I don't believe this is true. I think when criminals have guns people get shot more, but there has been no cases I've heard of where increasing the freedom of law abiding citizens to own and carry guns has increased the stats on shootings.

Aside from the problems with upright or “on-edge” armed people (some of whom appear to be pushy and as if they're asking to be challenged, or better yet, threatened), there's the random safety issue. As a matter of fact, I noted when driving or riding (bike or motorcycle) in the undeveloped areas out of Phoenix, in Maricopa County, there typically were signs along roads that stated that (recreational) shooting was prohibited within a quarter mile of any occupied building (or words to that same effect).

Not that it's an excuse for overt gun control (such as with the infamous Dem 10,000 per cent tax on ammunition in Congress once or twice, or with banning ammo sales in LA County to suppress the holiday gunfire, that some wanted year-round), but even if ownership can't be infringed (most of the time), use can be. (Firearm discharge laws) In a suburban back yard I should have the right to shoot my guns if I want (I'd use a .22 with CB caps to be quiet, or use a suppressor if there weren't inane laws related to the latter). However, a trend I've seen is that shooting as well as hunting in suburbia, obviously, but in general, appears to be declining in incidence and in popularity, which may constitute a trend eventually in favor of gun control (not necessarily limited to handgun control).

Actually, I'm aware that there are crazy people and others emotionally or behaviorally “on edge” whom I distrust to be armed. An example in Phoenix when I used to live there was the fool who showed what kind of person he was by screeching toward the pumps at a fueling station, and as after he stopped at the rearmost pump, he wanted to move to another, he screeched up to the next one. He leapt out and I saw the huge revolver dangling from the belt around his (oversized) gut.

However, I also know fully well the routine irrationality and worse associated with the anti-gun crowd.

I regret that this may well detract from the picture you have independently chosen to construct.

Texas-gun totin' seccesionist lovin' execution crazy Bush Country
Arizona-Gun Crazy Militia-creatin', anti-hispanic pastor-praying-for President's death country-…

did I miss anything? Oh yeah there's a big hole in Arizona I hear, and a smelly hippie granola new agey coven in Sedona, lots of people go see. /pass.

And guns don't kill people, trigger happy uppity fearful slack-jawed people with guns do. and crazies. Just ask John Hinkley and Mark David Chapman. Want to set off a big fire, keep walking around with that keg of black powder and you'll walk by a sufficient heat source eventually. The odds are it will happen. The only winning move is not to play <Wargames>

The comments thread is fairly interesting though. Seems only DLS thinks people who object to guns at a political rally are “crazies” rather than the ones with the guns.

Lets also understand no one has shown up trying to enter any event armed. They show up to make a point protesting outside events.

Now if you go back to the 60's and early 70's you do have a good deal more incidents but that is what I was speaking of when I noted how left and right have seemed to switch roles over the last few years.

Thanks for the post Polimom, I was beginning to think it was yet another fringe conspiracy theory that the pundit class took out dusted off and acted like was common place when it happened, uh once. Kind of like how we are taking away Christmas every year and are also forcing everyone to pray in every school in America, it happens once in one small town and the pundit class uses it as a club that we can all beat each other over the head with.

As some know, I live in Scottsdale, north Scottsdale to be more precise, and within the city limits. As Scottsdale expanded northward the city adopted a number of eco-friendly building requirements. Particularly, those regs require the setting aside of substantial land in its natural (desert) state. This is mostly in washes that run through and around residential neighborhoods. This preservation of natural habitat in substantial acreage results in humans and natural denizens of the desert living in close proximity. Understand that north Scottsdale is foothill country, abutting desert mountains.

Going for a walk, taking the dog out, going hiking or any number of other activities can result in an encounter with coyotes, two breeds of rattlesnake (Mojave and desert diamondback), javelina (nasty tempered wild desert pigs), bobcat, and even the occasional mountain lion (yes I've seen one within two miles of my home crossing a city street).

Fortunately, as a sedentary dolt, I rarely engage in outdoor activities beyond the swimming pool in the back yard. But if I did, I'd be tempted to carry two guns…one with snake shot and one with something more substantial. And, I'd want to carry them “open” for easy access in the event of a surprise encounter. On the other hand, if you were carrying that much heavy steel in this heat, you'd prbably collapse of heat stroke.

Here's another local story (from a slightly better source) that talks about that incident at the end. Link This Quannel X quote seems pretty timely:
Quanell X said they're only unpopular because of racist tendencies. “Nobody broke the law,” he said. “White folk carry guns in federal Civil War reenactments every year in Houston and Texas, but why did they get afraid when a group of well-disciplined and focused black men were coming down the streets with guns? Because that is their own internal guilty conscience eating at them.”

I tried to Google it myself but all I got were recent conservative talking points saying the same thing you did – all without citations.

You know, I've been wondering that same thing myself. I came across a reference to a 1967 march in Sacramento at Wikipedia here (under “political activities”).

Reference to the same incident found here, and is interesting, in context of this particular thread and dialogue.

The SPLC has an entry from 2000 (link that includes this statement:
Since the mid-1990s and right up to the present, the new Panthers have specialized in confrontational, armed demonstrations – protests guaranteed to win attention from the media.

This is actually more than I realized there was.

[grin]

On Bell Road west of I-17 there's Albertsons, and don't forget the gas stations and the car wash, among the places I've been near where I used to live where I saw people carrying … GUNS! [gasp]

(That, and inside a Burger King once.)

NOTE: If it makes the anti-gun crazies less nervous, there are buildings there with NO WEAPONS signs that typically feature a handgun silhouette with a circle and slash over it. I hope that helps.

I'll let you know how it went as soon as I get out of jail.

Why's that?

Idiots. I encourage everyone to watch “Idiocracy” and then tell me where this country is going. They need to teach fact-checking on the Internet in schools. We need more moving violations handed out on the information superhighway!

Oh I'm SURE the secret service would've been ever so kind and respected their second amendment rights of “protection while they're exercising free speech”…..

Not…

You see the same people supporting this here would be the same ones cheering the dems being thrown in prison for showing up with a pocket knife,let alone a loaded glock. Odd isn't it?