Appaloosa movie

So I went to see the movie Appaloosa tonight at the Escondido Regal Cinema on the advice of my brother-in-arms Matt and whilst viewing I packed the Tracker. As usual, I had no problems but that may be attributed, at least in part, to the fact that there was no one else in the theatre. I saw perhaps 3 staff members and but when I got into the theatre I discovered that I WAS THE ONLY ONE IN THERE! It was pretty cool being able to give commentary on the movie without worrying about bugging other people.

Gun synopsis:

-FREAKING SWEET 8 gauge SxS with exposed hammers, brand unknown but still insanely cool. I want one really, really bad now (same old story, just a different gun)
-1873 Winchester(s)
-Lots of Colt SAA (I think)
-Various other leverguns, some of which looked to be of Henry manufacture.

That is pretty much it everyone, off to bed I shall go, for my garden requires attention in the morning.

-N8

Shooting trip 10-25-08

Ok, its not open carry but still cool! I went to Palm Springs for a shooting trip with my friend Tom and while there I discovered that we had THREE generations of Ruger MK .22 pistols in the midst! Being the geek I am, I had to have a picture taken of them all.

Left is Ruger MKI, I have the MKII and Tom has the MKIII

UPS, FedEx, Jimbo's, Ace Hardware,

Yep, open carried into each of these places and no one said a word.

Went to UPS to do a price check on shipping a package and then went home (this is en-route on errands)

A few hours later I went to FedEx and got a price check and ended up shipping my object with them since it was 30% less than UPS. I was in there for 10min, no problems.

Curious about the beer selection at Jimbo's, I went inside and perused for a little bit. I was quite stoked to see the shelves stocked with Stone, Harp and some other assorted good looking brews. After November 18th I shall have to try some of them out, yay!

After that I went into Ace Hardware to get a special screwdriver for a prank I am thinking of pulling. Everyone was cordial and unconcerned.

Just to let everyone know, the UPS, Jimbo's and Ace Hardware are all in the same shopping center and in very close proximity to a Sheriff substation. It is funny to note that the sheriffs come into my work all the time and stuff so I am really anxious to serve them sometime and quiz them on some gun laws (if I can segue into that conversation without being too eager.)

Off to pack, I have a shooting trip in the morning!

-N8

Sam OC'ed after the lunch!

My brother Sam sent me this story this morning and I am posting it with his permission. This happened after the OC lunch.

Oj and I went to UTC mall afterward, and I OC'ed for about 2 hours, all kinds of stores, Nordstrom twice, Apple store, Sears, etc. Hung out sitting on a bench in the shade for 20 minutes or so, people watching...plenty of time for a security guard to find us but they didn't. Only one or two people said anything and they just asked why but no one freaked out. Saw one security guard with his walkie-talkie and handcuffs, but he may have not seen I was carrying...or maybe he did, as he seemed to just slink along the wall trying really hard not to look in my direction.

Kind of boring, actually. :)
----

Another success! Thanks Sam!

Meet and Eat While Packing Heat... El Indio Lunch 10-19-08

So today was the 2nd Calguns.net Open Carry Lunch at El Indio and it was, yet again, a success! We had a great turnout of about 27 people and it was really nice to put tag handles to faces and THEN remember everyone's real names, haha!

As a whole we really didn't have any problems with protesters or over-hyped soccer moms. We had a couple ladies come in to the patio area and think that we were cops and Liberty01 took the liberty (hehe) of giving them fliers and telling them of calguns.net and if interest is any indication, we might have two pretty women joining the ranks! My brothers, gir007 and I also had a good chat with a patron of El Indio from Seattle about the legality of open carry and how it was unlikely that gangbangers would try to confront armed folk because the ones that would do such a thing have been weeded out by Darwin's Theory of Evolution (aided by lead poisoning :) ) Grammaton76 and I had a good laugh about one girl confusedly eyeballing his sidearm as he opened the door for her on his way out, that was pretty funny, hehe :) .

Well, here are the photos and such of the outing. Just for all those that dont know, the guy with the shaved head and the guy in the kilt are 2 of my 3 older brothers, OJ and Sam.

Yes, we have been known to call OJ by "Killer" :)

Looking right from my position (Grammaton76 in the khaki, SOneThreeCoupe inhaling a quesadilla, Decoligny immediately to the right)

Looking left from my position (David is to the immediate left and my brother OJ is in the striped shirt)

Looking straight from my position (elsensei)

Brother OJ checking his email.

