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While hundreds of people crammed into the plaza in from of the Alamo to celebrate and promote gun rights, the gun control advocacy organization “Moms Demand Action” held their own rally at a bar a mile down the road. Why did they hold it at a bar? Well…

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In Texas, if a restaurant makes more then 51% of its revenue from the sale of alcohol, it is a felony to carry a concealed handgun there. Despite styling themselves as “supporters of the second amendment” (as is being reported on NPR), they disagree with that whole “keep and bear” part.

As usual, I was carrying my handgun. Concealed, of course. So in order to go inside, I needed to divest myself of that particular piece of safety equipment. I followed Robert around the corner where I slipped my gun into my jacket and handed him my gear so that he could wait across the street while I investigated the event.

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Once inside, the scene was pretty subdued. At most, I could identify about a dozen people who were actually there for the rally, and I wasn’t sure if the others were supporters or simply people who wanted to get something to eat and happened to be there at the time. It’s a nifty tactic, setting your rally at a popular restaurant, as the normal traffic will make it look like your rally is more popular.

As I wandered around the event snapping pictures, the few MDA members I could identify started huddling around and pointing at me. One of their members had wandered over to the rally earlier, and when Robert tried to introduce himself she recoiled in horror and didn’t even want to stand near us let alone talk to us. I guess they aren’t big fans of that pesky freedom of speech amendment as well as the RKBA one.

Now, that same woman was concerned about my mere presence at their event. As a result, she sent Lonnie Phillips (from the Brady Campaign) to “handle” me. We had a nice discussion about ways to reduce “gun violence,” but he was stuck on the idea that adding another law to prevent the transfer of firearms from state to state by unlicensed individuals (which is already a federal felony) would stop “gun trafficking.” I tried to get him to realize the insanity of trying to stop an already illegal activity with another piece of paper, but he wasn’t having any of it. And then Robert got hungry and called me to come back.

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The contrast between the two events could not be more clear. Where the gun rights rally had (conservative estimate) 500 people, the Moms Demand Action event only attracted about a dozen; there may have been more reporters that actual MDA members. Where the gun rights rally was full of angry and motivated people wanting their voices heard, the MDA event was as subdued as you could get.

Where one was promoting civil rights and celebrating gun ownership, the MDA event was more like smug and disappointed parents trying to talk down to their misbehaving children. But as usual, the two events are getting nearly equal coverage in the media despite one being vastly more popular and well supported than the other.

According to the Moms Demand Action Facebook page, their quiet lunch a mile from the rally constituted “standing up” to the gun rights advocates. Somehow, I don’t think that counts.

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53 COMMENTS

  1. Has anyone thought maybe to provide these demanding moms d cell batteries and “personal massagers”? maybe that’d get em to quiet down and stop nagging on everyone.

    • Just have them fire off a few rounds from an M2, the shockwave will do the rest.

      Two birds, one stone.

    • My god… I’ve underestimated them. All this time I had just written off MDA as a bunch of dumb twats that were too weak-minded to do anything more than regurgitate MAIG’s talking points. Now I see how wrong I’ve been. There must have been tens of people there! All is lost!

    • We know we’re right rationally and legally. The point is to learn to connect with the middle on an emotional level like the left does. Stuff like this doesn’t help.

    • It was some Democrat who handled the recount in the Franken-Coleman election.

      And what happened to the other 48%? 🙂

    • The 51% rule was a compromise. The 1995 Texas CHL law was the first major revision in handgun carry since the complete prohibition of carrying a handgun in 1871. Pro-gun folks wanted no restriction, antis wanted no carry on any licensed premises. (Including grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, etc.)

      The compromise is that we can’t carry were the business gets 51% of its income from sale or service for on-premises consumption.

      So carrying is legal in grocery stores, convenience stores, liquor stores*, and most restaurants. The 51% sign is only for bars and restaurants with heavy drinking.

      * No on-premises consumption. Texas (and national) CHL history at http://www.txchia.org/history.htm

  3. Nice gun free zone you wandered into there. At least Robert was across the street keeping an eye out for bad guys.

    • Interesting question – if something bad had gone down, this being a gun-free zone where people were (only) carrying money, and RF had come to the aid of Nick and others, what would have been the official response of the ownership of the bar/restaurant, or the Moms?

