Black Community To Open Carry Texas: ‘You Are Not Welcome Here’
It’s not like we didn’t warn them. Open Carry Texas had this nifty plan to march in Houston’s Fifth Ward, a predominately black area. The braintrusts from the Open Carry group created so much tension at a meeting over their plans to hold a gun protest there on Saturday that one person shouted, “You are not welcome here today or Saturday.” That sentiment appeared to be unanimous among the people of that community.
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It was one side against the other: The Open Carry group with their fearless leader C.J. Grisham, and on the other sat the largely African American community concerned over the demonstration.
“We think that an armed society is a polite society,” Grisham said. “We want to encourage citizens in the Fifth Ward to take back their community from the criminal element.”
Don’t you just love a bunch of mostly white guys marching into a black neighborhood with long guns strapped to their backs, telling another community how to live?
KHOU reports:
The meeting was organized to discuss Open Carry’s plans for the upcoming demonstration. In the past, participants have openly displayed their shotguns in protest over current state laws that prohibit Texans from openly carrying handguns. And even though the gathering began with handshakes, emotions rapidly boiled over as opponents questioned the group’s motives and accused them of being racist.
“We have a bad history with white men who would come into the 5th ward with guns in the name of a lynch mob,” activist Quanell X said.
Houston police stood nearby to watch as both sides squared off.
It got this bad: There were a few Open Carry opponents displaying their own weapons and urged the group to cancel their plans.
“All they’re trying to do is provoke these young people,” Kathy Daniels, the president of the local civic club said. “We’re trying to settle this. We don’t want them here period.”
Still yet, Grisham is not backing down.
“If people tell you not to exercise a right, do you not exercise that right?” Grisham asked.
According to Grisham, members of his group will discuss possibly altering some of their tactics but still planned to gather there on Saturday.
Grisham cancelled the last event to be held in the Fifth Ward because he decided instead to speak at a John Birch Society meeting. He called me the biggest liar on the Internet, until I produced a picture on Twitter of him speaking at that same event, which his own wife posted. Still yet, I’m a liar, he said.
Guys, if you want to get to know the people of the Fifth Ward, the best idea is to go unarmed. I live in such an area. Instead of being told, “You’re not welcome here,” I was welcomed with open arms. I did not move here brandishing weapons. I came here with good intentions, not an agenda.
Watch courtesy of KHOU:
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As for ‘An armed society is a polite society,’ as Grisham claims, I’ll just leave you with this picture of Open Carry activists from March of this year.
Doesn’t that image just scream “polite society”?
H/T: My BFF @ComgenKDT with thanks.
R J August 14th, 2014 at 10:08 am
Once again we see right wing racist acting as if they know what is best for black people, better than black people.
Abby Normal August 14th, 2014 at 10:52 am
What is wrong with these idiots? For years gun owners wanted concealed carry permits. They finally got their way and the majority of states now issue concealed carry permits to people who undergo a minimum background check and take a quick course in concealed carry. But that wasn’t enough. Now they demand the right to carry weapons out in the open wherever they go – Target stores, fast food restaurants, anywhere. I saw one of these idiots (yes, I mean idiots) in a local Steak N’ Shake. My impression is that the guy . . . idiot . . . was a bully. He certainly had the demeanor of one. My question to these open carry IDIOTS: Wouldn’t you be just as safe in Steak N’ Shake or Target or other public place with your 9mm in a holster nicely concealed under your jacket or coat? You know how easy it is for someone to relieve you of your wallet as you’re walking through Target? How hard do you think it would be for someone to grab your out-in-the-open 9mm semi-automatic pistol while your browsing garden hoses at Walmart? Idiots.
Dwendt44 August 14th, 2014 at 11:44 am
Just one? Usually the only ‘parade’ in a group, lest one by themselves might get robbed of that precious firearm.
Traveler51 August 14th, 2014 at 5:32 pm
They, and most others on the right, push all of their agendae to the tipping point. Just like the xian faction, they can’t take yes for an answer and end up turning public opinion against them. Stand your ground. Trap laws for health centers. etc.
cyb pauli August 14th, 2014 at 10:55 am
I just have to ask: if a group of mainly dark-skinned black men wanted to march with rifles in a ritzy Texas suburb, would law enforcement, private businesses and local politicians be so tolerant?
Dana Norwood August 14th, 2014 at 11:17 am
Hell no!
m2old4bs August 14th, 2014 at 12:40 pm
ditto this but in caps
Chuck Bradley August 14th, 2014 at 8:00 pm
I sure they would have to but I would expect every MRAP from every Texas Police Department to be there as well along with 25 to1 Police to Gun Nut so the rich suburbanites would feel “protected”
Abby Normal August 14th, 2014 at 10:58 am
Oh look. Mom packs a .45 while she buys our groceries. I feel safer already. Idiot.
