Sunday, June 1, 2014

#OpenCarry Storms the Home Depot

photo home-depot_12012010200531.jpg

In the past few weeks the gun nuts have been parading around intimidating families at fast food restaurants thanks to the group Open Carry. This led to a pushback campaign from Shannon Watts and the gun control advocacy group Moms Demand Action which lobbied restaurants with hashtags #ShakesNotShotguns, #RibsNotRifles and #GrillsNotGuns. The corporations responded quickly by banning guns in the restaurants - common sense prevailed.


Even the freakin' NRA issued a statement against Open Carry Texas:

Via Talking Points Memo
"[W]hile unlicensed open carry of long guns is also typically legal in most places, it is a rare sight to see someone sidle up next to you in line for lunch with a 7.62 rifle slung across his chest, much less a whole gaggle of folks descending on the same public venue with similar arms," the statement said. "Let's not mince words, not only is it rare, it's downright weird and certainly not a practical way to go normally about your business while being prepared to defend yourself. To those who are not acquainted with the dubious practice of using public displays of firearms as a means to draw attention to oneself or one's cause, it can be downright scary. It makes folks who might normally be perfectly open-minded about firearms feel uncomfortable and question the motives of pro-gun advocates."

The NRA made clear it "does not support bans on personalized guns or on carrying firearms in public, including in restaurants. " But it concluded that "when people act without thinking, or without consideration for others – especially when it comes to firearms – they set the stage for further restrictions on our rights."

But rare common sense from NRA didn't stop Open Carry, whose members stormed a Home Depot in Dallas this weekend.



And a new hashtag was born on Twitter - #Ammosexuals - men who get off on guns and ammo and can't live without them - like the guys in the pictures below. The term was coined by Raw Story:
Never mind the bullets, here’s the ammosexuals
...It’s getting so that a man can’t assert his manly manliness without a bunch of shrieking harpies hashtag-shaming him on Twitter, which is can be very hurtful.
. . . Some men, however, are not going to sit weeping in a darkened room, drinking ranch dressing straight from the bottle while listening to ‘I Am, I Said‘ on repeat. They’re not going to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous LOLing at them without going down in a fight.
And by ‘fight,’ I mean, parading around with their guns hanging out.
And by ‘guns,’ I mean their guns.
So that is why we have ‘open carry’ days where groups of men trade in their week-day uniform of polyester pants and 3 for $12 dress shirts with matching ties from Walmart, for easy-fit jeans, a t-shirt that used to fit, and a backward-facing ball-cap before heading out a to fast food place to walk around carrying a gun in the noonday sun because …. freedom.







From the Dallas News
Saturday’s rally began in the parking lot of a Home Depot. Corporate spokesman Stephen Holmes said that while Home Depot allows customers to carry legally permitted weapons into its stores, “we do not allow solicitation or organizing by third parties on our property.”
The Open Carry supporters were not asked to move on Saturday. But should they return for another rally, Holmes said, “we’ll remind them of that policy.”

. . . The gathering Saturday generated dozens of critical comments on Home Depot’s Facebook site.
In one typical post, a woman from Dallas wrote, “Since we can’t know when this fanatical anti-woman, death-celebrating-culture group will snap, we’ll be going to Lowe’s from now on.”

Amy Hedtke of Whitesboro wasn’t worried about anyone snapping. She brought four children and two dogs to the rally.
“I’m anti-gun-free zone,” she said. “I’m a huge supporter of the right to self-defense.”
She joined group members at the intersection of Precinct Line Road and Mid-Cities Boulevard. There they waved flags that said “Come And Take It” and passed out Open Carry cards. Many drivers responded with horn-honking support.
Afterward, the group returned to the Home Depot lot, where a raffle was held. Among the prizes: T-shirts and boxes of ammunition.



Here are just a few of the thousands of angry comments left on this Home Depot's Facebook:

I gave Home Depot 20 years of business. Lowes will now get the next 20 years of my business considering the idiotic policy HD has allowed an armed group of socially deficient angry people to roam your aisles. What will you do when one of them sticks a product in his pocket and walks? Think any of your "security " people will do anything? Beyond stupid is this decision by whoever thought it would make people happy.
~ Don S.

I won't shop anywhere that terrorists are allowed, that's stupid. These people are bullying the majority who want better gun laws, and they're bullying with weapons. That's terrorism. They won't win. Don't be on the wrong side of history. We won't forget.
~ Sandy T.

If the open carry event, which now includes a GUN GIVEAWAY, happens. I will never again shop at Home Depot. There are plenty of options out there. Lowes, Ace, Orchard. Anything but supporting a company that bends to the will of a small minority of extremists that value their killing machines over the lives of human beings.
~ Brian C.

I own a ranch. We'll take our business elsewhere.
If you want to make Home Depot look like a banana republic, that's your business.
But I don't want to shop where I can't tell the difference between someone on his Open Carry day and someone else who is going postal.
~ Lloyd S.

I live in Texas...and for most of my life have lived in the DFW area where this store is located. The MAJORITY of Texans (including the ones in the DFW area) do NOT approve of open carry events..we only approve of being allowed to own guns. As other places in Texas have discovered (Starbucks, Chipotle's, Sonic, etc) most Texans do NOT approve and we vote with out wallets. BTW, most of these open carry nuts are not gardening and buying lots of items from Home Depot in the first place. As to your comment that this is tantamount to them watching someone get punched, not actually doing the punching, I think that watching and not stopping it is JUST as bad as doing it!!!!
~ Lisa M.

How dare Home Depot allow a group of crazed ammosexual gunners be allowed to rally at one of your stores. Time to find a new place to shop until your policy changes!!!
~ Lonnie L.

hey, be brave, open carry guys. Try it at a bank. A country club where GOP officials hang out. How about NRA headquarters? They won't let you open carry there, and we all know why. They don't trust you. Gun show? The organizers do not trust you enough to bring in your loaded gun. I believe them. It's not safe and you do, as the woman in the Texas sonic pointed out, look like total dumbasses. And scaredy-cats. I'll shop where the non-afraid shop.
~ Hoo Sez












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