Wisconsin Carry, Inc. Secretary makes front cover of the Isthmus

[McX]

Oh, so you add the cost of getting my autograph removed by dry-cleaning to determine the actual value of the shirt?

i would NEVER remove your auotgraph! might seek to get more though.

 

[IcrewUH60]

Great Article! I picked up my copy of the Isthmus from Miller & Son's in Verona. They had 4 large stacks ready to distribute.

Excellent read, and well written in my opinion. Shotgun represented well and and I am proud to have that kind of representation. If people see me with a gun on my hip and relate me to Shotgun, I will be pleased.

Shotgun, you have done us a great service offering your time and energy to work with the reporter. It is obvious you treated him with respect and dignity and I think he got more out of this interview than expected. A huge plus - it was published it in the Isthmus!!!! Score one for liberty.

Can I bring my copy to the next event for an autograph too?

 

[GLOCK21GB]

The article was fine I an not saying anything bad about the worded content of the article..... but you, the object of the story has the ability to say NO to requests for a picture of the pistol in your hand. Yes, what you were doing was brandishing....you were brandishing the weapon for the photographer. The pistol by LAW is to remain in the holster unless you are going to fire it for self defense, case it or uncase it. period...NO, Posing with the handgun as you are with WCI & we believe in RESPONSIBLE -> HOLSTERED CARRY ((( RIGHT ???? ))) If it was a story about Skeet or trap shooting then holding a SHOTGUN would have been acceptable. So next time use a better example... I guess this conversation is lost on some people that ENJOY being the Poster children for Open carry, it's too bad you don't have enough common sense to leave the G Dammed thing in your holster where it belongs....You made the people here that know any better look really F'ing dumb.

 

[IcrewUH60]

The pistol by LAW is to remain in the holster unless you are going to fire it for self defense, case it or uncase it.

Glock34, can you site this law please?

 

[Brass Magnet]

The pistol by LAW is to remain in the holster unless you are going to fire it for self defense, case it or uncase it. period.

Glock34, can you site this law please?

Hmm.... I'd like to see a cite for this "law" as well.

 

[Wisconsin Carry Inc. - Chairman]

The article was fine I an not saying anything bad about the worded content of the article..... but you, the object of the story has the ability to say NO to requests for a picture of the pistol in your hand. Yes, what you were doing was brandishing....you were brandishing the weapon for the photographer. The pistol by LAW is to remain in the holster unless you are going to fire it for self defense, case it or uncase it. period...NO, Posing with the handgun as you are with WCI & we believe in RESPONSIBLE -> HOLSTERED CARRY ((( RIGHT ???? ))) If it was a story about Skeet or trap shooting then holding a SHOTGUN would have been acceptable. So next time use a better example... I guess this conversation is lost on some people that ENJOY being the Poster children for Open carry, it's too bad you don't have enough common sense to leave the G Dammed thing in your holster where it belongs....You made the people here that know any better look really F'ing dumb.

Glock, a few things. First, I DO understand the basis of what you are saying, but a few thoughts.

Your comments would be better received if you were to offer them constructively as a subject of debate rather than to fly off the handle with already arrived at judgements and insults.

as in:

THANKS FOR NOTHING !

seems like everytime some media agency does a story about open carry, concealed carry, gun rights some guy is holding the weapon in his hand with a look in his eye that he wants to KILL PEOPLE !!!!! Yes you look at your facial expression !! think twice when someone is doing a story about you...HOLDING THE GUN IN YOUR HAND LOOKS REALLY FREEKING STUPID !!!!!!!!!!!

You all need to attend a Public relations school !

it's too bad you don't have enough common sense to leave the G Dammed thing in your holster where it belongs....You made the people here that know any better look really F'ing dumb.

Other thoughts:

Anyone who HAS done a great deal of media can tell you that it is impossible to control the message. You ARE at the mercy of the reporter/news outlet.

If you don't get them what they want, they will often substitute STOCK photography or go shoot photography to get what they want.

There is a news story from New Holstein (I'm sure many here recall it) a month or two back about a guy who open carries and they interviewed the guy and me for the story. THEN they shot a photo of some guy NO ONE knows who it was holding a gun up in the air WITH HIS FINGER IN THE TRIGGER and didn't even caption it, so many assumed it was ME OR the guy the story was about. It was a photo of neither.