Paul Welch August 14th, 2014 at 11:14 pm
First off in Texas this would be illegal to carry a hand gun openly no matter whether you have a CHL or not. At this time in TEXAS the CHL only enables you to carry a handgun concealed not openly.
Second if the people in this neighborhood feel frightened or scared by these groups marching with their guns and have expressed this to these groups then it would be illegal because then they would be carrying in a manner “calculated” to cause alarm; meaning you are carrying the rifle to purposely intimidate or scare people.
Why screw it up for everyone. OK so you have the right to open carry a RIFLE or SHOTGUN. Let it go. Don’t go around causing a rucuss and get that right taken away from everyone. I mean use some common sense for a change. If you feel you must be armed get you a CHL and put the gun under your jacket or shirt.
I am all for the right to have guns and to carry them. Face it, guns in the hands of people on the street scares people. I mean in Texas you can carry a loaded handgun in your glove box even without a CHL. You can carry a loaded rifle or shotgun in your truck. Why must you carry a rifle down the street? I don’t see any reason for it.
tiredoftea August 14th, 2014 at 12:18 pm
“We want to encourage citizens in the Fifth Ward to take back their community from the criminal element.”, but they didn’t listen when the residents told them to stay out. White man’s privilege, I guess.
m2old4bs August 14th, 2014 at 12:52 pm
Good. Glad to hear the 5th Ward telling the OCT domestic terrorists to stay away. Should they not heed that warning, we’ll see if stand your ground is indeed a viable protection of one’s property and life law for all Tejanos. Not condoning violence, but these OCT domestic terrorists need to be held accountable for the fear they spread, the disturbance of the peace they cause, and the arrogance and disrespect they show all people. Their “White man’s privilege” is as out-moded and jaded as they are at the core of their individual beings. Stand firm Fifth Ward. I stand with you albeit in spirit only.
raincheck1956 August 14th, 2014 at 3:35 pm
I think this group just wants black folks to see how well armed they are, and to show how they’re not afraid of black people…. “show them who’s boss” What a disgusting group of….. AZZHOLES!!! If they insist on doing this (unwelcome), what do they think will happen?
Traveler51 August 14th, 2014 at 5:27 pm
When black folks around the country start emulating these crazies, a different tune will be played. Guns are only for “real ‘muricans”.This might prove to be Pandora’s box.
.
Traveler51 August 14th, 2014 at 5:27 pm
When black folks around the country start emulating these crazies, a different tune will be played. Guns are only for “real ‘muricans”.This might prove to be Pandora’s box.
.
StevePage August 15th, 2014 at 1:58 pm
The black community has plenty of guns, look at the crimes stats.
Traveler51 August 15th, 2014 at 2:10 pm
They sure do. And now they should start open carry everywhere they go. Give the rednecks a taste of what they dish out. Go to white areas with long guns and sit back and watch the chickens run for cover.
StevePage August 19th, 2014 at 10:45 am
Bigots like you just make things worse.
tzsm98 August 26th, 2014 at 10:36 pm
I thought having plenty of guns would make the community have less crime. That is what the justification for Armory America had been for decades. Now you are pointing to high crime and high gun ownership as a correlation? What’s up with that? Say it ain’t so!
StevePage August 27th, 2014 at 4:59 pm
criminals with guns are one thing, legally owned guns are another.
tzsm98 September 9th, 2014 at 8:01 pm
How is it different? A legal construct is totally within a person’s mind. The gun, the casing, the projectile have no knowledge of being illegal or legal. The person holding the weapon may have a conviction for embezzlement, not one of the top ten violent crimes but one that would make possession of the weapon illegal. I say it is a worthless construct put into place to punish Johnny Ten during Reconstruction and o liberty had a function. Show that it is still a functional legal construct.
Roy Blankenship August 14th, 2014 at 5:30 pm
How much dumber can our nation get? I hear people saying they are “tired of political correctness”, what does that mean? That we should go as far as we can the other way and complain that blacks can say the N-word but whites can’t? Do you really feel deprived over that? Do you really feel better with your little security blanket at your side so you don’t have to be afraid any more? You Open Carry jerks are PATHETIC.
StevePage August 15th, 2014 at 1:57 pm
Open carry people are jerks but those who want to deprive them of their right to free speech and their right to lawfully assemble aren’t? Man Roy, are a member of the Nazi party?
Roy Blankenship August 14th, 2014 at 5:30 pm
How much dumber can our nation get? I hear people saying they are “tired of political correctness”, what does that mean? That we should go as far as we can the other way and complain that blacks can say the N-word but whites can’t? Do you really feel deprived over that? Do you really feel better with your little security blanket at your side so you don’t have to be afraid any more? You Open Carry jerks are PATHETIC.
