want to protest something legal? commit a crime!

[BlaqueKatt]

Is the gist of it.

Philosophy professor thinks the way to make a point about open carry is to walk out on bills at salons, restaurants, stores, etc. if someone comes in open carrying.
I'd be a bit more ok with it if it was "go back later and pay" but the whole premise is out and out theft to "punish" the businesses:

don’t pay. Stopping to pay in the presence of a person with a gun means risking your and your loved ones’ lives; money shouldn’t trump this. It doesn’t matter if you ate the meal. It doesn’t matter if you’ve just received food from the deli counter that can’t be resold. It doesn’t matter if you just got a haircut. Leave. If the business loses money, so be it. They can make the activists pay.

And this,

If they want you to pay, they should do a better job of making you feel positive that you aren’t about to get shot.

So basically he's saying to commit a crime, possibly cause a panic(he says to run out of the establishment, en masse), to make a political statement, rather than asking what policy is before granting a business your custom. I don't agree with "open carry activists", mainly because they're usually being obnoxious about it, but committing a crime is NOT the way to get support. One wrong and one perfectly legal but needless thing do not make a right, and it makes it easier to dismiss gun control as "panicky drama queens".

He claims the open carry people are being dramatic attention seekers, fleeing en masse at the very hint of a weapon isn't?

[Andara Bledin]

That dude is an asshole looking to use activism to get shit for free.

I'm with you that the appropriate way to protest open carry is to ask the business what their policy is prior to patronizing them, and walking if you don't agree.

But he doesn't want to inconvenience himself by making any actual effort or actually deny himself the pleasures of patronizing the businesses, because then he won't get to have everything he wants.

Selfish dipshit.

[Greenday]

That dude is an asshole looking to use activism to get shit for free.

This. This dude is a disgrace. Don't like a store's policies? Never go there again. Thievery solves nothing.

[wolfie]

Andara, you've got it right. Stealing (and risking people's lives - if he emphasizes the reason that he's running out by shouting "He's got a gun!", he could trigger a stampede in which people could be trampled) is the wrong way to protest a business allowing its patrons to do something that's legal.

If he wants to make his point, he should ask their policy as soon as he arrives, and if they allow open carry calmly tell them that he refuses to do business with any establishment that does so, and walk out.

If he wants to post online a list of businesses he's boycotting (so like-minded people can boycott them too), that's also fine - but it's a double-edged sword. If people with the opposite viewpoint are sharp (and I'm sure the NRA would suggest this to its members), people openly carrying/carrying concealed with permit/not carrying but supporting the right to do so could pick a place on the list, carry out their business there in a polite manner, and at the end ask to speak to a manager, telling him "The reason I came here rather than going to your competitor is that you support 2nd Amendment rights, and I choose to spend my money at places that do".

[Valinor]

I would really like to see this guy try to explain his reasons for walking out on a bill to a police officer.

[otakuneko]

My brain rebooted. It took me a minute to grasp that he's protesting against open carry.

I live in Texas, where oddly enough, open carry is illegal. I have no idea why that is the case in Texas of all places.

[s_stabeler]

I live in Texas, where oddly enough, open carry is illegal. I have no idea why that is the case in Texas of all places.

it could be that people think it's fine to go armed, but you shouldn't show it off. ( remember that one of the big arguments for people to be able to carry guns is that then a criminal can't know if their potential victim is carrying or not. Open Carry rather defeats that)

[Andara Bledin]

it could be that people think it's fine to go armed, but you shouldn't show it off. ( remember that one of the big arguments for people to be able to carry guns is that then a criminal can't know if their potential victim is carrying or not. Open Carry rather defeats that)

Actually, the argument in favor of allowed carry is that a criminal is not guaranteed that their target is unarmed, which is an important distinction. The argument of a criminal not knowing the status of their target is more an argument for allowing concealed carry specifically.

[s_stabeler]

... if open carry was the rule, wouldn't the criminal simply be able to look and see if their target was armed?

[Gravekeeper]

To be completely blunt: The fastest way to get rid of open carry would be for black people and minorities to start parading around in public en mass with rifles like the rest of these ass hats do.

Unfortunately, it would also be the fastest way for them to get shot by said asshats and/or police.