Most of you who know me also know that I’m a 100 percent proponent of gun rights.  No compromise.  The Second Amendment says what it says.  The right to keep and bear arms is protected by the Constitution, and no tyrannical government swine has the right to infringe upon that right.

I stood up for the right of Meleanie Hain to open carry her handgun at her kid’s soccer game.

I supported Mark Marchiafava when he was unlawfully detained and abused by Gonzales police while legally open carrying his firearm.

I will absolutely stand up for everyone’s right to carry – whether open or concealed – without harassment from hoplophobic gun grabbers or their government lapdogs.  However, I’m also a fan of judicious behavior, and I really think the judiciousness was lacking here.

About a dozen people carrying guns,
including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters
outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a
speech Monday—the latest incidents in which protesters have openly
displayed firearms near the president.

Gun-rights advocates say
they’re exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest,
while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Phoenix police said the gun-toters at
Monday’s event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic
rifle slung over his shoulder, didn’t need permits. No crimes were
committed, and no one was arrested.

There’s a good and bad here.  The good is that these law-abiding citizens demonstrated that people do not cause chaos or commit crimes merely because they’re armed.  They showed the cowardly gun grabbers that peaceable citizens’ nature doesn’t change merely because they happen to be carrying a weapon in the open.

But here’s the thing.  We, gun owners, need to exercise some common sense along with exercising our rights.  Mark and Ms. Hain carried their weapons, because it’s what they always do.  It is their right.  They were exercising it peacefully.  They weren’t trying to make a point or shove their right into others’ faces. 

This is not what the people open carrying at the Obama speech were doing.  They were exhibiting their in-your-face attitude of “It’s my right, and you can’t do shit about it!”  And while I support their right to do it, I do question the judgment that compels someone to intentionally stick their guns and their rights in someone’s face.

Are the people who were freaked out by the guns cowards? Indubitably.

Do I oppose open carry among them?  Absolutely not.

Do I heartily support open carry just for the sake of shoving the fact that we can in their face?  No.

While the people at the event did nothing wrong legally, I do question their decision to do so.  “We’re armed.  Get used to it,” is a courageous and honorable attitude, but it won’t win over those who are on the fence, and it’s a bad public relations strategy (as well as being tactically unwise).

As someone on Alphecca said this morning:

While part of me says “Tough noogies”, another part wants the debate to
occur without the histrionics and high-emotion, without the
name-calling and the shouts of “Nazism” and frankly, without the “I’ve
got a gun and I’m not afraid to use it and this is my opinion — in your
face.”

We have a lot of issues to debate in this country, folks.  Many of us don’t like what’s going on.  We need to foster healthy debate, without hysterical nonsense, in your face tactics and partisan attacks.  Tactics such as the ones demonstrated at that event do not help gun owners and they do nothing to promote healthy discussion about gun rights or any other topic.

Let the flaming begin.  I’m sure there will be plenty of disagreement here.