Orland724 August 14th, 2014 at 5:45 pm
These stupid people are nothing but an embarrassment to the country.
StevePage August 15th, 2014 at 1:55 pm
True, they should respect the right of those who wish to peacefully and lawfully assemble to exercise their right to free speech.
Jennifer Williams August 14th, 2014 at 6:23 pm
“we can educate our own people” says Quanell X. This statement just confirms that X, like many other activists, are the ones who seek to perpetuate the “us versus them” mentality in an effort to keep racial division alive. If they let it die the natural death it’s headed for, they lose the spotlight and their paychecks and, unfortunately, they are not going to allow that to happen. On the original topic, why doesn’t X want the residents of the Fifth Ward educated about their right to bear arms? Shouldn’t he, as their self-proclaimed advocate, want them to be empowered with accurate knowledge about all of their constitutional rights?
skohayes August 14th, 2014 at 7:46 pm
That is the entire problem- they don’t NEED to be educated about the Second Amendment.
Why don’t you and those idiots GET THAT??
Jennifer Williams August 14th, 2014 at 10:18 pm
You make that assumption in spite of X’s statement suggests they do…he just doesn’t want non-blacks to do it.
You obviously missed that my main point wasn’t even about guns, it was about people like X, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who’s self
importance and paycheck depend on perpetuating racial division.
Your name calling is typical of a liberal who wants to incite hostility rather than engage in intelligent and reasonable discourse.
StevePage August 15th, 2014 at 1:54 pm
Jennifer the irrational extremist partisanship like skohayes has is the biggest problem America has. Hatred spewing sheeple on both side are dragging America down.
cecilia August 14th, 2014 at 6:34 pm
idiots waving guns around aren’t welcome in my neighborhood either.
Chuck Bradley August 14th, 2014 at 7:42 pm
These Stupid people are going to get someone shot by doing things like this and by doing so will cause a wave of fallout amongst Moderates who believe in the second amendment but think people like these are dangerous. Then we will get new gun laws passed just to protect citizens from Idiots walking around with a M-16 on there back instead of carrying a reasonable pistol on there hip. Arrogant People that feel the need to carry assault weapons just to prove a point will cause such a backlash that voters will force extreme new laws through and we will loose the liberal laws we now enjoy. DONT FU*K WITH THE RIGHTS I ENJOY BY BEING STUPID!!!!
Robert Leslie August 14th, 2014 at 9:15 pm
Its not about guns…this is about racism. If a white person spoke like that to a black person, it would be considered extremely racist
StevePage August 15th, 2014 at 1:52 pm
Correct Robert L. Let whites protest a black panther march and the whites would be called intolerant, redneck racists.
Mike B August 14th, 2014 at 7:47 pm
I wouldnt want a bunch of idiot rednecks openly carrying guns around in my neighborhood either!
SkeeterVT August 14th, 2014 at 7:50 pm
This will likely get very ugly and not end well — ESPECIALLY in the wake of what’s happening in Ferguson, Missouri.
Chuck Bradley August 14th, 2014 at 8:03 pm
Just because your allowed to do something does not always mean you should. Use common sense people before you screw it up for everyone!
Clearwater1948 August 14th, 2014 at 9:27 pm
To say this is ludicrous would be an understatement.
Strega August 14th, 2014 at 10:11 pm
This will end badly.
JeffreyPtr August 15th, 2014 at 9:53 am
Conflict is inevitable, a diverse population sees different answers to a problem and all insist on exercising their rights to push their particular solution. You have a right to carry a gun, I have a right to be offended (afraid, or any other emotion), there is no way we’re both going to win on this.
StevePage August 15th, 2014 at 1:45 pm
If whites protested a black panther march they’d be labeled racists rednecks. Blacks get a pass.
It’s sad to see that America is so divided by this kind of thing.
Kohene Moore August 15th, 2014 at 7:20 pm
Remember the black panthers tried the open carry thing and we’re systematically murdered and jailed by the F.B.I. because they refused to lay down and be beaten Like all of the other “peaceful protesters” of the civil rights movement and we’re seen as a threat by a openly racist F.B.I. DIRECTOR. and those protest happened in black communities not at a key rally
StevePage August 19th, 2014 at 10:45 am
That was a unconstitutional as what the black community is doing to the open carry guys. Black or white we all have rights and one person’s bad choices do not justify another person’s bad choices. We’re supposed to be adults and not little kids trying to get even.
StevePage August 19th, 2014 at 10:41 am
I’d say from your arrogance and unwillingness to acknowledge every person’s right to assembly and free speech that you are less wise than those you insulted.