It's time for some daylight between Libertarians and the Gay Rights movement

Why are libertarians trying to force their will on other people when it comes to gay marriage?

It's not intentional (at least, I don't THINK it is), but the problem is this fight has become about forcing people to say the M-word.

Take prop 8 as a prominent example, It was one line of legislation. Yes, one. It read, in its entirety;

"Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

Nothing about nullifying civil unions, blocking adoptions, or rounding up gays into internment camps. Just the M word.

"But wait!" I've heard many times, "A civil union isn't the same as a marriage!" Actually, it is. In the state of California, civil unions have the same protections and privileges as a marriage.

Prop 8 was literally only about the M-word.

And in that paltry petition, it failed. It lost because the supposedly liberal people of California didn't want it.

Sorry, it wasn't because ZOMG TEH MORMENZ, or because the Pope pooped in the woods. It was because the people of California, when asked, said "No."

Now we get to libertarian crazy town.

Because at this point, libertarians started arguing that the government should overrule the people's decision and force them to use the M-word in describing the union of two people of the same sex.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Larry "The Big L" Libertarian says, "You act as if gangs of gays are beating up religious people until they say the m-word! No one is being put upon by this legislation!"

If that's the case then why do they keep voting it down? Over and over and over again, in state after state after state?

"Because they're bigots and hate gays!"

Supposing you're right, do libertarians advocate forcing people to agree with us? Do Libertarians demand uniformity of thought? Or is that only for beliefs that you believe are dumb?

Technically the real issue here is that the vote keeps going to the people, and the people have spoken, just not the way libertarians apparently wanted. So libertarians are arguing that people should change to suit the will of others.

Does that seem libertarian to you?

"People's religious beliefs don't trump personal freedom. Majority opinion should be overruled when it comes to personal rights."

I'm glad you brought up rights, Strawman o' mine, because the people who voted "no" were freely exercising their religious beliefs. That's actually inside the 1st amendment. Which amendment is the right to have the fedgov anoint your marriage?

"But the majority shouldn't impose its will on a minority, no matter the reason. America is a republic to defend the rights of minority. The state should overrule them!"

From a perspective of federalism, yes, the state should be able to do whatever it likes, and actually, it can.

California could try to pass it legislatively, but they go to the people because they know gay marriage is unpopular, and they like getting reelected.

"Then the supreme court should tell the states and the people what to do!"

This is where the libertarian support of gay marriage seems to go full retard.

Since when do Libertarians run to the supreme court, and ask them to force a state whose people agreed on a course of action, to overrule the state and its people?

While we're talking about the supreme court, I'd like to remind us all that nine people in robes didn't give us our right to keep and bear arms, so they can't take it away.

I celebrated the Heller decision like everyone else, but only because it extended Claire Wolfe's awkward phase. It was not a magic bullet, nor was it validation. If I elect myself ruler of your life, and magnanimously deign that you may go about your business, would you feel relief at my benevolence? Or would you just chuckle?

"Alright, fine, lets be honest... We all know this is more about getting the government out of marriage than it is about gay marriage."

This is the crux of my concern. Two groups joined up to fight for the same ground with different destinations in mind. Once that ground is gained, libertarians will lose.

The fight has become over the top and, dare I say, flamboyant. A win on this ground is a loss for libertarians who hitched their wagon to this fight and are destined to suffer from its failure.

Yes, failure. This is not a popular fight. Gay marriage has been deeply unpopular even in deeply liberal states. Many failed pieces of legislation have proven that.

Libertarians shouldn't be running to the supreme court for justice. We should be appealing to the people with common-sense and rational arguments.

So raise your hand if you think there's been an abundance of common sense and rationality in this debate.

Bueller? ... Bueller? ... Bueller?

"The ends justify the means. Getting the fedgov out of marriage would be a huge win, no matter how we get there!"

Ok, lets imagine victory. Say the fedgov threw up its hands and said, "FINE! GO BE GAY IF YOU WANT! I DON'T EVEN CARE ANYMORE!" and got itself out of the marriage business. Say it deferred to the states, accepting any state marriage certificate as a union with the same protections.

