Thursday, September 26, 2019

Have It Your Way


Unless you're in an episode of "The Walking Dead".















I wasn't looking for trouble.
And I'd rather not have cranked out this post.
I had thought the prior butthurt from Angus over open carry stupidity had been patched up.
Clearly, I was mistaken.

Reference the linked post: Which Is Scarier?

Here are your choices:
 
 














This isn't hard, and it isn't a trick question.

My answer at McThag's blogsite, was that #2 is scarier.
And to my best recollection, for the following reasons:

Because #2 is frequently randomly evil.

Cops are humanly stupid, and handing them a bigger hammer means the mistakes get bigger as a result.

#2 concerns me far more, because there's not a damned thing I can do about it, doubly so if it's coming after me personally, short of multiple felonies and one or more homicides.

So #2 is definitely scarier.
Now, we move on to which is stupider?

#1, by contrast, is simply enormously jackassically stupid.

#1 I can do something about, starting with beating the individual responsible (at least metaphorically) over the head with the exact bag of hammers he's using for brains, because a jackass is a jackass.

#1 (the fucktard with a slung carbine at the food court) is not a civil rights warrior, he's an attention whore with an exhibitionist fetish. (The two guys with holstered pistols I couldn't give two fucks about, in case that wasn't clear to Angus. They should rock on.)
The rest of my comments regarded an agreement with the stupidity of Califrutopia's laws regarding almost any open carry, contrary to the tide in 45 or so other states.
That was it.



According to Angus, that was impolite, and blitzed to the ether.
His blog.
His choice.

But I can and will point stupidity like that out every chance I get, here if not anywhere else. That's not impolite, and it's not a betrayal of the Second Amendment, it's a decision that I don't want screw-loose jackasses to be the PIOs for my team. If pointing out that jackassery by third parties got shell fire too far inside someone else's living room, well, tough shit.
Ban it all you want, and I'll just post it here. I could be wrong, but I suspect I've got a bigger audience. I damned sure can be more eloquent about it without tiptoeing around. Either way, it doesn't matter. No slight to the bloghost there was uttered nor intended, but clearly offense was taken anyways.

So let's be clear:

Anybody who thinks that you should be open-carrying AR-15s at the food court is a fuckwit.
Unless there are Zombies and ninja assassins there, 24/7/365.
No? Then fuckwit. Period. Full stop.
Not a calm, rational voice.

That says nothing about whether you should be allowed to, or whether the Second Amendment is a good thing or a bad thing.

Hell, since we're shooting at each other, I'll go all in:
The Second Amendment says "arms", not "guns".
The Founders weren't idiots, and the words of each amendment in the Bill of Rights were not lightly nor randomly selected.

Recall, please, that the Redcoats were going to Lexington and Concord for cannons, powder, and shot, not just muskets and musket balls. Which anybody could own.

I think I'm on damned fine ground that the Second Amendment said "arms" because the whole damned arsenal was up for ownership, not just pistols and rifles.
I think that means crew-served weapons, artillery in actual fact, and tanks, airplanes, and battleships too. (If you can feed it, you can keep it.) Otherwise the sections concerning Letters of Marque would have been pointless.

And if some guy had a frigate, and permission from Uncle Sugar to do it, and was selling spots to hunt pirates in any of a dozen worldwide trouble spots, you and I know the sign-up list of spots would be sold out in 30 minutes, with lines around the block.

Pirates would be more endangered than rhinos if we went there. And we should have, long ago.

And if anyone suggested that at an NRA meeting, the pussified leadership there would shit their pants. (The crowd of the membership would likely put you on the Board of Directors by vocal acclaim, in contrast.)

The Knob Creek Machinegun Shoot should be held in all 50 states, annually.

Even in gun-hating Britistan, a guy can take the tank to the petrol station, without Special Branch going all SWAT roid-rage on him:
But that's because even there, they haven't had 42 guys with tanks lighting up a mall, just because they could. And note that these guys also didn't train the main armament at people "just for laughs". The first time that starts to become a thing, they'll be limited to trailer-only, to certified shows and events. Or banned outright. But then again, the folks with the wherewithal to buy a tank, there or here, generally value their toys enough not to be jackasses in public with one.

The same can clearly not be said about people with AR-15s and the like.

Which is why toting a battle rifle on your back to get a burger and fries is simply jackassical stupidity, and everyone with an IQ above room temperature knows why.

