Megan McArdle points out that folks simultaneously exercising their freedom to assemble, freedom to petition for redress of grievance, and freedom to bear arms are not likely to succeed:
I think carrying guns to protests is entirely counterproductive. Indeed, I’m not sold on the general virtues of protesting, which worked for Gandhi and the civil rights marcher, but has a dismal track record on other concerns. But I think people have a perfect right to do it, including with guns, though I also think the secret service is within its rights to ensure that they don’t have a sight line on the president.
But the hysteria about them has been even more ludicrous. Numerous people claim to believe that this makes it likely, even certain, that someone will shoot at the president. This is very silly, because the president is not anywhere most of the gun-toting protesters, who have showed up at all sorts of events. It is, I suppose, more plausible to believe that they might take a shot at someone else. But not very plausible: the rate of crime associated with legal gun possession or carrying seems to be very low. Guns, it turn out, do not turn ordinary people into murderers. They make murderers more effective.
So perhaps unsurprisingly, when offered the opportunity to put some money down on the proposition that one of these firearms is soon going to be discharged at someone, they all decline.
I have to agree with Megan . . . when I saw the images of individuals attending the protests while openly carrying firearms, I thought it would have a negative effect on the undecided viewer. I’m in favour of all the freedoms: assembly, speech, bearing arms (not a freedom we enjoy in Canada, BTW), but this was an inappropriate time and place to exercise that last freedom. It makes the debate more murky, and allows people to characterize their opponents in ways totally unrelated to the issue being protested.
A political own-goal, as it were.
This is my first time on your blog, and I like what I have seen.
Thanks, first of all, for posting an interesting article.
While I agree that openly carrying firearms to a protest may detract from the ostensible message of the protest, it may be that those protesters actually have a different message they are trying to promote. Perhaps it is merely their goal to proactively ward off the repugnant anti-gun policies adhered to in Canada, as mentioned in the post. Openly carrying firearms to a peaceful protest clearly shows that guns do not automatically incite violence, as many would like to think.
While I do not think that I would personally and openly carry a firearm to an unrelated protest, I do appreciate the effectiveness of doing so – and openly and wholeheartedly would defend my fellow citizens right to do so.
KN
Comment by Kevin — August 26, 2009 @ 21:44
Glad you’ve enjoyed the visit. Hope you come back again!
Perhaps, although I think we disagree about the likely effectiveness of the protest, regardless of the intent: I don’t think they actually achieve very much. I used to go to protests “back in the day”, usually for things like Tax Freedom Day. I doubt that we changed a single person’s mind by our protests.
These days, when I’m not out of town taking a course, I have to pass by the ongoing Tamil protest site in Toronto, opposite the American consulate. Far from making me more sympathetic towards their cause, they’ve actually made me more likely to declare “a pox on both your houses” . . . followed quickly by a “get off my lawn [street]”.
Their right to do so? Yes, absolutely. Whether they’re actually persuading anyone of the justice of their cause . . . not so much.
Comment by Nicholas — August 26, 2009 @ 22:57
Excellent site, keep up the good work
Comment by Bill Bartmann — September 2, 2009 @ 07:37