Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Detroit Michigan Open Carry Picnic at Belle Isle Park Recap - 8/22/2010

This past Sunday, we executed an Open Carry Potluck Picnic at Belle Isle Park in Detroit, Michigan. In all, it was an excellent event that went exactly as planned - no negative incidents.

Prior to the date of the picnic, it was only natural for the organizers to entertain all types of worst-case scenarios that could have marred the event. Fortunately, none of those things came to fruition.

One potential issue at Open Carry events is local enforcement officers. In some Michigan communities, police officers either "forget" or were never taught/trained that open carry of a firearm is legal. In our case, the police officers that "dropped by" actually knew the law. They snooped around for a bit but left after correctly assessing that we were only law-abiding citizens exercising our right to bear firearms.

Other issues that can occur at open carry events are encounters with curious onlookers or individuals who are curious why everyone is armed at the picnic bench. These encounters allow us to educate the general public about the legality of open carry of a firearm in Michigan. However, no one dropped by our shed despite the fact that the park was "jam-packed" on that date.

Thus, with basically no contact outside of our group of about 50 folks we fellow-shipped amongst ourselves. In my humble opinion, the best part of these outings is making new friends with people who are just as passionate about freedom and gun ownership as yourself.

Conversations throughout the day covered the entire spectrum of gun related topics, from recent self-defense cases in the headlines to the nuances of Michigan firearms law. Despite the fact that an ancillary 20x20 tent was set-up, everyone stayed in the smaller shed.

The event ran officially from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. I personally didn't leave until about 8 p.m. to ensure that we left the area better than we found it when we were setting up earlier in the day.

We had a great event. There were no problems, the food was great, and all had a great time. In fact, several attendees were gently suggesting that we do another event before the start of "snow season." I'll give the matter some thought, but no promises st this point.

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