Protesters Picket Open Carry Night Out

[RamboLiberal]

Manhattan Beach - Dozens of people were out for a night of pizza and pistols at a Manhattan Beach restaurant to support what they call "Open Carry" -- the ability legally carry a holstered, unloaded hand gun in public. Demonstrators picketed outside the restaurant.

"In California, Open Carry means you have an unloaded gun, in a holster, visibly displayed like I have here. You're also allowed to have loaded magazines on your person like I have here."

Harley Green, like nearly everyone else at the pizzeria was carrying two loaded magazines, adding up to anywhere from 14 to upwards of 36 bullets.

Harley Green says he very rarely has a problem wearing his gun.

Protesters outside the gathering disagree with what Open Carry's all about. California Brady Campaign members picket restaurants where the gun gatherings take place.

http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/protesters-picket-open-carry-night-out-20110120

Brooklyn Brick Oven Pizza on Sepulveda Boulevard was the site of a dinner meeting for local gun rights group South Bay Open Carry Thursday night. While members munched on pizza with firearms attached to their holsters, the Los Angeles Brady Campaign Chapter held their own gathering in protest of gun violence.

Situated close to the pizzeria, campaign members gripped signs denouncing firearms, and specifically, open carrying in a restaurant.

"If more guns translate to being safer and having less crime, then we should be the safest country in the world," said Jeff Peak, husband of chapter president Suzanne Verge.

"Unfortunately we're not."

The night passed without incident as both parties remained largely in their respective areas. South Bay Open Carry founder and president, Harley Green, said he commends the Brady Campaign for exercising its First Amendment rights, but stressed that the Second Amendment should receive just as much consideration.

http://manhattanbeach.patch.com/articles/open-carry-meets-for-pizza-amid-protests#video-4551008 (Longer video of both sides of the issue)

L.A. councilman wants to ban 'open carry' handguns

Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti moved Friday to ban "open carry" handguns within the city limits.

Under current state law, residents can openly carry legally owned handguns that are unloaded and kept in a holster. Ammunition may be carried separately on the holster.

That state law has come under scrutiny in the aftermath of several recent high-profile shooting incidents, especially the Jan. 8 rampage in Tucson that left six dead and critically injured U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Garcetti submitted what he called a "common sense" motion that asks his council colleagues to approve such a ban. In practice, the measure would restrict the carrying of such weapons to authorized law enforcement personnel or holders of concealed weapons permits.

"No one needs a gun on their hip when walking down the street or going to the store," Garcetti said. "The open carry of a handgun can be intimidating and threaten public safety."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/01/la-councilman-wants-to-ban-open-carry-handguns.html

[Drale]

1. Self Delete

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

2. How does banning openly carried unloaded firearms in CA related the tragedy in Tuscon??

Loughner carried his firearm concealed and loaded in tuscon.
Somehow, that demonstrates the need to prohibit the carrying of an unloaded gun in California.

Eric Garcetti is as mad as Loughner, imo.

[Lucian]

3. Garcetti makes a valid point.

Why would one need to carry a loaded gun while going to the store?

It makes absolutely no sense.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Why do you use a seatbelt on the same trip?

[MichaelHarris]

6. the crazy

runs very deep

[CTyankee]

10. Love your avatar message...so true...I got lost in Rome once and had to find my way back

and my bad Italian wasn't too much help...I never felt in danger...I was in a world class city with world class citizens who didn't put their trust in gun ownership...I prefer that...hey, there's a campanile and no shooter ready to aim at me...think of that!

[MichaelHarris]

12. LOL

I do use an old Leica M3 camera which is build so well you could bop them over the head. Never had to do that either. I can't even imagine the fear some must feel when they leave their house without a firearm. I don't want to call it crazy but it sure seems irrational to me. Those who use the 3rd grade analogy of seat belts seem to forget about gravity, speed,impact and force. Fear of A DOES NOT EQUAL fear of B. Safety does not mean fear.

