World News Korner

Gun activists harass Marine veteran on Memorial Day. Yeah, that sends a good message.

Courtesy of Mother Jones:

On Memorial Day this week, a former Marine in Texas named James got a couple calls from friends who'd spotted an unusual gathering in downtown Fort Worth: Roughly a dozen people, mostly men, were hanging out in the middle of the city's cultural district, armed with semi-automatic rifles. James quickly knew what his friends were describing, having recently encountered an open-carry demonstration himself in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. An independent TV commercial producer who sometimes films live events, James headed downtown with his camera to get some footage.

What he saw there struck him as especially provocative. Not only had the open-carry activists come to a typically relaxed, family friendly part of town, they were displaying intimidating firearms just three days after a major gun massacre in Southern California. What he didn't anticipate was that they would soon be pursuing him for several city blocks with cameras of their own, harassing him and later posting the footage online, where they would also level homophobic slurs and violent threats against him.

I do not know how that guy did not lose his cool. Listen to what they did in an attempt to provoke him:

In a video obtained by Mother Jones that was posted online later that day by one of the activists, the group can be seen pursuing and harassing James through downtown Fort Worth. "I'm following this guy around," declares one of them, setting off after him with his weapon slung across his back. He and others stay right behind James for several city blocks, following him through traffic and taunting him along the way. James grows more agitated and tells them off, calling them assholes and bullies.

"We're being polite, you're calling people names," one of the gun activists pursuing him says.

"You're not being polite out here with assault rifles the weekend after people lost their children," James retorts, before again trying to walk away.

The harassment continues down the street. "Are you gonna cry?" one says. "Sounds like you're about to cry." Another says: "What's wrong with that guy—is he a liberal?

Men openly carrying assault rifles following a veteran around and harassing him. And THIS is supposed to convince people to become more accepting of seeing armed men walking the streets of America?

I would like to think I would be pretty cool headed, and I KNOW they wanted this guy to get physical, but I would have had a hard time nor knocking one of these idiots on their ass.

This is kind of behavior is WAY out of line.

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