Rakes are not illegal nor immoral. Leaf rakes are normal, legal, decent, and everybody (or at least everybody with a lawn) should own one or three...
...but I personally think you'd still look kinda dorky standing in line for a venti cinnamon dolce latte with one in your hand.
(Also, I'd like to see the Venn diagram of "People Carrying Their AR15s Into Starbucks" and "People Who Absolutely Freak Their $#!+ About The Militarization Of Law Enforcement Every Time They See A Picture Of A Cop With An AR15." I'd bet there's a surprising amount of cross-enrollment in those two clubs.)
*Post title explanation for the unhip.
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35 comments:
Woot! I'm not in the Venn Overlap for once.
There isn't much of a problem with leaving your rake in the back of your pickup while you get a Hazelnut macchiatto. There is a problem with leaving your carbine where Bo the felon can snag it between oil changes.
Thus, there's the mode of security of the weapon in transit. What do Swiss shooters do when they're headed to/from the range? Leave the Stgw on the bike? I'm pretty sure there's photos of Swiss folks drinking beers with some of their EBRs leaned up against the table.
I carried my M1 carbine around in an REI one time. The Insight needed new tires abruptly one day and it had no trunk. Given the wait I had ahead of me, I figured to sling the carbine in an ersatz gun sock, and walk down to the REI two doors down and browse camping gear for an hour.
One staffer noticed and hovered for a bit until I politely asked what was up? We talked about it and he seemed to understand the situation perfectly. No children were eaten, no little old ladies were scandalized, no cops were called. In fact I think I scored a point or two for our side.
Montieth,
There's a difference between carrying your rake into Starbucks because you're on the way home from raking leaves on the church lawn and wanted a coffee, and making a point of carrying your rake to Starbucks, which you wouldn't normally patronize, just so you can chant "WE'RE HERE! WE'RE RAKING! GET USED TO IT!" The former is just some guy with a rake, the latter is a toolbag. ;)
roland,
What is whose clothes, motherfucker?
doh! Assumed you were biting a line from that one Tarantino movie, tossed in Jules winfield's riposte. Mos def not motherfucking you.
roland,
Ah! I'm with you now. :)
I was using Futurama rather than Pulp Fiction. :D
I live in the heart of the hive (Minneapolis) in the Soviet Socialist State of Minnesnowta. About the only time I "OC" a long-gun is during deer season, and that's typically done up-north at my friends property. What's interesting is the attitude towards firearms when hunting up there, versus the unbelievably paranoid attitude when coming home.
We've got some rules when hunting, like, "No firearms in the cabin unless the bolt is out", which is an obvious safety thing. But a .30-06 on a sling is common, particularly in the little towns where you go to register a deer (and you don't want to leave it in your truck where it can be grabbed). As long as the muzzle stays pointed up, nobody even NOTICES (unless it's a particularly pretty rifle) that you're carrying the thing around.
On t'other hand, when I get back into town, I try to make durned sure that I've buried the rifle CASE under some clothing as I carry it from garage to house, because otherwise the neighbors tend to freak out. "OMG, that's a RIFLE he's carrying!!! Can it go off from inside the case?!?!?" I try to do the same thing on range days, and carry the pistols in a nondescript tool bag, just to avoid turning it into a whole big megillah.
Open carry, of both hand guns and long guns, is TECHNICALLY legal in Minnesnowta. You do NOT want to try it in the Twin Shitties, since you WILL be arrested (on some pretext or other), and you WILL lose your carry permit. Legality aside, it's just a dumb thing to try. I'm not sure how I feel about OC of a rifle, since it mostly just doesn't make sense. During season, I'm actually planning on using it (well, hoping to use it, anyway). But when I carry a defensive firearm, I'm hoping I NEVER have to use it. I guess that's the difference for me.
I'm of a couple of minds on this one. I did a bit of "OC Activism" with handguns in Virginia back in the late 90's/ early aughts. As an "outreach program" it was largely successful. I went from acute awareness/discomfort to awareness and less so. If you're gonna exercise your rights, then exercise them to the limit you feel comfortable with. Nothing is gonna push the "boundaries" like an EBR.
Remember the 2-gun OC'er on the national news around the 08 election? The one whose skin got edited out of the picture?
One thing I remember that kinda helped me was wearing a really NICE-looking pistol - and we tended to dress a little "nicer" than we might otherwise. So as not to perpetuate ALL of the stereotypes.
Yeah there's a fine line between activism and outlandishness and the latter can do some real harm (unless you're an "Occupy" member inw which case you'll get a pass from the "elites").
