2nd Annual Patriots' Day Walk

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Molon Labe

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Yesterday we had the 2nd Annual Patriots' Day Walk.

When: Saturday April 18th between 10:30 AM and 1:00 PM.

Where: Downtown Urbana, Ohio.

Why: To celebrate freedom and exercise the right to keep and bear arms.

Last year's walk:

http://www.patriotsdaywalk.blogspot.com/

Last year's "open carry" walk was fun and inspiring and was expanded this year with the inclusion of long guns. All long guns were inspected prior to walk to make sure they were unloaded, with detachable magazines removed and open bolt / open chamber indicator flags installed. Loaded handguns were O.K., as long as they stayed holstered.

After the walk we ate at The Family Diner Restaurant for lunch. After lunch we went back to our place to shoot on the firing range.

Pics: http://tinyurl.com/cwdjd4
Pics and Movies: http://tinyurl.com/cuubhp
News Story: http://tinyurl.com/cktbsp

Residents march with firearms in downtown Urbana

Updated 10:37 PM Saturday, April 18, 2009

URBANA — Ruth Helms' jaw dropped just a little as she sat in a barber shop in downtown Urbana and a small parade of armed men and women walked past the business.

In order to raise awareness about Ohio's gun laws, a group of about 30 men, women and children celebrated their right to bear arms Saturday, April 18.

Thomas Horch, who organized the Patriots' Day Open Carry Walk, said the walk was designed to educate people about gun rights in Ohio. For about an hour, the small group walked through downtown Urbana carrying rifles and handguns. The rifles were not loaded, and the handguns were holstered at all times, Horch said. Authorities were also notified about the walk in advance.

"We just want to exercise our liberties," said Michael Craft of St. Paris. "It's more of a celebration. It's not a protest or anything."

Joseph Ponikvar traveled all the way from Cleveland to join in the walk. He said he wanted to show his support for Ohio’s open carry laws. He said he is also trying to organize a rally on May 30 in Cleveland. Ponikvar said he believes it is actually safer to carry guns openly as opposed to concealed carry laws.

"I personally don’t like concealed carry unless you have to do it," he said.

Horch said the walk has grown a little since last year, when about 15 people showed up. This year, the figure roughly doubled, he said. Those who attended the walk were not required to carry a firearm.

Horch said the walk, which was in its second year this year, would be an annual event in Urbana.
 
A great idea, but some of the people in the picture look too stereotypical/counter productive to me. The abundance of camo, NRA hats, Viet Nam vet apparel, and in-your-face "I'm a super patriot!" flags, signs, and shirts seem like they would turn off the very people we want to convert. If we want guns and carrying to be just an average part of every day life, we need to be subtle about it. Not subtle in the sense of not having an open carry walk at all, but I think the people in it should dress normally, talk normally, and leave the flags, signs and rifles at home. We WANT people to think of carrying a firearm as a boring, subdued, normal thing. The people in the pictures seem to be presenting themselves as far from normal and every-day as they can.

I happen to open carry almost every day. But when I do, I make a point to wear nice clothes like polos and khakis, be clean shaven, and use sir and maam more often than usual. My goal is to make people think "what a nice young man" long before the though of my firearm enters their head. IMO, that is how you get people to warm up to the idea, not in a confrontational "we're here, get used to it" way.
 
Ragnar:

Some were dressed conservatively. And then some were wearing a "Molon Labe" shirts and waving "Liberty or Death" flags.

We did not discriminate based on dress. As long as they were being peaceful and polite, we did not care. We got lots of positive feedback from the citizens, so I don't think they cared either. It was a celebration of liberty, and we would not have cared if someone had showed up dressed like Rambo and sporting a purple mowhawk.
 
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A little judgemental aren't we? You can't be an advocate for your RKBA unless you're in a polo? ( I know you didn't say exactly that, but close enough for me.)

I'm a Tshirt and jeans guy. And I'm also a "send the world a message guy" - meaning if I'm wearing a shirt, it's probably got a message on it. I like bumper stickers that say something important. That's just me. And polo's and clean-cut might be just you - and that's fine - I don't judge you for that. So, maybe you shouldn't judge people that don't dress like you to be counter-productive to the total cause of RKBA?