[CTyankee]

15. And I did fine when I was in Palermo fer gawd's sake...great city...

I just loved all of Sicily, for all of their bad press and awful situation. Great city, great people, great food...not very many people speaking English but hey...

too bad more Americans don't travel...they think this is their American paradise and they have NO idea of how things are in other countries...

No place is perfect, that's for sure,but we're no paradise either...

[MichaelHarris]

19. I know!

I stayed in a small mountain village in Mexico recently and no one chopped my head off or anything.

[oneshooter]

21. Been overseas, twice to RVN, once each to ROK and Okanawa.

Never made it to Europe.
I plan to remain in Texas.

Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[lawodevolution]

34. "I got lost in Rome once and had to find my way back"

there's a place called nigeria and haiti where no one puts their trust in gun ownership. Lots of italians own guns though. They also have stand your ground laws in italia

[CTyankee]

47. Ever been there?

[GreenStormCloud]

52. Did you notice that some of the police carried submachineguns?

I was in Rome in 1967 and in 2004. Both times I noticed some police style uniformed guys with submachineguns standing guard at certain spots. You don't see that here in the states.

[CTyankee]

61. I saw uniformed men in front of embassies in Rome when I was there in 06.

In 08, saw the same in Madrid.

Makes sense that in 1967 Rome would be pretty heavily guarded, given the revolutionaries of the day...

Had an interesting conversation with a Torinese about their federal police force, explaining why the U.S.A. does not have the equivalent.

[cleanhippie]

48. Yes, it does. Did you hear about the crazy guy with an AK-47 and a scanner?

[HankyDubs]

13. do you shoot people

with your seatbelt?

[YllwFvr]

31. i dont

but then again, I dont shoot people with my gun

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[shadowrider]

5. You have to park your car at point A. Then you walk to point B.

point B being the store. Anything can happen on that walk whether it's 20 feet or 300 feet.

The only downside, the weapon has to be unloaded in California and you have to load to use it.

Not so much where I live. It's loaded with one in the pipe.

You never, ever, ever, ever know when or where the threat to your life will come from. It could be a small blood clot, or it could be some ahole who decides you're an easy target.

[Lucian]

16. I have a better chance of getting a blood clot than getting shot.

Or attacked in a parking lot.

And carrying an unloaded gun does no good when the attacker has a knife or a loaded gun. So what use does carrying an uloaded gun provide?

None. I just answered my own question.

[RSillsbee]

39. So, what you're saying is

that gun control laws don't work?

And carrying an unloaded gun does no good when the attacker has a knife or a loaded gun.

That's what I got out of that sentence

[cleanhippie]

49. Thats right! Blod clots are more dangerous than guns! Who knew?

Thanks for putting it into perspective.

:toast:

[shadowrider]

50. Heh.. n/t

[RSillsbee]

55. I've been attacked in a parking lot

I was able to stop the attack by drawing a gun.

Never had a blood clot though...

[shadowrider]

56. I did. Docs never did find where it came from. THAT's the scary part. n/t

[Hoyt]

7. Because there is a .000000000000163 chance someone might jump out from behind a tree.

And, they like little kids going, "mommy, I want an assault pistol too when I grow up."

I'm sure those obsessed with public carrying will quote any number of statistics to rationalize their guns-in-every-waistband agenda and glamorization project targeting the next generation.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pipoman]

53. Oh the irony,

after posting a complete lie of a statistic, the accusation of others using actual government statistics as somehow wrong is simply typical of your dismissal of fact in favor of your own fiction....now explain who is obsessed?

[CTyankee]

8. Oh, all kinds of reasons...none of which make too much sense but....

[RamboLiberal]

9. oh gee maybe for stuff like this

Police are investigating a report of an armed robbery that occurred Tuesday night (Jan. 18) in the parking lot of Taco Bell, 14040 S. Hwy. 13, in the Marketplace at 42 shopping center.

Police were called at 5:57 p.m. for a report that two people pulled up in the parking lot to go inside and buy some food when a suspect with a handgun entered their vehicle, demanded cash and then fled in a nearby vehicle, according to Capt. Dave Muelken.

http://www.savagepacer.com/news/police/police-seeking-information-about-robbery-parking-lot-101

The victim of Thursday afternoon's robbery—a 44-year-old man from Lothian, MD—said he was walking out to his vehicle when he was approached by a man who tried to grab his bag, which contained the prescription drugs oxycodone and methadone.

