Maryland Antis voice their misconceptions... proving my point to the wife!

[87th PVI]

Despite my distaste for Marylanders...The wife & I were on an excursion to Annapolis this weekend.
Now don't get me wrong, Maryland has a rich history and great seafood, but it seems to me that possibly the mercury in the fish has made them forget the teachings of their forefathers and had an effect on their reasoning skills.
We had a nice time touring the colonial sites and visiting museums. I really really did miss my Ruger though, and there were a few times on the streets where my wife said she felt a little uncomfortable about the looks of this person or that person.

Saturday evening, we had dinner at a very nice resturaunt called Reynolds Tavern. Seated at the next table were two women and a man who looked to be in their mid sixties to early seventies.
I tend to be one who is normally aware of the actions and conversations going on around me but this conversation was louder than normal so I had no choice but to hear it.
It started with one of them bringing up the NY shooting. Then the loud woman said that the shooter had used legally purchased guns.
(I personally haven't followed the story very closely because I've been working alot & then went away for the weekend to immerse myself in history & forget about work and current events)
Their conversation continued with the man asking if he had a permit for them & the woman saying that she heard that you don't need a permit to buy a gun & that is just crazy that someone can buy a gun without a permit.
The guy said he thought you need a permit to buy a gun and one to carry it.
She told him that you need a permit to carry one but not to buy one. She went on to state that the reason you don't need a permit to buy it is because they have that waiting period while they check you out and make sure you don't have a record.
THEN the other woman said well I don't see why anyone would need a gun anyway! To this the first woman replied, "It's that second ammendment thing..." rolls her eyes, and goes on to say, "don't they realize that was only for the militias?"
I was about to throw up my shepards pie! (& was readying myself to get up & head for her lap if I felt the launch countdown start!)

The louder woman then says that "they proposed a law to have everyone turn in their guns & can you believe that Congress voted it down!?" To which the other two in her party shook their heads in disbelief!

Their conversation then moved on to other topics and my wife was sitting there talking me down as my blood pressure was about to cause a geiser out of both ears. I wanted to go over & have a seat at their table soooo bad! I found myself wishing I had a pamphlet along to at least lay on their table as we departed. But hey, I was in MD... no one was going to spark up a gun conversation with me because I wasn't OCing, hell Thanks to the legislators who don't have any regard for their forefathers and the second ammendment, I wasn't CCing either! So why would I possibly need a right to carry pamphlet?
Thanks to my wife keeping me in my seat, my good upbringing where my momma taught me it'd be impolite to just impose myself into their dinner conversation, the 1st Ammendment which I respect (regardless of their lack of respect for the 2A) and my lack of a right to carry pamphlet at the time... I just finished my meal & went about my business, hard as it was to do so.
My wife calmed me a little by saying this will give you something to talk about with your PAFOA buddies
Yes some of you will chastize me for not confronting them, but I was in a very nice place, I hadn't followed the NY shooting much at all, I'm no expert on MD & NY gun laws, I was trying to enjoy a nice weekend with the wife, I had no flyer and it was a different state anyway so PA laws didn't apply to them in MD, and one conversation isn't going to change a mind that has been engrained with misconceptions for 60+ years... so I just let it go.

I did use it as an example to the wife as to why I do not like spending money in MD. Why would anyone want to spend money in a local economy that supports that kind of mindset?
We went into VA on Sunday and only returned to MD in order to drive thru the Godforsaken place so we could return home!
Once over the border and back in a state that cares about liberty, I stopped at the rest stop in Shrewsbury to use the facilities... The first thing I saw was a sign that said:
"Smile. You're in Pennsylvania. State of Independence."
I thought, "Ain't that the Truth!"

[autotech6506]

I grew up in maryland so naturally I had no experience with guns at all. Once I moved to PA and got educated about guns I got a couple. If your not raised around a gun culture like we have here in PA you naturally become ignorant of all issues gun. Thats just how it is. It's not their fault, but it's our duty to educate them if we can. Otherwise, how else will they know?

I gotta say I would have had a hard time keeping my cool with those people next to me too. you did a good job

[knight0334]

LOL @ the signs..

Years ago there use to be a sign at the PA-NJ line as you crossed the Delaware into PA that read "America Starts Here".

[1911shooter]

You handled it way beterr then i would have, i would not have been able to keep my mouth shut on this as i have been in MD before and every time i go to that god awful state all i can think of is that NJ and MD should be moved off into the atlantic and left to be ruled by their ignorant, anti american bureacrats, without affecting the rest of the nation that is more grounded in there belifes, aside from Kilafornia.

[XD40coyote]

I would have started to loudly talk about how if I was present at some place in PA that some maniac starts shooting up, that I would save the anti gun people about to be shot, by drawing my legally carried pistol I have trained with, and engaging the crazy shooter. Then say even more loudly, that it's too bad I couldn't do that in MD, so I guess the nut just gets to kill everyone instead and the cops can mop the mess up later.

BTW you can always wear an empty holster openly in MD. I'm even thinking an obvious toy gun to be placed into it. Makes a statement,yes? Maybe with a t-shirt that says front and back that " Maryland won't allow me to protect myself properly, while 40 other states do" or something like that, with MDshallissue.org also on the shirt. Now if you want to hear silly, there was a discussion at MDshooters.com about a long gun OC gathering LOL, and I suggested Towson LMAO. Yes long gun OC is legal in MD, in some manner or another, plus OC of single blade edged large knives and swords is also legal!

[Shuey134]

I was born and raised in Maryland, ironically my father was born and raised in PA, moving there when he graduated school. He brought me up around guns, only getting to shoot them when I came to PA.

He also hates MD and can't wait to retire and move back up here. I'll show him that pic of the MD state sign, he'll get a kick out of it.

[Sebastian]

I think you did the right thing by not inserting yourself into the conversation. The only way people like that get reached is by knowing someone who shoots, and who is normal and responsible. This kind of attitude thrives in places like New York, Chicago, and where you were in Maryland, because none of the people know anyone who owns a gun, carries, or shoots. It's foreign to them, and the only exposure they have to it are through the media and TV.

[wa3ra]

I was making several large all-cash deposits a day in MD, and was robbed at gunpoint once, and thwarted a second.

Insufficient need, denied. My ass!

[TinGLOCK]

Great post. I drive between CT and VA now and then (I go the long way). On my way back to VA, I'm never comfortable until I see sign in the first photo you posted.

[GunLawyer001]

The appropriate response to dimwitted elderly folks babbling about issues of which they are totally ignorant, is to loudly complain about "all those old parasites on Social Security". Blandly tell your companions that your grandpa worked until he died and there's no reason that these lazy old coots should sponge off the working people, that they are stealing money from young people who still have a reason to live. Say that you're in favor of stopping all Social Security payments at age 70, because that's long enough for anyone to live.

That sometimes will cause the other conversation to get off of guns.