Last night, the Dallas Police Department released a photo of an open carrier at the Black Lives Matter protest, calling him a “person of interest.” Mr. Hughes had nothing to do with the incident. He turned in his weapon to police the moment the shooting started. So open carry advocates dodged a bullet, both literally and figuratively. And politically.
Saying that, the antis are bound to point out that Mr. Hughes didn’t/couldn’t do anything to stop the slaughter, hence open carry is a joke. And that open carrying is dangerous because it confuses police. Oh look! qz.com is already on it:
The widespread open carry of firearms in America, whether they are long guns or not, interferes with police work, and makes it hard to tell whether someone carrying a gun is about to use it to kill someone or is just exercising their rights. As Areva Martin, commented live on CNN about the Dallas events, “we’re telling people see something, say something…but what do we do in an open carry state?”
Use common sense? Avoid stupid people in stupid places doing stupid things? Arm-up? To paraphrase Devo, freedom from choice, is what they want.
Yet another reason why open carry doesn’t make sense. Conceal and carry is a MUCH better option.
In this case, Mr. Hughes was open carrying a long gun — the best possible answer to another long gun. Just sayin’ . . .
Agreed Robert. Wasn’t referencing this incident realtive to personal defense. Just saying that an open carrier may become a target in such situations whereas a CCW won’t.
concealed carry would not have helped in this situation either. with shots fired and officers already on scene, and down, in this instance the police really wouldn’t be able to tell the good guys from the bad guys. a concealed carrier pulling their weapon out in this situation would only have escalated the situation in a manner which would endanger themselves and those around them.
This, mostly. I’d still prefer to have have a CC pistol on my hip in the event that I actually ‘bumped into’ one of the shooters, but beyond that a situation like this requires a tactical, organized response.
I still think open carrying rifles is stupid, though. I guess in this situation it helps more than it hurts, but generally I see it accomplishing the inverse.
Non sequitur Paul.
Just because of your ‘feelz’ does not make something “Better.”
What drives your need to try to dictate how other people carry? Is the mere sight of a firearm troubling to you?
I didn’t see him mention feelz or dictate what other people do. He was presenting an argument against a certain type of behavior using a current event as an example. That argument isn’t binding law, and you’re more than welcome to respond with your own articulation of your point of view.
I think there are plenty of reasonable arguments for open carry, and but I also think those arguments are less valid when you’re talking about a rifle slung over someone’s shoulder in public places. Clearly, in some cases (like the one above) it can end up being a positive in a horrific situation, but more often than not it only serves to reinforce anti-gun stereotypes.
“Yet another reason why open carry doesn’t make sense.
Is an opinion stated as fact.
” Conceal and carry is a MUCH better option.”
Is another opinion stated as fact.
But thanks for playing.
Don’t be a dik JR. I’m not telling anyone how or when to carry Just saying in my view conceal and carry is a better option for a lot of reasons including tactical reasons. And no, the sight of a gun does not scare me. So crawl back under your rock, okay?
A lot of people believe that the civil rights movement needed the Panthers to walk into the courthouse with their weapons to be effective. Unfortunately it also led to the GCA.
Rising violence, and a series of assassinations lead to the GCA. The fact that violence continued to rise for two decades before falling as gun laws were loosened is, of course, a total coincidence. Perhaps the Panthers demonstrations is what pushed it over, but it was a culmination of events.
Ah, struck a nerve eh? Afraid of a little challenge of your special snowflake opinion? Can’t handle a little debate on a topic?
“Don’t be a dik JR.”
Nah, to people like you, I’ll be a “dik” all day long. You deserve it. You kept Vox’s Rule 2 and doubled right on down.
“I’m not telling anyone how or when to carry Just saying in my view
Ah, but you did not say “in my view.” You stated your OPINION as an absolute. Here are the direct quotes:
“Yet another reason why open carry doesn’t make sense.
Is an opinion stated as fact. You didn’t say “to me” or anything to qualify it as opinion.
” Conceal and carry is a MUCH better option.”
Is another opinion stated as fact.