Chatting near the patio entrance (gir007 at center, SOneThreeCoupe at right, Spiggy behind gir007)

Nearly the whole group

This photo looks funny, but Sam is actually 6'2"

Gir007 with a friend.

OJ, Sam and myself.

Doing the can-can :)

Sam and OJ having a chat in front of El Indio.

I can hardly wait for the next one! Thanks for organizing gir007 and I am sure we will do some hanging out soon!

Decoligny, just know before you go and take the plunge!

Peace out everyone and happy OCing!

Sincerely,

Nathan
"pullnshoot25"

P.S. If you are in these photos, please let me know so I can attach your calguns.net handle (Sorry I couldn't remember all of them!)

Work

So I went into work (wasn't on the clock, just came in to eat) and settled a bet with a regular I've had about carrying into bars/bar areas (He is from Texas and thinks it is illegal in California... proved him wrong, hehe.) I got more interested looks from my coworkers and one of them was asking "Why? I see no point to doing that." I told her that not everyone has a personal bodyguard, to which she responded "Well, you shouldn't be so concerned about your safety." What a joke! I told her that if I wasn't concerned about my own safety, who was going to be concerned about it?

Ahh, such is my life.

AMC La Jolla: Max Payne!

My brother, my brother's friend and I went to see Max Payne at the AMC in La Jolla tonight and everything went without a hitch and no one said a word, despite the fact I went into the theatre and back outside twice. Sat in the lobby waiting for my other brother to show up upon entering the theatre the second time and there were no problems with that either.

The movie was OK but I was really stoked to see that they had not one but TWO Taurus Judges (GO TAURUS!) used in that movie. Also on the list of mentionables was the H&K MP-5 (Grasshopper, maybe?), Beretta 92FS, Mossberg 500 Cruiser, maaaaybe a Remington 870 (it was in the credits) and there were some other really cool looking weapons in there that I will have to look up later.

With that, I am going to watch Sledgehammer with my brother before going home. Peace out for now.

-N8

Starbucks and WAMU

My friend and I went to Starbucks this morning on a whim and I packed the Tracker. Nothing alarming there.

Later on, I went into WAMU to cash a check and while several clerks saw it (I am sure of it) not a word was mentioned about it.

Off to see Max Payne!

Starbucks near college

After attending a diocesan class on the writings of St. Paul in San Marcos, I headed over to the Starbucks directly across from CSUSM to wait for my friend to get out of class. While I waited I was carrying the Tracker and reading Atlas Shrugged on my totally bitchin' Kindle. There was a circle of students participating in a Bible study about 20 feet from me and were not alarmed in any way.

Things just keep getting better :)

Why we Open Carry

A series of questions was posted by a newcomer to the calguns.net scene about the reasons for the open carry movement. Here are his list of questions...


1. Why are you carrying openly in public? Do you really think that this will push lawmakers to allow OC in California? I personally don't think so, after all this is California, and it is hard enough to get a CCW, let alone OC. People view OC as odd, and we can't blame Mrs. Soccer Mom for that, citizens have not been conditioned to see guns on the hips of other citizens. We do not have the right to make people around us nervous or uncomfortable because we believe we are exercising our right to bear arms.

2. You guys are obviously causing local law enforcement to utilize critical resources to cover your activities. Although you are doing nothing illegal, don't you feel responsible for the costs the local authorities are incurring due to your activities? The local law has an obligation to cover your events. Although you all may be outstanding citizens, an outsider, or a group of outsiders who has/have a different viewpoint on the 2nd amendment, may not be as "civil" in making their stance known. It is an issue of "public safety" (yours and their's) for the local cops

3. Due to the costs and logistical challenges you may be causing local law enforcement, how do you feel the Sheriff/Chief of Police view your activities? Are any of you concerned that your activities may cause a "knee jerk" response from local law makers? Remember, the Black Panthers, a radical 60's group, did essentially the same thing by taking advantage of existing gun laws and look where that got us.

4. I noticed a thread wherein someone from the site stated that "some crazy soccer mom called 911". Well, was she crazy, or just being a prudent observer? After all, hand guns displayed in holsters, are usually associated with uniforms or at least badges displayed openly where they can be seen. As a CCW license holder, I can not even allow my firearm to "print", under a cover garment, as that could be considered brandishing a weapon, and will get my license revoked. How is OC any different?

5. How many of you are really ready to carry? I ask this as I noticed that not one person I saw in your luncheon pics was wearing a belt specifically designed to carry a weapon in a holster. All of the belts shown showed a significant degree of sag, and this was without the additional weight of loaded magazines in the weapons.

