http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~27772~1578526,00.html
Bearing arms exposes gap in pro-gun logic
By Jim Spencer, Denver Post columnist
Don Ortega says he is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. Sometimes he walks the streets of Colorado Springs carrying a shotgun. Sometimes he takes the gun to the public library. He took it to three recent City Council meetings.
Ortega says he totes his weapon for personal protection. He says he has been threatened and that police can't keep him from harm.
I hear this sort of stuff all the time from opponents of gun control. Ortega is different. Recently he took on the role of that character in the tale about the emperor's new clothes.
You know the one. While everyone fawns over the emperor's imaginary wardrobe, this person points out that his majesty is naked.
That's what Ortega did when he started carrying his shotgun to Colorado Springs City Council meetings. He showed just how exposed Americans are because of our lack of sane gun laws.
The poetic justice of his symbolic statement was that he never intended to make it.
This country and state allow guys such as Ortega to openly carry loaded firearms almost anywhere with impunity. That more of them don't is not pure luck.
Last week, Ortega's exercise of his Second Amendment rights scared the Colorado Springs council into passing an emergency law to ban people from openly carrying guns in city-owned buildings.
Before voting against the gun ban, Springs Councilman Tom Gallagher called Ortega "an ignorant, stupid, irresponsible man."
Ortega did nothing wrong. At least not in a legal sense.
"The local media have portrayed it in a slanted manner," Ortega told me. "I never did this as a protest."
Ortega, 38, said he's considering getting a concealed-weapons permit.
Memo to the Sons of the Second Amendment, especially Tom Gallagher: He's one of yours.
He's also shock therapy.
Ortega showed how far outside the mainstream unabridged gun worship can take us.
Without meaning to, Ortega caught members of the keep-and-bear-arms crowd with their rhetorical pants down. It would be funny if the implications weren't so disturbing.
The Colorado Springs situation proves that letting people traipse around openly with weapons doesn't make people feel safer. It freaks them out.
"An openly carried weapon is intimidating," said Springs Councilman Jerry Heimlicher, a gun-rights supporter who voted for the ban. "We have teachers who bring schoolchildren to council meetings. We had a group of Eagle Scouts there the night we voted on this."
City Council often has heated debates in which people get emotional and angry. There is a chance, albeit remote, that such a situation might turn violent if someone has a gun, Heimlicher said.
"These are things that should not happen in public meetings," Heimlicher said. The citizens, he added, have a right to safe public meetings and city workers the right to a safe workplace.
Agreed and agreed.
Now, what about everybody else?
State laws make it clear that localities and private property owners must adopt prohibitions and post signs in order to compel common sense. Otherwise, it's business as usual. Creepy business. Scary business.
That's the naked truth in Colorado Springs and almost everywhere else. And if you think the weirdness is over, consider this:
Colorado Springs City Attorney Pat Kelly said the City Council instructed her to limit the gun ban to open display in city buildings.
This means Ortega or others can still scare people by legally lugging loaded guns around a city park or a public pool.
"We're kind of hoping that people will self-regulate," Heimlicher said.
And I'm kind of hoping to win the lottery.
I'm also not counting on being safe at Colorado Springs council meetings now that Don Ortega must check his shotgun at the door.
The emergency ordinance passed last week addresses only "open carrying of firearms." It does not apply to concealed weapons, city spokesman Darin Campbell said.
That's because you cannot ban concealed weapons from public buildings unless you install metal detectors at all public entrances. At this point, the city doesn't plan to do that, Heimlicher and Campbell said.
So it seems that anybody can still pack loaded pistols in City Hall. They just have to hide their heat.
The council is counting on the concealed-weapons permitting process to weed out the bad eggs, Heimlicher said.
That would be the same permitting process that the legislative gun nuts just made easier. Under a recent change in the state law, guys such as Ortega don't have to prove the need to carry a hidden weapon.
So it turns out that the new rule in Colorado Springs is not "no guns" in city-owned buildings. The new rule is "out of sight, out of mind."
As in crazy.
