TexasCHLforum.com

Here's my complete and unbiased thoughts on the matter:

Working on litigation to solve a problem is a VERY dangerous plan that should only be used as a last resort. No one ever knows what will happen in court and it can take decades for a single case to be finalized, expecially if you have to get a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court (Which is where you have to have a plan plan to go if you are working on a civil rights issue). Juries can make completely random decisions, so can judges. Attornies can loose or win a case in a single moment by using a single word, or looking in a certain manner. It's not fair, but that is the way it is.

Legislative efforts are critical, but can also be time consuming. Additionally your efforts can be destroyed or damaged by people on your side that want to "hurry things up" because it's what they want. So a clear concise plan of action is required with experienced hands at the wheel. The Texas legislative process makes it easier to stop hostile action against your old legislation that passed while potentially making it difficult to get your new legislation passed due since your opponents can defend against just as you fight theirs.

So how do you address issues such as open carry? First you have to educate the public that Open Carry will not be a problem and that it is perfectly safe. Second you have to get enough political capital to get legislation introduced, passed, and signed by the governor, and finally you have to fight to keep it from being repealed or overturned in court. The key to getting political capital when you have none, or limited amounts, is GOOD P.R. If you already have political capital GOOD P.R. will help build up more. The thing about building GOOD P.R. is that you can use efforts to generate it to educate the public.

So lets say I were to organize an opencarry event, what would I do? First I would choose a community service project to take on like a toy drive for the local optimist club, or chamber of commerce (I use this example because the Christmas season is just around the corner). Then I would organize a group of people to work on this project. While we are planning it I would stress they need to wear their sunday best and the first few times we do this we need to keep the open carry of rifles to a minimum (but still have a few on site for the public), with each event that is positive we would have more and more visible open carry. Then when the planning is complete I would contact the local Police Chief and County Sheriff in person and tell them we are performing X, Y, Z on these dates at these locations and we will have some openly carried long guns. Then I would invite them, and their officers (perferably off duty), to not only be present but to participate. I would also attempt to address any concerns or issues they bring up about the event. Once all of that is done I would contact the local and area media and invite them out for two reasons. The first would be to get more PR for the event and bring in more donations/volunteers. The second would be so that we could be seen open carrying doing positive things, even having a positive relationship with law enforcement. During the next legislative session when MDA starts sending every legislator that picture they have of the OC movement I would send legislators news paper clippings, photos, and copies of anything positive from my event(s). Guess who will make the best impression?

I think I got the above protest and the most recent confused. Same answers apply except for the arrests, no arrests were made.

TexasCajun wrote:

G.A. Heath wrote:
In theory, and publicly stated, the purpose is to raise awareness, educate the public, and generate publicity for open carry. In actuallity I suspect its more of a get your cool-kids club card (more difficult to get since the admin here now tends to ban people from specific forums rather than the site over the OC topic*), get arrested if possible (the more times the better), and in general cause some sort of disturbance.

* = Violating the rules to push the OC agenda in their own unique way and get banned from TexasCHLforum.com was a favorite past time of the open carry movement until the last legislative session. Their own unique way included violating nearly every rule the administration of this forum had. After getting banned the violator would go back to which ever forum he was most comfortable in and proclaim "I got banned from the chl forum for talking about open carry..."

--edited to add the above qualification.

So according to this, was the event in question a success? If so, please qualify the achieved goal. If not, what gains (if any) were achieved by this event?

Did they waise awareness of OC? I doubt it. Did they educate the public in anyway? Only that they are looking for a confrontation. Did they generate publicity? Yes, although it looks like it was bad publicity.

So on to what I suspect are the actual goals. Did they get their cool kids card? I don't care. Did any of them get arrested? Looks that way. Did they cause a disturbance? Looks like they caused a minor one.

My suggestions are aimed at preventing the problems they are causing, but I doubt they care.

TexasCajun wrote:

G.A. Heath wrote:I think I will offer up 4 rules for open carry, these rules will be a guide to get good Public Relations.

Rule 1: Don't be an @** and don't let others make you look like one too.
The point of this rule is the key to getting good PR, The other three rules ensure this one is followed.

Rule 2: Don't touch your weapon, unless it is needed.
If you touch your weapon you give the opposition a chance to violate rule number 1. This simple and seemingly innocent act can result in a negative photo opportunity for the opposition and even allow them to file a police report against you or your group.

Rule 3: Interaction is critical.
When you encounter law enforcement you have to interact with them for the good of your event, your organisation, and the rest of the gun rights movement. You personally have a right not to interact with law enforcement, but for P.R. purposes you need to interact to avoid violating Rule #1. When approached by the media you must interact with them in the most professional manner possible. Interacting with the public and getting good PR is the goal, so you must put forward an effort to look as good as possible to the media and the general public. Having an open carry food drive for a local food bank will generate good PR, adopting a very busy highway and picking up litter is another high profile way to generate good PR. Confrontation must be avoided as it makes it easy to violate Rule #1.

Rule 4: Control your event and your crowd.
Keep your event on target, if you are having an open carry event then have just an open carry event. Ranting about Obamacare, tax rates, and other topics will distract from your purpose and confuse the public. Keep your crowd under control, do NOT allow them to hurt your image and the image of everyone involved in gun rights.

What exactly is the point of these events? When you've gathered x-number of people at point-A open-carrying rifles, shotguns, and antiques; then what? By what means do you consider an event successful or not successful?

In theory, and publicly stated, the purpose is to raise awareness, educate the public, and generate publicity for open carry. In actuallity I suspect its more of a get your cool-kids club card (more difficult to get since the admin here now tends to ban people from specific forums rather than the site over the OC topic*), get arrested if possible (the more times the better), and in general cause some sort of disturbance.

* = Violating the rules to push the OC agenda in their own unique way and get banned from TexasCHLforum.com was a favorite past time of the open carry movement until the last legislative session. Their own unique way included violating nearly every rule the administration of this forum had. After getting banned the violator would go back to which ever forum he was most comfortable in and proclaim "I got banned from the chl forum for talking about open carry..."

--edited to add the above qualification.

I think I will offer up 4 rules for open carry, these rules will be a guide to get good Public Relations.

Rule 1: Don't be an @** and don't let others make you look like one too.
The point of this rule is the key to getting good PR, The other three rules ensure this one is followed.

Rule 2: Don't touch your weapon, unless it is needed.
If you touch your weapon you give the opposition a chance to violate rule number 1. This simple and seemingly innocent act can result in a negative photo opportunity for the opposition and even allow them to file a police report against you or your group.

Rule 3: Interaction is critical.
When you encounter law enforcement you have to interact with them for the good of your event, your organisation, and the rest of the gun rights movement. You personally have a right not to interact with law enforcement, but for P.R. purposes you need to interact to avoid violating Rule #1. When approached by the media you must interact with them in the most professional manner possible. Interacting with the public and getting good PR is the goal, so you must put forward an effort to look as good as possible to the media and the general public. Having an open carry food drive for a local food bank will generate good PR, adopting a very busy highway and picking up litter is another high profile way to generate good PR. Confrontation must be avoided as it makes it easy to violate Rule #1.

Rule 4: Control your event and your crowd.
Keep your event on target, if you are having an open carry event then have just an open carry event. Ranting about Obamacare, tax rates, and other topics will distract from your purpose and confuse the public. Keep your crowd under control, do NOT allow them to hurt your image and the image of everyone involved in gun rights.