We are an armed society, and also generally a polite one, and that sort of a-whoring violates common sense decorum, and gives reasonable people grounds to be very much on edge. Just to accommodate the perversions and mental incapacity of a few lunatics, seeking the farthest limits of a constitutional right. There's always some idiot who'll stand on the fence at the Grand Canyon or the zoo, and lean over, and next thing you know, everyone finds that fence moved back fifty yards, of necessity.
And who's butthurt and screaming the loudest then?

The Assclown Posse.

Now, if you were at the Hooterville Quick Sack, on your way home from deer hunting, and stopped in with your bolt-action slung over your Realtree on the drive home, fine.
Fellow comes into the roadside market or diner with a broke open shotgun and a brace of birds neckstrung during duck season after limiting out, no harm, no fowl foul.

But if you showed up in town at Chez FouFou for dinner in a tux with a slung Uzi, you deserve to get kicked right the fuck to the curb, and stepped on face-first upon landing.

Because you're violating the right to carry? Or because all open carry is bad?
O Hell NO.

Because you're a fucking moron with no sense of appropriate manners and public behavior.
Hence, probably too stupid to trust with any weapon, let alone in public. And, 80/20, in desperate need of an ass-beating going back to grade school.

And I'm not talking on behalf of hoplophobes or neutral observers. I'm telling you you're a jackass to most rational gun owners too. If anything, even more than you are to the people who hate all guns. Because those of us who own, and carry upon occasion, can tell the difference between protecting a civil right, and just being a fuckwit in public. The two are not the same thing. Anyone who cannot tell the difference has gone blind, and probably crazy.

These dimbulbs are the same jackwads who muzzle sweep the entire gun store and half the gun show, then get butthurt again when someone who doesn't think it's funny suggests they're about to activate their dental plan deductible.

In Israel, where Sudden Jihadi Syndrome can happen anywhere and anytime, that same Uzi in the pizza parlor or even for fine dining would be seen as what it is: a comfort, and simple common sense. Circumstances dictate what is sensible. Duh.

Hell, even in the Marines, we carried M-16s onto a jetliner.
But we didn't take them to the PX or the barber shop. Go figure.
Sort of like some modicum of common sense was involved.

Here, in general society, you're a loose wingnut in probable need of psychological evaluation if you do that.
(I make public exception to doing so in South Chicongo, Detroitistan, the District of Corruption, or the territory of the Baltimorons, for the same reason: Circumstances dictate what is sensible. Some people oughta write that down on their hands, lest they forget.)

But absent similar levels of violence everywhere, #1 is egregious public stupidity in most times and places you could name or imagine.

Until either general disorder, or the Zombpocalypse, that doesn't change.
You want to pack a pistol, openly or concealed, no problem.

Notice nowhere did I state nor even mildly suggest that you should be accosted, flung to the ground by law enforcement, dragged by the heels to a mental institution, nor shot on sight by other folks, simply for being such a public fuckwit.
(That it will happen anyways 99 times out of 100 is both a bonus for society, and more proof that I'm right, and you're wrong, and just gives the police grounds and probable cause to go too far in the future, because you couldn't color inside the lines of common sense, like everyone should, except in extreme situations. Pissing into the wind is always its own reward.)

But citizens, as a general rule, shouldn't be toting long arms - rifle or shotgun - for the same reasons police officers shouldn't go everywhere with them in their hands either.
Because it's rude, socially unacceptable, tactically indefensible, and egregiously stupid, and somebody's going to get hurt. And not just butthurt.

Tell me I'm wrong: tell me you want Officer Friendly to have a shotgun in his mitt when he pulls you over for a traffic infraction any time he feels like it, or interviews you about some matter of interest.
Tell me it's not intimidating, and needless, and inherently unsafe.

Tell me you want your neighbors in Smallville to have an AK on their shoulders everywhere they go, including to your front door. (Even in by-God Texas, BBQ guns do not include shoulder weapons, AFAIK.)

If you do tell me that, you're either full of crap, or bat-crap insane.
And if you've got a weapon in your hand or handy in that state, and neither I nor anyone else can readily tell which one it is, there are going to be problems. Mainly for you.

Leave your rifle in the rack, Jack.
You want to be a public assclown, wear an actual real clownsuit.
With floppy shoes and a red sponge nose.
At least then, we can tell what you were about in public,without asking.

If that dose of reality is impolite to anyone, I suggest the feminine hygiene products aisle at your local store, for tampons and Midol.
Slung carbine optional, but definitely not recommended.


39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you.

RE

Anonymous said...

Nicely done.
From the guy who wore his 686 all day including to buy a cake for his Father-in-laws birthday.
One of these things is NOT like the other.
Boat Guy

June J said...

