Um, WTF

For some reason that I have thus far failed to grasp, conservative Beck-heads have decided to start bringing their assault rifles to President Obama's town hall meetings.

A dozen armed people, including one man with a rifle slung over his shoulder, protested today outside a Phoenix convention hall where President Barack Obama was speaking, a police spokesman said.

Carrying an unconcealed weapon is legal in Arizona, and the police didn’t arrest any of the protesters, who were demonstrating their right to bear arms, Phoenix Police Department spokesman Andy Hill said.

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The incident marks the third in a week in which guns have been linked to an Obama event. On Aug. 11, police arrested a man for having a loaded, unlicensed gun in his car near a New Hampshire school where Obama later held a health-care forum, USA Today reported. Another man outside that event displayed a gun in a holster on his leg, the paper said.

I am an ardent civil libertarian. I believe the Bill of Rights should be interpreted expansively, and I believe its provisions should apply to the states. I support the Second Amendment right bear arms as both an individual right (as District of Columbia v. Heller had it) as well as a collective right. More power to the people.

But.

There is absolutely no reason to exercise that right when the president of the United States is in the vicinity. First of all, you can rest assured that security is relatively high. But the main concern I have is, why would anyone want to do this? To frighten other protesters or citizens who attend the event? To incite a riot? To wait for an opportunity to do the unthinkable? It absolutely amazes me that this is within the law and, more importantly, that the Secret Service or local law enforcement didn't drag these guys away kicking and screaming (and, probably, shooting).

The first black president should have unprecedented security. He probably does have unprecedented security. But I think we need to go the extra step and decide as a people that perhaps allowing assault rifles at presidential forums isn't necessarily the best way to see to a high minded debate. These are serious issues the country is facing. We need to debate them free of these absurd distractions, and free of the possibility of an American nightmare.