AR:City Council Opposition to Constitutional Carry/Celebrate Act 746 Walk a Damp Squib

Safety Breifing Before Eureka Springs Constitutional Carry/Act 746 walk

Open Carry Walkers in Eureka Springs

As has become the norm in Arkansas, the open carry/constitutional carry/ celebrate Act 746 walk in Eureka springs did not cause any drama or trauma.

Dozens of people participated in the event on 29 March.  In spite of concerns, and some hostility expressed during a city council meeting prior to the event, there did not appear to be any significant opposition to the walk.   No one protested the open carriers.   One of the event participants actively looked for signs in businesses banning guns or open carry.   Here is what was found, reported on the Act 746 facebook page by Keith Youngblood:

I would like to share my observation of the downtown businesses reaction to the Open Carry Walk in Eureka Springs, before, during & after. On Tuesday March 25th I visited more than 170 businesses in the downtown & surrounding areas. I found one “no guns” sign. On the morning of the scheduled Saturday walk I visited the same 170+ businesses & found 14 new signs posted for “no guns”. On the following Monday afternoon I once again visited the same businesses & found that 7 of the 14 signs had been removed. 

In the emergency city council meeting to prevent the walk; a council member said he got 150 signatures from downtown shops. I did not find 150 “no guns” signs in the downtown area. He stated that he had signs in his restaurant for people to place in their shops. I would like to point out that he was one of the 7 that removed his sign.

Also I would like to mention that the local paper did an online survey, “Do you support the open carry walk”. 84.5% (201 votes) said yes. 7.6% (18 votes) said I support gun rights but not this. 8.0% (19 votes) said I think too many people are gun-happy.

 On the day of the walk, less than 10 percent of the businesses posted no gun signs.   On the day after the walk, the number dropped to less than five percent.

It appears that the city council does not have a good understanding of public opinion in the area.  Eureka Springs is said to be one of the most "progressive" areas in the state.

Perhaps the citizens of Eureka Springs have a better understanding of their history than does the City Council.    Eureka Springs was the location of one of the clearest examples of armed citizens stopping crime in the nation's history.  As a tourist town, they should celebrate the events of the attempted bank robbery in 1922, where the townspeople shot, killed and captured all five bank robbers, without a single innocent person being hit.  It sounds like a great tourist draw to me, and an opportunity for a reenactment drama as is done in other places.


  
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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