A reader e-mailed yesterday about something very interesting:
I saw you post about you eating at Chili’s and I was concerned that Brinker the parent of Chili’s would apply their policy change to Maggiano’s Little Italy which they also own. So I called their corporate office today, and the woman I spoke to in customer service said that they did not change their policy and if I am in compliance with the laws of where the Chili’s or Maggiano’s is than I am good to go. Seems like this is a lie being pushed my MDA. I asked about franchise locations of Chili’s and she told me they need to follow corporate policies.
So as many had suspected, there has been no actual policy change. I suspect what Watts has been doing is shaking these companies down for a press release, and then using that to declare victory to her supporters and to the media.
But before people start arguing then this is all much ado about nothing, it’s still:
- A huge cultural loss, because companies are more than willing to hand Watts talking points to make the rifle OC issues go away.
- Still being used by Watts to energize and grow her organization and reputation.
- Being used by the media to bring shame down upon all gun owners because of the actions of a small handful of attention grabbers.
Watts would also love, I’m sure, to get an actual policy change. She would no doubt also love to convince one of these companies to post. Even if we’re not talking disaster of epic proportions yet, if the nonsense continues, that will be the result at some point. We already have the wrong kind of media becoming enamored with Watt’s organization, to the point of writing glowing puff pieces about it.
A lot of the currency of our movement is the demoralization of theirs. There are plenty of people in this country that wouldn’t let you even own a rifle for hunting. What’s kept the gun control movement down since the 1990s is most of those people thought it was a lost cause, because everyone was telling them it was. Even the Clinton’s acknowledged what the NRA cost Democrats in the 1990s.
With every victory they attain, they are convincing a lot of those people that gun control is possible. It doesn’t matter if it’s a fabrication. It doesn’t matter if policy is not actually being changed. Perception is everything, and Watts is very good at managing perceptions. There will always be an enthusiasm gap between our side and theirs, but they have immediate and friendly access to the media, the entertainment industry, and academia. Our side starts off out of the gate at a disadvantage, because we don’t have any of that. All we have is each other.
Well said. This helping them to narrow the intensity gap.
OCT made a FB post today that I can get behind:
Of course this isn’t being well-received by all of their members, judging by the comments. I’m banned, but hopefully some people leave some encouraging comments on this decision to drown out the retards. We’ve been hammering them with criticism, but its also important to give them positive reinforcement when they do right by the community.
That would fix a lot of problem. Of course, if Pistol OC of antiques is really legal, they should just do that.
It really is “legal” Sebastian, but the problem is that a LOT of Texas law enforcement agencies don’t know the letter of the law or refuse to acknowledge the limits of what is allowed by law or not. To that end, you commonly hear from LEOs “Round them all up and put them jail and let the Judge sort them out”. Which happens and if your caught up in it you are going to be out a lot of time and money, which you will never recover, just to get those charges dropped and you cleared. Even then there a Judges that don’t really care what the difference between antique and modern hand guns are and lump them together for a conviction.
Its not really worth it in my opinion. There are better ways to convince the public, which doesn’t need much convincing anyway, to get open carry passed. Its on track now to get passed and Greg Abbot has vowed to call it to his desk to be signed as soon as he gets elected and session starts.
We just don’t need any distraction to get open carry to fail because of a few over the top protesters. Even several law makers are trying quite nicely trying to tell them to cut out their activities and calm down, too much negative attention.
Carry of black-powder firearms is also legal in MD. The statute says antiques, or replicas of pre-1899 firearms without metallic cartridges. Paper (or plastic!) cartridges seem ok. I won’t be first, since my job depends on a clean criminal history. I have no doubt law enforcement agencies would push the limits to scare people, and I don’t have 3 years to wait for a settlement. Well, there is also the bit about carrying around a hand grenade, but one empty chamber ought to address that.
I think this goes right back to the fact that these companies don’t want to be involved in the politics of this. They just want to do business.
I OC’d at chilis recently, I don’t know if it was before or after MDA claimed them as a “victory” Certainly, I won’t carry there if the folks working there ask me not to, but then I’m just there to eat dinner with family and friends, not to be in your face or prove some point. THAT’s ultimately the behavior these companies want to stop, and I can’t blame them.
“There are plenty of people in this country that wouldn’t let you even own a rifle for hunting. ”
If the gun grabbers want to ban guns used for self defense, how monumentally stupid do people have to be to believe those same gun grabbers will allow you to own one to whack Bambi?
Yep. And there are plenty of people, who are quite a bit more rabid than anti-gunners, who are against the idea of whacking bambi at all.
TXOC a$$hats calling Chili’s bluff, followed by a REAL change in policy, in 3…2…1