Men armed with assault rifles walk through Portland to 'educate' public on gun rights

We absolutely cannot normalize and positively socialize gun carrying through obnoxious exhibitionism.

This is just like the gay men who dress up in sadomasochistic costumes nearly nude, performing faux sex acts, provoking not just straights but offending "normal" people of any orientation.

I am an unwavering supporter of gun rights beyond just the Second Amendment, to the point that the NRA is closer to the Brady campaign than to my libertarian views on unrestricted private ownership of any and all non-WMD man-portable weapons. And I wish for the day where in our culture we have full normalization of gun ownership and public carrying the way gays want public normalization of same-sex marriage.

But we're not there yet, and these "in your face" exhibitionist public-carrying schemes are highly counterproductive. Literally counterproductive: people bringing their guns to coffee shops in San Francisco--something which might be unremarkable in Vermont or Kentucky--caused the state of California to ban open carry in big cities as a direct result.

These guys aren't heroes, they're misguided dumb-asses. More gun restrictions is not where we want to go. Particularly gun restrictions in which gun-haters can convince a judge they are "reasonable" and don't impair the Second Amendment.

That they were both so young is encouraging.

Good for those guys - and for Oregon keeping to its common-sense
open carry tradition...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/320999756229?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:...

You need dozens of people, men and women, carrying their guns and rifles, etc.

911 calls to the point they have to beg people NOT to call!

The Portland Police Bureau, however, asks anyone who sees someone armed with guns to immediately call 911.

THE POLICE NEED TO CHANGE THEIR POLICY.

.

"for a real emergency."

The Portland Police Bureau, however, asks anyone who sees someone armed with guns to immediately call 911.

Really so who's encouraging wasting police time then?

"What they really should do is observe the person to determine if the person is aggressive," he said of seeing someone with a gun in public. "We're not doing anything threatening to anyone."

I moved to a tiny town in E. Oregon a long time ago now. Geez... Anyway, cowboys still herded cows and sheep down Main Street and men walked around with a sidearm. There were rattlesnakes, pretty much anybody who worked outside had a pistol. These people hunted for food. Every kid had a shotgun and a .22 in the back of the truck AT SCHOOL so they could go hunting after school. They would close school for opening day of deer and elk season.
Every year, we would be over-run with hunters from Portland there for a trophy. Pretty much every year, someone would lose a cow or a horse or dog that some hunter thought was a deer and most years one of them would take out their hunting partner. The restaurant where I worked had a cartoon in the kitchen, "Portland Hunter Qualification Test" and had the Fish and Game guy holding up a picture of an outhouse and the hunter is saying "Now I KNOW that's an elk."
The rest of the country will see what they see here, but I must confess, I am not sure people in Portland are the ones to do this... it makes the rest of Oregon nervous... lol!
Truly, more power to them. I started thanking anyone that I saw open carry about a year or 2 ago. I feel safer. If they meant me harm, they would not have it on their hip. If anyone else means me harm... well, look what that guy has on his hip.

you should THANK THEM and acknowledge them because it isn't EASY at all to walk around like that because this is exactly what will happen.

People get SCARED and what would have helped these two is if others in the area did come up and say HI and shook their hands etc. Another thing is to CONTINUE doing this so it is actually looked at as normal in your city.

Sure if someone sees a couple young 20 year olds ( who odds are look 16 lol ) once every couple years carrying it will freak some of the older and younger brainwashed folks.

I swear they will see these two and think "school shooting" even though they are just walking down the street. It freaks me out how conditioned everyone has and continues to become.

OH NO A GUN!!!!

what would these people have done if these two had "evil" on their minds. Odds are sit around and call 911 or better yet hide in a closet.

People need to wake up and realize that a gun can save YOUR life from the nutcases who ARE out there whether medicated or otherwise. I would rather have a gun and not need one to need one and not have one.

A naked man running down the street screaming and waving a machete and a machine gun. The police only get numerous calls about a naked man running down the street screaming. No one was able to see the machete or machine gun because he was naked!