Fri May 09, 2014 at 5:37 PM PT: This diary was hijacked by Kossacks who wanted more than anything to talk about open carry, even though the diary was on a completely different subject. They asserted that when people see a gun in public and feel afraid, it's the same as racists who fear black people or fundamental Christianists who react to someone holding hands with their gay partner. Fear is fear they claim, "It's all irrational, all the same fear." That's right. They ignore the fact that deadly weapons are well, potentially deadly, while accusing others of having irrational fears. My rebuttal to that nonsense is here: The Claim: Carrying a gun in public is like being black or holding your gay partner's hand.
Sun May 11, 2014 at 6:14 AM PT: A virtual brawl broke out between unruly guests behaving badly. This diary is an educational example of how not to participate. It's an example of moderation failure. It's all here, blatant thread jacking, persistent dickishness, replies that enable and inflame troll behavior, a troll triples down spam posting a cartoon from an extreme right-wing gun owners group three times... Leading of course to the dramatic finish 2 days after publish, a hostile pile on, unexplained hit-and run HRs, and the inevitable onlookers who rescue from the hiddens a comment that should have remained hidden. But then, this diary has many offensive comments that could have rightfully been hidden. Except that by the the time the troll really got going most of the community had already moved on.
My rebuttal diary points to the false meme in this diary without naming names. I'm speaking out against a persistent false meme, not against the misguided individuals who believe it's true. Perpetrators of the false meme claim that I just don't understand their claim and that I've misrepresented and lied about their views. For that reason I think I need to leave this diary up so that interested readers can decide for themselves whether their accusations have any merit. If you think this diary should be deleted feel free to leave a comment to that effect or send me a Kosmail. I hesitate to leave it up and could be persuaded to change my mind.
A technical diary can't be that hard, can it?
A warm thank you to those who participated in good faith. I will gather your contributions and include them in a future diary on the same subject, reciprocity in concealed carry permit law.
The original diary content will be republished at a later date. It was background reading on Concealed Carry Permit Law for the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, which is a law that was reintroduced in the House this term, HR 2959. This diary included updated excerpts from a much longer diary published last fall, What is Reciprocity - Introduction to Concealed Carry Law