Last Saturday, Mack Worley decided that the people of Vancouver, Washington needed education in the Second Amendment. Did he rent a hall, pass out flyers, and offer a free seminar? Oh no. This patriot decides the thing to do is to walk around town slinging a rifle. From the KATU report:
Police said he first went to a Burgerville restaurant with a rifle slung over his shoulder. An employee called 911.
Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said a security guard told Worley to leave and called police when he didn’t.
By the time police arrived, Kapp said Worley had walked to a fireworks stand in the Big Al’s parking lot. Employees closed the stand because they were worried about what Worley was up to. An employee at Big Al’s called 911 while the business went into lockdown.
Coffee barista Dominick Harris watched as panicked parents grabbed their children and ran into the restaurant while police officers swarmed around Worley.
Both Oregon and Washington permit at least in some cases, the open carrying of firearms on public property. However, in both states a person may not trespass, armed or unarmed, and a person is considered to be trespassing in a business open to the public if the person refuses to leave on request.
Even so, open carrying of firearms is rare in urban areas, so when people see someone walking around with firearm, they call the police. Mr. Worley has some choice comments for those folks. From the KATU article:
“If the public is afraid, that’s not my fault. I don’t control their point of view,” Worley said. “In fact, I welcome it. I welcome and encourage a debate on the subject. I am not responsible for their fear.”
You can read the tale of Mr. Worley's ... ah, ...
persecution here, at
Open Carry Vancouver.
But wait ... there's more! From the same KATU report:
Monday (07/01/13) over in nearby Beaverton, Oregon, another Patriot was busy "exercising his Second Amendment rights"
... police officers detained Ryan Davis along [a road] after they said he was holding a pump-action shotgun. ... Police spokesman Jim Shumway said Davis was wearing full camouflage gear and carrying the gun in the “low ready position.” When police officers arrived at the scene, Davis put a round in the chamber, Shumway said.
As officers detained him, Davis said he was “practicing his second amendment rights.” He was eventually released.Yep, where would we be without people walking around our roads at night, carrying shotguns, wearing camo, and chambering rounds when police show up?
Nor have Mssrs. Worley and Ryan been the only legal scholars who've sought to educate the public through openly carrying long guns (rifles, in this case) in urban areas. Last January, a few weeks after a nearby mall shooting, two twits with concealed handgun licenses caused a panic in the Sellwood district of Portland, Oregon by strutting about with AR-15 style rifles slung over their shoulders, on a mission to "educate the public" about the Second Amendment. link.