Do you think this fight would be over?

Of course not! There'd be gay riots in the streets! How DARE the fedgov not FORCE every state to allow gay marriage! It's about rights! Except... which right would being infringed upon at this point? The right to force other people to say a word? The right to force people to vote against their religious beliefs? Then, when libertarians celebrated it as a victory, gay activists would turn on them for not sharing their goal.

Libertarians need to acknowledge that we don't share the same goal with the gay rights movement.

There is no victory here.

Either gay marriage wins, and libertarians become a group that opposes religion and forces their will on others, or gay marriage loses, and libertarians lose the momentum they've built getting the feds out of our marriages.

"So what do we do then? Give up the partnership? Lose all we've gained?"

Not really. I think we just need a slight course deviation. Not a 180, just, like, five degrees off to one side. We're going in the same direction, but we don't have the same destination (or convoy!)

So when a gay rights advocate fights for legislation to force all 50 states to acknowledge gay marriage, just say,

"Getting the government out of the marriage business is the root of this issue, and where we should be focusing. Because it would empower the individual residents of each state to chart the course of the state, and win the freedom they seek without nine unelected people in robes thousands of miles away telling them what to do."

"You just hate gay marriage."

Actually no, I think gays should be allowed to marry. I don't think the fedgov can provide a service to one taxpayer and deny it to another. However, if it weren't in the fedgov's hands, I'd defer to the states.

"How can you 'defer to the states' when widows of gay service members are being denied benefits!"

Yeah, I keep hearing that, and I think it's wrong and distressing (again, a service to one taxpayer, but not another), but I don't think it's happening enough to warrant all this pressure on the issue. Which begs the question--

What is this fight actually about?

Love is a personal experience, and I never understood what impact a piece of paper stamped or signed by another person could possibly have on it.

There are many gay men in committed, loving relationships right now, living happily, regardless of their union status as applied by the federal government (or lack thereof!).

Look at it from a gun rights perspective. The supreme court doesn't protect my rights. I do. With my rifle, my skill, and my willingness to use it. My freedoms are extremely personal.

If Obama stacked the court with liberals and they all but nullified the second amendment, that wouldn't mean the inalienable rights endowed to me by my creator ceased to exist.

So why would a bureaucrat stamping a form have some effect on your deep, abiding love and personal commitment to your soul mate?

It doesn't make sense, and I ask again; what is this fight REALLY about?

Personally? The only thing that makes sense to me, is that it's about wanting to be normal.

If the feds made a new classification of marriage called "Super Marriage," and only allowed to a select group of couples to apply for that status, I think there'd be plenty of excluded couples clambering just as desperately for the privilege.

But I think the only couples who thought they needed a Super Marriage would be the ones that were in trouble already.

The union of two people who love each other doesn't magically improve when you call it a marriage, or a "civil union with all the protections of a marriage," or a Super Marriage, or a jelly donut.  It is what it is.

And it isn't what it isn't.

If you're not happy with your Honda Civic, forcing all your friends to call it a Lamborghini isn't going to help.

The Bard said, "The lady doth protest too much" and methinks the flamboyant and viciously vocal section of the gay rights movement is getting in our faces so it doesn't have to look in the mirror.

Petards, and the Liberals hoisted by them

I was driving to work this morning and glanced in my rear-view mirror.

At the mere sight of the driver behind me, my immunohippie response gland dumped antihippomine into my blood stream, and I instantly knew everything about her.

What she was thinking: "I can't believe I have to work to feed this country's Corporatocracy." "Why can't I just live a carbon-neutral life in the woods, subsisting on stream water, berries, and Starbucks venti soy double triple mocha frappaccinos?" "How can I make name-calling a valid debate tactic?" "Mother Gaia, please give me the strength to attack idiots who believe there's a god." "I can't believe my car runs on gasoline. If only I had an electric car that ran on coal." "I wish everyone felt as horrible as I do. Then they'd understand how happy they'd be if they'd only live the way I tell them to." "I know the aphids and caterpillars need their 'fair share,' but my organic garden is in shambles!" "Should I ram the "don't tread on me" car in front of me?" "How hard should I ram the "don't tread on me" car in front of me?"