Both drugs are narcotic painkillers, and methodone is often used to help prevent withdrawl symptoms in patients addicted to opiates.

The victim resisted the suspect, and threw the bag into a truck being driven by his friend and attempted to get in on the passenger side of the vehicle. He was then approached by another man who showed a handgun and took the prescriptions from the man.

http://bowie.patch.com/articles/update-on-safeway-parking-lot-gunpoint-robbery

HOUSTON - Pearland Police are looking for three suspects in connection to an armed car robbery in an HEB Grocery Store parking lot in the 2800 block of Business Center Drive.

The female victim was walking to her car, a 2001 BMW 325i , when those three suspects parked their vehicle behind hers on Thursday night, a Pearland Police Department official said.

Suspect Threatened Woman with Shotgun

The driver of the suspected vehicle, a red or maroon Chevy Silverado pickup truck, got out with a shotgun and approached the victim’s car door. He ordered the victim to get out of the vehicle.

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/110121-bmw-stolen-by-armed-robbers-at-heb

Naperville police are investigating a Thursday evening armed robbery that occurred in a parking lot of an apartment complex in the 1800 block of Santa Fe Drive.

Police received a report at 5:41 p.m. that a 58-year-old woman had been accosted by two males, one of whom was armed with a sharp metal object, according to a news release sent Thursday night by the Naperville Police Department.

The woman was cornered after getting out of her car, according to the report, and the suspect with the weapon had a yellow bandana over his face.

"The offenders then took the victim’s purse and fled from the scene on foot, last seen (heading) westbound," the release stated

http://naperville.patch.com/articles/naperville-police-search-for-two-robbers

[Lucian]

17. Oooh, four stories that have a 0.000000000000000000003 % chance of happening to me.

[MichaelHarris]

20. hahahah

great response!

[X_Digger]

22. Better chance than a house fire- yet I bet you have smoke alarms & extinguisher..

In the US there are 400,000 residential fires every year, and there are ~105,000,000 homes. Odds of a home fire? 1 in 263.

http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Fire-Prevention/fires-factsheet.html

According to the DOJ, the rate of being the victim of a violent crime is 20 / 1,000 overall (as high as 27 / 1,000 for some groups like african americans.) That comes out to 1 in 50.

http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=1743

[PavePusher]

26. You don't get to make that choice for others.

Too bad, so sad.

[YllwFvr]

32. if you have some time

read some armed citizen reports. Of course leave an open schedule, theres a few thousand last I remembered

[lawodevolution]

36. "four stories that have a 0.000000000000000000003 % chance of happening to me."

If you feel safe, you can decide for yourself not to own a gun.

[petronius]

40. And yet, those events are vastly more common than legal firearms carriers

committing acts of violence. So what are you worried about?

[pipoman]

54. Not a statistics major, eh? Yea, it is that apparent.

[TheCowsCameHome]

11. You'd stand a bigger chance of getting hit by a runaway dump truck.

Sheesh........

[YllwFvr]

30. why would anyone need to carry an unloaded gun

I fixed it for you :D

[hlthe2b]

18. "The open carry of a handgun can be intimidating.... and threaten public safety."

Funny how that issue is never addressed.... even by our own proponents.

[X_Digger]

23. Public display of affection between mixed race couples were scary to many, too..

.. or *gasp* seeing two men kissing!

Civil liberties, ain't they a peach?

[hlthe2b]

24. To equate that to carrying a gun is just despiccable. Ignore.

I doubt you will, but you really ought to be ashamed and apologize for that.

[X_Digger]

25. Never. I protest any infringement of a right.

Remember, it's "keep and bear".

[DonP]

45. Uh oh! You hit a sore spot

Shame on you for not playing fair.

