We are all familiar with the recent prank whereby someone calls 9-1-1 to report a false situation at a celebrity or someone else’s home to trick emergency responders and often the SWAT Team to respond.
Well, now gun control groups have squarely put open-carry permit holders in their sights. The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (“CSVG”) has taken to social media to urge the public to assume anyone openly carrying a gun is trouble, and to call the cops on anyone they feel may be a threat.
“If you see someone carrying a firearm in public—openly or concealed—and have ANY doubts about their intent, call 911 immediately and ask police to come to the scene,” the group wrote on its widely followed Facebook page.
Gun rights groups are accusing them of putting law-abiding gun owners in danger by calling the police, which could lead to tense confrontations between the responding officers and the legally armed citizen.
Erich Pratt, spokesman for Virginia-based Gun Owners of America said “It’s one thing if someone is using a gun in an illegal or unlawful manner. No one is questioning that. But this clearly sounds like swatting.” Pratt adds that it may be a move of desperation by those looking to get guns off the streets.
“Anti-gun advocates are clearly frustrated. They want guns banned,” he said. “But they have been thwarted in the past, so they are looking for alternative means. They are inciting their radical base to turn their own neighbors in.”
This isn’t the first time gun-control advocates have resorted to this tactic. On Moms Demand Action’s Facebook page, according to an October 2014 Nation Review article, and on the CSVG and GunFreeZone.net’s websites, commenters have been advocating people call the police and exaggerate what is going on in hopes of getting them to respond. Their posts include such outrageous and frightening comments like ‘Why hasn’t someone called 9-1-1 so the cops can gun him down?’ and ‘Every time I see someone with a gun in a store I’m calling 9-1-1’ in hopes of bringing about an altercation between police and the law-abiding citizen.
“In an era in which individuals are being allowed to carry loaded guns on our streets with no permit, background check or required training, it is common sense for concerned citizens to call 911 when they see an armed individual whose intentions are unclear,” Ladd Everitt, director of communications for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence said in a statement to FoxNews.com. But he never describes what “unclear intentions” are – simply walking down the street? Shopping?
Their hope is that having frequent confrontations with the police will discourage people from carrying guns.
This is just another brazen attempt by the anti-gunners to chip away at your Second Amendment rights.
What do you think?
The post Open-Carry Permit Holders Face New Risk – ‘Swatting’ appeared first on U.S. & Texas LawShield.