What she had for breakfast: Free-trade cruelty-free gluten-free soy-free organic cardboard pieces in a bowl of water, eaten with a fork (to save the water for tomorrow, because, the rainforest, or something). The horrible lingering taste assures a permanent scowl for the day, and the roughage offers regular bowel movements to withhold in order to preserve the Earth's precious resources of toilet paper, toilet water, and pinched assholes.

What car she was driving: A rusted, dirt-colored Saaaab 1.1 liter[e] 0.5 cylinder Pretentiousmobile, with at least one patch of duct tape to prove she wouldn't buy another car "just because this one is broken/slow/getting poor mpg/absolutely horrible."

What bumper stickers were on her car: "Tree hugging dirt worshiper," "You can't hug your kids with nuclear arms," "Imagine world peace," "Violence is never the answer," "Kill all Republicans," "YOUR electricity comes from coal. MINE comes from unicorn giggles!" "Carter '13," "Stop having kids, the Earth is full," "My gender non-specific child got a Rainbow in non-patriarchal Math at Free-To-Be-Me Non-School of Worldly Understanding, along with all the other children, so they didn't feel left out."

During the indulgence of this unavoidable physiological response, I couldn't help but wonder when this generation would do itself a favor and relieve the Earth of its burden by just turning to freakin' compost already.

I immediately lamented the increased average life expectancy that our decreasingly-free-market healthcare industry provided.

They'd probably linger longer than any generation before them, turning into that monolithic voting bloc: Single-Issue Seniors, with the added bitterness of a "generation ME!" selfish streak so thick the edges almost touch on the other side.

But wait! There's a sparkle of hope! Obamacare!

I'm reminded of a news piece noting Obamacare is likely to drive up premiums and drive out competition, and I realize the sweet poetic justice that this generation stuck its children with a bill so large that the interest payments will hit them first.

Though Obamacare will eventually burn everything to the ground, at least it will burn its supporters first, and give us time for a futile, but satisfying, "I told you so!"

The boomer generation hitting retirement and the power of this fully armed and operational Obamacare will be a knock-out blow to the already beleaguered healthcare industry, and it will crumple, giving way to the monumental 20,000 page dullard they have created.

The older generation, which requires healthcare at a significantly greater rate than the rest, will be forced to rely on federal healthcare schemes, which are already cutting back on coverage to deal with the same fatal flaw from which every Ponzi scheme suffers; actually paying the participants.

This generation, first and most, will taste the bitterness of admitting that maybe Sarah Palin was right about "death panels," as a nameless, faceless, unelected, and untouchable murder of bureaucrats finds chemotherapy is mostly unsuccessful, and therefore, not an appropriate use of increasingly scarce tax-payer dollars.

The spiteful satisfaction may be limited somewhat by the laughter coming from the Boomer Graveyard as aforementioned committee determines your allotment of rations is reduced to zero because you are not an appropriate use of increasingly scarce tax-payer dollars.

But all is not lost! If it's a suicide pact they wanted, they probably should have considered what armed, freedom-minded individuals oppressed by a Kafkaesque bureaucracy might do with nothing to lose.

So, shine on, you crazy conflict-free diamond, you've sealed your fate, and have likely set into motion events that will bring about the exact opposite of what you wanted.

The God of Unintended Consequences is a fickle contrarian, and you'll be powerless to stop his final domino from falling right on top of your fat heads.

BREAKING NEWS! TERRORISTS DIDN'T FOLLOW LAW!!!

EVERYONE STOP THE PRESSES! THIS IS BREAKING NEWS!
Reuters: Boston Bombing Suspects Did Not Have Valid Handgun Licenses

Oh man! They're in for it now! You know the fine for that? I mean, sure the whole terrorist bombing and everything, but Reuters is ON THE BALL when it comes to these guys not having permits to own guns in the town they're from.

