"Don Foreman" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:42:20 -0400, Wes wrote:

"Ed Huntress" wrote:

Carrying a slung rifle in a crowd of people is not peaceful under any
circumstances. Its only functional purpose in that situation is to kill.
Since it's highly unlikely it will be used to kill, the only remaining
purpose is an affective one: to intimidate.

That wasn't about "rights." It was about threats.

This was Arizona, it wasn't New Jersey. If it had been viewed by those in
power as a
threat, the guy would have been hauled away.

He had legal right to do that in the state he was in.

I think this is a matter of perception.

Yes, it definitely is.

For example in 1996 or so, my brother and I were
breakfasting in a diner in Lajita's, TX. We had to be the only people not
carrying arms
in the diner. I felt very safe though a bit under dressed.

So entering that Texas diner with a slung AR15 may be perceived by
others as unremarkable.

The same might be true in a hunting area during hunting season. My
neighbor at the lake keeps a loaded shotgun leaning outside his back
door in case some ducks happen by as they do from time to time in the
fall. Yawn. Perception: normal.

Open carry of assault rifle at political rally where nobody else is
openly armed isn't quite the same. It's a matter of perception.

I perceive it as a person stating, "I'm going to do this while I still can
before this stupid ****ing liberal has all the guns melted down and turned
into abortion clinic handrails, and maybe wake some people up that there are
people in our government and society that would keep me from my
Constitutional rights to do so."

Yeah, perception is everything.

Steve