Stop, Children, What's That Sound?

By: Charles Cooper
Topics: In The News

About a dozen openly armed protesters showed up while the President was giving a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Phoenix on Monday. CNN reported that two of the demonstrators toted assault rifles, tentatively identified as AR-15 semi-automatics.

The obvious question: Why bring along that kind of firepower to a public demonstration? The response from one unidentified demonstrator: because he could. "In Arizona, I still have some freedoms," he told the Arizona Republic.

True enough, the state has an open carry law. But an AR-15 with a 30-round magazine? It's not as if Red Army commandoes were about to jump out of the sky. I spent a good amount of time lugging around this Colt semi-automatic during my army service and, truth be told, you don't need to be an especially skilled marksman to inflict severe damage on a target. (And for the record, I was a lousy shot.)

From the video, it's unclear which side the guy filmed with the AR-15 slung over his shoulder belonged to. He was standing with the pro-Obama demonstrators. The CNN reporter said another rifle-bearing protestor identified himself with the anti-Obama protestors. (Check out the CNN report below.)

This is turning into a trend. (Read Declan McCullagh's Q&A here with William Kostric, who turned up outside President Obama's town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H. last week.) Maybe bringing weapons along to political protests is turning into the new black. Or maybe someone spiked the water supply and people are high on acid and don't recognize they're tripping. Either way, packing heat to events where emotions already are approaching the boiling point sounds like an invitation to trouble. Michael J.W. Stickings makes the correct observation that bringing guns to an event where the President is scheduled to appear is anything but an expression of freedom. It's a threat.

Charles Cooper is an executive editor at CNET News. He has covered technology and business for more than 25 years, working at CBSNews.com, the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. E-mail Charlie.

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by r_kriegar October 17, 2010 6:45 PM EDT: For those who equate this to 18 year olds shooting up schools, I would remind you of this:

Gun control laws do NOT control people who violate the law-they only control LAW ABIDING CITIZENS. Anti-gun nuts need to get in step with REALITY.

Oh, and btw, I do NOT own a gun-but it IS nice to have the RIGHT to do so if I CHOOSE.; Reply to this comment


by r_kriegar October 17, 2010 6:37 PM EDT: I, for one, do NOT choose to view this as a threat. I choose to see it as a STRONG statement on civil liberties. In fact, I contend that it is one that needs to be STRONGLY made in todays' political climate.

I'm not trippin', believe me, unless it is on our eroding civil rights.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101016/ap_on_re_us/us_gps_tracking_warrants#mwpphu-container; Reply to this comment


by eavysidealways August 25, 2009 7:21 AM EDT: "The pen is mightier than the sword," except when you include html where is isn't supported.; Reply to this comment


by vudew August 23, 2009 6:59 PM EDT: Time to clear up a few thing. First Ar-15s are no more an assualt rifle than a single shot rifle,black powder gun or bows and arrows, they are only an assault weapon if used in an assault, it is simply a semiautomatic rifle not an automatic. I have deer rifles with much more fire power than an Ar-15 so the coined term assault rifle is just used to scare people.It is legal to carry a firearm openly in Arizona or concealed by permit. Ill bet there were many more guns present at the Presidents visit to the VA in Phoenix some legally some not.Law abiding permitted gun owners and Non law abiding gun owners carry concealed all the time you just dont know it. In states that do not allow conceal carry it is still done by non law abiding citizens. Weather or not you are pro or con for gun ownership or control the 2nd amendment protects us all. Some non law abiding citizens misuse guns, some knives, some vehicles, some poison etc. etc. The old saying if you outlaw guns weather it be in general or just at political events then only the non law abiding will have guns its such simple logic that I don't understand why more people don't get it. For anyone to say that a law abiding citizen that openly carries any legal firearm anywhere is a nut case or anything but which they are and that is a law abiding citizen exercising their constitutional right is absurd to say the least. The best thing that could happen in this country is for people to mind their own business and leave law abiding citizens and their freedoms(the ones still left) alone. I personally have had to use a firearm ( no shots fired) to defend my family from a home intruder in rural Arizona without that firearm my family very likely would have been harmed, at the very least they would have been traumtized and victims while in our own home, the person was a total stranger but promptly left when facing down the barrel of my .45 and yes i would have shot him had he not left. because of this episode my wife and I both legally carry concealed.Gun control is a liberal theory that a woman found raped and strangled in an alley is morally more superior than a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound.We as americans have a right to self preservation and defense.Gun control is a bad idea here is an example prior to Hitler coming into power in Germany the Weimar government of Germany enacted gun control laws the Hitler entered the picture and in1938 the nazi weapons contro law was added. Once this was done other European countries passed similar laws and Nazi Germany proceeded to take most of europe without firing a shot,history shows us the results of gun control. The 2nd amendment to the constitution of the United States of America really does defend all the other amendments. Gun control advocates remember this I will even protect you, your family and your rights with my gun if needed so get off law abiding gun owner backs and maybe try minding your own business.; Reply to this comment