Speaking of #2 - Thursday morning Dallas SWAT shot a suspect in the back as he was fleeing the scene, allegedly because he had an “assault rifle”.

Jim Scrummy said...

"The Knob Creek Machinegun Shoot should be held in all 50 states, annually."

YES PLEASE!

Borepatch said...

Leave your rifle in the rack, Jack.
You want to be a public assclown, wear an actual real clownsuit.


Sing it, brother.

lineman said...

The right needs thicker skin I tell you if they can't handle a little argument how the fuck do you think they will handle stress under fire...

RandyGC said...

Learn to be polite, Aesop.

Apparently he doesn't know you very well. That was polite, for you.

And the first rule of prepping the battlespace for Info Warfare is "don't scare the straights".

John Wilder said...

I remember being in Modern Mayberry not long after open carry became legal. I was sitting in a fast food restaurant and having lunch with the family. I looked to my right and noticed a gentleman with a 1911 strapped to his leg. My first thought was . . . "is that right?" My second thought was . . . "the place is safer with him in it."

I've never seen anyone carry a long gun except in a field, hunting.

Stealth Spaniel said...

What is wrong with these people?? Even in Kommiefornia, I carry concealed. I do not want anyone knowing that I have a nice-loud-boom-stick. Until and when I need to use such booming stick for self defense. Then the surprise factor is worth something when it comes to defending yourself and others. Until then, I'm the nice, polite lady with the custom leather satchel. I do not want innuendo, gossip, or pointing at such boom stick. I do want shock and awe when my life is danger. Christ in the Confessional!! DON'T put the spotlight on you-unless you want the spotlight on YOU!!

Unknown said...

100% with aesop here. Not only is that move tactically unsound since you will be the first target if rounds do start flying, but it damages our cause deeply.
And, aesop aint rude. He is a efficient composer of prose who sprinkles in his jabs with skill and thoughtfullness. Dude with the m4 strapped across his back isva dumbass.

bearcub7250 said...

a bit of advice my dad gave me years ago; "just because you can doesn't mean you should". words to live by....

Lurking Reader said...

Sometimes I think the ones that are carrying long rifles out in public are actual liberals trying to provoke a scared reaction from the public and paint lawful gun owners in a bad light. The gun owners I know would not do that. Hell, most of them don't even like to open carry. They prefer concealed carry and like to keep the bad guys guessing who is armed and who isn't.

Welcome Black Carter said...

Epic.

Monty James said...


There's stepping on your dick, and then there's stepping on your dick wearing golf shoes. Some guys just need to learn to walk backwards. There's no good outcome from freaking out normal people. What an excellent post.

Linking this on my Gab feed, if you don't mind.

https://gab.com/Montag/posts/102864917489059318

Unknownsailor said...

Texas Open Carry was infamous for dip shits like that. The people trying to get the Texas legislature to lift the ban on open carry constantly had to explain away the goobers who insisted on open carrying a Kel-Tec SU-16 to Whataburger.

We have our own version of those goobers in WA, check this guy out:

https://a57.foxnews.com/images.foxnews.com/content/fox-news/politics/2015/01/18/washington-state-senate-bans-open-carry-guns-in-public-gallery/_jcr_content/par/featured-media/media-0.img.jpg/876/493/1438274102181.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

How that dipshit did not get his ass shot on the spot right fucking there I will never know.

Miguel GFZ said...

The Open carry Idiot community (Not to be confused with the regular Open Carrier folks) kept abusing the privilege of the rest of the gun community remaining silent to their antics so the Opposition would not use it as ammunition. The occasional low-voice advice was not only ignored but screamed at with "MUH RIGHT!!!!", the obligatory Chest Thumping® and the accusation of you not really being a supporter of the 2A.

I am sure they are finally appreciating how many people in our side they have managed to piss off all these years, or at least I hope they do.

The big question is: Will they change their behavior?

15Fixer said...

Guy looks like a cop to me..... bald head, beefy from steroids, shades on top of his shaven head, pistol, rifle, mace or whatever that fluorescent thing is on the left side of his belt....... not sorry.... I hate cops.

Anonymous said...

People carry their AR's publicly in Israel all the time; no one seems to get all worked up about it.
I don't know why this dude was carrying his rifle into the burger joint. Maybe it has a tactical mayo spreader on it. But we need to work on curing our culture of it's hoplophobia. Seeing this shouldn't upset them; it should amuse them.

Old NFO said...

We just DO NOT need some people on our side... sigh . People carry is Israel because they are on call, and have to have their weapons with them at all times.