THAT'S ILLEGAL! It's like they didn't even care about breaking the law! OBVIOUSLY what we need is another law about guns, making it even MORE ILLEGALYER to not license your guns AND use them in the commission of a terrorist act. Like a mandatory add on of-- like-- 2 years! Thank you, Reuters, for pointing out that criminals have broken the law!

NEW BREAKING NEWS!
Boston bombing suspects BROKE THE SPEED LIMIT while fleeing the police!
FULL STORY SOON, THIS IS BREAKING NOW!!!

It's spreading...

For some reason in our day and age, when a crazy person does something crazy with a Beretta 92 9mm handgun, the news reporters camp out Beretta's headquarters and charge employees as they leave work shouting, "WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT WHAT YOUR HANDGUN DID?!"

I never thought we'd see that transfer to other objects...

CBS News: Pressure cooker maker: Our pots "not intended" for bombs

Fagor America, Inc ... released a statement Wednesday saying it has been contacted by investigators and is fully cooperating. The pressure cookers "are not intended to be used for any other purpose other than cooking,"

Well shit! Why didn't you say so! I'll bet money they didn't even have "No Terrorist Bombings" on the warning label! THEY'RE CULPABLE! WHAT DID YOU KNOW, AND WHEN DID YOU KNOW IT?!

But it gets better! The maker of a battery used to power the device speaks out!

"We were appalled to discover that one of our off-the-shelf products was used in such a horrific and senseless act of hate,"

So, now we need to investigate the these high capacity rapid fire electron holders?

This is utterly silly, the only thing that could make it worse is some stats about the previous products to strongly imply the danger we are all in at the hands of these merchants of death!

The battery company said the product, a 1.25V 3000mAh Sub-C siz Nickel Metal Hybrid, is widely available on the retail market and they have sold tens of thousands of it over the past year. Fager America said they sell over 250,000 pressure cookers annually.

This is sad.

Heh.

They're losing.

Open carried to best buy and walmart

The only reason I mention walmart is because someone commented.

I noticed the older gentleman taking note of my firearm and when we passed each other I took the opportunity to smile and nod at him. He gave me a smile and a thumbs up and said, "That's the way it oughta be!"

Ben Carson Prayer Speech

Absolute must watch.

"It's just a shot away... It's just a shot away!"

Big Hat Tip to Wirecutter

America doesn't have a "tradition" of gun ownership.

We have a tradition of distrust of government and resistance to tyranny.

Quote of the Boldness

Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.
~Thomas Jefferson (Letter to Peter Carr 1787)

Looks like I was wrong on that one.

At the gun shop today, I ran into the guy who thanked me for open carrying.

After talking with him for a while I found out he was a retired cop, which surprised the heck out of me. When I told him why, he grudgingly agreed. He didn't understand most cops' reactions to open carrying.

I was very happy to be wrong.

Because YOU are reading THIS.

It's not over. Because you are reading this.

Stop apologizing. I don't mean you actually saying you're sorry for what you believe, I mean every time you've ever held your tongue. We've been coddling the softest of us for so long we think they're in charge. They're not. They never were. We were just conditioned to believe it.

This was no small feat. It was in our classrooms, our neighborhoods, our friends, our coworkers, our neighbors, our childrens' stories, our books, our newspapers, our TV shows, our commercials, our movies, our art, our music, our gender-neutrally adjusted history, our billboards, our decoder rings, the backs of our breakfast cereal boxes.

It permeated our society like a biological weapon that coated all media, transmitted from mind to mind by written and spoken word.

It is impossible that you still exist.

That you, through your formative years, felt that one splinter of doubt, deep in the back of your mind, and felt it long enough to locate, extract, and examine it. Only to realize it wasn't a foreign body at all. It was the one bit of truth left, and the rest of your mind was foreign.

Confronted with this reality you chose the hard path. You chose to take that splinter, now a seed, and painfully return it to your mind. Burying it deep where it could grow.

It's amazing you still exist, but you do for one reason. because these backward ideas are aberrant to our natures, and deeply different from what we instinctually know to be true.

Weakness is not strength.

Strength is not weakness.

