Second Amendment Education Night MI
On Friday evening, June 24th, the local ball club, the Battle Creek Bombers of Battle Creek, Michigan, hosted a Second Amendment Education night. Because of the way Michigan laws have been crafted, participants carrying at the event had do so openly. The event gathered enough publicity that the AP picked up the story, making it national. From the washingtonpost.com (AP):

“2nd Amendment Education Night” was held Friday at C.O. Brown Stadium as the Battle Creek Bombers hosted the Rochester (Minnesota) Honkers.

Bombers general manager Tony Iovieno tells WOOD-TV there were no security problems among the crowd that included many with holstered guns.

Fans tell WZZM-TV they were OK with the event and trusted those carrying guns.

There were several educational booths at the event. Eddie Eagle was there as well. From fox17online.com:

Gun shops like Freedom Firearms and organizations like The Well-Armed Woman set up booths at Friday’s game for education and merchandise.

“I think this is fantastic” said Carmen Bartholomew, chapter leader for the South Central Chapter of The Well-Armed Woman. “I think there is a lot of misconception and I think they need to remember where we started and why we have Second Amendment rights.”

At a time where guns are in the spotlight, this group says guns aren’t the problem.

“We’re not the criminals” said Fulton. “This is not what you have to worry about. This is the positive everyday aspect of firearms life in America.”

An email to the general manager went unanswered, but two different sources stated they were told that event attendance was well above average for the local team. One source told reporters that it was a record attendance, but that has not been confirmed. From the Michigan Open Carry facebook page:

According to the General Manager, attendance for the game was WAY up . .

No shots, no brandishing, no panic. Open carry events such as these would have been unthinkable only 10 years ago. Now they are becoming the new normal. This was an extremely sucessful civic event to inform the public about their Second Amendment rights.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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28 COMMENTS

  1. “Open Carry Night at Battlecreek Bomber Ballpark. Winning?”

    Yes, no reports of asshats, thank God.

    (Cool! I just added “asshats” to the spellcheck dictionary…)

    • Michigan is a decent place, but in terms of gun laws it could use some improvement. IIRC you need a permit to purchase a pistol and you must register your pistol with local LE.

      • The permit went away a couple of years ago. Unfortunately registration is still a thing.

        • Can you tell me how you got rid of the purchase permit?

          We’ve been trying here in NC for years. It got close last year, but one Sheriff (of one of the most Progressive counties in the State) stirred up “opposition” in the Sheriff’s Association and made it a “Respect for Law and Order” issue.

          I’d love some insight on what worked in MI…not that that would necessarily work here, but all input welcome.

        • I think the biggest thing that got it passed was that the original bill asked for WAY more than they were going to get. The bill that passed is house bill 5225. In its original wording it would have COMPLETELY eliminated the registry. That version was protected to save the MSP around $500K a year in record keeping costs alone.

          As I recall, that version passed both houses before our dear governor stated he wouldn’t sign it. So they held it back and amended it to only get rid of the permit.

          I wrote him a letter, an actual letter, asking him to sign. I got back a letter to the effect of “it’s not on my desk yet, learn something about our process.” That’s why I don’t like Snyder…

          I did write rant about the bill at the time, about the only thing I ever posted on blogspot. I don’t remember if there’s anything useful there, but here it is:

          http://peirsonb.blogspot.com/2012/12/michigan-house-bill-5225.html?m=1

  3. “Bombers general manager Tony Iovieno tells WOOD-TV there were no security problems among the crowd that included many with holstered guns.”

    Huh, no security issues with a crowd full of people with holstered guns. What an interesting thought.

  4. Let me know when they schedule one of these at a Detroit Tigers game.

    That will be winning.

    • Doubt it. Detroit police like to arrest people for open carrying on the sidewalk in front of Comerica. They might shit themselves if someone did it inside.

  5. Cool. Love that. We need some open-carry events in San Antonio, TX. Speaking of – there is a very cool poster/chart highlighting crime stats of armed VS unarmed populations. Bottom line is more armed civilians = less crime. And certainly more armed civilians = less government-sponsored genocide.

    http://www.jerrywdavis.com/firearms-promote-liberty/

    We really have to crack the mind-numbing “guns are bad” meme. My firearms sit around the house doing absolutely nothing, but if I ever have to defend my family against armed assailants (civilian or government), my firearms will help me win. Self-defense is good. Therefore, firearms are good. Thank God for guns and the Bill of God-given Rights.

  6. Criminals might not be that bright in most cases but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that getting stupid in a place full of armed people might have bad consequences for you.

    • You’d think that would put the nail in the coffin of gun free zones, wouldn’t you?

      But no. The anti’s, true to form, ALWAYS “double down.” It’s genetic or something.

  9. Sounds like fun and a great educational opportunity. They should hold another event like this when school starts. It’d be cool if some high school civics/government teacher offered extra credit to students who attend and write a report on what they learned.

  11. This! So much this! The NRA, GOA, and all other organizations should be pouring their money into putting on events like this instead of making fancy videos.

  12. Wait, you mean a BUNCH of people OC’d and didn’t get shot first by the bad guy or didn’t have their gun grabbed from the holster? You mean it was not a “tactical” nightmare to be seen carrying a gun?

    No “Battlecreek Ninja’s are going to ruin our rights” comments from the anti-OC peanut gallery?

    The ‘gun muggles’ did not give dirty looks or call the cops to report “Many men with guns!”? No cops ran up and opened fire cuz of those dan-ger-ous holstered firearms?

    Just wow.

    Here I thought OC was the devil’s own work from what I’ve heard in these very comment pages, yet here’s a large gathering of OC-ing folks having a good time, no one got hurt and even the unarmed in attendance did not have a problem with it.

    Who-da-thunk it was possible?

  13. So, a ruling from Genesee County that open carry with a a CPL is legal in a school, and now de facto proof that is legal in a stadium. There may be hope for this state.

  14. Sounds like the right sort of event and way to open carry to avoid the problems that come along with it otherwise.

  15. I got my CPL from the guys at Freedom Firearms and regularly shoot at their range. They are a great group and I was happy when I saw that they scheduled this. Too bad I wasn’t able to go because of a work thing…

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