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My Encounter with Gun Control Fanatics
We had been seated for only a few minutes at the Grille, the restaurant in our gated community. Suddenly I saw my husband’s eyes open, then roll, as he shook his head in disgust. He was looking behind me, and as I turned around, I saw a couple sitting down at a table for two. Standing in front of their table for all to see was a white sign with the large letters “AR IS FOR WAR.” We live in a 55+ community, so the man was no youngster. His hair was grey, as was his wife’s, and he was wearing a distinctive military cap on his head, although I couldn’t read what it said.
We called our waiter over, who is a very nice young man, and said this was not the place for a political statement. He said he couldn’t do anything, but said he would let the manager know. After several minutes, the manager didn’t appear, so my husband lost his patience and went to fetch her. She told him she didn’t realize it was a political sign. Right. Several minutes later she appeared at the table with the sign, chatted, and left. Nothing else was done.
I could see that my husband was working up a head of steam; neither of us could let go of the couple’s insistence on making what we considered to be an offensive political statement. I finally told my husband that I was going over to see what kind of statement they thought they were making. I saw that the man was a Seabee from his hat, and said my husband was a Vietnam War vet. The conversation went somewhat like this:
Me: What’s your intention in displaying the sign here?
Them: We just returned from the march in Orlando and we’re displaying the sign for the kids. After all the kids were leading the march and needed our support.
Me: Ah, yes, the gun control march; you know that outside organizations are supplying money and coordination for them.
The conversation went downhill from there.
Me: The second amendment allows the right to bear arms.
Them: The second amendment only allows the right to form a militia. And this doesn’t have to do with the second amendment anyway.
Me: You are not well-informed.
Them: Oh, you must watch too much Fox News. How would you feel if someone wore a MAGA hat?
Me: I’d be fine except hats shouldn’t be worn indoors. And a hat is not comparable to a 3’x4’ sign.
Them: The kid in Parkland could have been stopped if he hadn’t had an assault rifle.
Me: Seriously? A person with a pistol and enough scared people could have done the same thing.
Them: I used an assault weapon (really) in the military and people don’t need them.
As I anticipated, we kept interrupting and talking over each other. Our voices were raised a little, but we both confessed we were hard of hearing. I finally walked away in disgust.
Someone may say the discussion was a waste of time. But it wasn’t for me.
I learned a lot. These folks confirmed for me that some gun control folks are uninformed (and these people owned guns); they are governed by emotion (it’s for the kids); they believe the propaganda of the left; they aren’t interested in civil discussion (although I wasn’t very helpful in making that happen).
This exchange gave me the opportunity to stand up not only for truth and the second amendment, but I stood up for me and my husband and everyone who believes in the Constitution. (I was relieved that my husband didn’t join me in the discussion because it would have gotten more vocal.) I also stood up for freedom and for our country.
I plan to write to the restaurant management. They should have a policy regarding this kind of behavior. In these times, it could happen again. The next time I may not be so nice.
Published in Politics
Last night, Mr.C & I went to town (it’s the county seat) to meet a friend for dinner and a movie. While driving down the street, my husband made a disgusted sound. He said there was a house with a sign on the front porch with the words, “GOP + NRA=Mass Murder”. This is crazy! In a state where the Legislature passed a law where firearms built entirely within the state, and did not leave the state, were legal, this kind of mindset is possible.
Of course, the feds took issue with that law, and arrested a local store owner for building AR lowers in his shop. The store closed, and he went to prison. He was kind of a ****k, so not many people cried for him.
I am finding it increasingly baffling the crazy ideas people are believing these days. Where the NRA spent 20 million over the last few years on political campaigns, Planned Parenthood spent 33 million in ONE year! And, does anyone believe that NONE of that money wasn’t our taxpayer dollars?
LIKE
Your statement is right in line with my thoughts. I suppose I might be more to the point with them: “You’re right the AR is for war. You are pushing for violence against me, my family, and friends. When it arrives, you can be guaranteed my rifle will be used for the war you are stoking.”
