Mario Piperni dot Com

Photo credit: LA Times

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The crazies are winning this fight.

More than a dozen people packing pistols on their hips strolled down the Hermosa Beach strand Saturday, picking up garbage and distributing fliers about the rights of gun owners.

The event was part of a burgeoning and controversial “open carry” movement nationwide promoting the right to carry guns in public. Although carrying a concealed weapon is illegal without a permit, California allows people to openly carry guns in many areas as long as they are unloaded, though they can keep ammunition with them.

Members of South Bay Open Carry, which organized the beach cleanup, said they hope such events will dispel misgivings about gun owners and make carrying a handgun in public more acceptable. Organizers said they turned the event into a cleanup to demonstrate that they are contributing to the community.

“Just because somebody is carrying a gun doesn’t mean that they’re a criminal,” said Scott Brownlie, a 25-year-old firefighter who stood outside Peet’s Coffee & Tea with an unloaded Colt M-4 Carbine slung across his back. “If a lot of people were allowed to carry more … there would be a lot less crime.”

Forgive me if I’m somewhat skeptical about these people’s intent.  What we’re looking at here has less to do with battling crime and more to do with, as a reader aptly puts it, the steel dick syndrome.  Does anyone seriously believe that the guy with the Colt Carbine cares about anything other than how wonderfully macho he appears parading about with his shiny toy slung across his back?

From a San Diego Union-Tribune editorial:

It is just not acceptable to have people in modern-day California wandering around while openly packing pistols as if it were the Wild West.

And it’s not just families and coffee-shop patrons who are troubled by the displays. The California Police Chiefs Association is among the supporters of the bill.

“Open carry is not just a threat to public safety, it’s a threat to officers,” [said] Emeryville Police Chief Ken James.

The truth is that there are no reasonable gun control laws which could ever satisfy these people.  They want it all.  To think that anyone believes that walking into a McDonalds with your child and finding half the customers packing heat is in any way a sign of a smart, forward thinking society is frighteningly ignorant.

Blooming idiots, the entire lot.  Really.

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Virginia and Georgian have passed bills which allows patrons to carry guns into bars and restaurants.  Tennessee is trying to pass the same type of law after their first attempt was deemed to be unconstitutionally vague.

What part of “guns and alcohol don’t mix” do these jackasses not understand?  Rep. Joe McCord, a Republican state legislator who is not seeking re-election explains:

“Essentially, NRA is saying to us, if you don’t support and vote for carrying guns in bars, we will not endorse you.  This line of reasoning borders on lunacy.”

“What line will we not cross for the NRA? At what point do we say that’s too much?’ asked McCord, who is not seeking re-election. ‘I’m sorry for those of you who feel you have to hold your nose and vote for it … because of the NRA.”

The idiocy of laws like this are beyond comprehension.  Many saloons in the Old West had a ‘leave your guns at the door’ policy and now, a hundred and fifty years later, redneck states like Tennessee are being pushed by the NRA to enact moronic laws.

Hey, even Johnny Cash knew it was a bad idea.

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Between gun crazies, teabaggers, religious fanatics and other assorted nutjobs, it’s getting awfully scary out there in the land of the right.

Speaking of vetoes,  [West Virginia Governor] Manchin will be put in a quandary over a bill passed Saturday to have a sales tax holiday on firearms in October (HB4251).

Offering a tax-free weekend on gun sales potentially could get West Virginia booted out of the Streamlined Sales Tax agreement — an agreement between about 20 states, and retailers within those states, to collect and remit sales taxes on purchases (mainly via the Internet) that otherwise would go uncollected.

For West Virginia, that arrangement currently brings in about $3 million a year, which could be forfeited if the state violates the agreement by allowing a gun tax holiday, expected to save gun buyers only about $25,000 in sales taxes.

Legislators who voted for the bill not only picked up brownie points from the National Rifle Association, which was pushing the bill, but also knowingly put Manchin into a position of losing popularity points with some voters if he is obligated to veto the bill.

Apparently the ‘Obama-is-gonna-take-away-your-guns’ movement is picking up steam.  Is it obvious enough that the right has given up any attempt at rational thought?  It’s like one huge Glenn Beck Show out there…every hour, every day.

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(Hat Tip: BalloonJuice)

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This stuff makes me ill.

Dale Welch recently walked into a Starbucks in Virginia, handgun strapped to his waist, and ordered a banana Frappuccino with a cinnamon bun. He says the firearm drew a double-take from at least one customer, but not a peep from the baristas.

Welch’s foray into the coffeehouse was part of an effort by some gun owners to exercise and advertise their rights in states that allow people to openly carry firearms.

Even in some “open carry” states, businesses are allowed to ban guns in their stores. And some have, creating political confrontations with gun owners. But Starbucks, the largest chain targeted, has refused to take the bait, saying in a statement this month that it follows state and local laws and has its own safety measures in its stores.

Really, where does one draw the line on Second Amendment rights?  Will it be when every state has an “open carry” policy and 100 million Americans are walking around with Glocks strapped to their belts and assault rifles slung across their backs? Even Wyatt Earp had the basic common sense 130 years ago to understand that leaving your guns at the sheriff’s office before being allowed to down a whiskey at the local saloon was the way to go in Dodge.

Guns in family restaurants, guns in national parks and now one is denied the decency of enjoying a coffee at Starbucks without some jerk with issues of inadequacy walking in flashing his pseudo-dick for all to see.

I find it difficult to feel any compassion for these people when things go wrong…like the guy in this story.

A gun instructor accidently shot a student in the foot Saturday during an NRA class to receive certification to carry a concealed weapon, Orlando police said.

Robert Frauman Jr., 50, was taken to Florida Hospital after instructor Michael Phillips’ firearm discharged about 11:45 a.m., police said.

Phillips, 32, could not be reached for comment. The accident happened at Summit Church, located in a former movie theater near the Fashion Square mall.

The bullet went through a table before it hit Frauman.

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