RobertNashville

Aside from all the other moral and financial reasons why we should get these illegals out of the country (and stop more from coming in) it seems to me that with just your costs alone you've provided many excellent reasons for why we need to get them out of the country and why no one should vote for any politician who isn't willing to do so.

Should he have been charged? I don't know but whether he should or shouldn't have been being charged with something is not the end of the world.   He'll get his day in court assuming the charges aren't dropped before it even gets that far. Further, if this really is nothing but harassment on the part of police he may well have something actionable against the police/city and if so then I hope he pursues it.   I also suggest that we keep in mind that many of the younger LEOs are NOT civilian firearm friendly because jsut like a lot of America; they've not been raised around guns and have heard nothing but bad things about firearms and those who own them so what this guy is facing may well be exactly what all of us will have to deal with in the future.

Are you actually a business owner and do you have employees? If you are a business owner that has/hires employees then, based on your above statement, are you saying that you are purposely not following the existing law that requires an employer to verify legal eligibility to work in the U.S. before you hire employees??? If you are following the law please explain what “cost” you are shouldering because when I’ve hired employees I can’t think of any costs involved at all. It’s very interesting that you raise the issue that you shouldn’t have to check citizenship of an employee because it’s actually the government’s job to close the border yet below, you make it clear that you don’t think you want a fence to close the border! :screwy:   I’d love to see no public education money (meaning my tax money) spent to educate the children of illegal aliens but whether that happens or not is somewhat moot because if you do what I suggest and take away the reasons these criminals came here in the first place and stay here than they won’t stay around so their children more than likely won’t be here for us to spend money on.     Actually, I didn’t say anything about a fence, I just said close the border…fence…5,000 more border agents with permission to use deadly force…the military…I don’t care how it’s done; it just needs to get done.   No one…and I do mean NO ONE should be allowed into this country until they have been vetted, then tracked while here and then deported if they violate their visa and/or if they don’t leave voluntarily when they are supposed to do so.     There are good solutions to the issues at hand; all it takes is enough people with the balls to do it. Whether the “American people” will tolerate it or not is immaterial…that’s why we need representatives in Congress who will do the right thing even if the public doesn’t like it. Anyway; you asked me a question and I answered it…I will not vote for Rand Paul or any other politician of any party that is willing to give amnesty to 20 million criminals...PERIOD. Any country that will not protect and maintain its own language, culture and borders is not a country at all and if the United States continues to coddle criminals who invade our country then it deserves to be relegated to obscurity (which is exactly what is going to happen).

...working

He hut us because people see yet another news story about a guy carrying a rifle around in public and giving the gun-grabbers yet another story they can sink their teeth into all of which would have been a complete non-issue if he hadn't carried this rifle openly in the first place. My gut and my readings of other stories tells me that this guy was not carrying for self-protection (in fact there is some indication that it wasn't even an real gun)...it appears to me that this guy was fishing for an encounter and found one and I've no sympathy for those who do that whether it's Voldemort or anyone else. If, where it's legal, people believe that carrying openly is the best for them and where/when they will be going in public then fine...if they do it just to make a statement or to feel like a big man or to fish for an incident then they should be hung out to dry as far as I'm concerned.  

It would be a great piece of history to have....a bit out of my price range though!

They will have to substantiate that they were a lot more than just "uncomfortable" I think.  At this point, he simply is charged and it doesn't take much to substantiate a "charge"; it will be up to the DA to prove that he truly did disturb the peace by his actions (assuming the DA pushes this forward).   I think the more important issue here is whether it was PRUDENT to openly carry what either was or appeared to be a real AR15 rife in public (note, I did not say "legal" but prudent).  Firearm/2A enthusiasts are in a war for the minds of the public who for decades have been inundated with negative regarding firearms. EVERYTHING we do as firearm owners can impact that war for good or bad and I would suggest that we have a responsibly to the firearm community to consider the impact of our actions...whether those actions are "legal" should be the FIRST bud definitely not the LAST question we ask ourselves before we go out in public with our firearms.

I don't know who I'll vote for yet but I do know that I won't vote for ANYONE of ANY PARTY that wants to give amnesty to 10 or 15 or 20 million criminals who broke our laws by coming here and continue to break our laws by staying here and working here and (likely in many instances) getting public (taxpayer) assistance.   So...I'll be looking for a candidate that is willing to truly address the problem...I don't know if there will be anyone out there or not but we don't have to ship anyone back or at least very few...did we ship them here in the first place?  I think the answer to that is NO and if they found there way here on their own then at least most of them can find their way back to wherever they came from and there are very simple ways to make them want to leave...you do that by taking away what brought them here in the first place; an open border, work and free benefits. All we need to do, at least to start with is...   1,  Absolutely NO public assistance of any kind to anyone who cannot PROVE they are a legitimate American citizen   2.  Make REALLY checking citizenship mandatory with severe penalties for non-compliance before any company of any size can hire a new employee - start arresting and perp-walking CEOs and business owners in front of the press for hiring illegals and you'll see the jobs dry up VERY quickly.   3. REALLY CLOSE the damn border.   None of the above violates anyone's rights and if we just do just those three things (most if not all of which is actually EXISTING LAW that just isn't being enforced) and I believe that about 95% of the illegal alien problem will solve itself; the remainder can be solved with ICE doing their job (for a change). If no candidate has enough balls to do 1 through 3 above then they don't qualify for my vote or to be President.

