Open Carry Shuts Down Occupy Atlanta.. and Bigger Points To Ponder in Phoenix

[twyacht]

First the story, than my concern regarding Gun Owners, and this "movement"...

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/10/daniel-zimmerman/open-carry-shuts-down-occupy-atlanta-when-nothing-else-could/#more-75353



We’ve all seen the sympathetic saturation media coverage of the Occupy “movement” these last few weeks. What started as ten or twenty slackers protesting Wall Street, capitalism and people they non-specifically identify at “the 1%” has slowly grown and spread to various cities across the country and overseas. While it’s a movement largely without specific grievances, goals or demands, it’s been mostly harmless, if you overlook inconveniences such as petty theft, public defecation and the occasional rape here and there. Complaints from neighboring businesses and residents haven’t been enough to prompt otherwise-supportive, linguine-spined mayors to shut the squatters’ settlements down in most cities. Until, that is, someone showed up with a legally carried gun…

Atlanta’s mayor, Kasim Reed, was totally down with the rabble in Woodruff Park. Hell, he even took the time out of his busy schedule to march with them, expressing solidarity with the 99 percenters. It’s hard to pass up a chance for a juicy photo op with the lumpen proletariat. Anyway, he didn’t seem to have any trouble footing the bill for increased police coverage. That is, until one unidentified man decided to walk through the park with an AK slung over his shoulder.

    Scores of Atlanta police officers moved in overnight — some clad in riot gear, some on horseback, all under orders to clear the park of protesters. The order came from Mayor Kasim Reed, who says the last straw was a man walking around Woodruff Park Tuesday afternoon carrying an assault rifle.

    11Alive’s Jaye Watson spoke to the man, who declined to identify himself. “(The gun is) a symbol of the last line of resistance against a government that’s going to try to push people out because of their ideals,” he said. The man told Watson the weapon was a semi-automatic version of the AK-47. Such weapons are legal in Georgia.

    Reed says the man was seen near former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who was in the park at the same time Tuesday. Reed says the presence of the assault rifle appeared to represent a more aggressive outlook among some of those encamped at Woodruff Park. So Reed ordered the overnight arrests and barricade of the park.

Reed had no problem with a bunch of leftists and anarchists camping out in one of his city’s parks, banging drums and protesting banks, capitalism, Wall Street or other forms of conventional wealth creation and productivity. But let one law-abiding individual walk by with a legally owned and carried rifle and the picture changed entirely.

    “By every measure, from the way they treated people from my administration, to things that they said on camera, to having a man with an AK47 accompany a leader that came to a press conference that I met with, all put us on a trajectory toward something bad,” Reed said.

The protestors – those conducting themselves peacefully and obeying local laws – had every right to be there demonstrating and protesting whatever their hearts desire. Reed, however, couldn’t manage to square the group’s first amendment rights with the equally valid second amendment rights of one man. Go figure.  

*****

So,...a group exercising their First Amendment Right?  No Problem with Mayor Kasim Reed.

ONE GUY, lawfully exercising his First and 2nd Amendment Right? BIG Problem.

Here's my concern:

If these movements turn violent, (like exponentially more and on a National Scale), not just a skirmish with cops here and there, these groups "also" could use a firearm.  (Be like the riots in Greece, except with armed rioters)

and guess who gets "lumped" in if one of these folks decides to take a shot at the cops? LAWFUL GUN OWNERS!!!

OBTW, they are already advocating killing LEO's  in the Occupy Phoenix Group.


http://www.theblaze.com/stories/alleged-flyer-at-occupy-phoenix-ponders-when-should-you-shoot-a-cop/
-snip-

A disturbing flier is making its way around the Occupy Phoenix camp. And it’s targeting cops.

Yesterday, the Arizona Counter-Terrorism Information Center (ACTIC — a division of the Arizona Dept. of Public Safety) released a bulletin announcing the chilling document that seems to endorse and justify the killing of law enforcement officers.

*Complete manifesto on justifiable killing of an LEO...at link*

Here's the thing, if a cop gets shot, if this escalates, into a "Kent State Moment", except now there is return fire, will this be the straw that breaks the camel's back for BHO to impose an executive order, say like Katrina?

"No guns allowed in Atlanta, Phoenix, whatever city....no one will have guns except law enforcement, type order."

Think its not possible?  

[tombogan03884]

Of course it's possible, if you allow it.
Only a coward or an idiot would obey such an edict, and the ones who do deserve the results.

[twyacht]

The most recent Gallup Poll shows the HIGHEST RATE of gun ownership in 20 years. I've posted the NICS stats here as well, apps. are WAY UP.

Even among Democrats,.. Really...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/american-gun-ownership-at-highest-level-in-almost-20-years/

Charts and graphs at link.

But remember, this is only a recent poll,....the guns that Grampa gave us, the one's "off" the radar,.....make up a larger portion of those that have arms in their homes.

"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man gainst his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American.... [T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people."
(Tench Coxe, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788.)

Amen.


There will be no more free Wacos and no more free Katrinas.

[MikeBjerum]

There are things about polls that I always question:
1. Who conducted the poll;
2. Why was the poll conducted;
3. What was the assumption the poll was based on;
4. Who selected the "random" population;
5. Who were the "random" population;
6. Oh yea, who paid for the poll;
7. Who answered the poll honestly;
8. Who answered with higher or lower numbers of guns;
9. and Who converted the poll numbers into a narrative statement?

Those who refuse to stand up and fight for the Rights granted them and others by God deserve what they get!

[twyacht]

Good questions m58

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Oct. 6-9, 2011, with a random sample of 1,005 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota of 400 cell phone respondents and 600 landline respondents per 1,000 national adults, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents by region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cell phone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.

Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, and phone status (cell phone only/landline only/both, cell phone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2010 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/150353/Self-Reported-Gun-Ownership-Highest-1993.aspx

[Sponsor]

[Pathfinder]

Good questions m58

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Oct. 6-9, 2011, with a random sample of 1,005 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota of 400 cell phone respondents and 600 landline respondents per 1,000 national adults, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents by region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cell phone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.

Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, and phone status (cell phone only/landline only/both, cell phone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2010 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/150353/Self-Reported-Gun-Ownership-Highest-1993.aspx

Random? My ass!! The simple fact that they engineer the responses to ensure someone from every state invalidates their "random" claim. The other highlighted notes further the non-randomness.

[Solus]

Random? My ass!! The simple fact that they engineer the responses to ensure someone from every state invalidates their "random" claim. The other highlighted notes further the non-randomness.

Actually, dividing the calls by state might help make it a more representative sample.

If it was pure random, then areas with the highest concentration of phone numbers would receive the greatest number of poll calls and thus the the large population centers would have greater representation than less densely populated areas

[twyacht]

Which leads me to believe with the NICS application data steadily increasing, gun manufacturer's reporting strong sales, like 12-21% more over the last few years, local dealers, and vendors noticing a BIG increase in women shooters;

and the fact that Gallup is one of the better polling institutions,

I actually think the number is higher than Gallup puts out. The other stats, in combination with Gallup, shows gun ownership is at a twenty year high..

That's it.

and it's a good thing.