So, WHO is it a better option for? The 100,000’s of cops out there that OC every day? How about the people that have OC’d for decades without any negative incident whatsoever…some of whom may not be able to CC for OTHER reasons, such not wanting to get a “permission slip” to carry?
“conceal and carry is a better option for a lot of reasons including tactical reasons.”
Irrational and not supported by actual evidence. This is just repeated tired old Geezer Science. Someone one said this shit “as fact” and you have bought into it.
There is quite literally no “tactical advantage” offered by CC that is not offset by equal advantages for OC in the general case.
Or, again…why is it that all uniformed cops OC? You’d think they would go for any and all tactical advantages they could…no?
“So crawl back under your rock, okay?”
Nah, I’m having too much fun out here in the daylight making you dance.
You got the “I’m the ELITE, so I know more” cred, I’ll give that to you (In NEW JERSEY, no less…well, that explains a lot – none of it good):
http://pbrtraining.com/
Sure hope your customers / students don’t pay you to offer bullshit opinions wrapped up as facts. I’d think it would be your responsibility to give them good information so they can make their own best decisions.
Go ahead…double down again. I love it.
I also wonder about what your customers / students think about your professionalism, what with you coming onto the Internet calling people “dik” and all.
OC vs CC is a personal choice for personal reasons. One might be better than the other for an individual, but there is no ‘transcendental better.’
POTG, especially new ones, don’t need bullshit masquerading as “authoritative” to help them make good decisions.
Because protesting with an open carried firearm is much better performed by concealing it.
Openly carrying the firearm is part of his protest Paul.
He can protest any way he wants. Just because he can do it doesn’t mean that he should IMHO.
So, you are the arbiter of what people “should” do, huh?
Well, okay. At least you said this was your opinion…so cool. No biggie. In your opinion it is something people should not do.
Fair enough.
IMHO he should do it. More people should do it, and if it had been done more often before and by more people, some of the freedoms you don’t have, you could be enjoying today.
I’ll raise you Charles Whitman, as well.
I’m very happy to see that this open carrier didn’t end up like the conceal carrier from earlier in the week. Comply with all police demands in high stress situations.
Cop #1: Freeze! Don’t move!!!
Cop #2: Put your hands behind your head!!!
Cop #3: On the ground!!! On the ground!!!!
Cop #4: Do what he says!!! Don’t resist!!!
All of which I’ll comply with. I’ll bitch about it later after I’m sure I’m not heavier by a few ounces of lead.
+1
Except all have their weapons drawn. By following the instructions of Cops 2 & 3, you’ve disobeyed Cop 1, who panics and now you have upwards of 17 rounds of HST coursing through your veins.
It should be considered a “win” that this man had the wisdom and foresight to remove himself from the equation.
He did exactly the right thing. If, if he had been the only guy there with a gun and could see the shooters and effectively engage then action should he chosen to, would be warranted. But the Police were already on scene and he wasn’t personally in immediate danger, he acted appropriately and wisely.
Agreed, overall very level headed for someone in such a situation with a smart response by turning themselves in to clear things up and let the rule of law take precedence over mob rule.
I hope that NRA or someone helps these guys out with a publicist and a formal public statement. They’re certainly the face that 2A supporters need.
Exactly, and I said this in an earlier comment.
This guy did more to push ‘firearms acceptance’ in the eyes of the public than most of us here have one or will do.
Scary Black Rifle? Check. Black Male? Check. Involved in “activism”? Check. A trifecta of stereotypes.
Nonviolent, obey the law (and law enforcement), ‘did the right thing’?
Check, check and CHECK.
Good stuff.
When I saw this picture, I posted last night that it would be odd to show up to a tense event with over 100 cops open carrying a rifle if you intended to kill cops with that rifle. Glad to see that this guy’s been cleared – it seems that he’s a good egg. Watching the video of him handing over the gun really gives me the impression that he understood the gravity of the situation and cooperated with police, and that the officer who took the firearm was incredibly professional as well. More of that, please.
I do hope the police publicly clear his name, though.
And he gets his rifle back
Definitely. It’s his personal property, so I’m sure he will. Refusing to give it back would just make people in his position more hesitant to cooperate in the future.