I sometimes fly my Gadsden from the back of my truck. It's a large, 3 X 5 flag, and def. not a subtle message to the people that see it. I think it's important to let people know that they aren't alone, and that they don't have to be afraid to support their Right to Liberty. Paul Revere wasn't subtle. John Adams, not subtle. Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, nope.
If you don't feel comfortable wearing your patriotism on your sleeve, that's ok with me...but I don't think that gives you the right to assume every citizen that makes their stand for Liberty in an outward, "on-your-sleeve" way is doing it to "prove" anything to anyone. If we could do this in GA, I'd organize one ASAP. The law here says you can't carry at public gatherings( we're trying to change that), and this would qualify as such an event. But, as for the event pictured here, I don't see anything wrong with it. Asking for everyone to be in suits, polos and dress slacks is like asking for liberals to show up at a Tea Party. Not gonna happen. If you think that the only people who know how to defend our RKBA are "clean-cut" or whatever, I've got news for ya. :)

And if no one had signs, flags, etc. how would the general public know what was going on? Sounds like from the article some didn't know what was being done with the flags there. Take the symbols of Liberty away, and they'll just assume there's a posse on the march. :) LOL
You know, the more I think about it the more I question why anyone wouldn't want to make as big a stand for Liberty as they could. ( Reminds me that I need to put out the Bonnie Blue today here at the house since it's stopped raining...)

I'm doing my part to raise awareness and fight for our rights. My ways are not better than yours, only different. Maybe you could cut your fellow patriots some slack, or maybe you need to get to know some folks that don't own polos and khakis? Just because I may look like Grizzly Adams and have a "Come and Take It" decal on my truck, doesn't mean I'm not one of the good guys.

just saying. :)
 
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The abundance of camo...seem like they would turn off the very people we want to convert.
I've looked at the photos several times and I don't see even one person with camo, so where did you get "abundance" from?. You exaggerate more than the media. And it's no big deal if they did. People wear camo as a fashion and some hunters wear it 365.
 
This is a neat event and should be done all across the county.

I don't see any camo in the pics. either
But even if there was.
Is camo now suppose to be the attire worn by extremist?
If so we are in bad shape. The military wears camo. lol

Note to all the extremists:
From now on, all must wear polo shirts
that say Down With The Constitution.
(That will get them scratching their heads) :)

I support our freedoms and I hope others do too.
 
Why would you celebrate Patriots' Day if you had to all look the same:rolleyes:?

Patriot's Day is a day to express the 2nd Amendment Freedom which has all types of people;).

I would bet there's alot of different types of people out there who supports the 2A and they all don't wear a suit or have the same education as others:D!

It doesn't add up to me on making everybody look the same that doesn't make a person a better polite person for the 2A or for that fact a safer person in society:rolleyes:!

All well that's one's opinion to anothers, I can respect anothers if they respect mine:neener:.

IMO, I think it's great that others got out and took a stand for Liberty and guns owners right's. I sure don't see alot of others doing the same these days!:)

All I hear or see is people doing nothing but complaining like usually and expecting others to stand up for their Freedoms.:fire::cuss::banghead::mad:

How many other Patriots' Day Walks
have you seen out there none that I can recall!:confused:

I say good for the ones who really apprecaite in having right's as the
2nd Amendment.:)

Only in the USA.

888
 
Message issues:

1. Title of the event: "Patriot's Day." You can't be a patriot if you're not marching down the street with guns? The strategy of saying "We're the patriots (and therefore you're not)" has a recent political history. The results were not only divisive, but also ultimately disastrous for the political party that used this strategy.

2. Optics. Let's see...armed men marching down the street waving the "Don't Tread on Me" flag. Possible messages this sends to the neutral observer: We're angry, we're armed, and you'd better watch out. Times are desperate and we're one step away from armed revolution. We can't wait until we get to act like the real Minutemen and start shooting people to defend freedom. We're so clueless about what guns mean that we think you'll be pleased to see an armed gang marching through your town.

Mitigating factors: It's a relatively small group and there are few observers.
 
OK, so those holding the Gadsden Flag Be unarmed and those Armed carry a Standard US Flag! Its a Symbol of Unity, Values and Patriotism, Versions of it was used Before and After the " American Revolution " !
 