        • Alamo Street Eat Bar had been promoting the event on Twitter and Facebook. I think it’s safe to say that the restaurant is anti! Too bad.

  4. “In Texas, if a restaurant makes more then 51% of its revenue from the sale of alcohol, it is a felony to carry a concealed handgun there.”

    That sounds like an awfully silly law.

    Is there also a law against drinking while carrying a concealed handgun? Not that that it would make the 51% law more reasonable. But if you could drink while carrying at a place that made 49% of their revenue from alcohol, that would make my head hurt.

    • Technically the law is you cannot be ”intoxicated” while carrying, however the law doesn’t define what constitutes as ‘intoxicated’ like it does for DUIs and such which means a single drop of alcohol can be construed as being enough.

    • Basically the same rule applies in Michigan (if >50% of revenue is from alcohol sales, no concealed carry). However, the law (and AG opinion) here is a bit quirky, so that if you have a concealed pistol license (from any state), you can OPEN carry in prohibited concealed carry areas (schools, arenas, bars, etc.). We get advised in CC classes that there is zero tolerance on CC and drinking, so even one drink will get you in trouble.

      The Mi State Senate passed a resolution to eliminate the CC prohibitions a few days before Sandy Hook happened and then the Governor refused to sign it afterward. Things are improving here though, as there’s now legislation in the works to allow SBR’s and in the last couple of years the AG opined that Suppressors would be permitted under the Mi. Constitution.

  6. “Moms Demand Action” held their own rally at a bar a mile down the road. Why did they hold it at a bar?”

    ———

    Because the utility closets were all booked?

  7. Lobbies to pass anti gun laws to save kids from guns, holds event at a bar. I think the irony is lost on Mother Who Demean Critical Thinking.

    • I suppose that critical thinking might lead them to realize that children in bars is not their intended goal either. But even more critical thinking might lead them to realize that like firearms, booze is a perfectly fine thing for responsible adults to enjoy. It’s so hard to engage your opponent on an intellectual level when they steadfastly refuse to apply any kind of reason to their argument and base everything on knee jerk idealism founded in misplaced emotion.

  8. was Shannon Watts there with her MILF-tastic self?? That would have been worth a flight to Texas. 🙂

    actually, a better tactic would be to have a bunch of people taking pictures of everyone inside the event, then follow them when they leave and take pictures of their cars and license plates. All very legal activities, but I suspect their passion for future rallies would wane considerably in favor of staying at home and being mad at the world.

    • You’re not alone Dirk, you’re not alone. I wish she would “Demand Action” from me 🙂

  9. Nice sign. Should just say “Welcome! Except gun owners–you can FO.”

    I also like how hiding around the corner in a bar, behind an “insta-felon” sign, counts as “standing up” to gun owners.

    Anyway, thanks, Nick, for actually standing up by seeking them out in their own private party and initiating a conversation.

  11. Anyone else find it, er… ironic? that MDA was promoting a “family atmosphere” with face painting and activities for children… at a bar?

    But people who enjoy firearms safely are the bad ones?

  13. MDA “standing up” to gun owners… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA – that’s a good one! Still, it was larger than the last OFA or MAIG rallies. But not by much.

  15. My first comment vanished. Here goes. MDA held a rally at a bar? Maybe CPS needs to pay a visit to these moms homes. Anybody check the parking lot to see if they left any kids locked in the car while they were at this drunken safety rally?

  16. Recoiled in horror? Please, you gotta get that on camera! Juicy stuff, I tell ya 🙂

    Tom

    • The rapper Big Pun’s song “I’m Not a Playa” had an appropriate line (which I hereby dedicate to my Boo, Shannon Watts”): “Baby, take a bath. Be good. I might put away the wood and give you the mustache.”

    • Lol at a quote in that san antonio article ” I don’t want a gun pointed at my toddlers head checking out at the grocery store. this is texas not somalia” lol wonder if she ever noticed most holsters point downward and long gun carriers sling their rifles with the barrel pointing skyward or towards the ground???

      • I was in a Wegman’s (LARGE) grocery store in Virginia two weeks ago. Pregnant mom with two kids checking out. 9mm on her right hip. No one blinks. I’m from un(SAFE) Upstate NY. What a breath of fresh air.

