A couple of weeks ago, Daddylonglegs and I drove up to the big box sporting goods store to look for some tire tubes for the beach bombers. While walking around, we spotted a little kid about 8 years old dressed up in a superhero costume complete with red cape walking in front of us. Awwwww weeee! He was really cute. His dad was walking along beside him was wearing a little red cape himself. Awwwwww double weeee! They turned the corner to exit the store and there it was. The superhero’s Dad was packin’ heat in the sporting goods store.
Now, I don’t know why he was carrying. Surely, I didn’t go up and ask why he had a gun with him. He could have been a cop of some sort, or buying something he needed for his weapon or something. I don’t know.
It just looked odd, even for the gun laden South. It could have been for protection, I guess. I just never hear of too much trouble up in Hiram, GA.
But, some people take things to extremes…
Earlier this month, two men decided to wander into a crowded farmers market in Appleton, Wisconsin each with an AR-15 assault rifle strapped across their back. They did not make it to the market. After several residents called 911, expressing concerns about the two gun-toting men. Police briefly detained the men, with at least one officer drawing his weapon after they determined that the assault rifles were real. The men were briefly handcuffed and detained but were eventually released without citations.
Although open carry is legal in Wisconsin, police say they stopped the men to prevent a panic — “walking into a farmers market filled with a couple thousand individuals would be a recipe for disaster.” Yet the a county attorney told the Appleton Post-Crescent that the men could not be charged because “they had not made it to the farmers market” at the point when they were stopped and the men are reportedly considering a lawsuit against the police. In video of the men’s encounter with the police, one of the men tells an officer that they are carrying a highly visible pair of assault rifles into a crowded public market for “self defense.”
It is illegal to carry a fake or toy gun in Appleton.
I am trying to understand the thought process here.
Did one of these guys call his friend up and say, “Hey, you want to go down to the Farmer’s Market with me? The wife needs some tomatoes and apples. Thought I’d surprise her and get her a piece of that goat milk soap. She loves that stuff.”
“I don’t know, I mean it’s a rough crowd down there, all those organic farmers and all. They get pretty militant. And the kids, well, you know how they are these days.”
“Well, if you are that concerned, why don’t we carry our AR-15’s! If you feel like you need some self defense and all…”
(Appleton Mayor) Hanna said the cherished weekly event, which draws thousands of people to the avenue, will not be “ruined by two idiots trying to prove a point” and said he would be there today for coffee and breakfast.
“This is not the Wild West; this is one of the safest communities in the country. We don’t need posses and we don’t need vigilantes,” Hanna said. “We’re limited in our ability to ban weapons, but you can’t bring your dog and you can’t bring a toy gun to the farmers market.”
One of the two men, Charles Branstrom, of Appleton, told Post-Crescent Media on Friday he had no regrets.
“We never did it to prove a point, I carry every day for my safety,” Branstrom said. “It’s 100 percent within the law, we never should have been stopped in the first place … I was one nervous twitch away from getting shot.”
Gimme a freakin’ break, buddy, you are a victim? And, yes, the police should have stopped you and questioned you. Why? Because there is no obvious way to tell the “good guys” with guns (as you claim you are) from the “bad guys” with guns. It is not tattooed on your forehead.
And, yes you did do it to prove a point. Attention seeking nutbags…
