I have a buddy I have known since college. He is a gun guy. More than that he’s a gun industry insider. He’s worked for several gun makers including some Big (Green) ones, and is currently in working Miami with The Bull.
We were chatting and he told me that he had to put a moratorium on his wife talking about anything relating to his job. The subject is no-go in public. This is apparently a thing going on down there right now with the people he works with.
Broward County Sheriff did a press statement.
The important part starts at the 23:25 mark.
I understand the importance of vigilance, but “if your neighbor comes home from the range on Friday night, you should say something” is over the top.
When your life is guns, literally, how do you avoid becoming a suspect when the Sheriff says that.
The fear is taking this type of situation leading to a #MeToo like witch hunt that catches law abiding gun owners.
Law abiding Broward gun owners need to be careful. The is very thin line between vigilance and moral panic, and Sheriff Israel is blurring it.
Something something “Broward county full libtard,” something something “complete.”
The “see something, say something” can only go so far before law enforcement is getting pestered every time someone farts in an elevator. Gun nuts are not the ones to fuck with on legal grounds. If we get wrongfully arrested simply because we, like most Americans own an AR, then we’ll lawyer up and change that.
In the end we saw this with the open carry SWATting of open carriers, and now in gun friendly states open carry 911 calls are met with ridicule .
And note that “see something, say something” and being declared a suspect isn’t as inherently dangerous as a fraudulent 911 call.
It is very bad that he said that, but it should shake out in the long run.
I can only figure police so rarely get to the range he figured it was safe to say…
Last time I saw this, the demonizing of private gun ownership, was in Cuba when I was a kid.
Just before the communists consolidated their power, announced who they really were, started confiscation of not just guns but all private property and the firing squads got overtime work.
A great number of those jailed there were accused of mental illness because they voiced their disagreement.