Man Exercises Open-Carry Rights By Carrying Loaded Assault Rifle In Airport

originally posted by: Shamrock6
Did he point the weapon at anybody? Brandish it in a threatening manner? Or did he simply have it slung the entire time?

Seems to me he had it slung the entire time. Sort of a big difference between open carrying a weapon in a holster or open carrying a weapon slung and not playing with the weapon, and pointing a weapon at people. Whether said weapon is a toy or not isn't really germane. It's a pretty simple concept: carry guns legally and don't play with them and you probably won't get shot. Carry things that look like real weapons and point them at people and you may very well get shot.

Nice job getting all your flag-bait ducks in a row though. Gun rights, race, cops shooting people, or not shooting them as it were. Even managed to bring Islam into it. You must have a hell of a blender

Yes I look at the what happened in the past, how it is dealt with in the present to see if anything had changed and the future to see if anything will change I am kinda like that...stepping back and looking at the whole.

I'm all for freedom of expression and excising one's rights, but I don't see the value in the message being sent when you walk around an airport with an AR.

A holstered sidearm would have sent the same message, so I think this was just for the shock value.

a reply to: Spider879

a serious question :

if " something happened " [ the stated reason for carrying the firearm ] - what good is it actually going to do ?

a reply to: ignorant_ape

What good will open carrying do?

Tell the bad guys who to shoot first.

a reply to: Spider879

Looking at the past to learn from it is great and all.

Until you start trying to live as if it were the past.

It's not 1951. It's 2015. Last I heard anyway.

a reply to: Spider879

There's a big difference between carrying in an airport and a Walmart though. Georgia law is that you can carry on any state property, or state owned area such as MARTA.

Walmart is private property and is allowed to set their own rules. Their rules are no weapons period. Open carry law or not. Yes, he was apparently set up, but the police saw a weapon in an area that you aren't allowed to carry in that case.

In this case, the public area of the airport, where he was, is a legal carry area. He wasn't waving it around, he wasn't threatening anyone with it, and I am willing to bet he was checked at least once.

originally posted by: Argyll
a reply to: Spider879

Some people avoid trouble....others look for it.

I agree, it's like he's saying "look at me, I'm white, a good ole boy member of the NRA, and I support the 2nd amendment so much, that I'm here to scare the S**T out of everybody around me"...."so go ahead and try somethun', I double dare yeah"....YEEEEEEHAAAAAA!!!!!!....that's the image that comes up in my mind.

ok, to all people who carry weapons for protection, especially ones of color, DON'T carry a hidden handgun in your waistband and/or pocket, carry an AR-15, wear a NRA cap, and have on a T-shirt with a confederate flag and an NRA logo above it in bold letters....this is the only way you won't get shot immediately when the police show up, they'll think that you are one of "them", and that will give you time to talk them down from their rage......

originally posted by: ignorant_ape
a reply to: Spider879

a serious question :

if " something happened " [ the stated reason for carrying the firearm ] - what good is it actually going to do ?

Maybe he think he may run into IsIs?? who knows but I know it would cause confusion as to who are the bad guys and the goods guys when the Cops showed, then in that case everybody dies.

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic

originally posted by: KawRider9
Why inject race into this story at all?

Common sense and history tells us that race is an issue. If this guy had been black or Arab, he would be dead.

Now I have a few words about the room-temperature IQ "hero" of our story... It's idiots like this that give rational, reasonable firearm owners a bad name. THIS GUY gives other citizens AND authorities a reason to question if open carry is such a good idea. ‘Something might happen’, all right... He might cause panic and get his head blown off...

Well said! I couldn't have said it better myself. What he did was perfectly legal, but that doesn't mean he SHOULD have done it. People who look for trouble like that DO give others a bad name. What a tard...

Congrats to the cops in this case that didn't shoot a law-abiding citizen. Though I wouldn't have picked an airport to exercise open carry rights. It could have ended tragically for his daughter - the tension must have been pretty high for everyone.

I have to admit it's a little bizarre that you can't carry in Wal-Mart but can carry in an airport. 2nd amendment rights should not end at corporate property lines. Where as Airports would be one exception where I could understand not allowing citizens to carry. Just more proof that our world is screwed up beyond belief.

a reply to: jimmyx

I read an article a few months ago that summed it up quite well. There are two types of people that open carry. The ones that have a reason to, say they work in a field where there are snakes, etc. and the attention whores that think they're Rambo.

