Yes, it is your 2nd Amendment right to have a firearm.
Yes, it is legal in Arizona to carry a publicly displayed firearm without a permit.
Yes, you are breaking no law by coming to President Obama’s Town Hall meeting armed as long as you don’t go inside.
You will get no argument from me, and normally I am the first to give a nod to those exercising their 2nd Amendment rights. However, when does common sense and public decency come into play?
What possible reason would you bring a loaded firearm to a town hall meeting over health care? Personally, I can only think of two reasons.
1) You have an assumption of danger for yourself or your property at the event.
2) You wish to intimidate those who disagree with you by a show of force.
Since the town halls featuring President Obama are presided by the most professional and thorough personal security forces in the world, the assumption of danger for yourself and your property at the town hall is somewhere between zilch and none. No one is going to physically harm you to the point where lethal force is needed for self-protection.
That only leaves a wish to intimidate not only those at the event by your imminent show of force, but also those who see in the media what awaits them at future town halls and political rallies.
Carrying a loaded firearm at a Town Hall meeting does not further any political idea, does not make a case against Health Care reform any more resonant, and does not make our already faltering national conversation any more constructive. It only further blurs the line between political disagreements and bipolar estrangement, between debate and violence.
By all means, go to these town halls. Speak your minds. Tell your congressmen and senators that their plan for Health Care reform is anti-capitalist and just plain stupid. Your ideas and passion are enough to win the day without the fear and marginalization that thinly veiled threats of violence create.
February 22, 2011 at 2:21 pm