In a phony 'perfect world', some might suggest Auric shouldn't have let them take his picture at all because we want "only people in shirt and tie with short hair" to 'represent' all of us. I mean don't you want to make THE best image possible? I don't think we should try to micromanage or sterilize what we do.

Auric "posed" for a picture. People understand what media is about.

If Auric had refused to pose, they may likely have pulled stock photography of someone with their finger IN the trigger like the dude they used in the New Holstein article.

I say again, its IMPOSSIBLE to control the message with media.

Ever notice how when they shoot an open-carry event they ALWAYS want to video you loading up/holstering up, and the TV media LOVES to use the snippet of people RACKING THE SLIDE!

I suppose one could criticize the constitutional carry commercial we made also... I mean it shows a woman POINTING/BRANDISHING a gun, yet SHE wasn't really in any danger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3MaC12dglg

Look at the 31 second mark in that commercial. There is a woman with a NEARLY identical pose to auric's.

Look at the 58 second mark. There is a woman 'brandishing' a gun also.

Its part of the story.

Auric's pose is no different than the poses in those stories. Its a POSE. Its for a STORY. It tells the story.

Auric carries to defend himself. He is posing to demonstrate the readiness to defend himself.

I do appreciate the critical analysis for discussion purposes of how we represent ourselves to the media, but I think hurling insults and passing brash judgments is out of place and doesn't serve any purpose.

If you take issue with something, why not pose the question for discussion rather than lob insults and pass brash judgments?

If you had posed the question "Auric, did you give second thought to posing like that" we could have had a discussion of it.

Anyway... Now you are probably going to fly off the handle at me. I'm not going to spar on the subject, this will be my last comment, I DO understand the basis of your raising the topic but I think you jumped to conclusions and judgments. That said, people are of course free to hold differing opinions.

I think it was a great article AND a good photo. I think WE may be much more critical of ourselves than non-gun-rights-advocates may be in SOME cases. Of course the WAVE crowd is going to criticize anything we do, but the rest of the 74%'ers, I don't think would take any issue with a POSE for a picture in a newspaper.

 

[comp45acp]

The article was fine I an not saying anything bad about the worded content of the article..... but you, the object of the story has the ability to say NO to requests for a picture of the pistol in your hand. Yes, what you were doing was brandishing....you were brandishing the weapon for the photographer. The pistol by LAW is to remain in the holster unless you are going to fire it for self defense, case it or uncase it. period...NO, Posing with the handgun as you are with WCI & we believe in RESPONSIBLE -> HOLSTERED CARRY ((( RIGHT ???? ))) If it was a story about Skeet or trap shooting then holding a SHOTGUN would have been acceptable. So next time use a better example... I guess this conversation is lost on some people that ENJOY being the Poster children for Open carry, it's too bad you don't have enough common sense to leave the G Dammed thing in your holster where it belongs....You made the people here that know any better look really F'ing dumb.

I may be wrong but I don't believe we have a "brandishing" law in WI. Also, please cite where the law says the pistol is to remain in the holster unless you are going to fire it for self-defense, case it or uncase it. I am unfamiliar with that law. I have no problem with the picture. Auric handled it in a safe and proper manner so I don't see where this is an issue at all and I would probably do the same thing.

 

[apjonas]

Interesting Story

But how did you carry in Portland? I don't believe Oregon has (total?) preemption or issues permits to non-residents (with rare exception)?

 

[Shotgun]

As Doug often-- and correctly-- pointed out, the word "brandishing" does not appear in the statutes. If one points, displays or waves a gun in a menacing manner to alarm people one may be charged with something like disorderly conduct or even reckless endangerment. In order to do that, there have to be people present who are alarmed or endangered. In this instance, the photographer and I were the only people present, and I unholstered the gun at his request. Before we began I demonstrated to him that the firearm was unloaded for the purposes of the photo shoot. We discussed beforehand the possibility of providing advance notification to the police that a photo shoot involving firearms was going to take place in the unlikely event there was a passerby who, despite the obvious presence of cameras, reflectors and flashes set up for a photo shoot might still call it in. (In Madison there have been a number of instances where amateur film-makers had the police show up because some of their scenes involved mock firearms or crimes and outside observers were unaware that is was part of a filming.) Probably 80-90% of the photos taken showed me wearing a holstered firearm. He asked that I hold the gun for the last several shots, and of course those are the ones the art director selected for use. One or two cars did pass down the photographer's residential street, and before they were close, the gun was always holstered until they had passed.

