Holland&Holland wrote:I frankly find the behavior disturbing of those who have stated that they indeed carried when it clearly was posted. What message are you sending to those who would take our rights away? If you do not like the terms, then do not participate. I can and do support an ethos of not supporting business that post, that is how you make your statement.
When this topic came up last time--when a cop working the event negligently fired a round into the cement and then blamed (successfully) the conspiring chair and holster that were really at fault--someone suggested that the MWCA's insurance carrier may require that it ban all loaded guns. I'm not sure whether we ever got confirmation that this is truly the reason behind the ban. One would think that if it was the insurance company causing the ban, MWCA would make that clearly known so that we all wouldn't continue to think it was MWCA leadership that's responsible.
Nonetheless, there's a lot of messages being sent, but the ones that really matter to our rights are not being sent by the handful of folks who post in gun forums that they conceal carried into a gun show. Instead, the messages that will hurt us most are those being sent by MWCA. What messages do the self-proclaimed oldest (largest?) gun collectors association in Minnesota send when it bans carry at gun shows by permit holders? How about:
1.) Certain gun owners (who vehemently hold themselves out as being supporters of the 2nd amendment) don't trust other gun owners to be safe with their carry guns when people congregate in large groups in public places.
2.) Permit holders are not responsible enough to carry at events where non-permit holders are present.
3.) Collectors know better than permit holders.
4.) Etc.
P.S.: Oh, and Plblark, stop being rude.