Recently there was a rather large parade of rifle OC'sing in the southern part of our state; I think it advanced "the cause" at least as far as the little "coverage" it got.
I remember the first time I heard about someone openly carrying an EBR just because, and I thought, "that's stupid, and that's not going to end well." In fact, I also thought, attention whore, trouble maker and lots of similar thoughts.
Then one activist on Opencarry.org (or maybe it was way back on Packing.org) explained/defended the idea saying that the LGBT movement did not get where it is today by being polite and nice and behaving as their opponents wanted them to behave. They were obnoxious at times, in your face, and willing to do things in public to say, "we are here, we are not bad/evil/illegal, notice us!"
I personally would not carry an EBR around, and I generally don't open carry (although I have on occasion). That said, I do support it, with some reservation.
shrimp,
"attention whore, trouble maker"
I mostly think "dork", but then I'm pretty inured to the sight of self-loading rifles.
I see it as the gun rights equivalent of wearing Sailor Moon or Starfleet costumes home from the comic book convention. It's Second Amendment cosplay.
I would hope the Venn diagram of "People Who Absolutely Freak Their $#!+ About The Militarization Of Law Enforcement Every Time They See A Picture Of A Cop With An AR15" and "Everybody" would just be a circle. But sadly that's not the case.
I like shrimp's example. We don't have to be dicks about it. But we do have to say we are here, its our right, and tough shit.
"Patrick Henry",
"I would hope the Venn diagram of "People Who Absolutely Freak Their $#!+ About The Militarization Of Law Enforcement Every Time They See A Picture Of A Cop With An AR15" and "Everybody" would just be a circle."
Are police officers not American citizens? Do American citizens not have the right to keep and bear self-loading rifles for the defense of themselves and their communities?
If I claim the right to keep an AR15 for my own defense, by what logic do I claim that another should be denied that right?
Why do you hate freedom? :p
Dang, I missed the whole point I guess. When I heard about Starbucks appreciation nday, I went to the store and bought some mocha cappicinos in the coooler section to take home. Never thought about open carrying to do it.
Gads, does that mean I'm a dork* and didnt even realize it?
*A dork dork, not an OC dork
A person wearing a pistol into Starbucks is simply trying to normalize open carry.
A person wearing a rifle into Starbucks is trying to freak the mundanes, since it is patently obvious that a rifle is not part of normal every day attire, although a pistol could be.
A pistol is obviously a piece of defensive safety equipment. A rifle is mostly an offensive tool ( not that offense is not perfectly acceptable in some circumstances ).
I leave the rifle in the trunk, and carry the pistol.
And back in the 19th Century, when carry in the US was acceptable, most folks did the same. They wore pistols day to day ... and the rifles only came out when needed.
I am in the Venn diagram that claims that anything a police officer carries should be available and carried by me also, if I so choose.
There are only two types of people in my version of the world - those who must carry and those who choose (or not) to carry.
I see it as the gun rights equivalent of wearing Sailor Moon or Starfleet costumes home from the comic book convention. It's Second Amendment cosplay.
And that is the end of the internet today, we can all go home now.
Ed,
"I am in the Venn diagram that claims that anything a police officer carries should be available and carried by me also, if I so choose."
Me, too. I just applied the symmetric property of equality, there. ;)
Anyone down to join local OC events and lead them in a chant of "We're here, we're geared, we don't want any more bears!"?
It's only a matter of time until a photo's taken of an obese old man cos-OCing to a convention as a magical girl from Madoka Magica, complete with show-accurate M249.
It'll be as close as you can get to all the worst of the internet without a pair of fox ears and a copy of Awake! magazine.
If God is merciful the perfect storm of fail will cause the Earth to derp right off its orbit and into the sun, warning any primitive aliens listening to our broadcasts that this whole technology thing is best avoided entirely.
If you're going to OC in a Starbucks, you should carry your Barbecue gun just out of respect.
I see it as the gun rights equivalent of wearing Sailor Moon or Starfleet costumes home from the comic book convention.
Hey, I'll have you know that my AK goes rather nicely with my Sailor Mercury cosplay.
perlhaqr,
They might be so agog that they'd forget to charge you for the coffee. :D
Rakes are fine, but surely you are not in favor of civilians owning high capacity military style assault rakes?
As for 2A cosplay inspiration, check out Girls und Panzer, by the always reliably weird Japanese.
Steve Skubinna,
"Rakes are fine, but surely you are not in favor of civilians owning high capacity military style assault rakes?"