I hope some of you take the time to answer my questions. I am not ignoring you, but I will not be able to respond back, as I will be out of town until about the 20th, hunting one of the coveted North-Eastern California X zones. It's only a 16 day season so I have to spend as much time as possible actively pursuing the largest Muley buck I can find. Once I get my buck, I will be spending the rest of the my time shooting ground squirrels from the bench.

Respectfully,

Jim


...Fortunately and with great eloquence, a long-time member and OC favorite, CitaDel, answered all of his questions. Here are CitaDel's responses...


I am not a participant in the San Diego meetings. However I do consider myself an experienced open carry pioneer. I am happy to provide answers to your questions.

Why are you carrying openly in public?

I carry in public as a political statement and as a responsible demonstration of legal self-defense in California. Gun owners have wrongly been villified by legislators and media over the past 40+ years and we have sat back and allowed them to mark us as criminals though we have done nothing wrong. It is my intent to show the public that gun owners are regular people who are their neighbors, people they see grocery shopping, people who fuel their cars and eat at restaurants. With exposure and repetition will come tolerance.

You say it is difficult to get a license and imply it is more difficult to open carry--- but to open carry you don't need a background check, fingerprinting, or waive your second, forth, fifth, and forteenth amendment rights ---or have to pay a tax to excersize that right.

People do not have a right to be free from fear. If we did, someone would demand that nightlights be made available for someones irrational fear of the dark or ban skyscrapers because of someone's vertigo. Soccer Mom's who are nervous or uncomfortable simply from the sight of a holstered weapon are just as unreasonable as a child tucked in bed at night or a sightseer unable to release their grip of the railing on the Empire State building. These fears can be overcome with slow and steady exposure and restore a rational response to observers.

Don't you feel responsible for the costs the local authorities are incurring due to your activities?

No. Do you feel pangs of guilt for wasting an officers time while he writes you up for a traffic ticket? How about when you call them to report a loud party in your neighborhood? Peace officers are civil servants paid to do this job and I am glad for it, but they and those who command them are voluntarily expending respources on the observation and investigation of a non-crime. Eventually, open carry could become a non-event in California as it has in many jurisdictions throughout the country.

How do you feel the Sheriff/Chief of Police view your activities?

I know my local Sheriff does not approve of my activities. Since I am not doing anything illegal and he has no grounds to arrest me- his opinion of my lawful conduct is irrelevant. He should be more concerned with what I intend to do about his re-election.

How is OC any different (from brandishing)?

Open carry is different from brandishing because it does not fulfill all the elements of a crime. While someone carrying a firearm openly in a holster may be considered a display, provided it is not done in a rude, angry, or threatening way, no crime is evident. The restriction that prevents you from even printing shows us that "CCW" is not the excersize of a right, but a highly regulated privilege, subject to an issuing authorities arbitrary revocation.

How many of you are really ready to carry?

Everyone is 'ready' to carry- It is a fundemental liberty to have a means to protect yourself regardless of the accessories available. I do not believe in mandatory training, mandatory equipment, or just cause. While it is in the best interest of those participating to be educated, to be well equiped, to be responsible and excersize all due safety- I must give them the benefit of the doubt or risk infringing on their right to carry.

I hope this adequately satisfies your curiosity.

... So there you have it gentlemen, a better articulated reason as to why we Californians open carry despite the laws and policy. Hopefully, one day, we can acquire loaded open carry and shall-issue CCW permits.

Thank you CitaDel for your permission to repost.

Keep the movement strong people.

-N8

Computerized Cobbler

My primary Tracker holster needs a little TLC from some leather oil so while going through the mall (NCF) I packed the Tracker in my secondary holster. It was an interesting experience to say the least, for this holster has a more aggressive cant and it feels kinda funny on my side. Nevertheless, no problems were experienced.

Big 5 and stuff

Went to Big 5 today before work while OC'ing to pick up some targets and had no issues or odd looks. No big feat by any means, being a sporting goods store and stuff but it is in a kind of liberal area so that is pretty cool.

OK, back to doing other stuff :)

Blockbuster

I went to my friend's house last night and since there wasn't enough time to go to the range (I am insatiable!), we settled on renting a movie. Open carrying the usual piece was a breeze and no alarms were raised.

Just a heads up to all my readers out there, Dan in Real Life is a freaking good movie. Good soundtrack, cast, setting, etc... reminds me a lot of my family actually, come to think of it :)

Off to do some more of my father's accounting!

-N8