Been down in those trenches many time in trying to discover whether or not there is any hope in rationalizing with Progressive-Recessives. Abandon ye all hope…
Secession, term limits, and an end to judicial activism (not necessarily in that order) are the only things that I can see that might save us. Think Trump and/or Congress (where the action rightfully belongs) could do something about judicial activism but the other two will get bloody.
Perhaps, but a lot in the state do.
At least he didn’t call @susanquinn a racist. That’s when you know you have really won the debate.
It’s a good thing for him that he didn’t call me a racist.
In case nobody has mentioned it, I should point out that you are an inspiration to all of us, Susan.
Ah, thanks, @thereticulator! That’s very kind. But the fact is, if I hadn’t found my way to Ricochet I probably wouldn’t have done it! So many of you are my inspiration for doing the right thing, speaking and acting on truth, and I feel as if all of you are standing behind me in this fight for liberty and justice. That probably sounds corny, but it’s the truth. In the past, I might have just gotten annoyed, shrugged my shoulders and walked away. I’m a patriot-in-training!
I certainly with you, Susan, that a restaurant is no place for these kinds of shenanigans. If I chose to, I might live in that kind of community. At 64, I am always surprised that the people who reach the 50s – and certainly Bernie Sanders age – can still think the way they thought when they were teenagers. The kids may not know better, but oldsters should. It is quite sad. I think the owners of the restaurant are just afraid of being accused of clamping down on Free Speech, not realizing, as the owners of a private business, they have a responsibility to the majority of the clientele.
Thanks, George. I think you give them too much credit, however. As I said earlier, I suspect there is no policy. And I don’t know if there will be. They’re not so much concerned with the first amendment as they are about potentially making a scene. If this happens again, they ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
I really can’t argue with the text of the sign: ArmaLite designed the AR-15 to be a military weapon.
Of course, the founders also designed the Second Amendment to be, in extremis, a military weapon — the means by which the people could mount their own military response to aggression.
I think gun-control advocates have it backwards: it is at least as easy, and probably easier, to defend the possession of military-style weapons under the Second Amendment than to defend purely recreational guns (though, obviously, I think they are all protected).
G-d bless the little children. But don’t, as the poor fellow in the restaurant did, let them tell you what to think. They’re just children.
[ But I see now that EJHill made a similar point, earlier in this thread. ]
I’ve enjoyed some arguments recently.
One fellow was shocked to learn that practically all handguns are semi-automatic! He had no idea before.
My favorite response to gun control folks, stolen from Steven Crowder, is “Ok, it’s super easy to legally buy a gun. Go do it. Go buy a gun, even if you are just going to return it a day later, or even just after walking out of the store with it. Go learn what actually has to happen for you to buy a gun.”
Also, one other group that doesn’t seem to amount to much is the NRA. Sure, gun owners get a squeaky clean feeling when they think of the NRA. And sure, the NRA has programs that help people have shooting ranges and places where people can learn gun safety.
But that org has huge deep pockets. Yet where are its expenditures on catchy commercials regarding guns and the Second Amendment? Why has there not been any attempts on the part of the NRA to make an interesting film that promotes the fact that gun ownership is a right guaranteed under the US Constitution? The film would have to interweave its message of gun ownership with an interesting story. So maybe a well written fictional script of a shooting, like the one that occurred in Texas, and that was brought to a stand still when a gun owner took out the perp.
Maybe such a film wouldn’t win our side a single convert. But it would offer a boost to our morale
Actually they have had ads and they have been blasted out of the water, @caroljoy. The NRA now has an NRA Channel. It might be for subscribers, but you can go to youtube and there are several videos there. I think that putting up ads on regular TV might only make things worse. I’ll bet someone out there can recommend a movie that’s already been produced that speaks to gun rights, directly or indirectly.
