It seems to me like a lot of (I think) sort of misinterpret the intentions of the gun toting protestors.
I don't really think their intention is to be threatening.
Nor do I think it is to provoke some sort of firefight.
The gun issue is the one issue where the majority of the public agree with the general GOP position.
Once Clinton played into GOP expectations on this issue the GOP was able to take back congress by provoking outrage.
Now of course the end result of this fearmongering was Oklahoma City when somebody bought so deeply into their rhetoric that he felt compelled to act on it, and this actually set their cause back.
Obama has not played into their game. Not only has he held back on any gun control, he actually has signed some pro gun bills into law. When Holder talked about reinstating the AWB the net was abuzz with "told you so" from gun supporters and once the admin sort of squelched Holders plan it just took all the wind out of them.
So it is out of a deep sense of frustration that they are bearing arms.
All throughtout the election process the GOP and NRA hammered the fact that Obama was going to take peoples guns.
Any time you go on any gun forum on the net any legislation, any statement made by any gov't official that could be remotely interpreted as somehow affecting the right to own and use guns is instantly posted everywhere as "proof" that Obamas main goal of being president is to take peoples guns.
They are like the Japanese soldiers lost in the jungles after WW2 was over that think the war is still going on. They were given their marching orders and even though the sound of battle is no longer heard they can't accept that they are not in danger.
So many of these people are poor, lower middle class, could benefit from Obama's policies esp health care. A lot even former Democrats before Gun Control became such a great bogeyman for the right. It works even in states where the race issue doesn't.
Anyway these people would have never considered bringing guns to a Bush event, especially not one totally unrelated to the gun issue. But he's was a REPUBLICAN and the propaganda they've been fed tells them only DEMOCRATS will take their freedom, nevermind that IF the gov't decided to round up all the guns a lot of the spying and other activities instituted by the Bush admin would make it super easy to do.
So here they are, at a time when the Supreme Court ruled the Second Amendment is an INDIVIDUAL right, when more states than ever in my lifetime allow open carry and concealed weapons. When the hugely unpopular Assault Weapons Ban failed to be re instated. When they can carry said Assault weapons when the president is in town on the street and not get in trouble complaining their freedom is in danger??
While Obama is taking SOME risk in not cracking down on these folks doing this, he's very possibly paving the way for a democratic majority that lasts for years by his hands off approach.
What they and especially their masters would like would be for them to round them up and harass them or ban them from protesting so they could get all over the net and show that everything the NRA and GOP told them was true about Obama and gun control.
That's what they are trying to provoke. Not a firefight but a reaction that they can use to keep this issue going.
While you are not ever going to convince some people - there are a heck of a lot of people who are taking note that what the GOP and NRA promised, that Obama would take their guns, is not happening. I hear it at gunshows, I see it online. Obama is walking a tightrope here and I applaud his courage but if at the end of his term if nobody is missing any guns you are going to see tons of these poor middle and lower middle class voters who vote on the gun issue voting democrat.
It's an interesting strategy and if Obama manages to decrease the deficit during his first term also it could very well break the back of the GOP.