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As Johannes reported earlier, the controversy over open carry at the Republican National Convention ended up being a damp squib. Much to the chagrin of those calling for Governor Kasich to declare a state of emergency (and suspend Ohioans’ constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms). And much to the displeasure of the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex, no feathers were ruffled, no shots were fired.

In their attempt to sacrifice some credibility after their open carry condemnation, Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun agitpropmeisters at The Trace posted a photo gallery of Cleveland open carriers. They highlighted the image of above, the only one with anything even remotely resembling “conflict.” And they said this about that:

In some ways, open carry is about exercising First Amendment rights via a provocative assertion of the Second. But when free speech and guns mix, discourse can become fraught, such as when Mark Steven, who had travelled to the convention from Anaheim, California, got into an argument with Devonn Bush of Cleveland.

And…nothing happened. Except both sides got some media love. Hate? Whatever. Bottom line: score one for “gun normalization.” Which left The Trace as petulant as ever:

Mostly, though, the specter of armed confrontations has so far provided just one more spectacle at the 2016 Republican convention — and a minor one at that.

Don’t you just hate it when “gun violence” doesn’t happen? [/sarc]

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49 COMMENTS

  2. OMG, some guy carrying a gun is having a heated conversation with some other guy. Film at eleven.

  3. I would question the wisdom of wearing the full combat shirt in Cleveland in July. (Or a combat shirt without a plate carrier.) That’s what BDU blouses and rolled sleeves are for.

      • 1) Its not a “scarf”, its a schmaugh. 2) Look through the Trace gallery and you’ll see pics of guys wearing normal clothes. Although one guy has on what looks like blue pattern pajama’s; what is that all about?!

    • I get that one can dress how one wants but I just dont get the whole dress for combat look. See the pic posted for the open carry at the RNC article for more examples.

      The BDU pants, the tactical belt and pouches(I know he’s not wearing a tactical belt), the scarf, etc.

      Just once I’d like to see an open carry proponent wearing ‘normal clothes’ or a suit. I think the whole ready for combat look really brings the open carry movement down way too far.

      • Honestly, the gear doesn’t bother me as much as the mishmash.

        If you want to wear full battle rattle… Feel free. BDU pants, combat shirt, battle belt, plate carrier, scarf, “operator hat”… Or just dress in BDUS with a minimal duty belt. Or better yet, just dress like a normal person.

      • Gotta have the scraggly ass beard. And tactical shades. Where your badazz operator sunglasses guy?

    • As a dude, I wear a scarf (it’s not a “shemagh” or a tactical anything, it’s a scarf) to keep warm or to keep the sand out of my face when up in the gun on an MCP or during take off and landing from rotary wing aircraft. Oh, or during a particularly thick sand storm. Any other time you are just posing, or you squat to pee. Maybe both.

    • I’ve been wearing gray underarmor shirts and khaki shorts since May up here. To hell with long sleeves.

    • It’s not a uniform. It’s a costume. A costume is something you wear when you’re pretending to be something you’re not. The gun, in this case is merely part of the costume.

      I am pro-open carry. I’ll stand up to defend my fellow Americans’ 2A rights. And it certainly makes sense to have tools of self-preservation close at hand while we exercise our 1A rights.

      But when we dress up in costume, we make it easy for the statists to make us a collective caricature. And most importantly, we discourage other normal people from joining our cause, lest they be subject to the same ridicule that is rightly due these costumed performers.

      • That’s a dangerously butter thing to say. Do you think free the nipple activists bring down society’s perception of free speech? Think about what you say next time.

      • Truth, a costume. Looks like a putz. The black guy looks like he’s laughing at the ridiculously dressed individual, and he oughta be.

      • And I’m sure you’re very familiar with the individual in question enough to say that his wearing of such clothes does not represent his personal mindset. Please, do provide us with your in-depth analysis of his character.

        If you want the English translation: Stop bitching about his clothes.

        • Ok, my in-depth analysis: He jumps up and down and claps when he sees his own picture in the newspaper. See mom? The costume worked! They took my picture!

    • I walk around with a lot of gear on my person, daily. But, I don’t do the tacti-cool, 5.11, combat gear thing…

      Levi Jeans and a solid colored t-shirt are fine by me.

      • I’ve been wearing khaki 5.11 pants for the better part of a decade. They are some of the best work pants that can pass for office wear that I’ve managed to find.

        • Try shredding a $200 pair of dress trousers while crawling around inside a machine. It doesn’t take long to start looking for more solid options.

        • I like all the pockets on the 5.11 pants too. I can carry all my crap and look relatively professional.

        • My job requires me to be out in the field frequently looking at and reviewing equipment, but I don’t ever have to actually touch it…

          However, that wasn’t always the case, so I hear you. If it works for you, do what you do.

        • Try shredding a $200 pair of dress trousers while crawling around inside a machine.

          Exactly the reason I said piss on the dress code and started to wear jeans every day.

          Management bitched, once. They shut up after I expensed the pants.

  4. Be a lot more exciting to know what they were arguing about, could of been about ice cream, how do we know?

    • I think the dude on the left wanted the other guy to hand over his purple water bottle and he refused. Heated conversation followed.

      “Hey, I want that nifty water bottle.”

      “Man, I ain’t givin’ you my water bottle!”

    • ~”Black guns matter ”
      ~”No, Black lives matter ”

      And after all was said and done, no one died, no firearms negligence of any type…………

      In South Florida, reports of torrential rains making everything wet surprised no one….umbrellas were available……….

    • Blue Bell has a new ice cream, the “Two Step.” It’s a mix of cookies and cream and cookie dough… I would have no issue fighting someone to the death over it – it’s that good.

      • We’ve got Mitchell’s and Pierre’s and gelato in Cleveland. I would imagine they would be arguing over which flavor of Mitchell’s is the best. I like the Edmund Fitzgerald myself, but I went over there and tried some other good ones last Thursday while I was watching Trump’s acceptance speech.

        • The Edmund Fitzgerald from Great Lakes Brewing is also very good…….if you like Porters that is.

  7. Someone send that photo to the panty-soiling professors at UT Austin who swear up and down that exercising Second Amendment stifles exercise of the First Amendment.

  8. As usual with The Trace, it wishes for death to push its anti-gun narrative. Screw them.

  10. I live in Cleveland.

    There were no incidents. The open-carriers were great, as expected, all the protesters on all the issues were fine and the police did an outstanding job with everything.

    From http://www.ammoland.com/2016/07/open-carry-rnc-exactly-expected-no-problems/

    “Near the end of the Convention, the Police Chief, who did not make a big deal about open carry, was questioned. From fox8.com:

    As for the issue of Ohio’s open-carry law, the chief said that it really hadn’t been an issue at all. “Nobody’s been arrested or has challenged the things we asked them to do,” he said.”

    End of story.

  11. Blood in the streets!

    … inside the people walking around… some of them jawing at each other… mostly just standing around…

  13. In ohio citizens have no carry rights at declared state of emergency ?
    Need law change then

    • No, it’s the exact opposite. Even declaring a state of emergency doesn’t give the state the authority to limit the RKBA.

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