Time to let them have it.
http://theoaklandpress.com/articles/2010/08/24/opinion/doc4c73130c3a96f579403351.txtWe’ve heard that there’s going to be a new event at this year’s Arts, Beats and Eats Festival — the quick draw.
But then again, it’s probably just a rumor — at least we hope so.
But silly controversy isn’t funny.
The Royal Oak City Commission has voted to eliminate the ban on firearms during the festival. It may have ended a controversy, but it hasn’t halted debate on the issue.
It began a couple weeks ago when, with guns holstered on their hips, people who support Michigan’s open carry gun laws told Royal Oak city officials that they want to be able to take their guns to the Labor Day weekend event.
They stated that is was their constitutional right to openly carry the weapons and contested the agreement between the city and festival organizers that banned firearms. The group apparently made its point, whatever it was. The question now is why did these people feel the need to carry a gun at the festival — did they believe their lives would be endangered if they attended unarmed? Thousands of children and adults seem to do that every year. They have a wonderful time and return home tired but not injured.
Is it that this group never sees a gun regulation it doesn’t want to fight?
We’re not advocating for more gun regulations and we certainly don’t want to change the Constitution. But it’s hard to understand why the gun group picked this festival on which to make a stand. It really wasn’t necessary.
The debate stirred could hurt the event.
As Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson noted, the debate is a distraction.
“These guys want to make a point and don’t give a damn about the charities the festival supports,” Patterson has said. “I have a problem with these gun-toting zealots.”
Patterson said dozens of people have called him to say they won’t be attending the festival out of a concern about safety.
Guns are many things. When used properly, they’re an excellent tool in self-defense and law enforcement. They can be a nice, diversionary hobby or collector’s items. But they also can be a source of fear because of their life-threatening potential.
No one is trying to take guns away from this group or others, so why do they have to be so adamant?
If they’re that paranoid about needing a gun for protection, then they probably should lock themselves away in their homes and board up the windows, leaving just enough opening for the muzzle of a pistol or rifle.
If they are doing it because they feel some type of power or control by carrying a gun, then that’s another issue, one we won’t delve into because we’re not psychologists.
Again, we concede that people have a right to carry a gun and display it opening, if they must. We’re not advocating any changes in that basic Constitutional right.
We just don’t understand why this group felt the need to taint a fun, summer family event with a needless controversy.
And what is equally a puzzle, why do they need to openly display their guns at the festival in the first place?
