Category: Gun Rights

More Open Carry Drama

Says Uncle has a post about more open carry drama occurring, this time in Michigan. The group Michigan Open Carry decided to have a meeting at a Pondarosa which the owner was fine with. Well that is until some of the members started showing up with rifle:

Officials from Michigan Open Carry say the owner of Ponderosa greed to let them hold a meeting at the restaurant. But he says he didn’t expect the meeting to be held on a busy Saturday — and certainly didn’t expect the men to bring more than handguns.

“At first, we looked the other way on the handguns,” said owner Dennis Holleran. “And then some gentleman shows up with an assault rifle, and that was just too far over the top.”

The owner called the police who came and ousted the Michigan Open Carry members. Of course there are hard feelings going around as would be expected. A lot of people are saying the open carry advocates were well within their right to carry and therefore what happened was unconscionable. But they are also forgetting another right, the right of a property owner to determine what happens on his or her property.

I personally can’t say the owner of the Pondarosa was out of line. Something was happening on his property that he was uncomfortable with so he took measures to make it stop. I don’t believe he should have called the cops before asking the people to leave but alas it’s his place and he can do as he pleases.

If somebody doesn’t want me to carry a gun on their property then I won’t go there. The owner sets the rules and I can chose to either abide by them or not go there. Likewise a property owner has the right to say he will allow me to carry a handgun but not a rifle. We as gun owners need to realize that we have a right to keep and bear arms and property owners have a right to determine what they will and will not allow on their property.

Of course these rules are different for governments in my book since that land is owned by the tax payers. Because of this I don’t think government has the right to determine what rights they will respect and what rights they won’t respect. But that’s an entirely different topic.

On another point relating to the topic at hand I want to say the police handled this situation very well:

But LPD say no one was arrested and notes they’re now working cooperatively with Open Carry to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

“I think the taxpayers of Lansing want us to respond to gun calls. But at the same time, we need to be aware of individual rights.”

So kudos to them for not making a big fuss out of this and understanding they need to be aware of peoples’ rights.

Brady Bunch Trying to Bankrupt Starbucks

In these hard economic times you have to do everything you can to keep your business going. Every dollar you can get counts. Well unless you ask the Brady Campaign who according to the every knowledgeable Snowflakes in Hell has a petition going to convince Starbucks to ban guns on their premises. From the Brady site (Which I won’t link to directly):

Dear Friend,

I ain’t your damned friend…

Over the past few months, more and more gun owners have been gathering at restaurants and coffee shops like Starbucks with guns strapped to their hips, intimidating fellow patrons.

Businesses can legally prohibit guns from being carried in their establishments – and so far, Peet’s Coffee & Tea and California Pizza Kitchen have heeded customer concerns and barred the open carrying of guns.

But Starbucks is refusing to prohibit the open carrying of firearms in its stores, despite protests from loyal customers.

Starbucks is being smart, they like money and therefore they want to keep us gun owners happy. I do have to laugh at the fact the Brady Bunch can only list two other businesses that ban carry in their businesses, and one of them I’ve never heard of.

I think I might send off a nice letter to Starbucks informing them of the fact I appreciate their respect for my rights. I may not like their coffee or their prices but I like the fact that they are OK with me being able to defend myself in their store. Good on them and I hope they keep refusing.

Utah Passes Firearms Freedom Act

Well it appears as though Utah has passed their own Firearms Freedom Act in a vote of 19 to 10. That’s good news to hear.

I know a lot of people believe these laws are only symbolic and can not actually be enforced but I think it’s also an act of defiance against the federal government. Regardless of the enforceability of these acts they do serve as a big middle finger from the states that enact them to the federal government. I think more of this style of defiance is needed honestly, the states really need to take back their rights. I’m hoping Minnesota passes this act when it comes up for vote as well.

Virginia Tech Still Isn’t Getting It

Virginia Tech is still going about gun violence prevention in the wrong manner. Currently the campus is looking at banning ammunition, including Airsoft pellets and Painballs. Here is part of the proposed ban:

Resolved, that Policy # 8300, Student Code of Conduct – Weapons be amended as follows:

Student Code of Conduct – Weapons

Unauthorized possession, storage, or control of firearms, weapons, on university property, including storing weapons in vehicles on campus as well as in the residence halls. Furthermore, ammunition can not be stored in any residence halls on campus. (Note: organizational weapons of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, approved by the commandant, are not prohibited by this policy.) Weapons

Firearms are defined as any gun, rifle, pistol, or handgun designed to fire any projectile including but not limited to bullets, BBs, pellets, or shots (including paint balls), regardless of the propellant used. Ammunition is defined as any material intended for use in a firearm, capable of being projected by a weapon and/or makes the weapon operational. Other weapons are defined as any instrument of combat or any object not designed as an instrument of combat but carried for the purpose of inflicting or threatening bodily injury.

