Oxford Ohio: Open Carry Walk April 30 @ 1pm Miami University (Southwest Ohio)

[Midwest]

Oxford Ohio: Open Carry Walk April 30 @ 1pm Miami University in Oxford OH


There will be an open carry walk at Miami University in Oxford Ohio on April 30 2016 at 1 pm. Oxford is located in Southwest Ohio in Butler County. This is a well publicized OC walk and the surrounding media has been contacted. There are links throughout this post with more information on the walk.


The local media is now reporting on it.

'Open carry' gun walk at Miami University'


http://www.fox19.com/story/31712170/open-carry-walk-at-miami-university

"OXFORD, OH (FOX19) – -

A group that has led “open carry” gun walks at other Ohio campuses is set to hold one at Miami University’s Oxford campus and in the city of Oxford later this month.

The event will be held at 1 p.m. April 30.

Ohio law permits people to carry weapons on public property

Led by Jeff Smith of Cincinnati, the group has held “open carry” walks without incident at other campuses, including the University of Cincinnati, Ohio State University and the University of Akron, according to Miami University's website."

Additional Information on this event.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1701346233480167/

(Mission Statement: Purpose of the walk)


"The purpose of the Walk is to inform and engage college students and the public about the right to keep and bear arms, including discussing how those rights are diminished by various laws - for instance, by making college campuses Criminal Empowerment Zones.

You, students, and the general public will get the most from this event by your being willing to engage people in conversation, by listening and responding, not by walking by or by saying sternly "It's my RIGHT!" when asked why you're participating.

If you've not attended a prior walk, take a look at the links below. There are videotapes of portions of the OSU and the UA walk, the UC walk has tons of discussion and conversation.

If you've not done anything like this before, you simply MUST come! ;-) Children are welcome and encouraged.

Free parking is available on the campus in the lot adjacent to the west side of Cook Field at the intersection of S. Patterson Avenue and Oxford Trenton Rd. >This is the assembly point.< Overflow parking can be found in the lots on the south and north sides of Cook Field.

LUNCH - eating & fellowship will take place after we tour the MU campus, some of the surrounding streets, and Uptown ("downtown" to non-residents) Oxford."


I hope I covered everything regarding this particular event.


There is going to be an OC Walk up in Bowling Green Ohio on April 16. If you wish to attend that walk. Further information can be found here

http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/s...ity-(Oxford)&p=2184669&viewfull=1#post2184669

Thank You ....

.


Moderator Note (19 April) See post #14 before commenting

 

[Grumulkin]

Open carry is already legal in Ohio. All it will take to get the law changed against us is a crowd walking around with guns to prove a point.

 

[Speedo66]

Other than pissing off large quantities of students, educators, and townspeople, what will this actually accomplish?

I'd like someone who advocates this to point out any positive reaction to this from anyone other than the people showing their guns off.

I personally think acts like this cause more harm than good.

 

[Midwest]

These events happened already in three other places in Ohio a year and two years ago and there were no issues. Why would Miami University be any different?

http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/s...s-Bowling-Green-amp-Miami-University-(Oxford)

"This walk follows in the footsteps of walks conducted in 2014 & 2015 at and *ON* the campuses of the University of Cincinnati, The Ohio State University, and the University of Akron. Links to those walks are at the bottom of this post."

University of Cincinnati Walk: https://www.facebook.com/events/269922139835838/

The Ohio State University Walk: https://www.facebook.com/events/375006232642421/

University of Akron Walk: https://www.facebook.com/events/1592187871040889/

.

 

[Speedo66]

I'm not saying there were any issues, if by issues you mean violent confrontations.

I'm saying I personally don't find any pluses to doing so, but lots of negatives.

 

[v35]

What is the stated goal to be achieved? How shall that goal be achieved? What is the measure of success? Unless and until those questions are satisfactorily addressed, count me out.

There are a whole host of potentially negative outcomes, if only to draw attention of some brain-dead feel-good Legislator motivated by the insatiable urge to "do something!!!™" in response to an event that justifies exactly no response.

A better idea might be a concealed carry "walk" (assuming CC is legal for all its participants and the venue in question). None of its participants could be compelled to reveal their CC status, and in fact don't even have to be carrying at all. But even that is fraught with potential disaster, if supposing someone were to stage a mock "terrorist attack" or kidnapping using a make-believe weapon and stooge "victims". It probably wouldn't take much to draw out some well-intentioned and even well-trained CC holder to disastrous effect.

