Arthur Frommer, travel guru and a man who has, to say the least, been around has suggested in a recent blog post that he will not be traveling to Arizona because of the outrageous behavior of its gun toting citizens and he's debating whether to warn others against the place in his travelogues--as a national boycott.
Good on him. A lovely little boycott ought to make the citizens of Arizona remember that despite their so called 'independence' they live out on a baked chunk of land that would be a reasonably desperate piece of desolation if it weren't for the other 49 states (place a good chunk of the world) providing them with tourist dollars.
For myself, without yet suggesting that others follow me in an open boycott, I will not personally travel in a state where civilians carry loaded weapons onto the sidewalks and as a means of political protest. I not only believe such practices are a threat to the future of our democracy, but I am firmly convinced that they would also endanger my own personal safety there. And therefore I will cancel any plans to vacation or otherwise visit in Arizona until I learn more. And I will begin thinking about whether tourists should safeguard themselves by avoiding stays in Arizona.
According to the Phoenix, Arizona, police, people with guns including assault rifles do not need permits in Arizona, but can simply carry such weapons with them, openly and brazenly, when they gather to protest a speaker at a public event. The police also acknowledge that about a dozen people carrying guns, including one with an AR-15 assault rifle, milled about outside the event at which President Obama spoke.
I would feel as I do regardless of the political identity of the speaker whom these thugs attempted to intimidate. The continued tolerance of extremists carrying guns is a frightening development which strikes at the heart of the political process and endangers the ability to carry out a reasoned debate. Is there any responsible citizen of the United States who believes that people should carry guns to a public debate or speech? If Ronald Reagan were delivering a political talk in Phoenix, Arizona, would they have felt it was proper for protestors with guns to mill about outside the hall from which he would leave?
This is probably one of the more honorable positions to take. Gun zealots strutting around with their AR-15 at these Townhall events need to understand that this has almost nothing to do with 'gun rights' and everything to do with intimidation. The 2nd amendment wasn't designed to cover efforts at crass intimidation--nor, based on many of their arguments regarding healthcare--utter irrationality. It only grants you the right to own a gun, not act like an over armored buffoon.
In any case, I'm with Frommer, any place that allows idiots to tout guns to public events without so much as a permit doesn't need my company--nor my money. If I want trouble like that, I'll go someplace exotic, you know, like Somalia. Where they don't have healthcare, either.