Regular readers may notice that TTAG commentator Paul McCain has left the building. Mr. McCain objected to my supposed anti-police bias. Whatever. But I do miss his rants about “Chipotle ninjas”: open carry advocates whose slovenly demeanor ran contrary to his desire to defend Americans’ firearms freedom. As much as I support anyone’s right to do anything legal, as much as my own wardrobe choices preclude me from criticizing open carry advocates’ casual attire, the above tweet reminds me of Supertramp’s Bloody Well Right. At least in this case, it’s hard not to agree with McCain’s bias. Check out this picture . . .
That would be one Tyler Lance Craddock exercising his Second Amendment-protected right to keep and bear arms in a Kroger supermarket. The image above put Mr. Craddock on the anti-gunners’ radar. And how. Setting aside the Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America’s anti-open-carry-in-Kroger campaign, I give you an excerpt from Anonymous 100 at alan.com (a.k.a., Liberaland):
In a follow-up on our earlier post about an Open Carry activist who brought a loaded weapon into Kroger with a baby in his arms, let’s take a glimpse into his highly disturbed train of thought.
This [above Tweet] is how Tyler would handle the border crisis, with children fleeing from violence. Tyler just had a baby who is not fleeing from violence, however, his parents believe they need guns to protect their child from the evil gubbermint.
On his Facebook page is a Confederate flag, because of course. A possible family member (perhaps his wife) explains in the comments, “I am a firm supporter of slavery except I don’t want to use blacks…. I want to use liberals and those with skewed worldly views. Seems like a win-win situation to me.”
OK that last bit is unfair, nasty and, let’s face it, pretty funny. Don’t get me wrong: I appreciate the fact that Anonymous 100 is, true to form, using emotional manipulation to mischaracterize Craddock’s position on illegal immigration. I don’t think he a being serious. About gunning down children, anyway. Still . . .
Craddock really did write that Tweet and it really is extremely unhelpful for the cause of gun rights in general and open carry in particular.
I know there are crazies on both sides of the gun rights divide. I know anti-gunners’ regularly call for homicide against Wayne LaPierre and/or gun owners in general. But I can’t help wishing that Craddock had let the gun do the talking. In the nicest possible way.