In Reply: Provoking Public Fear No Way to Sell Responsible Gun Ownership (Men armed with rifles walk through Portland to 'educate' )

In reply to Men armed with rifles walk through Portland to 'educate' - KPTV - FOX 12
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Probably be a good idea to proactively identify their intent, somehow (A t-shirt or a sign, perhaps?).

Just strolling through the streets--and with the camo headscarf, rightly or wrongly seen as the "hoodie" of the mass casualty gunman, besides--was probably a little short-sighted...though probably also intentional. (While they may just be idiots, I suspect that they intended to provoke both the public fear and the police presence as a way of furthering their cause.)

Having a right to do a thing doesn't always make it the right (or smart) thing to do.
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There are a whole lotta good comments appended to the post, but two stood out for me (of the ones I read, anyway. There were over 400...):

Ebony Leopard commented:

"The greatest threat to gun owner's rights are other gun owners."

And "EMGK4O" said:

I am pro-gun and a hunter. Open-carry through a Portland neighborhood with AR-15s is ignorant, if not stupid. This is counter-productive to those of us who use guns responsibly. Of course, the last thing we need are laws to keep this from happening. If I was there, I would also have approached these two and gave them an educated reason why they are being irresponsible.

Also - for those of you who dislike guns, if the day ever comes you or your family needs defended with force, I will put my life on the line and use the tools I have to defend my countrymen. Until that day, you won't know who I am or what I would do to help your family - regardless of where you stand on gun control. If that day ever comes, you will be thankful for responsible gun owners and the laws which give us the ability to defend our freedom. These two are hooligans who don't represent responsible gun owners.

Like the fools threatening to kill any law enforcement or government agent who comes anywhere near their guns--I'm sure you've all seen (or at least heard about) this unhinged fellow, for instance:


--these two idiots aren't helping to convince the American public that gun owners are responsible and trustworthy, and therefore further legal restrictions and safeguards are unnecessary.

Posted 1/11/13, 9:00PM (via ipad, initially... Reformatted and otherwise updated for clarity: 1/12, 7:00 AM)