Considering the mass shootings that have happened in just the past couple of years combined with the simple truth that most of society, apparently even in Texas, are not used to seeing people walking around with firearms...given that, the reaction of some of the people in the mall was entirely predictable (and I think, understandable). It would be nice if seeing a law abiding citizen exercising his right to carry arms didn't cause any alarm or fear among other people but that's NOT the society we live in today and ignoring that simple fact does not do anything good for firearm owners.

"Though Texas is an open carry state, a gun store owner in the city of Beaumont is facing a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace for carrying his AR-15 rifle across his shoulder through a shopping mall.   Derek Poe, 26, owns Golden Triangle Tactical at the Beaumont Parkdale Mall. KBMT-TV reports that he entered the Game Stop store in the mall before going to his own store.   Beaumont Police Sgt. Rob Flores told the Houston Chronicle that Poe turned himself in on Friday after the district attorney’s office issued a warrant for his arrest. The mall incident occurred on Dec. 28. Flores said authorities got calls from shoppers who said they were “very afraid,” “terrified” and “thought they were going to die.” However, Poe said he was operating within the law."   Full Story: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/01/07/gun-store-owner-arrested-for-carrying-ar-15-at-texas-mall-before-heading-to-his-business/

I guess the "open borders" thing is pretty "normal" for a libertarian but I will I never support it. However, the deal killer for me is his being willing to go for amnesty -  it just seems completely off the deep end to me. I can't fathom why any patriot who claims to believe in the rule of law would be in favor of amnesty for millions of criminals.

Republicans and Democrats stayed home if I remember the stats correctly; meaning that it wasn't just libertarians. As to Rand Paul, I suspect a lot of conservatives, me for one, will not vote for someone who wants open borders and amnesty for millions of criminals.

I've got about a 6 month supply of coffee (and I drink a lot of it) assuming I don't share...and I DON'T SHARE. ;)

What they need are a few nukes dropped on their heads (then a few more a couple of days later in case any of them survived the first volley)   In the movie "White House Down" James Woods charecter orchestrates a takeover of the White House so that he can launch a nuclear strike against Iran; there are times that I think that just nuking the whole damn middle east wouldn't be such a bad thing and it's seeing stuff like that that encourages those feelings.  I'm just damn sick of these followers of the "religion of peace and tolerance" and sometimes wouldn't mind introducing them to their god sooner rather than later.

I never said all yankees can drive in snow and ice (although as a group they do seem to have a better understanding of what a red traffic light means than many of the drivers in TN seem to have!). :shrug:

The only way a Libertarian will be president is to get the Republican nomination which is why Ross Perot sought the R nomination. The Libertarian party has had more than enough time to become an effective third-party and has failed to make a ripple in the political lake...I don't see that changing anytime soon and most assuredly not by 2016.

Quite the contrary...being a damn yankee who has seen more than his fair share of snow in his life (including a lifetime's worth in one winter in Chicago) I love it when it get's cold and here and we get a little snow on the ground. Watching all people try to drive around is very entertaining. ;)

Yuup...about all we can say so far for the effort of firearm owners in CO who took action is that they've made a good first step. However, they haven't really changed anything so far and unless they can get the laws overturned their actions are, unfortunately, empty.   In a way, what has happened, especially in CO (which was much like TN politically in the not so distant past) is that it's shown the importance of acting BEFORE gun-hating, reactionary, "we must do it for the children" liberal/socialists/communists gain power. If there were enough right-minded folks in Colorado to recall the pinheads that spearheaded their horrible, anti-firearm legislation then there should have been enough of them to have kept them from being elected in the first place. We could most certainly face the same danger in TN because guess where a lot of NE liberals are moving to bringing their NE liberal social mindset/values with them???

I have to say I'm bot surprised at this guy - we have plenty of "firearm enthusiasts" who are just fine if the only allowable firearms were O/U shotguns or muzzle loaders or bolt action rifles (that support whatever sport or hunting they are into). Sometimes conversations with such as these can be fruitful but not often; usually it's just best to write them off to their idiocy.

  Respectfully, Tanker; you seem to be putting forth a lot of effort to support West. I've nothing against the man at all and actually, there is much to admire; at least based on what I know of him so far. But how you can be so hot for West and so cold toward Cruz is a bit puzzling to me...there are NO potential Republican candidates without blemishes that the liberal press will not exploit to the Republican's deficit. Whether any of them have a real chance of winning the gen election seems doubtful to me but if they don't win I don't believe it will be because we can't find a prefect, unblemished candidate.  :)

What for?

I completely reject the notion that Cruz is done - the only thing Cruz really has against him is the party elite who hate his guts for doing exactly what he said he would do when he got elected.  He is one of a very very few Republicans I would actually vote for; in fact, I see only one or two others I would vote for if Cruz or either of the other two were to get the nomination.   However, I don't see any reason to think that Hillary won't be the next president regardless of who the Republicans put up and except for the two or three republicans I'm willing to vote for I may vote for her myself (or not bother to vote in the presidential race at all).

Both ways for me...for the reasons others have stated.   Speaking of shotguns; I'm planning on a good SD shotgun course this year...probably at Rangemaster (Memphis)...I'm pretty familiar with my shotgun but I've never taken an actual course in using it as a SD weapon.

Well, it's always easy to talk about an armed rebellion (especially if it's someone else doing the rebelling)...quite another to actually participate in one.

Responded how....with force???  If they had there would just be a lot of dead folks in CT right now (or in jail for the rest of their lives).   We can discuss the academic issue all day long and talk bout "rights" and when people have the authority to resist with force, etc but unless someone stands up as a leader and gathers a few million man/woman army to resist then any "resistance with force" will simply end with the resisting "patriot" being shot dead by police or hauled off to jail if he's lucky enough to not get killed.