As 2A advocates, what is it you want? Do you want to stir the pot like some radical "occupy" protester, or do you just want to be left alone to exercise your God-given freedoms?

Really. Bad. Idea.

 

[Brian D.]

Hello. I have not logged into or even looked at this site for four years, amazingly I remembered username and password.

Anyhow, you may wish I hadn't come back at all after reading my take on this topic:
Open carry marches played a LARGE part in forcing/embarrassing our Ohio legislature into passing the concealed handgun licensing law. I was there at the marches, years ago, then at the statehouse back in those days. I know of whence I speak here.

One point of these current, similar walks across campus is to bring to the forefront that colleges are still off limits to CC; even open carry will get a student expelled (no refund either, imagine that), or a college staffer fired for violating employment policy. Just maybe we can give the Representatives and Senators another noogie by doing this, and get their full attention once again.

 

[gutshot]

Open carry is already legal in Ohio. All it will take to get the law changed against us is a crowd walking around with guns to prove a point.

Yes, it is already legal to open carry, but what good is that, if we are afraid to actually do it, fearing that it will be changed and become illegal. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. This is the kind of squeak that it take to get any grease.

 

[Ahareht]

v35, while I agree that a concealed carry walk would be better, it is illegal to conceal carry on Ohio campuses. That is why the walk is open carry.

 

[Speedo66]

So an armed contingent, maybe some in camouflage, invades a college campus loaded with liberal college students and educators. And you think this will gain their hearts and minds?

I think you will alienate much more than you will warm their hearts. If you say you don't care, then you are just going there to stick it in their faces, rather than to recruit followers.

Final talley: net loss. Thanks for doing something most other gun owners would prefer you didn't. Don't forget to wrap up the day with a visit to Starbucks with slung AR's for a latte.

 

[hso]

Folks,

Remember the Rules for Activism.

 

[carbine85]

I won't be there. I think the rub it in your face demonstrations make the issue at hand look bad. People marching around with guns to make a point makes all 2A supporters look bad.
It's legal now so what's the point?

 

[gutshot]

Some gun owners would rather that nobody ever do anything. That's why we are in the mess we are in. Concealed carry is not legal on Ohio's college campuses. That is the whole point.

 

[Brian D.]

Speedo66, you have several mistaken ideas about how these walks are conducted.

1) The organizer sets up rules that disallow camouflage or politically pointed attire. It's more like summer business casual.

2) No signage or flags are carried.

3) When we stop for lunch it's always someplace that is well aware and completely okay with our firearms, this is set up beforehand.

4) We notify the police, and university legal department about what we're doing.

5) Often, a 2A friendly prosecutor of long acquaintance accompanies us and videotapes the entire walk.

6) We engage ourselves in cordial dialogue with all people we encounter. We have changed opinions from many who did not grasp our intentions these last few years.

Please do not judge us without attending one of these walks, or at least viewing video accounts of previous ones.

 

[Grumulkin]

Yes, it is already legal to open carry, but what good is that, if we are afraid to actually do it, fearing that it will be changed and become illegal. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. This is the kind of squeak that it take to get any grease.

Sometimes the squeaky wheel is found to be defective and is thrown in the trash.

Keep in mind that gun owners in Ohio are probably still in the minority. Many people, justified or not, have an irrational fear of guns. There are also those unlawful elements who would like to provoke a confrontation with a gun carrying citizen. I would go out of my way to be nonconfrontational and carry my handgun concealed to use if I really needed to and when the assailant wasn't expecting it.

For those who think an open carry demonstration would help get legalized carry on Ohio college campuses, I don't think so. That is only going to generate resistance. It would be much more effective and more likely to be successful to apply pressure on legistators with such organizations as the NRA.

 

[hso]

Folks,

Please see Brian D's information on the approach in post #14.

 

[Brian D.]

First, allow me to thank moderator hso for the supportive tone of response, it's appreciated.

Grumulkin, many if not most of these walk participants are also active members of Ohioans For Concealed Carry, and/or Buckeye Firearms Association, and/or other state level grassroots 2A advocacy groups. As such, we contact AND visit the Ohio Statehouse with some frequency, attempting to get the laws improved.