Are you better than the man who accomplishes nothing, blames everyone and everything, including his peanut allergy, his parents for not hugging him enough, and his gym teacher for not making sure he was picked first at dodgeball?

YES.

Because when reality slapped you in the face, you didn't run or hide or make excuses. You learned, you grew, you changed, you adapted. Or maybe you just dug your heels in that much harder.

And while your cheek still stung, you looked it back in the eye and tried again.

When a hard thing hits a soft thing, the soft thing gets softer.

But not you.

Because when life hit hard it didn't make you softer, it made you harder.

Because when the authority figure repeats that unnatural lie with a wagging finger and disdain in his eye, you know in your heart that he's wrong, and your answer is the most powerful word in the world.


NO.


With that single syllable ejected forcefully from your lips, their world shatters, and so do they.

But how do I know this?

Because somehow, YOU still exist.

Because YOU are reading THIS.

Because you are still free in the only place that matters. The last bastion of reason. The final fortress of right. Your mind.

You preserved it for so long, tucking it away from sight when necessary, feeding it morsels from alternative news sources, alternative literature, and alternative people with alternative ideas.

Because you know that these things still exist.

Common sense. Reality. Truth. Honor. Respect. Integrity. Morals. The dogged refusal to give up.

You know they still exist because they still exist in your mind.

Because that's what this fight is actually about.

Because with these powers on your side, there is nothing on this planet that can stop you.

Except one.

Yourself.

They knew this. They knew their weakness of mind, heart, and spirit never stood a chance against your strength. So to hold you back, they used the strongest person they knew.

You.

When elephants are young they are tethered with heavy chains to stakes driven deep into the ground. They are mighty, but still small, and cannot escape. Eventually, they give up. They learn the FACT that they cannot defeat the tether.

When they grow to full size, and become many times stronger than the deepest stake, they do not struggle against the tether, and are held in captivity by a slender rope and a small stake. The only thing holding them back is themselves.


They ENSLAVED us.


They control us with their facts. But just because something is a fact does not make it the truth.

They would tell Edison the fact that the lightbulb can't be invented.

They would tell the Wright brothers the fact that man cannot fly.

They would tell America the many facts why man cannot set foot on the moon.

But Edison did, the Wright brothers did, America did, and YOU WILL.


Because YOU are reading THIS.


Because your chains don't really exist.
Because your freedom really is absolute.
Because your life is actually yours to live.
Because YOU are a HUMAN BEING, and YOU are FREE.

These aren't facts. These are truths.

And to begin to realize these truths all you have to do is say one thing. One syllable. One sound.

NO.

You say it to their faces, while looking them dead in the eyes, without flinching, blinking, or stuttering.

NO.

"I can't tell them what I really think. NO. That's not true. I can."
"I shouldn't do things differently. NO. I want to, and so, I will."
"I'd better do what he says. NO. I can make my own decisions."
"I can't do that, it's illegal. NO. It doesn't hurt anyone, so I can."
"It's impossible. NO. The impossible HAS been done before."

But be prepared for what will happen after you say that powerful word.

Because there is no fury like a master losing control of his slave.

They will rage and wail and threaten and slander and sneer and deride and spurn and scorn and seethe and burn with brimstone and sting with sulfur!

But you will notice one thing they will never do.

They will not stop you.

Because they can't.

They don't believe their own nonsense, they're too smart for that. This is why the rules don't apply to them. Publicly or privately. They know the game consciously or not, and they smirk when they see you following the rules, and they REVEL in their power over you.

Let me say that again; They REVEL in their POWER over YOU.

Every time they condescend you into changing your mind.
Every time they appeal to your better side to make you do something.
Every time they shame you into backing down.
Every time they threaten you into submission.
Every time they remind you of the rules they made up and never follow.

They get a thrill.

It's the thrill of commanding something much larger and more powerful than yourself. The thrill of tricking the behemoth into believing they cannot escape the tether.


So, as one Titan to another, I ask you to do the impossible.

I ask you to do perform futile.

I ask you to break the facts you've known your whole life.

I ask YOU, because YOU are reading THIS...


Pull on that slender rope.