He definitely did the right thing considering the chaos. The idea of a civilian fighting along side the police to combat these terrorist psychos is a endearing idea but without a way to tell friend and foe there would have not been a happy ending had he tried to engage the shooters.
Also, I really hope he gets his rifle back without much hassle.
The guy’s brother just rambles on and on… nobody shot him, the cops could not rule him out just because he turned in his gun. As far as they (the police) knew he MIGHT have been involved and just chickened out.
That’s fine with me. I can’t imagine how stressed out they are. They were clearly there to participate in legitimate, constitutionally protected protest, and wound up (however briefly) in police custody. I’m sure that’s very stressful. I just hope the police release a statement clearing them both, and perhaps they could do the same saying they understand why things went down the way they did, and that the cops were professional about it.
Maybe that kind of response is too much to ask for these days, but it would be awesome to see two groups of adults acting like… you know, adults.
Edit – I hadn’t watched the full video when I wrote the comment above. That experience sounds like it was pretty awful for them, so I’d say they are owed a pretty heartfelt apology from the police. I hope that part gets resolved soon.
Breaking news: sheep dog cowers at master’s feet, tail tucked securely between legs.
There is a time to intervene, and a time to let the people who get paid to run into danger do their thing. This was definitely not the former. Part of being a carrier means escaping and defusing bad situations which he performed admirably at.
The one thing I’ll say is that it would have been smart for him to arrange a time to pick up his rifle, but as he said earlier it was certainly not a good idea for him to be carrying it around again after he got questioned by officers. Someone could have seen him on the news or social media and made a poor decision. I hope that they return it to him in the course of say the next couple days in a way that’s safe, I certainly don’t believe that situation was.
I saw some person swerving all over the road…So, I turned in my car to police… So police didn’t think I was drunk driving…..
As a matter of fact…I think i’m just going to make spare keys to my home and give a set to the local police department. So they can just drop on by to see that I’m doing nothing wrong….Right….Anybody else want to join in….Or do you have something to hide….lol….
This is a false flag operation conducted by the Democratic Party! A set up from the get go, shoot a cop or two, blame it on the black men get them gunned down then the Black lives matter movement with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton can get more money from the NAACP and do absolutely nothing to to forestall a revolution which is a Democrat Goal
So, using qz.com’s reasoning, this would be appropriate as well:
“Exercising our Fourth Amendment right to be secure in our persons interferes with police work, and makes it hard to tell whether the money that someone is carrying is counterfeit or authentic. Therefore, police should be able to stop and check anyone to see whether they are carrying counterfeit or real money.”
I’m curious why he asked his brothet to stop talking when he mentioned the testing. To be clear, i’m not suggesting any conspiracy bs. Just curious, since obviously the cops know about the testing.
“….and makes it hard to tell whether someone carrying a gun is about to use it to kill someone or is just exercising their rights. ”
That’s a feature.
I’m glad he was smart to immediately work with the police to not create even more chaos and end up wrongly shot. And I can understand the police could be confused at the moment, but they should have cleared his name to be sure it would not generate more hate and threat to him or his family.
He’s definitely a Second Amendment advocate, law abiding gun owner. I can understand why some media might not like a person like him. We can already see the whole political manipulation from here… let’s divide people on guns and race to be sure they will forget one of the candidate is a criminal that is above the laws.
They need more chaos like that to be sure people will generate more chaos and then they can keep blaming guns, gun owners, the NRA, Republicans and even Trump… it’s chaos made by design!
But, I thought all gun owners were racist homophobic redneck OFWGs who all fantasize about being operators.
Wait a minute. WHO brings a rifle to a “Peaceful Protest”? Of COURSE you became a suspect!! Of COURSE people took photos of you. Are these two some kind of morn bros or what? Always going to be a victim if you always invite trouble.
When I saw the first photo, first thing I thought was “oh great, another open carry troll” on a “BLM” soap box no less.
Thank god he didn’t get himself killed. Dang fool.
Seriously, having a gun doesn’t make you a man, but it does require that you act like a man if you want to be a responsible gun owner.
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