What If Ferguson, MO Was an Open Carry Town?

It'd likely be illegal. There are certain situations you can't carry.. courthouses, public gatherings.. etc..

for example.. Alabama law concerning that...

((b) It shall be unlawful for any person, other than a law enforcement officer, to have in his or her possession or on his or her person or in any vehicle any firearm while participating in or attending any demonstration being held at a public place.

I would think most other states have similar laws in place.

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or in any vehicle

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So if you are going to drive from Birmingham to Montgomery for a public demonstration, you can't even have it in your car? I can understand not having it on you at the event, but if you drive and park and then leave the vehicle...

There would be a lot more dead "protesters" if they were packing heat. Some dead cops too, but in a gun fight, the cops will win. Always.

After watching the live feed of the "protest" last night, I've come to the conclusion it's a media generated event at this point. There were nearly as many cameras as there were so-called protestors. And there wasn't really any organization to them, nor were they doing anything but standing and cussing at times.

I find it odd also, that the "protests" come at night time, under the cover of darkness. To me, it looked like a few people, in the crowd and in the press, are just looking for tv time now.

I don't watch network news, be it Fox, CNN, ABC, CBS or NBC.

eta- watching the link you provided.. everything I stated was accurate to the T.

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I honestly don't know where Spleen is headed with the thread

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It's just a hypothetical scenario. Just curious how others think the response would be were Ferguson an open carry town, didn't have a similar law to the one Alahunter cited, and many of the protesters were openly carrying. And when I say response, I mean the response from all parties. The police, the left-leaning media, the right-leaning media, the average Joe sitting at home/work posting on discussion boards, etc.

Oh, no. Journos aren't the story in Ferguson. But in the last two hours of MSNBC, people throwing rocks at @chrislhayes has been the lead.

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The police, the left-leaning media, the right-leaning media, the average Joe sitting at home/work posting on discussion boards, etc.

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For the police and the average Joe (not the true believers on both ends, the real average Joe), it will simply come down to the behavior of the crowd. It really is that simple. Non-violent protesters being respectful of other's property wouldn't raise an eyebrow.

The media would almost certainly spin it to pander to their audience. Left leaning would paint them as standing up for their rights against oppression and right leaning would paint them as an armed powderkeg waiting to explode. In a nutshell, it would be exactly opposite from the way 2nd Amendment rallies are painted today.

This is a good time to point out that anyone thinking the media of today is somehow different than it used to be should study history. They like to portray themselves as the fifth estate that oversees our freedom, but they've never been anything more than a for profit business doing what for-profit businesses do.

We went to war with Spain in good part because of William Randolph Hurst and Joseph Pulitzer's newspapers and it is no different today. They're going to write the story in the way that generates the most revenue. Whether or not it is true and accurate is nothing more than a passing concern.

I think if Ferguson was an open carry town, some type of order or ordinance would have been passed temporarily suspending the allowance. I think the left would immediately cry that the ordinance would be because most of the open carry residents were black, and the the traditional gun-rights zealots on the right would be curiously silent on the issue. Neither side seeing the hypocrisy in their position.

Sure there would be hypocrisy. There always is, particularly from the extremes but again the reaction from the average citizen would be based on the behavior of those carrying.

Once again, I'll go back to the tea party rallies. Lots of guns but no violence, no problems, so no big fuss.

Aside from those who are anti-gun or blatant racists, the way in which those possessing weapons conduct themselves would be the major determining factor in how their possession of those weapons is viewed.

As far as 'suspending' any open carry rights, I don't know Missouri law but such a thing wouldn't be possible in Alabama. Authority to regulate firearms rests solely with the state. Further, simply taking them in the name of public safety is risking a huge lawsuit after NOPD/Katrina and the subsequent Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act.