Man with gun walking around midtown Memphis

[deerslayer]

17 minutes ago, Frog4aday said:

I saw the video on the AM Memphis news of the guy openly carrying the SBR/Pistol (AR configuration) and I thought, "He is probably the most logical person in Memphis considering the rampant crime & violence perpetrated there by criminals who have no fear of the cops or courts."

But...he obviously freaked people out. Why? School shooters? Mentally unbalanced whackos that go off their meds & randomly shoot people & things? Michael Douglas in "Falling Down" type situation? (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Down )

The thing is, Memphis is ridiculous with violent crime. How does one protect themselves there? Bulletproof vest & a security detail? Carrying an AR everywhere you go? Maybe the guy starts a conversation that needs to be had. We are having it & it's interesting to me.

We carry guns & think that is fine. This guy did, too. But his was bigger & out in the open...and somehow that's not fine? And I get it! It is weird what he did. If we could all just have halos over our heads that told the world who we were ("good guy", "bad guy", "crazy guy", "oblivious guy") then we could know if the AR carrying dude was an issue or not.

The problem is bad people that abuse the rights we all want to enjoy. When a school shooter walks into a grade school with an AR, we want someone to confront & stop them. But when Bob the construction guy carries an AR into the Memphis Lowes to get some caulk b4 heading to the job site, we want to be okay with that because this is America & Bob is a good dude & should - in theory - be able to exercise his 2nd amendment right if he so chooses.

But concealed carry is just so much better in society. We have defensive means at our disposal BUT we aren't freaking everyone around us out. That's a win-win. I've been in parts of rural Colorado where people open-carry & it's just normal there. No one freaks out. But it is a different place than mid-town Memphis. Situational awareness is a thing for a reason.

My stand? Carry a gun in Memphis, but do so concealed. You aren't in rural Colorado, you aren't a rancher, you aren't hunting deer. Save the open AR carry for Fallujah. (Sadly, Memphis is closer to Fallujah than we like these days.)

The guy was carrying it in a semi-ready position.  If he had had it slung over his shoulder, it probably wouldn’t have made much difference to a Midtown snowflake, but to me it would look more like a heavily armed guy just going about his business.  Either way, discretion is almost always more prudent, especially with the Soros woketard DA Shelby County elected last year. 

Edited December 1, 2023 by deerslayer

[Worriedman]

12 minutes ago, Frog4aday said:

I saw the video on the AM Memphis news of the guy openly carrying the SBR/Pistol (AR configuration) and I thought, "He is probably the most logical person in Memphis considering the rampant crime & violence perpetrated there by criminals who have no fear of the cops or courts."

But...he obviously freaked people out. Why? School shooters? Mentally unbalanced whackos that go off their meds & randomly shoot people & things? Michael Douglas in "Falling Down" type situation? (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Down )

The thing is, Memphis is ridiculous with violent crime. How does one protect themselves there? Bulletproof vest & a security detail? Carrying an AR everywhere you go? Maybe the guy starts a conversation that needs to be had. We are having it & it's interesting to me.

We carry guns & think that is fine. This guy did, too. But his was bigger & out in the open...and somehow that's not fine? And I get it! It is weird what he did. If we could all just have halos over our heads that told the world who we were ("good guy", "bad guy", "crazy guy", "oblivious guy") then we could know if the AR carrying dude was an issue or not.

The problem is bad people that abuse the rights we all want to enjoy. When a school shooter walks into a grade school with an AR, we want someone to confront & stop them. But when Bob the construction guy carries an AR into the Memphis Lowes to get some caulk b4 heading to the job site, we want to be okay with that because this is America & Bob is a good dude & should - in theory - be able to exercise his 2nd amendment right if he so chooses.

But concealed carry is just so much better in society. We have defensive means at our disposal BUT we aren't freaking everyone around us out. That's a win-win. I've been in parts of rural Colorado where people open-carry & it's just normal there. No one freaks out. But it is a different place than mid-town Memphis. Situational awareness is a thing for a reason.

My stand? Carry a gun in Memphis, but do so concealed. You aren't in rural Colorado, you aren't a rancher, you aren't hunting deer. Save the open AR carry for Fallujah. (Sadly, Memphis is closer to Fallujah than we like these days.)

Characteristically, prior to the late 20th Century, state governments denied concealed carry as they were concerned about the criminal element "hiding" firearms for nefarious purposes.

Tennessee even had a form of "Constitutional" carry for decades, allowing for the carry of Army or Navy pistols in the hand, openly only.  Many states denied concealed carry but allowed open carry up until the early 1900's.  Nunn v. State Georgia Supreme Court (1848) which mandated the right to carry arms openly is protected, not to secret them so that the other person or government cannot take heed to the fact:
 

""Nor is the right involved in this discussion less comprehensive or valuable : “ The right of the people to bear arms shall not he infringed.” The right of the whole people, old and young, men, women and boys, and not militia only, to keep and bear arms of every description, and not such, merely as are used by the militia, shall not be infringed, curtailed, or broken in upon, in the smallest degree ; and all this for the important end to be attained: the rearing up and qualifying a well-regulated militia, so vitally necessary to the security of a free State. Our opinion is, that any law, State or Federal, is repugnant to the Constitution, and void, which contravenes this right, originally belonging to our forefathers, trampled under foot by Charles I. and his two wicked sons and successors, reestablished by the revolution of 1688, conveyed to this land of liberty by the colonists, and finally incorporated conspicuously in our own Magna Charla l And Lexington, Concord, Camden, River Raisin, Sandusky, and the laurel-crowned field of New Orleans, plead eloquently for this interpretation ! And the acquisition of Texas may be considered the full fruits of this great constitutional right.

We are of the opinion, then, that so far as the act of 1837 seeks to suppress the practice of carrying certain weapons secretly, that it is valid, inasmuch as it does not deprive the citizen of his natural right of self-defence, or of his constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Rut that so much of it, as contains a prohibition against bearing arms openly, is in conflict with the Constitution, and void; and that, as the defendant has been indicted and convicted for carrying a pistol, without charging that it was done in a concealed manner, under that portion of the statute which entirely forbids its use, the judgment of the court below must be reversed, and the proceeding quashed""

Funny how things turn about.  The People and the government share a "whistle in the graveyard" mentality, that if they can not SEE the firearm it does not exist.

[Frog4aday]

That is interesting that in the past, OPEN carry was good and legal but concealed carry was BAD and seemingly only practiced by those up to no good. 

Now, the general public wants the illusion that no one is carrying, so concealed carry becomes the more acceptable way to go armed. Walk down the street of just about any town in TN with a gun openly on your hip or slung over your shoulder and people are going to be uncomfortable and calling the Po-Po on ya.

[pop pop]

I seen the nut, in Memphis, on the body cam footage, tell the Police he had previously been followed, and that is why he was open carrying the "seems to be" A R pistol.  Admitted to them it was probably a bad Idea. Wonder if he was followed that morning? 

[ehull20000]

Sounds like he didn’t break any laws, didn’t hurt anyone, and might have educated some people about their rights. Well done.

[Frog4aday]

He sure got people talking!

[HKfanTN]

Having lived in Memphis, I can tell you the only reason this got any attention at all is because of his location. Had he been in say, Orange Mound or Nutbush, we would have never heard about it.