Some people seem to get all flustered and upset when you point out that they are on the side of infringing on a constitutionally protected civil right. That's a mirror they'd rather not look into. It puts them side by side with Bull Connor, Fundies and a lot of other unsavory characters.

It gets harder to feel self righteous in that company I guess.

[friendly_iconoclast]

57. You forgot to add Ronald Reagan and Dick Cheney to the list.

Reagan for signing the Mulford Act into law (because of all those scary melanin-enhanced people lawfully carrying loaded weapons in

public), and "I Shot A Guy In The Face And Got Away With It" Cheney for his recent remarks.

[PavePusher]

28. Civil Rights are Civil Rights.

They are all equal. Or do you have some list of rank-order?

[PavePusher]

27. Open and public exercise of a Civil Right...

with no criminal intent, is not intimidation. I am not responsible for the irrational fears of others.

[Lucian]

29. It's not an irrational fear.

What I don't know is the mentality of the person carrying the gun. Anybody can snap at any time, and for no reason.

I don't want to be around when an idiot with a gun decides to snap on people, like Jared Loughtner did.

[YllwFvr]

33. not irrational?

you said yourself, your chances of getting shot are slim. .0000000000 something if I remember your post right. so dont worry about it. what does a little piece of cloth matter, open or concealed? you are probably around them anyway, unless you are in cali

[lawodevolution]

37. no people don't just snap, I never had and I've never seen someone do it

Some people just snap a lot, normally have a mental disorder

the man in your picture applied for a gun permit and was denied in alabama. The gun control tactic in that time period was that african americans might get guns, now they use the terrorists might get guns tactic, still bigotry.

[rl6214]

38. Jared loughner was not just an "idiot with a gun"

that decided to snap on people, what he did was premeditatded murder. He planned to do what he did. He was not just walking around with a gun and just snapped and went postal.

[Callisto32]

42. "Anybody can snap at any time, and for no reason."

By that rationale, I am just as likely to "snap" when cutting up delicious vegetable or animal matter and drive a razor sharp, 9 inch chef's knife into someone I love. I guess we need to ban knives too, since we have such easy access to them whenever we are in the kitchen. At the very least, we need to have federal background checks and prove that we are not mentally defective before purchasing/using such dangerous assault knives. They are assault knives because, you see, they were specifically designed to cut apart LIVING THINGS! Such dangerous implements should be in the hands of ONLY the government benefactors.

Yeah, you sound that ridiculous.

Edit:

Sorry about the government benefactors part. That may be a straw man, but I am so used to controller types saying "but we still need the police to have them" that I just presume it to be part of the position.

[shadowrider]

43. See "Britain" n/t

[Callisto32]

46. Indeed.

I remember reading about how much of a menace to society a steak knife is in Britain. They should be ashamed of themselves for rejecting tool use.

[petronius]

60. It's a reasonable concern. How about this: ban open carry, and CA goes to shall-issue

for concealed carry? The intimidation factor goes away, the accidental-fear issue is removed, and we can be assured that everyone legally carrying in public has successfully completed a training course.

Everybody wins - your concern is addressed, and the rights of law-abiding gun owners are not infringed. How about it?

[Callisto32]

41. "No one needs a gun on their hip when walking down the street or going to the store," Garcetti said.

I am sure he wants to remove them from the police first, right?

[DonP]

44. Wonder what the ratio of OC to Brady people was?

After the Heller decision they had to carefully frame Helmke, Henigan and a handful of Brady employees with a tight shot (probably the whole office) in the camera on the steps of SCOTUS to look like a "crowd". Their "protests" have been getting thinnner each year. That was when Helmke was claiming that "Heller is a win for gun control and common sense". He was half right.

I wonder how many OC people were there versus the total protest crowd? Not that I'd expect the media to ever talk about it.

[ileus]

51. Someone needs to protest about OC without a round chambered.

Nothing but a fancy rock if not in condition 1.

[Abq_Sarah]

58. When a politician says, "no one needs"

I start to wonder whether or not they believe rights are based on needs.

[shadowrider]

59. Politicians have completely forgotten who they work for n/t

[rrneck]

62. I think they know.

It just ain't us.