Boulder AR-15 Ban

[CoGirl303]

Carrying rifles around in town isn't normal, never has been, and never will be. Gays in the 90's told everyone how normal they were and how they were just like everyone else. Then swung their dicks from the tops of parade floats and walked around naked everywhere. Open carrying is the same thing. If you want to point out how normal something is, then act normal about it.

People have been open carrying since firearms were invented.

They carried in to town, around town and in stores, at festivals and fairs and other public gatherings. Cowboys in the old days carried a gun on their hip for all to see everywhere they want. Colonial politicians carried into meetings.

Only lately has it become stigmatized as evil due to the media's demonizing of firearms and crusade to make gun ownership a Satanic rite.

The only thing not normal is the senseless media-driven fear of firearms.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Irving]

Do you know how long the "Wild West" lasted? It was a pretty short part of history, and even then not everyone was carrying guns all the time.

[O2HeN2]

Driving a gun somewhere and taking it inside, or leaving it in the car (even in a window gun rack) just isn't the same as walking around town.

Actually I'm talking about walking to school (on a road, with a a gun slung over their shoulder, GASP!), giving it to the principal during school, getting it back at the end of school and walking to wherever they're going to hunt. With a gun. In the open. Visible. For everyone to see. And no one batted an eye.

Not on a rack in a car.

It WAS perfectly normal.

Sounds like this is a completey foreign concept to you.

O2

[def90]

Even in Arizona it's not that common despite what people think. I used to work there on fairly regular basis mostly in the Phoenix area and have been through AZ a couple times this past year for various reasons and I don't think I saw anyone open carrying at all the last time I was there. As for other trips I would say maybe one or two guys over a week long period? I would hardly say it's normal in a state known as the open carry capitol of the country.

[def90]

Actually I'm talking about walking to school (on a road, with a a gun slung over their shoulder, GASP!), giving it to the principal during school, getting it back at the end of school and walking to wherever they're going to hunt. With a gun. In the open. Visible. For everyone to see. And no one batted an eye.

Not on a rack or in a car.

It WAS perfectly normal.

Sounds like this is a completey foreign concept to you.

O2

I grew up in Minnesota.. we ran around with our pellet guns and yes, occasionally during deer or pheasant season someone would have a gun in their car or locker at school. It was not normal.. it was a couple times a year at best, normal in my mind would be a weekly or daily occurance, this only happened among a few guys during hunting season.

[izzy]

People have been open carrying since firearms were invented.

They carried in to town, around town and in stores, at festivals and fairs and other public gatherings. Cowboys in the old days carried a gun on their hip for all to see everywhere they want. Colonial politicians carried into meetings.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It was also common to have a checkpoint on the way into a city or town and have to give up all your firearms before you went in. Different times, different behavior.

[.455_Hunter]

Yes, we should have been good Rosas and sat in the back of the bus so we were invisible.

Someday you folks will figure out how bad your "let's be invidible" tactics are.

O2

Funny how being professional and not showing our ass resulted in the almost nationwide adoption of shall issue over the past 25 years.

[boxy]

Regardless of the perceived efficacy of open carry protest on both sides, we have to deal with the perception as it is NOW. Before the protest I posted about being upset and wanting to OC as a big middle finger to the City Council... but after thinking about it and some advice from some members here and other friends I decided against it.

We are losing the culture war. Gun owners are being increasingly portrayed as paranoid, violent, uncaring members of a fringe element of society. The media only reports on the negative side of guns.... the fact that the gentleman who dropped the Sutherland Springs, TX shooter (with an AR, I might add) was also dropped from media coverage with incredible speed is evidence of that. There is undoubtedly a narrative being sold, that firearm ownership is dangerous and unusual.

When people see ARs being carried by anyone who isn't LE or MIL, their mind immediately reverts to the last time they encountered that sight. Which, for non-gun owners, as of right now is probably the insane person who just shot up the Waffle House. That is the prevalent coverage of ARs in the media.

The only way to counter that perception is to appear as we are: Normal, well adjusted, productive members of society, that aren't openly carrying an AR next to the farmer's market. There is a time when that might have been normal in Boulder, but it is no longer the case. Take your non-gun friends shooting, show them that it is a wholesome community filled with people who just want to learn and share knowledge. Introduce them to the REAL gun culture, not the one they see in the media.

In order to 'win', we have to change the public's view of us. Since we don't have large media outlets that have a favorable view of us, we have to do it ourselves. Starting with toeing the line of what's widely acceptable NOW in public, and doing individual outreach to friends and acquaintances to change their perception.

[RblDiver]

What could the Camera have said if there were no guns present?

I suspect it would have gone something like:

" "

[SuperiorDG]

Gun owners are being increasingly portrayed as paranoid, violent, uncaring members of a fringe element of society.

I've had to tell my girlfriend not to mention to her friends that I carry a gun. Every time she does they tell her to get rid of me or freak out if I'm around. To them carrying a gun equals "nut job" and its getting to be more and more of a problem in our world.