imported post
pro2A wrote:
My thoughts are this… Would we call the police to tell them a bunch of us are going to be peacefully assembling, or speaking freely? What’s any different about guns? Red, Hot and Blue is a lot more likely to allow us to stay once we're there then to say we can’t OC in their restaurant on the phone prior. I’ll mention a large group of gun owner groups from across the region are meeting for lunch, but won’t say anything about OC unless they ask, which I doubt they will. We’ve had many events like this before, and besides the Dickson City thing we’ve never had an issue with either the establishment or the police.
Edit: I guess the point I'm trying to make is we don't need to ask permission to engage in our civil rights. That’s kind of the point of this event, a group of like mindedcitizens who are engaging in the peoples free and unalienable rights. We don't need to get permission from the government or to give notice to the government that we are exercising our constitutional rights.
<sigh> Could you please show me in my post where I said you had to ask the government for permission to exercise your rights? :banghead:
I merely suggested that giving the PD a friendly "heads up" might be a courteous gesture, so they aren't wasting time and resources responding to "man with a gun" calls, just like I might inform the fire department if I was to do a legal controlled burn of some kind. I don't think the LPD or LCSO is going to have a freakout; I've met several Loudoun Sheriffs and thought they were good guys, just like TexasNative points out. As for telling the police if you were going to peacefully assemble or practice free speech, theoretically, yes, it's the same issue. But I'll bet a box of donuts to my local precinct that LEOs respond different to a "man with a gun" call than they do a "man with a flyer" call.
As for the restaurant, I don't think there would be any problem, but I don't think it would hurt to check ahead of time. The owner could be okay with it, but what happens if you get some newly hired asst manager with a chip on his shoulder? Again, I simply see letting the business owner know in advance as a simple courtesy. We're not going to be the normal crowd of patrons, let's face it. We are going to be an Event.
We as the OC community are trying to put forth the image that we are not a group of gun-toting hooligans (I love that word
), cause frankly, we're one of the most law-abiding groups in the country. I'm just suggesting we might want to put forward that we are also one of the most courteous and professional in our dealing with the public, LEOs, and business owners.
I'm not trying to be antagonistic, and I'm not trying to rain on this parade. I just think the attitude of "We'll just show up and see what happens" for a gathering of this size is too casual. A little preparation could go a long way to making this a great event, with many happy returns.
edited to add: Also, I asked about media coverage. Any info on that?
--RedKnightt--
Zombie Squad has it right: “We hold fast to the belief that if you are prepared for a scenario where the walking corpses of your family and neighbors are trying to eat you alive, you will be prepared for almost anything.”