The first group carries what they need and doesn't draw attention to the fact that they're carrying. The second carries the biggest gun they can get to show what a badass they are.

a reply to: jimmyx

You forgot the obligatory wave of the cowboy hat and spitting of chewing tobacco after the "YEHAW"

a reply to: Zaphod58

Third group: the ones that try to explain how they haven't had time to get their CCW yet.

Oh. You haven't had time to do something related to your weapon. How awe inspiring confidence building that is to hear from you, sport.

Though I guess most of them fall in the second group you mentioned.

a reply to: peskyhumans

Most airports don't allow you to carry at all. Georgia had some incidents on state owned areas, so passed a law allowing you to carry on any state owned area, including the ticket area of the airport.

a reply to: Spider879

This is not a race issue, this is a common sense issue.

Who takes an AR-15 with a drum mag into a packed airport? That's just asking for trouble no matter what your skin color is.

This dolt has done a huge disservice to the responsible gun owners who have done the right thing...What he did boggles the mind.

originally posted by: Shamrock6
a reply to: ignorant_ape

What good will open carrying do?

Tell the bad guys who to shoot first.

Yes, while open carry is acceptable (even in this case), it is inadvisable. Concealed carry is far more useful as a societal instrument and, as it happens, constitutionally protected under the second amendment.

It's only a matter of time before someone exercising there right to bear arms is shot by someone exercising their right to bear arms.

originally posted by: Spider879

Georgia man wandered around Atlanta airport with a loaded AR-15 because ‘something might happen’

king advantage of his state’s open carry laws, a Georgia man paraded around the Atlanta airport toting a loaded AR-15 simply because he could — alarming police and airport security.

Jim Cooley carried his assault weapon with a 100-round drum attached to it while accompanied by his wife as they dropped their daughter off, alerting the press later after he was stopped multiple times by authorities.

In an interview with WSB-TV, Cooley explained that he knew it was legal to carry the weapon into the airport as long as he didn’t approach any TSA checkpoints, explaining “You can carry in unsecured areas of the airport. Past TSA, never.
www.rawstory.com...

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Now lemme get this straight LOEs shoot and kill unarmed often black males because they thought they could be in danger and BANG! opps ma bad I thought he was packing, or killed some kid playing with a toy within 2sec on arrival after being told that it might be a toy or killing a guy in Walmart within minutes for playing with a toy, in both states open carry is legal but this guy get to wander into an airport with his AR and a 100 round of ammo, now imagine if a swarthy looking guy did the same, I mean a lady of the Islamic faith got refused coke on a United Airline flight because it could be used as a weapon and she could be a terrorist.

Umm this guy didn't "brandish" the weapon, and he also did not commit a crime then run from or attack the police. That is why they did not shoot him. He acted civil and like a human being, not like a thug.

ID

My first thought was, what the hell do you need a 100 rd mag. for?

An AR-15 is, in my experience anyway, a very accurate rifle. If standard mag isn't enough ammunition to hit the target, then maybe, just maybe, you need a bit more practice.

My second thought was, why do this at all? Walking to the store? Fine. Muggings happen all the time. Been there, done that. Dropping your daughter off at the airport? What are the odds of anything untoward happening? I'm thinkin' slim. Not none, mind you, but slim.

Legal, yes. But really, dude? If you want to carry, fine. How about a nice pistol that's a bit less, well, obvious? ...and will do the job just as well?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: jimmyx

I read an article a few months ago that summed it up quite well. There are two types of people that open carry. The ones that have a reason to, say they work in a field where there are snakes, etc. and the attention whores that think they're Rambo.

The first group carries what they need and doesn't draw attention to the fact that they're carrying. The second carries the biggest gun they can get to show what a badass they are.

yup, my dad use to take me gold panning when I was young (12 to 14), when we got to the river or stream we were going to pan in, he would strap on a 357mag nickel-plate S&W revolver, and he would give me a holstered 22LR blue-steel S&W revolver, both of us never had to draw down, but it felt good knowing that we had something just in case. that 22 was just the right size for me, it was solid smooth with no rattle, never hung up at the gun range, and the kick was small, great gun.