OC in Ann Arbor, MI

[BerettaRogue]

When I first joined this site, it was right after the Dickson City incident, and I was in the process of getting my CPL. The members of PAFOA have been a huge inspiration to me. Building off that, I decided to join in and take action. After I got involved with OCDO's Michigan group, I learned that we occasionally had picnic get-togethers and other such outings. This seemed like the perfect way for me to get started in OC activism.

Being a U of M student, I thought that I might as well throw the picnic in my own town. What's more, you will not find a worse den of liberalism and craziness outside of Berkley than Ann Arbor. I started out with making a thread on OCDO, and picking a date. Since I had a good pro-2A contact in in the AAPD, I decided let him know that I would be holding the picnic in a park on the north side of town. He passed the info on to the higher ups, and I got a call from them as well. Basically the PD was much more facilitating than I expected. They told me that we would be left alone, but they would have to drive by every time they got a call, just to make sure it wasn't something unrelated to our meeting. Now that I think if it, that was probably BS, and I'll be FOIAing all the 911 calls for the day to check. The one thing I did have a problem with was they said that they might want to check some registrations (which we have in MI), and I told them that would be a very bad idea, as no one there would consent to that search, and it would just lead to trouble. The Deputy Chief (who I was the one to call me back) just kinda accepted that and changed the subject. I sent out press releases to all the local media as well.

The picnic itself was very successful. About 30 to 40 people showed, 3 newspapers came by, and several people who had seen an announcement in the Ann Arbor News the day before were in attendance, some of them OCing for the first time. The police drove by several times, and about 3 hours into it, they drove up to the shelter to talk to us, and possibly to try to hurry us along. We actually just BSed with them for an hour or two, and even got them to pose for a photo.

Following the picnic, 8 of us walked downtown for some cigars and ciggys. We smoked and had some smoothies outside a cafe/deli right on state street, which is immediately across from the Diag, the core of campus. Some looks, not too many, but there were a few who looked just shocked.

All in all, everything went great. I got a bit of hatemail from a few people, but hey, can't please everyone. Here's the articles:

Local paper, and on the front page:http://www.mlive.com/annarbornews/ne...or_picnic.html (I look like a total tool in that pic)

Student paper (front page as well): http://www.michigandaily.com/content/2008-10-13/guns

Online local paper, which I think was the best of the articles: http://annarborchronicle.com/2008/10...c-in-the-park/

Here's some of the photos that we took: http://public.fotki.com/opencarry/ann-arbor-picnic/

And our nice visitors:








So thank you, PAFOA, for inspiring this. The movement spreads.

[imperialism2024]

Nice going. Looks like you got some LEOs open carrying there too.

[edstephan]

Congrats on a sucessful event. Open Carry On
Ed

[knighthawk06699]

Well done, nice to see the LEO's being very very cool. Well done. Carry on and be safe.

P.S. Love the Glocks!!!!!

[BerettaRogue]

I'm the one with the revolver in the flap holster, by the way. Funds are tight at the moment...

I'll be getting some other gear later.

[w1cked]

Congrats friend. OCing in a pretty liberal city definitely takes some resolve. On a similar note, I ran into a city cop at the range and had a little chat about OC/CC. I asked him what his response would be to getting calls about OC. He said he'd ask for LTCF and ask politely to cover up, and bid adieu. Pretty cool cop, seemed to realize that you can't cite or order to cover up or anything.

[VeryPrivate]

When I went there, U of M was the liberal center of the universe. I am surprised several groups didn't try to stage a counter demonstration claiming your display of firearms was sexist, racist, anti-gay. I my day the idiots even protested allowing the university police to have firearms and were quite disturbed that they would be issued ammunition that was designed to kill people.

[BerettaRogue]

When I went there, U of M was the liberal center of the universe. I am surprised several groups didn't try to stage a counter demonstration claiming your display of firearms was sexist, racist, anti-gay. I my day the idiots even protested allowing the university police to have firearms and were quite disturbed that they would be issued ammunition that was designed to kill people.

It still is. The funny thing is, the picture and blurb in the Daily was right next to an article about a candlelight vigil for victims of anti-gay violence. I thought that I could be offering a solution to anyone who felt their safety threatened for whatever reason. If these poor young gay people who were killed and beaten were armed, they might not have needed that vigil.

[bgeddes]

WOW!! Hard to believe from Ann Arbor!! I grew up not far from there and the family still has farm on Platt Road. This kind of thing used to go over like a lead balloon. Glad to see it worked out for you.

B. Geddes

[fingers80002]

When I first joined this site, it was right after the Dickson City incident, and I was in the process of getting my CPL. The members of PAFOA have been a huge inspiration to me. Building off that, I decided to join in and take action. After I got involved with OCDO's Michigan group, I learned that we occasionally had picnic get-togethers and other such outings. This seemed like the perfect way for me to get started in OC activism.

Being a U of M student, I thought that I might as well throw the picnic in my own town. What's more, you will not find a worse den of liberalism and craziness outside of Berkley than Ann Arbor. I started out with making a thread on OCDO, and picking a date. Since I had a good pro-2A contact in in the AAPD, I decided let him know that I would be holding the picnic in a park on the north side of town. He passed the info on to the higher ups, and I got a call from them as well. Basically the PD was much more facilitating than I expected. They told me that we would be left alone, but they would have to drive by every time they got a call, just to make sure it wasn't something unrelated to our meeting. Now that I think if it, that was probably BS, and I'll be FOIAing all the 911 calls for the day to check. The one thing I did have a problem with was they said that they might want to check some registrations (which we have in MI), and I told them that would be a very bad idea, as no one there would consent to that search, and it would just lead to trouble. The Deputy Chief (who I was the one to call me back) just kinda accepted that and changed the subject. I sent out press releases to all the local media as well.

The picnic itself was very successful. About 30 to 40 people showed, 3 newspapers came by, and several people who had seen an announcement in the Ann Arbor News the day before were in attendance, some of them OCing for the first time. The police drove by several times, and about 3 hours into it, they drove up to the shelter to talk to us, and possibly to try to hurry us along. We actually just BSed with them for an hour or two, and even got them to pose for a photo.

Following the picnic, 8 of us walked downtown for some cigars and ciggys. We smoked and had some smoothies outside a cafe/deli right on state street, which is immediately across from the Diag, the core of campus. Some looks, not too many, but there were a few who looked just shocked.

All in all, everything went great. I got a bit of hatemail from a few people, but hey, can't please everyone. Here's the articles:

Local paper, and on the front page:http://www.mlive.com/annarbornews/ne...or_picnic.html (I look like a total tool in that pic)

Student paper (front page as well): http://www.michigandaily.com/content/2008-10-13/guns

Online local paper, which I think was the best of the articles: http://annarborchronicle.com/2008/10...c-in-the-park/

Here's some of the photos that we took: http://public.fotki.com/opencarry/ann-arbor-picnic/

And our nice visitors:








So thank you, PAFOA, for inspiring this. The movement spreads.

Congrats!!!!!!!