Even powered, fully-automatic leaf vacs.
"Ed said...
There are only two types of people in my version of the world - those who must carry and those who choose (or not) to carry."
Can I correct that to, "those who must carry" (every citizen in these United States who can legally vote and is responsible for their own safety), and those who don't (all of those who should be publicilly shamed for not taking care of themselves.
And YES I do know lots of people don't carry for XYZ reasons. I was merely being hyperbolic about how I feel it should be.
-Rob
A damned fine analogy.
And depending upon how much of a crisis you perceive the spread of leaves to be, you may well have feelings about the issue of one carrying an antique-looking old rake, versus a new high capacity leaf-blower.
It would be foolish to expect a landscaper to leave his leaf-blower outside, if he's a block from his truck and just wanted to step in for a cuppa.
"Sir, that's a gas-powered internal combustion engine on your back, I'll need you to leave that outside."
"It could make lots of noise. The gasoline could explode at any time."
"No one NEEDS that kind of leaf-moving power!"
Matt, the fact is that most civilians are not trained to properly use such high capacity leaf moving equipment and only complicate the situation for the professionals, who are the only ones properly trained.
It's for the children.
Since Mosin Nagants were intended to have the bayonets attached except when making long trips, I think I might have a few issues getting through most doorways...
But at least it's not black. I guess no one cares that it has a longer effective range than modern "assault weapons".
I've done it once. At this event.
My view is typically more like yours but I felt like it served a higher purpose in that case.
Well, I do normally patronize Starbucks and sometimes open carry. Sometimes I open carry at the Starbucks. Ultimately it's often a non issue. Again though, where police have conniptions from people doing perfectly normal things, then the only useful thing to do is to make sure you do the perfectly normal thing more often. Eventually they'll figure out they need to inset a brain in their response protocols.
Also, if you do happen to carry a rake into a Starbucks, is anyone going to call the cops? If yes, maybe you need to do it more often perhaps substitute rake for other farming implements (pitchfork, threshing flail, pick, axe, Lucerne hammer).
If we hid our guns every time someone had a case of the vapors at the sight of a shooting iron, we'd have gone the way of the British shooters.
I guess I shouldn't mention the time I drove an armored car past an anti war protest. The dummies up M240 and 3x5 US flag make quite a statement.
Oh, and Tam, stay away from down town Reading, Pa on the Saturday closest to June 6th. Full auto fire, k98s, Garands, m1919s, mg42s, etc etc... All downtown and about with the mundanes.
Yes, because parades on D-Day are just another celebration of a day that ends in "Y".
Even the cops tend to leave their long guns locked in the car most of the time, and they (albeit by policy) are usually willing to go to the effort to lock those guns up so they can't be stolen in a mere smash and grab.
If you don't carry that way every day of the year then don't carry that way just to "make a statement"; the root word of normalization is "normal." If it ain't normal for you you ain't normalizin'. You're role-playing.
Montieth,
"Well, I do normally patronize Starbucks and sometimes open carry."
Nice straw man. That's not what we're talking about.
In case you haven't picked up on this vibe, I don't give a fuck if you go to Starbucks schlepping a Ma Deuce, I'm just pointing out that you look goddam goofy doing it.
"Yes, you have a rifle. Cool. I've seen one before; have a couple myself. Why are you bringing it in this coffee shop if you're not just stopping in on the way to or from the range? Oh, you made a special trip just to look like a dork? Congrats, it's working." ;)
Ed,
"I am in the Venn diagram that claims that anything a police officer carries should be available and carried by me also, if I so choose."
Indeed. BUT perhaps you've noticed: most officers who are on routine patrol tend to leave their "patrol rifles" locked in their trunks when stopping for coffee. At least that's the way it's done here in gun-friendly, open-carrry-vanguard Washington State.
"In case you haven't picked up on this vibe, I don't give a fuck if you go to Starbucks schlepping a Ma Deuce, I'm just pointing out that you look goddam goofy doing it."
One also looks kinda dorky carrying a sign and standing around a place where you don't normally congregate. So. What?
If the local police can't get it through their skulls that lawful behavior doesn't warrant a stop and frisk then maybe more people need to do it to make a point. Or sometime just doing it because you it's convenient. Why does the reason matter? Why even make that value judgement? The antis think we're worse than dorks for carrying or owning guns. Other folks think people who ride two wheeled conveyances that one has to pedal as being dorky and suicidal.
Perhaps I just fail to see the logic in your value judgment and also don't agree.
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