    • Went and looked at the pics. That three-star clown that for some reason has the authority to simply order his officers not to enforce a no open carry law at his own whim and if/when he decides, is comfortably chatting with the Mom’s while CARRYING A PISTOL! OMG! And as far as I can tell no one was shot. Go figure.

      BTW, did the Lieutenant General make an appearance at the Alamo?

    • Thanks for the link. I watched the Alex Jones video and it was interesting to say the least to listen to Lonnie phillips flip out about the loss of his daughter at Aurora and actually use that as support for his argument and agenda. It was also interesting watching him get violent in the interviewers face.

      I just don’t understand how Lonnie couldn’t connect the dots. I mean, The aurora shooter took legal means to obtain firearms without a “mental” background check. That said, he was crazy, and if he wanted to get a gun (if they were not available or if this was like the socialiste republik of the united kingdom) then his determined self could still obtain one. Worse yet, if he had used a bomb (easier to make or obtain than a gun) then there likely would have been many more victims. What would Lonnie say if he used a bomb, those are banned already. He would have nothing to say – same as the OKC bombing victims. I mean what are you going to do? Ban fertilizer? Ban vehicle fuel? Alas no… no dots were connected by Mr. Lonnie Phillips. Instead we are going to blame laws, society, and gun culture… not the Aurora shooter. Whatever it takes to not blame the shooter himself.

      • @ Anonymous –

        Holmes, the Aurora shooter is thought to be mentally unstable, right? He was a med student, so it begs the question – how TF did this guy ever get into med school?

        Could it be he was the product of the left’s mantra that “College is for everyone?”

  19. I have always refrained from using the “C” word until Moms Demand Action showed their slimy faces. Cunts best describe these screeching myrmidons. And they support mass arrests of gun owners. If they havent scrubbed the Twitter post, they called for mass arrests when Colorado gun owners had their magazine exchange protest the day the new gun control laws went into effect. This group falls into the statist/fascist category because of their hostility to the First and Second Amendments.

    • Dude, you bought a half of a computer, what did you expect?
      Maybe you should’ve spent the extra money for a MacBook?
      3 years ago you didn’t even know what an iPad was. Grow up.

  21. That looks exactly like a Code Pink rally in Santa Fe. Except they’d have had six more people.

  23. They obviously pick their rally locations based on where they want to go to lunch. They can’t be inconvienced to go somewhere special just for a rally, no one would show up then. They were going to eat anyway, although I’m sure the restaurant expected greater attendence than usual. If it really is a popular restaurant it seems the “rally” may have driven business away.

    • I’m trying to imagine the restaurant owner… “You are going to have your rally here? In my restaurant? Moms demand action in my restaurant???…. …. … Get outta here!”

  24. No CC if you make more than 51% of your revenue on alcohol?

    No worries. A free beer with every $3 dollar coaster sold.

  25. Everyone preaches about how gun-friendly Texas is supposed to be, but no open carry and a FELONY if you carry in a ‘forbidden’ location? Seriously, a FELONY???

  26. A few notes regarding the 51% rule. As a native Texan and lifetime resident who chooses to partake of alcohol on a pretty limited basis (On average, I might drink 1-2 times a year), I find the 51% rule to be a pain in the ass. That said, as much as I love the state in which I have lived my entire life, I have to admit that we Texans sometimes aren’t as good at “self-policing” as we could be.

    You’d think that, with the preponderance of evidence that drinking and driving is a bad idea, that we’d avoid it like the plague… though you’d be mistaken. I understand the reason behind that; population density here is relatively low, and as such, there is no viable mass transit system. Which means that you have to drive to the bar; and while I am always willing to be the designated driver, it seems that plenty of other people don’t want to feel “left out” by not getting sloshed.

    So. While I would prefer a “drink = no carry, carry = no drink” rule (over the 51% rule), I can see the reasoning behind the more restrictive law. Not that I agree with it, but to quote Chris Rock, “I’m not saying it’s okay… but I understand”.

  27. They held their “Event” at a bar ? were the heck were the MADD (moms against drunk driving) crowd?
    They may have needed to be protested !!

    • LOLOL, good one! Where TF was Candy Lightner (MADD founder) in all this? It would be hilarious seeing two MILF’s in a catfight.

  28. These women are in desperate need of a good husband! They seem to be suffering from terminal frustration..

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