Let's see...armed men marching down the street waving the "Don't Tread on Me" flag. Possible messages this sends to the neutral observer: We're angry, we're armed, and you'd better watch out

Bingo.

There is a stereotype of gun owners as crazy overzealous rednecks who do nothing but scream about government oppression and revolution while training in the woods to blow up federal buildings.

However inaccurate that stereotype may be, you can choose to dress and act the part if you want. I choose to be as far from that as I can. When I open carry, my number one goal is to be everything regular people DON'T expect from a gun owner. Unfortunately, others seem to fall into at least the image of the stereotype too well. And I think it harms our cause. The bottom line is, walking down main street with a tactical rifle a flag of the revolution is not winning over any soccer moms or officer worker dads. You are becoming what they fear and turning them away. It's your choice, but don't think your helping them think gun owners are normal people just like them.

Example, a normal non-zealous environmentally conscious person might recycle their cans and paper and turn off their lights when they're not using them because it saves $$. And then there are the Greenpeace college-hippie protesters.... These kind of parades are our version of Greenpeace. It may make us feel good and patriotic to participate in, and it may be an honorable thing that lines up with our core values, but please don't delude yourself into thinking most normal people don't view it as crazy right-wingers being angry.

You're all ripping on me like I'm the one looking on this kind of image with disdain. That's not the case. I'm warning you that regular people will and do look on this type of image with disdain. Whether you think that will help our cause or not is up to you.

Public relations = image, image, and more image.
 
How about the promotion of the Constitution as a whole? I'm as gung-ho on the 2nd as anyone. But I'm also rabid about the other 26. So many didn't care about warrant-less wire taps even though they clearly violated the 4th Amendment. How many support GITMO which clearly violates the 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments? How many called anti-war protesters un-American even thought they were exercising their 1st Amemndment rights? Whatever happened to "I disagree with what you say but I will fight to the death to defend your right to say it."??????What good is spreading our ideals if we don't even follow them ourselves? So if you're going to wave the flag and call yourself a patriot you better fight for more than just the 2nd Amendment.
 
SomeDude: "How about the promotion of the Constitution as a whole? I'm as gung-ho on the 2nd as anyone. But I'm also rabid about the other 26. So many didn't care about warrant-less wire taps even though they clearly violated the 4th Amendment. How many support GITMO which clearly violates the 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments? How many called anti-war protesters un-American even thought they were exercising their 1st Amemndment rights? Whatever happened to "I disagree with what you say but I will fight to the death to defend your right to say it."??????What good is spreading our ideals if we don't even follow them ourselves? So if you're going to wave the flag and call yourself a patriot you better fight for more than just the 2nd Amendment."

I'm about to go WAY off topic with this one, but GITMO didn't/doesn't really violate the Constitution, or Geneva for that matter. Here's why: for Geneva to apply to you, you have to meet some requirements such as
a) be fighting for a country/government (NOT an org like Al Qaida)
b) you have to be IN uniform
Historically, those caught not in uniform were considered spies and shot on the spot. Some dude shooting at U.S. troops in Afghanistan has no rights under Geneva and the U.S. Constitution doesn't apply to him either (he's not a U.S. citizen and not even in the U.S.). He might fall under some Afghan law, but that'd be his only legal standing.

To sum up, we're being very nice by treating them as POWs and not shooting them on the spot or throwing them into some God forsaken Afghan prison hell hole. Oh, and you hold POWs until the war is over. So when the other side surrenders, that's when those guys can go ...

As to protests, anti-war or otherwise, those are very much American as long as you don't pull a Hanoi Jane. It's one thing to protest in front of the White House, quite another to go to the country that we're fighting and do PR for them.

Sorry for going so off topic, it just annoys me when someone seems to think that prisoners from our current war somehow have rights under the U.S. Constitution.
 
A great idea, but some of the people in the picture look too stereotypical/counter productive to me. The abundance of camo, NRA hats, Viet Nam vet apparel, and in-your-face "I'm a super patriot!" flags, signs, and shirts seem like they would turn off the very people we want to convert.

What the hell do you mean.......Viet Nam vet apparel. Thats what makes America great, we are allowed to demonstrate on the street and dress as we please. That veteran fought to allow the people to be able to demonstrate and to wear whatever they so desire. Yes, they have the right to a say "I'm a super patriot". Are you a veteran??????
 
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