Bearing arms exposes gap in pro-gun logic
By Jim Spencer, Denver Post columnist
Don Ortega says he is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. Sometimes he walks the streets of Colorado Springs carrying a shotgun. Sometimes he takes the gun to the public library. He took it to three recent City Council meetings.
Ortega says he totes his weapon for personal protection. He says he has been threatened and that police can't keep him from harm.
I hear this sort of stuff all the time from opponents of gun control. Ortega is different. Recently he took on the role of that character in the tale about the emperor's new clothes.
You know the one. While everyone fawns over the emperor's imaginary wardrobe, this person points out that his majesty is naked.
That's what Ortega did when he started carrying his shotgun to Colorado Springs City Council meetings. He showed just how exposed Americans are because of our lack of sane gun laws.
The poetic justice of his symbolic statement was that he never intended to make it.
This country and state allow guys such as Ortega to openly carry loaded firearms almost anywhere with impunity. That more of them don't is not pure luck.
Last week, Ortega's exercise of his Second Amendment rights scared the Colorado Springs council into passing an emergency law to ban people from openly carrying guns in city-owned buildings.
Before voting against the gun ban, Springs Councilman Tom Gallagher called Ortega "an ignorant, stupid, irresponsible man."
Ortega did nothing wrong. At least not in a legal sense.
"The local media have portrayed it in a slanted manner," Ortega told me. "I never did this as a protest."
Ortega, 38, said he's considering getting a concealed-weapons permit.
Memo to the Sons of the Second Amendment, especially Tom Gallagher: He's one of yours.
He's also shock therapy.
Ortega showed how far outside the mainstream unabridged gun worship can take us.
Without meaning to, Ortega caught members of the keep-and-bear-arms crowd with their rhetorical pants down. It would be funny if the implications weren't so disturbing.
The Colorado Springs situation proves that letting people traipse around openly with weapons doesn't make people feel safer. It freaks them out.
"An openly carried weapon is intimidating," said Springs Councilman Jerry Heimlicher, a gun-rights supporter who voted for the ban. "We have teachers who bring schoolchildren to council meetings. We had a group of Eagle Scouts there the night we voted on this."
City Council often has heated debates in which people get emotional and angry. There is a chance, albeit remote, that such a situation might turn violent if someone has a gun, Heimlicher said.
"These are things that should not happen in public meetings," Heimlicher said. The citizens, he added, have a right to safe public meetings and city workers the right to a safe workplace.
Agreed and agreed.
Now, what about everybody else?
State laws make it clear that localities and private property owners must adopt prohibitions and post signs in order to compel common sense. Otherwise, it's business as usual. Creepy business. Scary business.
That's the naked truth in Colorado Springs and almost everywhere else. And if you think the weirdness is over, consider this:
Colorado Springs City Attorney Pat Kelly said the City Council instructed her to limit the gun ban to open display in city buildings.
This means Ortega or others can still scare people by legally lugging loaded guns around a city park or a public pool.
"We're kind of hoping that people will self-regulate," Heimlicher said.
And I'm kind of hoping to win the lottery.
I'm also not counting on being safe at Colorado Springs council meetings now that Don Ortega must check his shotgun at the door.
The emergency ordinance passed last week addresses only "open carrying of firearms." It does not apply to concealed weapons, city spokesman Darin Campbell said.
That's because you cannot ban concealed weapons from public buildings unless you install metal detectors at all public entrances. At this point, the city doesn't plan to do that, Heimlicher and Campbell said.
So it seems that anybody can still pack loaded pistols in City Hall. They just have to hide their heat.
The council is counting on the concealed-weapons permitting process to weed out the bad eggs, Heimlicher said.
That would be the same permitting process that the legislative gun nuts just made easier. Under a recent change in the state law, guys such as Ortega don't have to prove the need to carry a hidden weapon.
So it turns out that the new rule in Colorado Springs is not "no guns" in city-owned buildings. The new rule is "out of sight, out of mind."
As in crazy.
) you'll ever see. 
