Speaking of Utah…

Via the MetroUtah man goes shopping with rifle on his back

The JC Penney shopper,  22-year-old Joseph Kelley, told the Salt Lake Tribune that he carries weapons to protect children and other people from ‘criminals, cartels, drug lords”‘ and other ‘evil men’.

Mr Kelley described himself as a firm believer in Second Amendment rights and said he chose to bring the guns into the store to show they are not dangerous in the hands of law-abiding citizens.

Well, at least we know he wasn’t served any drinks without food to help absorb the alcohol…

FILED UNDER: Guns and Gun Control, US Politics, ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Dave A says:

    Far left Utah won’t let us have armed guards in schools so now the unemployed mercenaries roam the state’s department stores looking for work.

  2. al-Ameda says:

    The JC Penney shopper, 22-year-old Joseph Kelley, told the Salt Lake Tribune that he carries weapons to protect children and other people from ‘criminals, cartels, drug lords”‘ and other ‘evil men’.

    Looks like that background check failed.

  3. Gustopher says:

    From the article:

    Ms Yorgason said the first store assistant refused to serve him, and everyone in the vicinity ‘wanted to get away’. She added the man’s behavior was in ‘poor taste’.

    ‘I thought that he was pretty much an idiot,’ Ms Yorgason said.

    Why did any of the workers help this man?

  4. ernieyeball says:

    Far left Utah…

    This must be directly across the road from the site of Glen Beck’s new commune!

  5. Argon says:

    @al-Ameda:
    I’d say it’s working just like the NRA wants it to work.

  6. Stonetools says:

    Yet another example of a legitimate, responsible gun owner whose culture needs to be respected….

  7. OzarkHillbilly says:

    How long before one of these idiots decides to make a withdrawal from his bank while demonstrating how safe guns are? How long before one of these idiots is shot in self defense?

  8. Tsar Nicholas says:

    What’s interesting about this sort of blog post is that in their collective zeal to sneer and condescend at “the others” liberals constantly miss every possible elephant in the room.

    Take Utah.

    Yeah, sure, it’s fun to point at the lone nut dredged up by the local media there to make the obligatorily ham-handed political point about guns. But on the flip side of that coin the government tracks crime by metropolitan areas. And then they publish those crime stats. And of course Detroit is the worst of the worst, which is about as “surprising” as low student test scores and high poverty and unemployment rates in big liberal Democrat cities.

    How do Utah cities fare when it comes to crime? Pretty f’n well, actually. At last count there are 135 metro areas around the country with worse crime rates than Salt Lake City, which happens to be Utah’s worst. The fact so many Utah residents are armed goes a long way towards explaining that phenomenon, although of course liberals tend to be so airheaded about such matters they almost always fail to connect those obvious dots.

    Utah statewide also has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the entire country. And while the likes of New York and others die on the vine Utah has been growing and adding electoral votes and congressional districts.

    So to summarize, liberals have and undoubtedly will continue to have various one-off examples from which they can project their elitism upon Utah. And Utah for its part has very low crime rates, extremely low unemployment and a rapidly growing population. Nuanced.

  9. That Other Mike says:

    @Tsar Nicholas: So, back to being the usual squawking cretin, then?

  10. PogueMahone says:

    @Tsar Nicholas: What’s interesting about this sort of blog post is that in their collective zeal to sneer and condescend at “the others” liberals constantly miss every possible elephant in the room.

    And yet your elephant wont fit through the door.

    Yeah, sure, it’s fun to point at the lone nut dredged up by the local media there to make the obligatorily ham-handed political point about guns.

    This wasn’t some lone nut the media hunted down to make an example of. This guy strapped a gun to his back and walked into a department store. This guy wanted to make himself an example… and he did… but not as he had expected.

    … And of course Detroit is the worst of the worst …

    I got an idea. Why don’t you just steer clear of Detroit. That city seems to vex you something fierce.

    And Utah for its part has very low crime rates, extremely low unemployment and a rapidly growing population. Nuanced.

    And none of which has anything to do with this wanker and his ability to walk into a department store with his gun strapped to his back. Fail.

    Cheers.

  11. carpeicthus says:

    I admit that I come on these boards just to see how Tsar or JKB can admit to find something stupid to say about any given story. It’s a skill, really. The way these boards are set up really rewards trolls, whether they’re witting or not. They get to collect red downvotes and even their own special color post as a sense of pride.

  12. edmondo says:

    The amazing part of the story to me was that anyone still shopped at JCPenney! That alone should have made him fail his background check .

  13. @Tsar Nicholas:

    Utah statewide also has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the entire country.

    And this is because some dude walked around with a rifle strapped to his back is the reason?

    Or maybe it is the rules on drink?

    I am just trying to follow your logic.

  14. al-Ameda says:

    @Tsar Nicholas:

    So to summarize, liberals have and undoubtedly will continue to have various one-off examples from which they can project their elitism upon Utah. And Utah for its part has very low crime rates, extremely low unemployment and a rapidly growing population. Nuanced.

    Well, it’s an extremely “nuanced” notion that the reason it is safe to shop at JC Penney’s in Salt Lake City is that people are allowed to openly carry a rifle to the store.

  15. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Tsar Nicholas:

    they can project their elitism upon Utah.

    Tsar has managed to once again prove the elitism of slugs.

  16. Franklin says:

    Given the age of this guy, I just had a great idea (in my own mind). With the exception of the military and police, there should be a minimum age to own a gun. I’m thinking 30 or 35. I had such a temper in my 20s that it was a good thing that I didn’t have a gun.

  17. Rafer Janders says:

    I’m going to be an exception here, but I’m all for this guy…in a sense. If the good voters of Utah want open carry laws, then let them have open carry. Let them see what it really entails, and let their kids and grandkids have a gun shoved under their noses every time they head to a store, go to a restaurant, see a movie, etc. This is the law they want.

  18. legion says:

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    I am just trying to follow your logic.

    Don’t stress over it – there’s never _any_ logic to Tsar’s posts…