Anybody who goes there needs to group behind your local Students for Concealed Carry on Campus and do everything you can to ensure this resolution doesn’t pass.

Minnesota Mayors Against Illegal Guns

We all know the organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns is a deceptively named organization that is actually Mayor Bloomberg’s personal crusade to disarm the American populace. Of course this organization is also fairly secretive with little information given publicly.

Thankfully there are laws similar to the federal Freedom of Information Act in every state. Since I live in Minnesota I decided to use our law to extract as much information about the organization as I can from Minnesota mayors whom are members. There are five Minnesota mayors in the coalition:

Mayor Steve Lampi of Brooklyn Park
Mayor Elizabeth B. Kautz of Burnsville
Mayor Don Ness of Duluth
Mayor R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis
Mayor Chris Coleman of St. Paul

I have sent requests to each of these mayors and am planning on posting all retrieved data on this site as well as Truth About Guns. There are two main goals to this project. Goal one is simply to find what information the coalition is sending to its members. The second goal is a little more complex.

We know many mayors don’t know the actual purpose behind Mayors Against Illegal Guns. This is known because may mayors have left once it was made apparent that the coalition isn’t against illegal guns alone, but guns in general. This lead me to believe the correspondences being sent to members are as carefully worded as information that is publicly released. If this is so this information could help us better fight Bloomberg’s little posse.

Periodically I’ll post information retrieved. Everything I receive will be posted regardless of perceived value or redundancy with information previously posted. I urge every gun owner to take similar actions in their state of residence.

Responses

Mayor Steve Lampi of Brooklyn Park

NRA Granted Divided Time in Chicago Case

Some news has appeared during my moving hiatus that I’m not very happy to hear. Via Snowflakes in Hell I found out the NRA was granted their divided time in the Chicago case in front of the Supreme Court.

Those of you unfamiliar with Supreme Court cases each side gets half an hour for their arguments. Within this half hour time space each side must also answer questions from the judges. This leaves little time for each side and losing 10 minutes, or 1/3, of the time to the NRA is going to really eat into Mr. Gura’s time.

I’m not happy with this outcome nor the NRA’s little ploy but I do understand their reasoning.

ATF Beating Up on Legal Gun Shows

Scary but expected news via Snowflakes in Hell. There is an excellent write up over at theGun Rights Examiner. From the article:

Darwin Boedeker is the Texas Gun Shows (TGS) promoter. In a phone interview, he said that last Thursday, January 14, there was a meeting with Austin PD (APD), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the building lessee (HEB) and Andrew Perkel of Austin Market Place, who subleases the building from HEB and supports TGS.

At the meeting, Boedeker said the APD read off a “long list” of nuisance violations to the HEB representative. When Boedeker told everybody that these activities happened while another promoter hosted the gun show at that location–TGS began hosting shows November 2009–nobody else knew this.

Boedeker claimed that ATF and APD “intimidated” HEB into instituting a requirement that only dealers with a Federal Firearms License (FFL) can sell guns. Boedeker said APD invited the HEB representative “knowing he would crack.” That left two choices: cancel last weekend’s show on one day’s notice, or abide by FFL rule. Boedeker said that attendance was “horrible” last weekend, with 50 empty vendor tables and low attendance. He also said that 90% of those complaining about the new rule thought TGS was to blame.

Yes the ATF used it’s weight in an attempt to force a Texas gun show to ban private sales at the event. I guess this adds further credence to the ironic statement, “It’s OK I’m with the government; I’m here to help.”

F.Y.I. For Carry Permit Holders in Ramsey County

It appears that sheriff Bob Fletch of Ramsey County is rummaging through carry permit holder data to mine out addresses. He sent invitations to those in the country with carry permits for a fund raiser he was throwing. This potentially violates the law and certainly violates the trust of privacy between carry permit holders and the Ramsey Country Sheriff’s Office. Anyways the news bullitin is here.

I’m not sure if this is an actual violation of the law as I’m not very good at reading legalese but it certainly is a violation of confidentiality you expect from a sheriff’s office. If you’re a carry permit holder in Ramsey County and you received the invitation you should do some complaining.