Anonymous said...

Well, once again we also get the obligatory " I'd NEVER carry open!!!! " cause I'm so smarter/cooler/stealthier than you bozos. Thanks to MIguel for differentiating between OC and OCI, so this is not directed at him. Still I will attempt to explain without using big words or abstract concepts;
Among Aesops many great words were in essence "situation dictates" as in " there's a time and a place... ". I have a permit and I frequently carry concealed as in no-shit concealed where NO ONE knows. I also carry openly where anyone who's conscious can see ( though it's kinda funny how few people notice).
We have seasons here. In the summer it can get Damn Hot. I carry serious hardware and have found it most comfortable with a nice cotton shirt (generally not a t-shirt) tucked into shorts or trousers. I wear nice leather with retention. In other words BBQ Gun. The interactions I have are overwhelmingly positive with some opportunities for education and the rare idiocy which I disregard.
In a month or so (or maybe Sunday) it'll be Damn Cold and I'll cover up again.
I have several times mentioned that in Virginia we at VCDL got the restaurant ban overturned through open-carry activism.
Time and place.
Boat Guy

Anonymous said...

Not directed at my Brown-shoe Brother either.
BG

boron said...

very nicely put! BUT:
these days, unless you fully exercise your rights (and Thank G-d for the jackwits who feel they have to) make a public statements about it, you're gonna lose them.

The Gray Man said...

I wish we lived in a society where open carrying long guns wasn’t such a stupid thing to do. But then again, in my somewhat limited studies of what we call “the Wild West”(Western US territories circa 1880) I haven’t come across a ton of info that leads me to believe that long guns were often slumg-carried into general stores, saloons, barber shops or the like. Six shooters, yeah. At least if you happened to own one (not every Tom, Dick and Harry even owned a pistol like the movies all show). So it appears that even when everyone out there wasn’t terrified of guns, long guns still weren’t carried around by everyone all the time. Pistols? Again, I believe that if you had it, you often carried it.

I live in a state where OC is outlawed (except during the activity of camping/fishing/hunting). I would love to OC, and when I travel to states that allow, I sometimes do OC. But I OC a handgun. Not a long gun. Why? Long guns are inconvenient to sit and eat with and carry all day, and pistols are easier.

ASM826 said...

The difference between scary and stupid was nicely delineated.

Anonymous said...

Those are cops. Just plainclothes cops grabbing a bite and its probably in a shithole hood where cops get shot pretty regular. Thats a flashlight in the back pocket. Maybe just got called out to a crime scene that was active., possible But yea, I have seen regular jackholes out n about with long guns and thats just fucking things up for the rest of us.

Anonymous said...

As with Aesop and many others I can testify that going through the chow line with a long gun slung is a PITA
And yeah, I was thinking more and more that those were cops. Least there's less of a chance of some asshole boosting the carbine out of the car this way.
Boat Guy

Scruff said...

that was some damn fine tank driving in traffic

idahohunter said...

My first thought was well.

Anonymous said...

Excellent, as usual.

Anonymous said...

Anti-armed self defense politicians say "weapons of war have no place on our streets", but I'm quite sure they want to have and keep them on our streets in the hands of government agents to PROTECT THEMSELVES. and to be used against us--BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!
They want to TAKE FROM US WHAT THEY HAVE AND KEEP FOR THEMSELVES. It's what criminals do and IN VIOLATION of "the equal protection of the laws" (14th Amendment), that's what they are! --Ron W

T-Rav said...

@Ron W

I don't think anyone's disputing that. Seems to me Aesop's point was partly about the most effective means of combating such things.

I feel like parading around in public with that assault rifle is a very good way of being targeted by Officer/Agent Friendly, and 20 of his closest buddies. Not to mention a surveillance drone or two.

Anonymous said...

I'm with T-Rev with the exception of using the erroneous term " assault rifle" we have to fight the left's overwhelming control of terms at every opportunity - even within our own " community"
Boat Guy

Aesop said...

If you go out in public acting like a jackass, you'll deservedly be treated as such.
By everyone.
It's also the worst way to try and advocate for your position and defend your rights. No one sane is going to feel kindly disposed to protecting the rights of jackasses to jackass in public.

Parading your jackassery is therefore the short way to get your own rights infringed as quickly as possible, while tarring everyone who doesn't share your malfunction tarred with the same jackass brush.

I vote no on all counts.

QED

Peter B said...

"People carry their AR's publicly in Israel all the time; no one seems to get all worked up about it."

Not exactly.

