We’ve warned open carry activists around the nation that while their cause my be just, their tactics are horrible and prone to backfiring. Open Carry Texas seems to be cognizant of this fact and has greatly matured in how they handle themselves within the past year. If open carry does eventually get passed in Texas, I think they will have played a significant roll in getting it done.
Open Carry Tarrant County, on the other hand, has apparently learned nothing.
It’s a shame to think that their immature antics may have delayed justice in Texas yet again
via Bearing ArmsPatrick: “The Votes Aren’t There” For Handgun Open Carry In Texas – Bearing Arms.
Regrettable but not unexpected after the behavior of Shannon Watts’ fanboi and his followers. I do hope there is a chance to save it somehow because all the work that so many people put into the measure should not be toss away because a small group of idiots.
And even if I am “infringing” on his First Amendment right: Kory, You have the right to remain silent. We beg you to exercise it like a Cistercian.
I agree that this is counterproductive and “in your face”, but what about the civil disobedience in Washington? That seems “in your face” too, but is it different because it is protesting a bad law already passed? Yet, this open carry of long guns is in protest of the ban on open carry of pistols. So, what is the difference between the two?
Civil disobedience used to be the deliberate violation of an existing law for the purpose of exposing/publicizing the harm/wrongfullness of the law. Think ending segregation circa 1950s-60s – they went in and sat at the lunch counters, drank from the water fountains, rode in the front of buses, and washed their clothes where they knew the law said they could not. All in the hope of getting arrested and tried so they would have a public forum for their cause. Think Ghandi and the Salt March – thousands of bones broken by rattan batons right there on the newsreels.
Now tell me how wearing long guns deliberately violates any bad law – except perhaps the law of public relations. Don’t know if you are familiar with the Striesand Effect but that’s about what the OCTarrant folks are continuing to push.
Want to know what would have garnered my undying support? If they carried signs afixed to their long guns telling the public that the law only lets them carry long guns if they don’t have a CCW/CHP/CPL. Help the blue-haired grannies understand what they are trying to do. Well, that and Open Carrying in defiance of the law. (Ghandi gathered literally thousands of people to collectively break the law, forcing the Brits to either try and arrest them all or publically beat them into obedience.)
stay safe.
The problem with the Civil Disobedience approach (I wanna be the Gun Rights Rosa Parks…cool) is that we can do the job without having to resort to unnecessary theatrics. We all want to reach the top of the mountain, but OCT wanted to do a fast-paced march with 100 lbs of BS in the backpack with zero chances to finish instead of taking the slow cable car and actually getting shit done. OCT just wanted to look cool for the cameras.
Do you know Ghandi’s (and Nehru’ and Jinnah’s) immediate legacy? 600,000 dead people. Everybody brings the example of India and stop at August 14/15, 1947. Kinda of what happens with South East Asia: Nobody says shit about what happened in the area after the Fall of Saigon.
I still hope that the legislation is recoverable but if not, we can safely say that OCT managed to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory as the frigging votes were there last month.
And once again, the Gods Of the Copybook Heading have been proved right. Long ago they proclaimed “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”.
Way to go guys!
A further note for those who “carry at people”:
WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS NOT WORKING!!
STOP DOING THAT!!!
Seriously, these guys are like the WW1 generals of politics- when a massed frontal assault against entrenched machine guns and artillery doesn’t work, try a massed frontal assault.
I just saw this in Facebook, it sums it up nicely:
I explained why this is a problem that was reposted by Barron.. this is equivalent to the gay leather daddies and BDSMers wearing full garb while visiting legislators during the gay marriage debates.
Since I was mixed up in the middle of all that (marriage, I was there when it was signed into law), even the folks who do wear such garb at Prides and similar events dressed professionally during meetings with Legislators during the critical steps of trying to get it enacted into law.
Gary P.
And Tam added her two cents:
When you’re being outdone in decorum by leatherboys and the Dykes on Bikes, it’s time to step back and reassess, know what I mean?
I nominate Kory Watkins to the list of top 25 gun-control advocates for 2014.
2nded
Gotta agree with Skid… sigh
Kory Watkins is an idiot. He is counter productive. He is more likely to cause the exact opposite response of his agenda. I think he is an agent of the anti-gun crowd.