A Texas city is being sued in federal court for violating the
heavily-armed men's 1st Amendment rights to exercise their 2nd Amendment
rights to terrify motorists stuck in traffic…
There are certain times and situations when one
expects to see adults openly carrying firearms, such as soldiers in
combat zones, law enforcement officers patrolling their beats, or on the
streets of Somalia, Yemen, or Afghanistan. In a developed and civilized
society, though, one hardly expects to witness adults walking the
streets, visiting eating establishments, or approaching vehicles at
traffic stops with assault-styled firearms strapped across their backs
as if they were in a combat zone in Afghanistan, or more recently in
Texas. For residents of civilized society, armed men roaming the streets
is disconcerting to say the least, but when they started approaching
vehicles stopped for traffic in Arlington Texas, the residents complained
to city leaders for redress. Subsequently, the city is being sued in
federal court for violating the heavily-armed men’s 1st Amendment rights
to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights to terrify motorists stuck in
traffic.
After open carry agitators in Tarrant County Texas terrorized motorists in busy intersections handing out
pocket-sized copies of the U.S. Constitution and pro-gun literature,
the Arlington City Council passed an ordinance, like most cities,
prohibiting pedestrians from approaching and blocking traffic. It was
too much for the gun fanatics and they fulfilled their promise to sue
in federal court claiming the ordinance violated their 1st Amendment
right to defend their 2nd Amendment right to inform motorists in traffic
of their imaginary struggle against an imaginary federal government gun
seizure crusade. It is not completely clear why Texas gun nut fanatics
think portraying soldiers in a combat zone is going sway public opinion
to support their imaginary war against imaginary gun restrictions, but
attempting to make sense, or understand, the psychosis of gun nut fanatics
is futile indeed.
Since no-one has suggested, or attempted, to seize
anyone’s firearms, perhaps open carry agitators could explain how and
why taking weapons into family restaurants, approaching vehicles at
traffic stops, or joining roaming bands of heavily-armed and obviously
paranoid men is preventing imaginary gun seizures. It is true the
pretend combat soldiers claim that terrorizing motorists, shoppers, and
hungry families teaches Texans the phony soldiers’ 2nd Amendment rights
are being violated, but the assault-style weapons slung across their
backs are not valid props to make their point. So the real question open
carry agitators need to answer is; if they can legally carry guns in
public, are they now demanding to use those firearms for the purpose
they were intended? Is their goal gaining the legal right shoot other
people without going through the inconvenience of claiming their “stand
your ground” rights? Do they want to amend their cherished Second
Amendment to include the right to open fire at their discretion or to
declare the entire country an open combat zone?
Open carry agitators claim carrying guns in public
and passing out pocket-sized Constitutions is about their 2nd Amendment
rights, but Americans know about the 2nd Amendment. Americans certainly
do not require heavily-armed men terrorizing citizens to remind them the
Founding Fathers were suspicious of standing armies and favored “a
well-regulated militia, for the security of a free state” instead. Many
open carry agitators claim the only way they feel safe in public places
is with an assault-style weapon strapped across their backs, but that
notion informs they are extremely paranoid and need psychiatric
intervention and treatment for their disorder. A disorder, by the way,
that forced family-oriented restaurants to “politely” ask the open-carry
agitators to keep their firearms out of their businesses and incited
claims that business owners were “spineless panderers to liberal
leftists.”
When Mexican food chain Chipotle asked customers to
leave their guns home or in their cars when visiting its restaurants,
gun nut agitators called it a “gun ban” and said, “as we all know, law
abiding gun owners are clearly the problem when it comes to gun violence
in America.” At least they understand the the increasing rash of mass
shootings and gun violence in America are always at the hands of “law
abiding gun owners” with “legally procured firearms.” One gun nut fanatic
was livid private businesses were instituting a “ban that isn’t really
an outright ban” but a “political pandering to the anti-gunners” with a
“please don’t bring your guns here” request. The gun nut zealot complained
about Starbucks instituting a no-gun policy in Newtown Connecticut
after the massacre of 20 children and six adults by a “law abiding
citizen with legally-procured firearms,” and said he was not deterred
and still carries his gun because the 2nd Amendment; company policy and
terrified customers be damned.
These gun nut fanatics are obsessed with transforming
America into a war zone and if they are not satisfied being able to
openly carry their guns, one can only assume their next logical demand
is to be able to legally use those firearms in public because although
that was not the Founders’ intent of the 2nd Amendment, it is the only
“right” gun nut fanatics do not have. They claim, loudly, that their
Constitutional rights are being infringed upon because carrying weapons
in public is not satisfying enough. What about the rights of private
businesses and sane citizens to go about their lives without being
terrified by heavily-armed men approaching their vehicles at traffic
stops or barging into restaurants with assault weapons in tow?
Apparently that question will be answered by a federal court tasked with
deciding if a city council has the right to enact traffic ordinances
restricting pedestrians from accosting drivers at busy intersections in
Texas.
Wingnuts have clamored to take the country back
to an imaginary time in America’s history, and gun fanatics wrongly
assume that time included heavily-armed men wandering the streets
looking for someone to shoot. The images of men carrying assault-style
weapons in public and approaching vehicles stopped for traffic are
reminiscent of Iraq and Afghanistan and not a civilized society. The
Texas open-carry agitators claim it is about the 2nd Amendment and
feeling safe in public places, but it is curious that millions of
American mothers feel safe taking their children shopping or to
restaurants without the need to carry assault weapons.
Gun nut fanatics, 2nd Amendment agitators, and
open-carry zealots need to come clean with the public and explain
exactly what it is they demand and why having the legal right to keep
and bear arms is not enough to satisfy their gun lust. There has not
been any gun safety legislation enacted in twenty years, and there are
no attempts to confiscate their precious guns open-carry advocates claim
drives their campaign to terrorize the public, at least in Texas. Maybe
their goal is transforming the entire nation to resemble a combat zone
like Afghanistan, or Texas. It is more likely that open-carry advocates
are frightened, insecure little men who only feel safe, and masculine,
when they are given free rein to assert their phony manhood because if
they really wanted to be in a combat zone or a region fraught with peril
they would be on the next flight to Somalia, Yemen, or Afghanistan
where everyone has guns and are not afraid to use them.
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