zlacker

Were the same or similar tools used in Richmond? I can't find any coverage of that specifically.

I mean, I'm sure someone had a CCTV turned on the guys, but surely you'd agree that the Richmond protest was less surveilled and less attended by law enforcement. Broadly, I think the fact that 2A protests tend to be met with gentle indifference by law enforcement instead of the mass surveillance and control techniques used against civil rights folks rather reinforces the upthread point, no?

>>newacc+(OP)
2A attendees who are carrying firearms are usually licensed, which means they aren't felons and have clean background records. In most states training and licensing is required to carry short firearms (pistols, revolvers). Licensed firearms owners are an unusually safe and cautious group of people.

>>giardi+bD
What about the three guys arrested prior to that very 2A protest in Richmond? What about the nuts in Malheur? Hell, the second worst terrorist attack in the history of the country was carried out by an avowed gun rights advocate (though not, of course, with a gun).

I think if you go look this up, you'll find that these people are not, in fact, particularly peaceful as protestors go. They're simply ignored by the police in ways that the dreadlocked hippies are not.

(I mean, sure, those are all exceptions. But then most of the people in Minneapolis weren't burning anything down either. Have you ever been to a left-wing march? This isn't a demographic known for temper.)

>>newacc+Y91
"you'll find that these people are not, in fact, particularly peaceful as protestors go"

Painting with a mighty broad brush. So if YOU have a gun that automatically makes you a non-peaceful individual?

"Have you ever been to a left-wing march? This isn't a demographic known for temper."

Are you serious? Ever hear of Antifa?

>>giardi+bD
I wouldn't say that many in VA are licensed, because in VA (and many other states), you don't need a license to purchase or carry firearms. Most states don't require any sort of training to buy a firearm. And every single state requires a background check for any firearm sold by a dealer, (thus the infamous "gun show loophole"), this is a federal law.

Concealed carry does require a license (and sometimes a "training" class, which is laughable at best. (Seriously, I have never known anyone fail this class in my state. A driving license test probably has a 100 times higher failure rate.). And of course, as we are talking about a pro gun rally, carrying concealed defeats the purpose.

I'm a 2nd amendment proponent, but I've been in too many public gun ranges, too many gun shows, and been around too many idiot gun owners to think that the firearms training the vast majority of states (maybe every state?) has or provides is nearly enough. Owning a firearm in this country solely amounts too: have you yet been convicted of a felony or smoked weed?