aren’t gang bangers. There are whites on welfare. Their are predatory whites. You call them criminals and don’t paint the whole white race as criminals. It’s easy for you to forget that most blacks teach their kids manners and go to work everyday.

    Stop seeing blacks as different than you. Class/income are the issues here. Unless you are making 6 or 7 figures you’d better realize that you are in the same pot as everyone else. It works for the rich to have you believing the hype. Chinese took your manufacturing – No a white business owner moved his assembly to China for his profit, not yours. Your job is gone.

  29. Interesting. The comic seems to imply that the police are racist (“the police will shoot you if you’re a black kid with a toy, but not if you’re a white kid with a real gun”), but aren’t the people who made this cartoon the same ones who would say, “trust the police instead of average citizens”? Would anyone care to explain that?

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