Almost all stakes will pop free at the slightest tug, some will require struggle and strain, and a dangerous few, may take your whole life.

But once that stake comes free, so will you.

The walls that confined you will melt away. Monuments of fact, impossibility, and futility, built larger and greater, reenforced for decades by the careful architects of your mind will turn to DUST, and vanish into nothingness at the slightest breeze of TRUTH. Those glaciers that surrounded you your entire life will melt away and become puddles beneath your feet.

Then, you will truly be FREE.

Freedom IS a possibility if only we remember that what we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. Freedom carries heavy costs, but I would pay them gladly because you cannot enslave a free man. You can only kill him.

Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.

There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

It is time for this idea.

Again.

How do I know this?

Because YOU are reading THIS.

It's different this time.

There are a large number of people recently to whom I'm selling guns who have said the same thing to me.

I've never owned a gun before, but now I want to buy one and carry it. I don't know what it is, but it's different now. It's getting scary out there.

Whatever the reason, owning a gun for the defense of yourself and your loved ones is the first step in the long journey toward self reliance.

It's always a good thing.

Thanked for Open Carrying

Yesterday I was open carrying to Sam's Club with my wife. We went to the food court first so we could grab lunch before we shopped.

My elite tactical situational awareness skills (casually looking around and smiling pleasantly at anyone with whom I catch eyes) revealed no one of note. A couple families and two groups of friends.

We ordered our food and sat in one of the tables against the wall. About half way through our meal, one of the family men walked up and said, "Excuse me?"

"Hmm?"
"I just wanted to thank you for carrying."
"Th-thanks."
"It's just that not a lot of people do it."
"That's why I do it."

If I had to guess I would have figured him either military or cop, so I wasn't sure how that was going to go. Since he didn't tell me how wrong what I'm doing is, I'm guessing military.

Quote of the precipice of monumental stupidity

"Are we prepared to say that such
violence visited on our children year after year after year is
somehow the price of our freedom?"
~Barack Obama, 12/16/2012

There was a time when an American leader that suggested that freedom was the root cause of evil committed against innocent children would have booed off the stage, and possibly ridden out of town on a rail.

You know, there are very constructive things that could be done, that meaningfully address the issues and are consistent with a society that is both formidably armed and free, which is what I would expect of a true leader.
But we all know that's not where he's going with this. He's going to do something else, driven primarily by ideological agenda, because this crisis presents far too good an opportunity to waste.

Obama hears the blood lust of his increasingly grief unhinged base screaming for the heads of the NRA and their members, and senses his time has come, which for a man of hubris like him it is a time of great peril with respect to his decisions. Pride goeth before a fall, and pride is never more manifest than in a man who deems himself imbued with epic destiny having arrived at his moment in history.

Have no doubt: Had Lanza driven his mother's stolen car in bloody zig zags through the school yard, no one would be screaming for the head of the chairman of the  AAA, no one would be accosting car owners at lunch or on their facebook walls demanding that they justify their car ownership in the face such tragedy.

$DEITY bless this wretched nation, for it stands with thunderous applause at the precipice of a monumental stupidity.
~GeekWithA.45

What it if went the other way?

I know it's probably WAY too soon to speculate on this, but the tagline under my blog name reminds me that I am a serial optimist.

What if the result of this horrible tragedy went the other way?

I've suggested that we've reached a tipping point where a majority of the voting (or just polling) population recognizes that private ownership of guns has value in a civilized society.

With that in mind, I've been thinking about Obama's beautiful flowing gun control coat that everyone keeps talking about, but all I see is a naked man.

Think about it; his plan is to name a head of a committee to select individuals to lead a discussion to find common ground to finalize an idea for proposed legislation to go through the various committees and sub-committees of the senate and the house in order to bring a vote that will fail the first time, sending it back to those committees and sub-committees, until finally... It either reaches some sort of gun control nirvana and is approved and signed by Obama, OR... it finds no agreement, and allows Obama to blame a do-nothing congress for his failings (past performance indicates future failure).

