A group of 40 gun advocates gathered and waited outside a restaurant where they knew a gun safety advocay "group" was holding a meeting. Pulling up in the parking lot, they took out their weapons and waited for the "group" to come out of the restaurant.
On Saturday, nearly 40 armed men, women, and children waited outside a Dallas, Texas area restaurant to protest a membership meeting for the state chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a gun safety advocacy group formed in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
According to a spokeswoman for Moms Demand Action (MDA), the moms were inside the Blue Mesa Grill when members of Open Carry Texas (OCT) — an open carry advocacy group — “pull[ed] up in the parking lot and start[ed] getting guns out of their trunks.” The group then waited in the parking lot for the four MDA members to come out.
So this group of 40 people, armed with their guns, sat and waited for 4 mothers to come out of the restaurant to terrify them. What might be a normal reaction from the restaurant manager - perhaps to call the police?
The spokeswoman said that the restaurant manager did not want to call 911, for fear of “inciting a riot” and waited for the gun advocates to leave. The group moved to a nearby Hooters after approximately two hours.
MDA later released a statement calling OCT “gun bullies” who “disagree[d] with our goal of changing America’s gun laws and policies to protect our children and families.” The statement added that the members and restaurant customers were “terrified by what appeared to be an armed ambush.
One of the gunowners' response was to tweet "I guess I'm a bully". Yes. Yes you are. Four people can't even assemble in a restaurant without a mob waiting for them. This same gun safety group will hold a meeting on the one year anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting near the site, and you can bet they will be met with similar tactics. Because the way to get people to stop worrying about guns, and see your point of view, is surely to subtly threaten them and make them afraid for their lives.
And bring the kids!
7:38 PM PT: OCT emailed Moms Demanding Action afterwards, who posted the content on their Facebook page:
But Open Carry Texas didn't stop there: They emailed us to say: "We had a great time today walking through San Antonio with our semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. The best part was that the reaction was very positive and supportive. People are "getting used" to seeing and being around guns and police have come to accept it and don't even question us anymore. What we are doing is working and society is coming to view the sight of "military style rifles" in public as just another normal thing. Isn't that a good thing?"
Mon Nov 11, 2013 at 7:32 AM PT: OCT has issued a "challenge" to the Mothers via Facebook:
After scaring restaurant customers and trying to intimidate the four unarmed women, Open Carry Texas posted on its Facebook page:
Hey Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, here's your chance to get your ideas out in public. The president of Open Carry Texas, CJ Grisham, is issuing an open invite and challenge to MDA President Shannon Watts to debate the issue of "gun sense" (gun control) versus gun rights (supporting the constitution). Since we are issuing the challenge, Shannon may pick anywhere in the State of Texas to hold the event and OCT will pay for the venue.
We will also accept the Texas Chapter President of MDA if Shannon doesn't feel intelligent or confident enough to handle an open debate. OCT will NOT be open carry at the event so MDA can feel safe and secure in its ignorance and false sense of safety. Shannon may email her response CJ directly from her official email to cj@opencarrytexas.org. The ball is in your court.
Not a meeting, or a debate. No. A "challenge". Sort of tells you all you need to know about their mindset. And the Moms never had any interest in engaging with this group of nuts in the first place, who are now goading them.
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Mon Nov 11, 2013 at 8:58 PM PT: National Review Online has weighed in and claims Think Progress "spins" the story incorrectly (the claim that it was a posed picture and turning 90 degrees makes guns ever so less intimidating, etc.) yet even THEY found this protest and display ill-advised.
As a matter of personal taste, I dislike the tactics that Open Carry Texas used, and I think they got close to “intimidation.” Unlike the protest depicted above, targeting a small group while carrying rifles strikes me as a counter-productive and mean strategy and one likely to turn off people who are instinctively on Second Amendment advocates’ side. Regardless of the legality of the thing, it is almost certainly ill-advised to alarm people in the name of making them feel more comfortable around guns. Nevertheless, ThinkProgress and Rick Ungar are simply wrong with their insinuations. I will be charitable and presume that this was the product of a typical ignorance of the subject rather than a deliberate desire to mislead. But wrong is still wrong, whatever its cause.
Mon Nov 11, 2013 at 10:37 PM PT: LOL- Wayne LaDerriere has retweeted this Diary. Check out his twitter account, it's great.