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March 2nd, 2009, 05:33 PM #1
Second Amendment Task Force schedules ‘open carry’ days
Nice Reading about ALASKA gun owners supporting their rights with direct action. note the police chief comments
http://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/f...rt-gun-rights/
Fairbanks group will bare arms to support gun rights
Second Amendment Task Force schedules ‘open carry’ days
FAIRBANKS — A growing group of Fairbanks gun rights activists will show their support for the Second Amendment today by openly carrying guns.
“We’re going to have an open carry day,” Schaeffer Cox, unofficial leader of the Second Amendment Task Force, said Thursday.
Members of the task force, which he called a “movement” more than a group or organization, will be displaying their firearms openly across Alaska’s second largest city on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for the next two weeks, Cox said.
“There’s a social stigma that only cops and robbers have guns,” Cox said. “The truth is everybody is packing but nobody knows it because we keep it concealed.”
Cox said he expects about 500 gun owners in and around Fairbanks to participate. The idea sprouted at the group’s last meeting on Monday at Friends Community Church. The gathering attracted a crowd of more than 600 supporters, Cox said.
Fairbanks police Chief Dan Hoffman doesn’t have a problem with gun owners displaying their Second Amendment rights around town.
“There’s no law that prohibits a citizen in the state of Alaska from carrying an open, legal firearm,” Hoffman said. “It’s perfectly legal.”
Hoffman suspects the movement is a result of the election of President Barack Obama, a Democrat whom gun rights activists worry will crack down on gun ownership.
“I think there’s a lot of fear and concern out there with the new presidential administration that gun ownership and Second Amendment rights are going to come under attack,” Hoffman said.
The Second Amendment Task Force was not formed specifically as a result of Obama’s election or a bill — House Resolution 45 — that was introduced in Congress last month and would require a federal or state license to own a gun, among other things, Cox said.
“HB 45 is just one bill,” he said. “This would be an overreaction to HB 45.”
Rather, the movement was spawned from an “ongoing encroachment on the right to bear arms,” said the 24-year-old Cox, who unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the state legislature in November. “It’s a general trend that has been a long time building that has picked up momentum lately.
“It’s definitely not a partisan issue in terms of Democrat or Republican,” he said. “It’s not right versus left. It’s the state versus you.”
The task force hosted its first meeting at Denny’s two weeks ago and about 150 people showed up, even though the meeting wasn’t publicly advertised, Cox said.
From there the movement has snowballed. About 600 people attended a second meeting on Monday, Cox said. He described the crowd as “regular old Alaskans” concerned about their rights.
“There’s a lot of volatile feelings behind this issue,” he said.
As the impromptu leader of the movement, Cox said he’s simply trying to harness the energy behind it in a reasonable but demonstrative way.
“We talked about what’s the proper response for the average wholesome, regular guy,” Cox said. “Someone at the meeting said, ‘Hey, let’s all carry openly.’”
“People were just looking for some leadership on that and that’s what I tried to give them,” he said. “There’s a lot of people just ready to pull the trigger. I have to try to lead those kind of people to understand the importance of temperance.”
The decision to display guns publicly is “kind of a word of mouth thing,” Cox said. “I think it will catch on pretty fast.”
The task force’s next meeting is March 5 at Friends Community Church. Cox said he’s hoping to put together a panel of people ranging from law enforcement and the military to state government and the judicial branch to answer questions about Second Amendment rights.
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March 2nd, 2009, 05:42 PM #2Grand Member
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Re: Second Amendment Task Force schedules ‘open carry’ days
In before the OC bashing starts.
Sounds like something we need to do in PA!!!!!!!!!!!
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March 2nd, 2009, 07:22 PM #3Banned
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Re: Second Amendment Task Force schedules ‘open carry’ days
How about the city of Reading. 25th most dangerous place in the US, and one of those PA cities that enacted an illegal gun law about reporting lost or stolen firearms within 72 hours. Also, reading has a no firearms in parks ordinance, clearly posted on all park signs.
Seems like a good city to do the event. Maybe an OC walk/fundraiser around town.
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March 2nd, 2009, 07:27 PM #4
Re: Second Amendment Task Force schedules ‘open carry’ days
I was in Reading not to long ago, it is a lovely city to carry a firearm in! I think that's the nicest way i can put it.
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March 2nd, 2009, 07:30 PM #5Grand Member
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Re: Second Amendment Task Force schedules ‘open carry’ days
I understand there are some cities that are rough, but we need to focus on a state level, the entire state.
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March 2nd, 2009, 07:38 PM #6Senior Member
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Re: Second Amendment Task Force schedules ‘open carry’ days
My vote would be for Harrisburg. After all, it is the capitol and the place where our elected officials are supposed to represent us.
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March 2nd, 2009, 07:44 PM #7
Re: Second Amendment Task Force schedules ‘open carry’ days
How about open carry day June 6 in Harrisburg. It should be warm enough for shirt sleeves or "T" shirts.
USNRET '61-'81
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March 2nd, 2009, 07:56 PM #8
Re: Second Amendment Task Force schedules ‘open carry’ days
Why pick a city? Why not assign a date and all of Pa. is open carry?
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March 2nd, 2009, 07:59 PM #9Banned
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Re: Second Amendment Task Force schedules ‘open carry’ days
Well said.
What I like about doing it in a city like Reading, Allentown, Lancaster, State College, Scranton is population and press. Everyday someone is on the steps of the capital in Harrisburg about something. A sizable event of 100+ in one of the mentioned cities will get a a lot of press and the local law makers will have no choice but to notice. After all, all politics are local. Reading has a very active and very anti gun owner mayor and Police Chief. Its ever rising crime rate and its inability to effectively police its streets make a prime case study in what can happen when you disarm the law abiding public and let the criminal element run free. I can't speak for the other places but I am betting it's much the same.
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March 2nd, 2009, 08:02 PM #10Grand Member
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