These things lead me to believe Obama's polling shows the gun control argument is still a losing one, and give me a sliver of optimism that maybe, just maybe, the American people saw this tragedy and instead of knee jerking:

This is absolutely horrifying. We need to ban guns NOW.

...thought about it a bit more, and said:

This is absolutely horrifying, there are no safe places, and no safe people. Maybe we really should all carry guns.

Like I said; waaayy too early to call, but just think about it.

Quote of the Open Carry

Coworker: [referring to the idea that I can change peoples' minds regarding guns by open carrying] You know, you're not going to change anyone's mind.
Me: That's not important, what's important is that I'm trying.

Open Carried to Buy Buy Baby, Barnes & Noble, Kid 2 Kid, Taco Bell, Donato's Pizza, Jet's Pizza, Gas Stations, and Church

With the addition of Church, I no longer carry almost everywhere. It's just everywhere.

Had one commenter at B&N, he asked what my job was;
"I work at a gun shop."
"Oh, I figured you'd be a cop, 'cause you don't see people carrying like that."
"Nope, just a private citizen."
"I bet you get this a lot."
"Actually, almost never."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it's just as surprising to me."

Read more about my experiences open carrying here!

They're flying off the shelves

After the second presidential debate where Obama said he'd support a (guns that look like) Assault Weapons Ban, and Romney said, "I won't, but I did before because it was totally bipartisan, so that's cool, right? ... Right???" I was prepared for a run on those evil black rifles. Didn't happen.

After Obama was reelected, there was a line opening the shop and people came in and cleaned us our of our... 223 ammo. Hmm...

But after the shooting? We sold half of our black rifles just yesterday.

Everyone is saying the fix is in, but I mostly expect a ham-handed attempt at limiting access that will fail utterly in execution. Strangely, I'm still seeing a lot of the same weasel words from the administration.

Could it be his ego is so huge that he wouldn't force his personal political goals if they were unpopular EVEN facing NO reelection???

Even if it were the case, polls can swing, so it's little consolation, but I'm reminded of something I said before;

if you ever question what this president is doing, just put yourself in his position and thin your skin so much you could suntan your liver. Then this move makes sense.

Making gun stores a better place, one customer at a time.

I was digging through my old posts, and found one called Gun Store Jerks, wherein I explain why gun store employees and owners shouldn't feel justified in acting like jerks.

Having had the opportunity practice what I preach twice before, I realized I was already had my third opportunity.

I couldn't stand the way I was usually treated at gun stores; ignored, eye-rolled, abandoned, sighed at, laughed at, and generally made to feel that I was putting upon the employees with my mere presence.

So when I started working at one, I had the opportunity to change all that, and you know what?

After customers laugh derisively at me, point guns at me, argue with me over verifiably wrong second-hand opinions, wave loaded guns around, break safety rules after being told multiple times not to, and persist in knowing absolutely nothing about firearms and demand I teach them all I know?

I still refuse to treat them badly.

Customers gonna cust. They'll do it in every industry because they're customers. My job is not to stand around all day and wait out the clock, my job is to wait on customers, and provide my firearms knowledge and opinion when asked.

When a customer wants a Kimber as his first gun because his bud told him they NEVAR jam because they say "Custom Shop" on the side? I offer my opinion, and if it is ignored, oh well. I grab the 4473. Customers gonna cust.

When a customer who has never shot a gun before wants a snub nosed revolver for home defense? I tell them a shotgun is ten times easier to use, costs half as much, offers "rack-ability," is cheaper to practice with, and is about three times more effective at stopping someone. I do my level best to explain why a shotgun is a better choice for them, and if they insist? I grab the 4473. Customers gonna cust.

When a customer tells me about how he was in the military in the 70's and shot a 338 Lapua at 3,000 yards and could hit a quarter "not every time, but about every other time." I just smile and say, "Wow! You shot .000000001 MOA out of a rifle that didn't exist with a cartridge that hadn't been designed yet past the curvature of the Earth? Pull the other one so I don't walk in circles all day." Just kidding. I just smile, nod, and walk away. Customers gonna cust.

There is no precedent that lets gun shop employees treat their customers like crap. Don't act like there is.