But in the last decade or so, attempting to legalize campus carry that way has been a heavy, slow drag, at best. Since we're talking about Columbus Ohio here, allow me a football analogy:

If running the ball straight up the middle isn't working, you mix up some other plays into your offensive strategy, correct? These walks truly pushed the statehouse to pass CC licensing back in 2002. Touchdown, Ohio citizens! However, that wasn't the end of the game, just the first quarter, you might say. We continue that same game even now, and several methods must be used to keep scoring points.

One other thing: The NRA usually doesn't provide much help with local or state firearms issues. They play in the NFL (U.S. Congress), to stretch my analogy a bit.

 

[hso]

Good analogy.

 

[gutshot]

The negative comments that I see here remind me of the Texans trying to get open carry passed. It was against the law to open carry handguns in Texas, so activists started open carrying long guns. The same negative remarks were made by the more timid gun owners of Texas. Long guns were even carried into the Texas state capitol. A few of the activist were arrested. Of course they were promptly released, no crime had been committed. All of this brought attention to the problem that had been ignored for years. The result was that the Texas legislature passed open carry for the first time since the Civil War. Things don't "just happen" on their own. US citizens should not have to beg for their government to respect their rights. The only way to get our rights respected, is for us to demand that they be respected. They won't respect us if we are afraid to fight for our rights.

Blacks were quiet and waited for decades for their rights to be recognized and nothing happened. Only when they became vocal and pushed the issue to the forefront, did anything positive happen for them. Gays have done the same thing. They have changed the national landscape in just a few short years, while gun owners have sat back and done nothing. We are letting our rights slip away from us without a whisper. Gun owners are too distracted, too lazy, too timid, too arrogant and too self satisfied to even get in the fight. Saying that thoughtful, well planned protests will cause us more harm than good is absurd. Show me one time in history that has been the case. It is just an excuse to keep your head buried in the sand and not help in the fight. I don't even live in Ohio and I've never set foot on any college or university in Ohio, but I'll be in Oxford on the 30th to walk at MU.

 

[coloradokevin]

For whatever it's worth, Ohio has had open carry walks of this kind for decades. I participated in one back in the 1990's, when the stated goal was to advance the issue of legal CCW (which basically didn't exist in the Buckeye State back then). Anyway, that walk was well-organized, well-publicized, and didn't seem to ruffle anyone's feathers.

I'm not going to claim to be the expert on the current state of things in Ohio, but I do know that 2nd Amendment rights are much more protected back there than they used to be. If this planned walk is handled responsibly it won't hurt. If it is handled irresponsibly, well, just remember the effect that pictures of open-carry morons wearing hoodies and sunglasses as they walked into Chipotle with AR-15's in hand had on the cause.

Good can come from responsible activism, but irresponsible activism can only hurt. If these folks handle things like the walk I attended many years ago, I see no reason it can't be a success.

 

[BB62]

As the organizer of the MU Walk, the fifth such Walk I've organized at/on/around the campus of an Ohio public college, it's heartwarming to see the responses of those who have actually taken part in a previous Walk, or others who've actually taken the time to inform themselves about them - and the things associated with them.

For those who have done neither, here is a link to the Facebook event page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1701346233480167/

 

[Midwest]

Fox 19 and WLWT 5 both mentioned the walk on their newscasts this morning.
.

 

[agtman]

From post #14

4) We notify the police, and university legal department about what we're doing.

5) Often, a 2A friendly prosecutor of long acquaintance accompanies us and videotapes the entire walk.

6) We engage ourselves in cordial dialogue with all people we encounter. We have changed opinions from many who did not grasp our intentions these last few years.

All of this reflects very wise planning, but especially the above ... in the event of encountering "counter demonstrators," such as at Trump's appearance Friday in L.A., who would attempt to disrupt your walk - violently or otherwise.

Thanks for posting this ...

 

[Midwest]

"After walk summary"

Brian said it was a huge turnout and 65 people showed up for the walk. People came from all over including Northeast Ohio, Columbus Ohio, Louisville KY and Northern KY.

You can read about it here

http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/s...ity-(Oxford)&p=2189471&viewfull=1#post2189471

.

 

[rtroha]

Here's a news article about the walk. Seems reasonably balanced to me.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news...alk-at-miami-oxford/nrFRd/?source=ddn_rotator