This may be more irony than some of you can handle. You’ve been warned.
MDA posted a photo a few days ago on their Facebook Page that shows a man open carrying a pistol on his hip. The man turns out to be the blogger from Gun Watch.
As we start reading through the posted comments, we quickly realize that some MDA followers seem quite violent. These aren’t things that we would ever promote, and find it insanely ironic that a follower of an organization such as MDA would promote such violent acts:
The first two comments above are just mind-boggling. Those are pretty bold and violent comments to make against a person who is obviously not a threat to anyone around him. Then, we have the last two comments that show the folks who are bent on calling the police every time they see a person open carrying a firearm (which, we might add, is legal in AZ). They call this man paranoid for carrying a firearm, but aren’t they also paranoid thinking that he is going to start shooting everyone at a moment’s notice? Not to mention the fact that calling the police to say that you’re being threatened by someone with a gun is a great way to get innocent people killed.
It’s called SWATTING, and it’s gotten people killed in the past.
Have they not thought this through? Of course they haven’t.
The man in the photo happens to be Dean Weingarten from the Gun Watch Blog. He posted this photo of himself earlier in September, a few weeks before MDA posted it on their page. Here is the accompanying text that describes how this picture came about:
I had read about Moms Demanding Action’s strident calling for a boycott of Kroger’s over MDA’s dislike of the exercise of the second amendment. I had also read the new media’s urging to show support for Kroger’s polite reply that the MDA’s should mind their own business. Of course, political manipulation is the MDA’s business… and that runs exactly contrary to the limits on government that allow for toleration of others.
So I stopped at Fry’s and filled up the tank. I was open carrying, as I usually am in Arizona, especially at this time of year. Opening day of dove season reached 112 degrees. I and a young friend had shot some dove, and I needed to pick up some potatoes, garlic, onions, and carrots to go with the dove that I was going to cook. I shop at Fry’s on a semi-regular basis and have never had any problem open carrying there. This time I decided to take a picture to help enlighten those who are not fortunate enough to live in Arizona. I believe the temperature was 106 when I walked in the door.
I asked the first passerby, a lady, to take my picture and to be sure that the Fry’s sign on the ice machine was visible. She was happy to help out. I gave her a card and told her that I wrote a blog.
The clerk, bagger, and I conversed for a few moments on the weather, dove hunting, and the relatively low number of birds that most hunters were seeing, in spite of increased bag limits. Both of them regretted that they had not been able to get out to the field yet. I gave them a card as well. Neither Joe nor I had got close to a bag limit, but we did not worry about it.
Open carry has come a long way since we intensified the push to exercise our rights in the late 80’s and 90’s. I suspect that trajectory will be followed in other states as well.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
