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billh58

(6,642 posts)
Sat Feb 15, 2014, 11:31 AM Feb 2014

Another self-proclaimed responsible (vigilante) gun owner

Open-Carry" poster boy arrested on gun-related charges

by Sharon WraightFollow .

"Four days ago, Dereck J. Simonsmeier, 24, of Wisconsin whined in an op-ed that he was asked to leave a Pick 'N Save store (owned by Roundy’s Inc.) for openly carrying a .45 caliber pistol on his belt. Another customer felt uncomfortable by him and complained to the manager, who asked him to cover up the gun. He refused, even though he does have a concealed carry permit, and was escorted outside. His op-ed repeated some of the usual GOA/SAF talking-points, e.g.:

I carry it because it is my right and to protect the ones I love. Yet even with the welfare of others in mind, I am scrutinized and mocked for exercising my Second Amendment right. [...]

The experience has only made me more determined to familiarize myself with state laws and company policies, so that I will be prepared to confront those who would violate my Second Amendment rights.

I am an American citizen, a college graduate, an Iraq War veteran, a brother, a friend, a role model and very soon I will be an uncle. For each of these people that I am, there is always one constant: I carry a firearm, concealed or open, legally, for the protection of myself, my family and my friends
."

- Snip -

"Just four days later he was arrested and jailed on gun-related charges, including endangering safety. Apparently, a friend called him to help in a dispute with her roommate. Simonsmeier (in mug shot) showed up with two friends, also armed, and threatened the male roommate with their guns."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/14/1277521/--Open-Carry-poster-boy-arrested-on-gun-related-charges?detail=email

Because the Second Amendment and a GUN can solve ANY problem without the pesky intervention of law enforcement. Vigilante justice is the real American way...
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Paladin

(28,980 posts)
1. That grandiose statement of his says it all.
Sat Feb 15, 2014, 11:44 AM
Feb 2014

He's open-carrying because he really, really, really wants to use a firearm against another human being. The endangering safety incident is anti-climactic.

mokawanis

(4,472 posts)
2. Scrutinized and mocked
Sat Feb 15, 2014, 12:00 PM
Feb 2014

And deservedly so. Another gun-nut who thinks weapons are the answer to any and all conflicts.

DanTex

(20,709 posts)
3. The editorial this nutcase wrote gives great insight into the gun psychosis.
Sat Feb 15, 2014, 12:27 PM
Feb 2014

I think the best part is this...

have spent time overseas carrying firearms every day, but when I come home, it’s as if I’m suddenly no longer qualified to use the very tools I’ve been using in a combat zone.

Umm, yeah, because a *grocery store* is not a *combat zone*. People will also look at you funny if you drive around in a tank.

Then there's the paranoia.
The cold had numbed my arms and severely restricted the movement of my hands and fingers. If I had needed to draw my weapon in the Pick ’N Save parking lot, I would have been unsuccessful.

Of course. Nothing worse than the feeling that it might take 2 seconds instead of a half second to kill another human being that you run into at the grocery store.

And finally, the victimization. He was asked to leave a private establishment because he was making others uncomfortable, and somehow this is a "rights violation". Never mind the rights of the store owner to not have some yahoo walking around with a prominently displayed loaded gun, or the rights of the other customers to go shopping without feeling threatened.

billh58

(6,642 posts)
4. According to the Second Amendment absolutists
Sat Feb 15, 2014, 12:47 PM
Feb 2014

it is silly to fear someone with a CCW because they are more law-abiding than most Americans, and are a deterrent to crime by openly carrying. They are the "good guys" with a gun.

In this case this upstanding, patriotic, selfless individual, proved that the customers' and the store manager's fears were justified by his subsequent threatening actions toward an unarmed person on behalf of a friend. Had the "friend's" roommate been armed, I wonder if SYG, or the Castle Doctrine, would have applied?

 

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)
6. Yep, to hear gun fanciers tell it, we are supposed to smile and take it when some gun intimidator
Sat Feb 15, 2014, 01:55 PM
Feb 2014

like this ignorant yahoo sits down beside us:

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Now this is good, this yahoo says in his blog --

"I do not carry it to be tough or to start a fight; I carry it because it is my right and to protect the ones I love. Yet even with the welfare of others in mind, I am scrutinized and mocked for exercising my Second Amendment right. . . . . . I have spent time overseas carrying firearms every day, but when I come home, it’s as if I’m suddenly no longer qualified to use the very tools I’ve been using in a combat zone. That does not sit right at all. In fact, it has only made me more determined to familiarize myself with state laws and company policies, so that I will be prepared to confront those who would violate my Second Amendment rights. . . . . ."

Sounds like your typical gun fancier.

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