MA: Where lack of Open Carry Leads

In some countries, such as Israel and Switzerland, it is common to see people walking around with slung military rifles.  No one except tourists pay much attention.  The United States is split.  In areas where the gun culture is entrenched and accepted (most of the land area of the U.S.) nobody pays much attention, but it is more unusual than in Switzerland.  In areas where the gun culture is reviled by the local powers that be, it can land you in trouble. 

There are five states that ban the open carry of firearms in most public places.  They  are are New York, Illinois, California, Florida, and South Carolina.  Texas just changed their law about openly carrying modern handguns, but it will not go into effect until 1 January, 2016.  Some states, while it is legal to openly carry with a permit, such as New Jersey and Massachusetts, administratively make it difficult to do so without provoking the ire of the authorities. 

When the right is unused, it withers away and eventually becomes inoperative.  A classic case of how far we have dumbed down as a society is illustrated by this event in Massachusetts, where a punk rocker was arrested for wearing a fake ammunition belt.  

Even if the ammo had been "live", there is no law against carrying it.  Anyone with the slightest knowledge of firearms knows that the ammunition by itself, is harmless.  From the picture, it is clear that young man is not carrying an M60 machine gun, that the ammunition belt would feed. 

Here is what his attire resulted in.   From Boston Police Department news:

At about 4:20 PM on Friday July 10, 2015, officers assigned to District D-14 (Brighton) responded to a call for a person with a gun on an MBTA bus in the area of Cambridge and Harvard Streets. Officers learned that the driver had pulled the bus over as passengers began calling 911 when a male suspect boarded the bus with what appeared to be military grade ammunition strapped around his waist. The driver stated that the passengers were in a panic, fearing that the suspect was about to pull out a weapon. The suspect, later identified as Kevin Young, 26, of Watertown, exited the bus and was stopped by police on Penniman Road at which time it was discovered that the ammunition was fake. Officers recovered 69 replica bullets in all. The suspect was wearing what was described as spiked fighting gloves and spiked leather bracelets.

The suspect was placed in custody and will appear in Brighton District Court on charges of Unlawful Possession of Ammunition, Unlawfully Carried Dangerous Weapon and Disorderly Conduct.

Wiser heads prevailed.  The charges were dropped, according to myfoxboston.com:

“Based on the totality of circumstances, however, including confirmation that the cartridges on said belt could not and weren't intended to be fired, prosecutors dismissed the charges at arraignment in Brighton Municipal Court,” the Suffolk County District Attorney said.

That is where the unwillingness to exercise your rights leads.  Eventually, the public is so brainwashed by the lack of exposure, that it succumbs to the ever present propaganda of the disarmist news organizations.   Imagine "people panicking" over someone wearing an ammunition belt, fake or real.   As some have noted, this sort of dress was quite common in the 1980's.   From mediaequalizer.com:

In other words, Young dressed like millions of guys did in 1982, but nobody ever thought to call the police on that basis alone.

The prosecutor likely cut the losses, but it might be hoped that Kevin Young, the man in the ammo belt, would seek out a lawyer for a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action based on false arrest.  As open carriers all over the country have found, if you want to exercise your rights, you have to be willing to enforce them, at least until the police are educated.

  Definition of  disarmist 

 ©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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