by Eric_Crane August 19, 2009 12:26 PM EDT

"Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA - ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State."
Heinrich Himmler

There are too many people who forget that guns are just tools. Not good, not bad just tools. Tools that were put in place to guarantee that we as citizens would have the ability to defend ourselves against our government ? if it ever got out of our control.

The posts that talk of an armed police state and a disarmed populace should set off warning bells in the minds of political moderates and especially students of history.

Learn from history. Don?t be shamed into surrendering any of your rights ? including the freedom of speech and the right to bare arms.

Reply to this comment


by r_kriegar October 17, 2010 6:47 PM EDT: Oh my god, what an apt quote!


by maestro4660 August 19, 2009 1:38 AM EDT: The paranoia is unbelievable. No-one threatened anyone with a firearm either in NH or AZ. But the Obama supporters are not nearly as blameless. Search Youtube for the union thugs threatening and assaulting William Kostric (the NH gun guy). Watch as William remains passive and calm while the union thug spits in the face of a camera man, and audio reveals that another associate was kicked in the groin by the pro-Obama, anti-Ron Paul union thug. Why in the world wouldn't CBS find that footage to be newsworthy?; Reply to this comment


by ballcoach August 18, 2009 10:07 PM EDT: Our forefathers, being intimately familiar with the horrors of unresponsive tyrant's, placed the second amendment in the constitution for a reason. That reason was not hunting or fighting off the Indians. Rather, the second amendment was put into the document so that the citizens of this country would have the means to "throw off" unresponsive and oppressive governments. Let's make no mistake, the second amendment exists so that the people may have to power to check and balance the federal government. It is obvious for those who study to see that one of the earliest orders of business given by would-be dictators is the confiscation of and illegalizing of privately owned weapons. When Emperor Hirohito's war staff proposed an actual invasion of the U.S. Hideki Tojo responded that such a measure would be suicide. He continued, that on every blade of grass would be perched an American with a gun. Our enemies would love nothing more than for that threat to no longer exist. I believe there are those in our government today who seek to subvert it and turn it into something it was never meant to be.
I believe that these armed protesters have the right to bear arms if not prohibited to do so by their states, regardless of who is in town. One of the most basice premises of American democracy is the absolute equality of all persons. President Obama is not above the law. President Obama has his men about him, armed to the teeth, so that he may feel safe from those he deems threats. If he would lend his men to me at my request I would not have a problem leaving my gun at home when in public. Are we really suggesting that, when it comes down to it, his life is more valuable than yours or mine. Conservative protestors have been assaulted in recent weeks. Perhaps these armed citizens feared for their safety. President Ronald Reagan reminded us that freedom is not hereditary. It must be worked and fought and died for, and that if we become unwilling to fight for it we will spend our sunset years telling our children and grandchildren what it was once like in the United States, when men were free. Would to God that we had more citizens with hearts that refuse to be dominated by the increasingly heavy hands of government. How did it ever get so far? How did we lose sight of the fact that men and women are entitled to their wealth when they have stood upon their feet to earn it. How did we lose sight of the scriptures that teach "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread," and "if a man does not work he does not eat." This is madness. The majority of American people did not vote for the changes they now see happening. You can literally see these good people boiling over. We call for all citizens who love this land and all of the precious rights conferred with its citizenship, to rise up, to stand up, to speak up and be heard, that our freedoms so long preserved by those willing to give their blood will not be dispersed by those who secretly hate this country.
I would have you all remember that in a democracy power should flow from the people. It may, however, sometimes flow from the end of a gun. Therefore, it is imperative that the people are holding the gun. I fully expect to be put on some government watch list and treated like Will Smith on Enemy of the State, now. I am in God's hands.; Reply to this comment

