"In Arizona, I still have some freedoms," said the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder just outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday. If you made it all the way to the end of that last sentence without some visceral reaction, we may have a bigger problem than I had originally imagined. The man, who was not arrested or identified was exercising his Second Amendment rights, abetted by the "open-carry" portion of Arizona's gun laws, which means anyone legally allowed to have a firearm can carry it in public as long as it's visible. That, I believe was the point: making it visible.
This was not a random loon, either. During Obama's health care town hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire last week, a man carrying a sign reading "It is time to water the tree of liberty" stood outside with a pistol strapped to his leg. Not concealed, just strapped to his leg. You don't need a license to own a gun in New Hampshire, but you do need one to carry it in your vehicle. Walking around outside a large public gathering where the President Of The United States is speaking with a pistol strapped to your leg is simply a matter of making practical use of the Constitution.
And what about the Secret Service? Aren't they just a little bit nervous about all of this? Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said armed demonstrators in open-carry states such as Arizona and New Hampshire have little impact on security plans for the president. "In both cases, the subject was not entering our site or otherwise attempting to," Donovan said. "They were in a designated public viewing area. The main thing to know is that they would not have been allowed inside with a weapon."
They could, however, enter the site and shout "Fire," as they water the tree of liberty by promoting the First Amendment without carrying a weapon. Unless one considers free speech a weapon. Or perhaps we could simply stay at home and pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster to lessen the strife with his noodly appendages. At least he might help regulate our militia.
By the way, has anybody seen Squeaky Fromme since she got out of jail?
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