I’m thrilled you were the aggressor! We were on a cruise a few years ago, and I had taken a couple of “gimme” hats, y’know, baseball-cap style, as sun protection. One of ’em was an NRA “Second Amendment Task Force” hat. I never gave that a thought! But complete strangers were looking at me with quizzical disgust, and one etiolated young woman actually said “Ewww!” I thought my mascara must’ve run in the heat, but no–it was the hat.
So my point is, if you had been wearing some NRA swag, or ( as they mentioned) a MAGA hat, or a T shirt that says “God, Guns, ‘n’ Guts Keep America Free!” ( love those!)
you can bet these bozos woulda been all over you! I hope they enjoyed a taste of their own medicine with dinner….
I would have swiped my arm across their table, knocking all their food onto the floor. Then I would have beaten a hasty retreat to avoid further confrontation (and the police who were probably already on the way).
Good for you, Susan! I’m damned proud of you.
The people with the sign took the first step. If it was fine for them to do what they did, it was fine for you to do what you did.
It’s WAY past time for push back against this nonsense. They don’t get to “speak” while we remain silent.
I have so been there.
(So I’ve stopped wearing mascara on warmer-than-average days.)
Your answer doesn’t dissuade me from the notion the NRA is made up of a bunch of stodgy old White Men who have a good thing going. It reinforces the notion that the NRA is beyond pathetic. It spends money on lobbyists who do the lobbyist shuffle of seduction and campaign contributions. I am betting some money goes to a good ol boy network of congress critters who were pro-gun to begin with. (And cynic that I am, maybe a lot of kickbacks in the process.)
If old white guy George Soros can hire people who speak to the public in a way that managed to get tens of thousands of formerly intelligent women to spend the day running around in circles wearing pink caps, and capitalize on the utilization of “fun and sexy” words like “rebellion” “resistance” etc why can’t the Right do the same? I mean, a little bit of bit of whoever is Ted Nugent’s trusty younger counterpart might go a long way.
The head of the NRA makes 10 mil a year. If he had imagination, like Soros does, he would find himself 2 or 3 brilliant filmmakers and have them make an indie film project that portrayed gun ownership in a positive light. If the Blair Witch Project could happen for $ 69 K, think of what an indie project for 150K might look like. The Right needs to spend some serious money and talk to the younger generation in the same way that the Left talks to them. Otherwise it’s over.
I think this issue isn’t really about gun rights, per se. The issue is how to deal in public places with people who are – in your opinion – nuisances. (Maybe your association Grille isn’t a public place. If so, scroll past this.)
Whether it be obnoxious t-shirt slogans, overly “active” children, loud conversations containing the f-bomb, or PDA. What is the right way to handle the situation? Going over to even politely talk someone out of their position seems counter-productive. The fact that the other people may be jerks is mostly beside the point.
I try to pick my battles (because I’d like to argue with everyone!) and this is one I probably wouldn’t pick.
Don’t have much patience with military folks who forget how to defend the Constitution.
Any issue can be about more than one thing.
It seems the motivation for Susan to deal with it was gun rights, so that makes it about gun rights.
I have a high tolerance for public nuisances. That’s usually just an aesthetic thing, and I can deal with different tastes in what is and what isn’t acceptable behavior. But I don’t have so much tolerance for those who are trying to enhance the ability of the Lordly Class to oppress the people.
I appreciate and admire your self restraint. I try to avoid such situations as I have only two gears and don’t like the second one.
Not every car driven by a crazy person has a warning label, but when there is one, it’s helpful.
Cash is fungible.
Well, Toyota Priuses (Prii?) – the car of choice for the virtue-signaler – are also well represented.
Wrong. Although I’m a “stodgy old white” man, the NRA is made up of diverse people who truly appreciate what firearms do for us. They allow us to hunt, to enjoy the thrill of shooting, and most importantly – defend ourselves against criminals and civil unrest.
And the NRA is doing just that. You should join . . .
OP:
How can you have a militia if people don’t know how to use weapons? An armed citizenry is a prerequisite to a militia, so the right to keep and bear arms must be preserved for all citizens so that a well-regulated militia can be formed.
#metoo