by gcstone August 18, 2009 9:34 PM EDT

I have a good many guns, including rifles, pistols, and shotguns, in my house. I grew up with guns, but never thought it civil that I parade around with a gun at a political rally, nor have I thought it necessary that I apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. People who do that appear adolescent and foolish to me. Here?s why.

There are basic fundamental principles that must be observed when carrying a weapon in public. First, understand nobody cares why you carry a gun, but they clearly understand that you have made a public statement that you are willing to use it. There is no getting around that fact. Second, the instant you strap on a gun you are no longer in polite, civil society, and you?re not going to frighten everyone. You may think you are, but you?re not! Third, you have got to be prepared to be challenged by someone who is a lot meaner than you think you are, and he will not allow you back away. You are now in what is known as that existential moment. You?ve either got to use the gun and kill someone or be killed yourself. If you survive, then you can expect to spend the rest of your life in the slammer, or, in some states, face the death penalty. It?s called a lose-lose situation. Those are the consequences and they are not escapable, nor are they very romantic.

I grew up in a hard rock mining town; I worked in the mines; and, the kinds of events I jsut described occurred several times. True, the conflicts were between drunken miners, but mean drunks also go to political rallies. That is a totally foreign world to people who spend their lives in polite society, or to those people who have seen too many movies depicting justice coming out of a gun barrel. ( The latter are unable to distinguish movie fantasy from reality.) Let me say it again. The real world is this---when you carry a gun you are making a public statement that you will use it. You will not be challenging those people who are afraid, you will be challenging the people who?ll take that thing and stick it right up your ?.

These ?gun packing patriots" seem to me to have several problems. I'll only mention five. First, they seem to think they are the only persons who have weapons. Second, they seem to think they are the only persons who love this nation and will fight in its defense. (There are fundamental differences between the American Revolution which they seem to think they?re parroting, and the government of the United States of America today.) Third, they seem to think no one will pull a gun or a knife in heated exchanges at political rallies. Fourth, they seem to think they can't be the victims. Fifth, I am driven to believe the individual and collective IQ of these ?gun packers? is low.

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by ballcoach August 19, 2009 12:58 PM EDT: I'll try to bear in mind that I am conveying these thoughts to an existentialist. It has often been said, opposed to your asserstions to the contrary, that an armed society is a polite society. If all men were good, I would not feel that I needed a gun to protect my family and myself. However, all men are not good and therefore I exercise my right to arm myself with not only a firearm, but the knowledge necessary to use and decide when to use one. Further, you make a poor assumption that anyone who carries a weapon, concealed or otherwise, can be disarmed at will by others. I understand that it is disturbing to you and yours that ordianry citizens possess the means and ability to respond with lethal force to hostile units, but your fear cannot change reality.

by Non-Sequitur August 18, 2009 9:00 PM EDT

$10 says there was a snipers crosshairs aimed right between these morons eyes the whole time they stood there smirking. I'm a gun owner and I think taking a weapon to a presidential appearance is way, way over the line... talk about bad judgment. How does this help relations between opposing sides in this issue besides scaring the pants off of a lot of skittish people by acting like an arrogant sphincter? I think these toads just set back gun rights 10 years by their childish grandstanding and their quest for 15 minutes of fame. The Republican Party has gone insane... they believe their own lies.

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by quietamercan August 19, 2009 2:14 AM EDT: "I think these toads just set back gun rights 10 years"

I have to agree with you there. I think these guys are an answer to the gun control crowd's prayers.