In any group, you’re going to have a handful of people who will seemingly go out of their way to push the boundaries and will usually end up screwing things up for everyone. These are the kind of people who take “casual Friday” beyond jeans or even shorts and show up in pajamas and bunny slippers.

This leads to HR telling everyone that casual Friday has a dress code…if it’s not canceled outright. Those who forced the change are usually the first to complain about how awful and unfair it was, all while failing to acknowledge their role in things.

In the gun community, we’ve got people like that too.

Over at Gun Free Zone, my buddy Miguel has an open letter to those folks:

First, let’s make something clear, we have two distinct groups: Open Carry Citizens (the ones that understand both Rights and Responsibilities) and Open Carry Idiots (the ones that go full tactical rifle, plate carrier and 20 magazines to show off at the local Dairy Queen) . This is addressed to the second lot.

…

[Open Carry Idiots] OCI is the opposite. They want controversy. They want their mention in the Six O’clock news under a negative banner as if they wanted to show off in Social Media as victims of Fake News.  An OCI seems to think: “A mass shooter with a rifle kills a bunch of people in a Walmart? Hell, fuck being polite, I am gonna dress just like the caricature of a Gun Owner, go out in the street parading, sporting an attitude and see what happens. Maybe I can be famous too” which if you think about it, it is supposedly the same mentality that Mass Killers have: The seeking of fame and recognition.

So, again, we are sick of your stupid stunts. So far the pushback was been from privately-owned (as in property rights) business politely asking not to open carry. But Stupid Cousin being stupid and doing something outstandingly moronic at one of these places, we are expecting the asking to be upgraded to prohibiting Open Carry and that is if we are lucky and then don’t decided to go all the way to include Concealed Carry in the ban.

Go read the whole thing. I’m begging you to do so. Go read it, then come back here.

Done? Great.

I want to echo was Miguel says here because, frankly, I’m sick of the stupid.

“Oh, I have a right to do this!”

Sure, to a point. Those stores have property rights and you’re cruising here buster. You’re about half a heartbeat from screwing it up for everyone else. As someone who falls into the “everyone else” category, I take exception to that brand of stupidity.

Also understand that because you have a right to do something, it doesn’t mean you have an obligation to do so. You may have a right to walk around town like you’re a heavily-armed extra from a war movie, but that shouldn’t be taken to mean that it’s something you should do for kicks on a slow Saturday afternoon.

There are times when doing that may make sense. Times of intense civil unrest where a sidearm just isn’t enough for you to be comfortable, for example. At a time like that, you may need to carry an AR-15 to Walmart. At a time like that, people might even be more understanding of you doing so, especially if you’re not trying to look like the most tricked out airsofter at the milsim game while doing it.

However, that’s not going to be possible because some people can’t differentiate between “can” and “should.”

Look, I get the concept of trying to normalize open carry. I get it. While I’m not completely sure I agree with it, I don’t mind it.

That’s not what this is about. This is about the dipsticks who take AR-15s into Starbucks just because Starbucks didn’t trip all over themselves to appease anti-gunners. Remember how that turned out? They asked us not to carry in there anymore.

Walmart did the same, unsurprisingly.

And now some jackwagons are seeming to do everything in their power to push Walmart to declare itself a gun-free zone. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear anti-gunners were behind it.

So stop it, will you? The rest of us are sick of your crap.