An "open carry" gun activist caused a scare in Portland, Maine, on Monday after dozens of residents reported a man walking around with an assault rifle like the one used in the Newtown, Conn., school massacre.I've heard pro-gun guys complain about the media's continual use of the phrase "loaded gun." I think they're right to point out that it's supposed to make it sound worse than just saying "gun." They say, of course the gun is loaded, there's nothing more useless than an unloaded gun.
Maine allows unloaded firearms to be carried openly in public.
Police began receiving calls about 11 a.m. and located the unidentified man carrying an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle along a popular recreation trail that loops around the city's Back Cove. The gun was fitted with a high-capacity magazine.
The man "identified himself as an open carry activist who was exercising his Second Amendment rights" under Maine law to openly carry an unloaded firearm in public, according to a police news release. Police said he was not violating any laws or ordinances.
But, what about these open-carry activists? Hasn't anyone told them that there's nothing more useless than an unloaded gun?
They remind me of rebellious teenage boys, immature and belligerent. The irony is they do their cause more harm than good.
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