Kudos to TalkingPointsMemo.com. While their tone clearly is biased against owning/carrying guns, at least they have the decency to note when someone open carrying is well within the law and acting in a peaceful manner. They reported today that a protester in New Hampshire was open carrying a firearm outside of an event that President Obama was attending. While their first post was a bit alarmist, the updates to the article were surprisingly honest. It seemed they initially wanted to paint the OC activist as some sort of homicidal loon, but later reported that he was acting peacefully and was not in the direct vicinity of the president:The local police tell MSNBC that the man is legally carrying the gun, is nowhere near where the President will be, and is "under constant surveillance."Again, I am not thrilled with the picture they were trying to paint when the article began. They identified the protester as being: "Apparently not a law officer, but a civilian." Egads! Someone not from the government displaying a symbol of power and self-reliance. They also refer to the concealed carry laws of the State of New Hampshire when the picture associated with the story (pictured here) illustrated a man open carrying. Not great attention to detail, but there rarely is such a thing when people are fear mongering.
A second update even featured a quote from the protester sounding quite reasonable:
The gun-wielding protester was interviewed by Chris Matthews late today: "I'm not advocating violence," William Kostric said. "I'm advocating an informed society, an armed society, a polite society."TPM is free to dislike guns, as is any (modern) liberal website. But I respect them for at least setting the record straight, pointing out that the protester was in full compliance with the law, and posting a quote without any snarky retorts.
UPDATE: It looks like the folks over at msnbc are not quite as up to speed as the TPM crew. While covering this (apparently) very important story, the reporters act shocked that the man is allowed to openly carry a gun in New Hampshire, on private property even. They do cover the laws of the state, but seem as though they have never heard of open or concealed carry. (despite the fact that over 40 states have some form of open carry law). The anchor goes on to suggest that with all the lawyers on the ground, they should be able to file an emergency injunction and infringe on the man's right to carry.