When people in Israel publicly carry the ARs issued to them by the Israel Defense Forces it's mostly because that's what the standing orders of their command structure require them to do – which is a large part of why nobody gets all worked up about it.

Look at it this way: Israel sees the need to have lots of Good Guys and Gals with Guns™ running around its streets, so it orders certain members of its armed forces to carry their duty rifles or handguns when out in public, and it licenses others, mostly veterans of its armed forces (who constitute a much larger percentage of the Israeli population than do veterans in the USA,) to own a firearm, almost always a handgun.

For many years, the following people could apply for a permit to own a firearm (many applicants were turned down and getting a permit included a med/psych check.) With such a permit, "own" meant "may carry" :

• Part-time reservists (volunteer) for 3 years- may own 1 handgun

• If such a reservist (volunteer) is a member of a gun club, he/she may own 1 rifle

• Professional, licensed public transportation driver, transporting a minimum of 5 passengers - may own 1 handgun

• Licensed animal control officers may own 2 hunting rifles, *not* full automatic weapons, or semi-automatic weapons with a limited capacity magazine.

• Full-time dealers in jewelry or large sums of cash or valuables - may own 1 handgun
• Residents in a "militarily strategic buffer zone" [think “West Bank” and near other borders] essential to the security of the State of Israel - may own 1 handgun
• Business owners in these geographic areas - may own 1 handgun
• Veterans of the Regular Army honorably discharged with the rank of non-commissioned officer, and veterans of the Reserve Army with the rank of regimental commander- may own 1 handgun
• Retired law enforcement officers with the rank of sergeant - may own 1 handgun
• Retired prison guards with the rank of squadron commander- may own 1 handgun

Under a recently (due to the increase in knife and other jihad attacks) revised regulation, more people are allowed to apply to carry. This includes individuals who have been in continuous possession of a firearm permit for 10 years and who will now be allowed to keep the permit (and their one handgun) indefinitely and without undergoing periodic tests to prove they still match the requirements.

In addition, individuals completing army service as officers with a rank of first lieutenant or higher, or as non-commissioned officers ranking first sergeant or higher may now apply for a permit, as may reservists whose duties required him/her to carry a handgun when on active duty. These individuals may now apply for a permit when they are discharged from the reserves. So may infantry veterans and police officers with comparable training. Volunteers in some first responder organizations may also apply.

It should be noted that this is a change in rules, not a constitutional right. Israel is a Middle Eastern country, not a constitutional republic in the Anglosphere.

In case there's any question about that, read this story about the recent elections then look up the various parties on Wikipedia, and stir in the fact that if Netanyahu is certain to be indicted for corruption and if he stays PM, he doesn't have to step down until he's convicted and all appeals are exhausted while as a mere minister in someone else's government he has to step down if charged.

Fred said...

#2 is stupider because #2 is sin, dot gov as god at gunpoint. Sin is always stupider.

Aesop said...

Nice try. But stupidity is a sin too.
Wicked and foolish are frequently exactly the same thing.

Fred said...

It's not foolish to carry a gun. It's right and proper by God's Law, not sin nor a sin. I don't know the men and perhaps they are fools in their heart but the open carry of any weapon is not sin. Sin is against Holy God, He is the judge. There is no sin against men or the State. Our opinion of their actions matters not one whit. Nowhere does God's Law indicate that open carry or any similar activity is foolish or wicked or sin.

If you think that it's strategically stupid in the fight for 2A rights or whether you think that it's tactically stupid should sudden need of defense at arms arise does not make it sin, at all. The sin in the case of strategy is as I stated, the sin is by gov (#2) that a man would be inhibited or prohibited in any way at all where no harm can measured.

Aesop said...

That's great, Fred.
Argue against something I didn't say.
(cf. Straw Man Fallacy.)


Someone open-carrying (as opposed to concealed) a holstered pistol most times and places, presents virtually no problems. That was never the issue.

Someone is toting a rifle or shotgun outside of Chicongo, the zombie apocalypse, or a few very limited sets of circumstances, and they're fucktards.

Like 99.9999% of the rifle-toting Open Carry Fucktard Posse, since ever.

Are we clear on that yet?
Or do I have to say it a fifteenth time?

If you disagree with that premise, show your work, and explain how it isn't.



And stupidity is a sin, whether or not you have a measuring device to quantify the level of retardation involved.

Google anything to do with biblical pronouncements, and the words "fool", and "foolish", and tell me what it says about that every time.

I'll wait.

Anonymous said...

I would just like to point out that Pic #1 probably only exists because someone wet his panties over the SCARY BACKSCRATCHER.