There is absolutely NO law in Wisconsin that requires a handgun to ever be in a holster. Obviously one has to be aware and careful how one handles an unholstered firearm, as a matter of etiquette and safety. But holding a gun in your hand, by itself, is no more "brandishing" than simply wearing a gun is "disorderly conduct." You might want to take note that "brandishing"-like charges can result while having a holstered gun and without even touching the gun. I could easily imagine someone being charged, and I would agree with the charges, by simply pointing at one's holstered gun and saying something like "Do you want to mess with me?" in an angry voice. Brandishing a firearm involves using it in a manner meant to alarm others, whether in a holster or in the hand.

So I would suggest that you conduct a bit more research and reconsider your accusation that I committed some sort of crime when I posed for those photographs.

 

[Shotgun]

But how did you carry in Portland? I don't believe Oregon has (total?) preemption or issues permits to non-residents (with rare exception)?

My concealed permits are not good in either Washington or Oregon, but they're open carry states. Portland and some of the suburbs have some screwy local restrictions so during the brief time in the Portland metropolitan area I kept my gun encased and unloaded, and nearby. With the exception of when I was inside a private residence or in a hotel room.

 

[Shotgun]

I may have been recognized from the Isthmus article yesterday. I had to go to a couple of places and stopped at Woodman's East around 5 p.m. The entire parking lot was full and the place was packed with people stocking up with pre-snow storm provisions. I was wearing a Glock 35 and getting my cart when a guy who was leaving looked at me, raised his fist and gave me a "Hell yeah!"

I smiled and nodded thanks to him.

 

[XDFDE45]

Outstanding!!!

 

[Shotgun]

Ha!! It's taken the anti's a few days to recover from the blow that OCers can be normal, reasonable people. So, now they're starting to deny that being a normal and reasonable open carrier is even remotely possible. Some of the online comments on the Isthmus are starting to show desperate signs of trying to portray me as stupid, dangerous, and so on.

Have a look, it's sometime entertaining reading!

 

[Tweety]

I thought this was a pretty nice article.

 

[bnhcomputing]

Here is another article about Auric and the 2nd amendment.

http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=31494

 

[jpm84092]

The marketing guru's say that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Anything that gets citizens to search further is "good". As for the photos in the article, they are a "done deal".

 

[apjonas]

Did anybody read

the editorial(?) by V.O. that appears on page 3? The first paragraph of four:

Arms and the man

Imagine you’re sitting in a west-side eatery and a half-dozen
guys come in sporting iron on their hips. By this I mean they
are carrying guns holstered at their sides. They mill about
and talk a little too laud, wanting to be noticed. Do you make eye
contact? Do you wonder what these guys want and if you are in
danger? Now go read staff writer Joe Tarr’s report “Locked and
Loaded,” our cover story for this week.

I will leave it to somebody with access to the source material to supply the rest. If you were surprised that the Tarr article didn't give you acid indigestion, no worries. V.O. comes up to true Isthmus form.

 

[Passive101]

Great article and a great photo!

I don't have long hair, but thank you for not tucking it back to make it look like you have short hair. Every person is an individual and I'm glad you showed that!


Good choice of firearm btw. I love my glocks

 

[Shotgun]

Great article and a great photo!

I don't have long hair, but thank you for not tucking it back to make it look like you have short hair. Every person is an individual and I'm glad you showed that!


Good choice of firearm btw. I love my glocks

Ha, considering it was cold and windy I probably should have tucked it back, or worn a hat. Being a photographer I knew that the wide-angle lens being held about 18 inches from my face was going to distort my face somewhat, but if you've ever seen some of my photography you'll see that I enjoy distorting my face.

re: Glock, yes you may find a combat gun that is as good as a Glock, but you won't find one that's better.

 

[protias]

re: Glock, yes you may find a combat gun that is as good as a Glock, but you won't find one that's better.

Oh boy, here come the Sig, Springfield, 1911 frame, etc fans.... *ducks*