Big Left – and its wholly owned subsidiary, Big Gun Control – is actively working to “other” the law-abiding gun owner – to make the law-abiding practice of a legal act something not done in “polite company”, or at least that company as practiced by the part of our society that considers infanticide acceptable and self-defense gauche.
One Michael Schrader of suburban Detroit throws his two ignorant cents into the mix with this op-ed. about an open-carrying Michigander at a Detroit-area McDonalds.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I were shopping in Fort Gratiot, and we decided to stop at the Fort Gratiot McDonald’s to have some lunch, as we have done many times before. We pulled in a parking space, turned off the car, and then spotted something that caused us to decide to go somewhere else.
In the few seconds it took for me to restart the car, we saw several customers hurriedly rush out of the restaurant with panicked looks on their faces.
What was it that we spotted? A man carrying a gun into the restaurant.
Because Michigan is an open carry state, it is quite legal for someone to walk into a busy McDonald’s with a firearm. Why do it? Because it is your right?
There are some legitimate questions of tactics and manners to be asked – but then, one asks why Michael Schrader would ask the questions. Because it is his right…er, wait.
Anyway – yes, he started trite. That merely cleanses the palate for the invincible ignorance:
Given that there were Canadians in that restaurant, and they don’t have the same gun culture that we have, how do you think that made them feel?
By this “logic”, people with happy marriages should shut up about it, unless someone in an unhappy marriage is listening.
I can’t speak for the Canadians, but I can speak for myself — seeing someone other than a police officer walking around with a firearm does not make me feel safe; quite the opposite.
And Mr. Schrader is entitled to his feelings – but they’re wrong. Carry permittees in the US are 1/6 as likely to harm the wrong person, per capita, than the police. That’s about 1/36 as often as the general public – and I”m gonna guess it’s even steeper in Detroit.
We next go from ignorant to stupid:
Suppose that I am armed, too. Should I fire preemptively at the other person with the gun just in case that person is a “bad guy,” and take the chance of killing a “good guy,” or should I hold my fire and take the chance that the other person will not be a “bad guy” or be a “good guy” and think I am a “bad guy” and fire at me first?
Tell you what, Mr. Schrader: ask the next shooter you see who’s carrying, but who is not any sort of threat to you in any actual way. Phrase the question at the top of your lungs, if you prefer.
See who the police haul in.
I speak for myself, and I am confident I speak for many others — I don’t need armed vigilantes protecting me from criminals.
To borrow an idea from my friend Rob Doar – whether I carry concealed or openly (if I even owned guns, which I don’t, because they terrify me), I’m not protecting you. I’m protecting me and mine. If heaven forfend I ever am forced to defend me and mine from an immediate lethal threat, and so cause your smug life to be spared, trust me – it’ll be the least of my concerns.
Pretentious Anchor: “We go now to Info Babe, at the scene of the shooting.”
Info Babe: “Thanks, Pretentious Anchor. Police here say a man with a gun came into the McDonalds and started shooting customers. A citizen with a concealed carry permit drew his weapon but did not fire until the gunman had killed six others, then he fired, killing the gunman. Mr. Carrier, why didn’t you act earlier to save their lives? Was it because they had publicly stated they didn’t wish to be protected by vigilantes? Did you intentionally allow them die, shooting only when the gunman turned his weapon on you?”
Concealed Carrier: “On advice of counsel, I do not wish to make a statement at this time.”
JD, I think Info Babe’s quote shows more awareness of potential nuance than what truly exists in her world.
OK, we’ve got a guy from suburban Detroit–many years the murder capitol of the freaking world–saying he doesn’t need armed “vigilantes” to protect him form crime.
And just for kicks, I looked him up. It appears he’s now a professor at Minnesota State in Mankato. Compare the pictures.
https://www.facebook.com/michael.schrader.169
Old article, but if push comes to shove, I bet he’s doing the same kind of thing here that he did back in the mitten. At least as much as he can without being bumped off tenure track!
Maybe the lesson Mr Schrader should take from this is that he met a man open carrying a rifle- and nothing happened.
If you reversed the situation- two God fearing devout Christians walked out of a McDonalds because an openly gay couple walked in, they would be ridiculed by the left for paranoia and intolerance.
In the mitten, huh? That the Lower Peninsula, yes? Very good. And nice bit of research, by the way, too.
Yashure, dat’s da LP, where da trolls live, eh. Thanks, eh.
(I’m not a Yooper, but I’m married to a troll….they’re not all bad)
(troll = looper = “from below the bridge” as in 3 Billy Goats Gruff)
A friend contacted me last night. A female anti-gun co-worker was confronted by car thieves the other day, and now she’s wondering how she should go about getting a gun to “protect her and her family”. I offered to take her to the range for an orientation. I may call upon some of you here as well.
You know, NW, that dumb old line, “a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged by reality” is dumb and old until it isn’t. There’s another example from April 25, 2018, “Anti-gun liberal (literally) mugged by reality”, by Rick Moran, at the American Thinker.
… congrats and good luck too.
offered to take her to the range for an orientation. I may call upon some of you here as well.
You know where to find me.