Unquestionable Right, Unbearable Stunt

Tweet @Target and let them know that open carry in their stores is #OffTarget http://t.co/ZKP0z5KbFW momsdemandaction.org/offtarget/ via @MomsDemand—
Helen Magnavita (@helenmag) July 02, 2014

Last week, after Target asked customers not to bring guns into its stores, Waldman commented that “just as there’s a culture of guns, and cultures where guns are plentiful, there are also tens of millions of Americans for whom an absence of guns is a cultural value”:

Despite what some extreme gun advocates believe, no right is unlimited, whether it’s your right to own a gun or your right to practice your religion or your right to freedom of speech. But beyond the legal limits, there are also the limits we all respect in order to have a society where we can get along despite our differences. My neighbor has a First Amendment right to write pornographic “Hunger Games” fan fiction, but if he hands his manuscripts to my kids he’s just being a creepy dirtbag, First Amendment or not. And depending on the laws of your state, you may have a legal right to take your rifle down to the Piggly Wiggly. But that doesn’t mean that doing so doesn’t make you a jerk.

Barton Hinkle is sort of on the same page. Though staunchly pro-gun rights, he argues that the antics of the open carry movement are bad for the cause:

Gun-rights advocates who delight in making suburban mothers nervous are practicing libertarian brutalism. They resemble those abortion-rights supporters who think it’s funny to wear a shirt that says, “Why did the fetus cross the road? Because they moved the dumpster.” Feeling put-upon, they have an urge to lash out at the other side, to rub the other side’s nose in the dirt and teach it a lesson. But lashing out rarely achieves much. Often such brutalism does nothing but generate resentment. Having a given right means never having to show consideration for how others feel about it, if you don’t want to. But advocates for individual rights should want to. We make a more persuasive case for liberty when we show such consideration. If, as one of the Carytown gun-toters put it, they wish to raise awareness about “responsible gun ownership,” then behaving responsibly would be a good place to start.