Is he free to fire the guns into the air, as in celebration ? In some parts of Arizona this practice has been discouraged.

In other parts of that state it is still legal to fire guns into the air.

Stay tuned, indeed.

Left unsaid: "I have no penis".

Media attention, and liberal angst, is precisely what these wack jobs are looking for. Better to ignore them unless and until they make even the slightest move towards the trigger -- at which point hopefully a Secret Service sharpshooter will put one right between their beady little eyes.

I was really expecting it to be an angry old white dude. Damn, I thought post-racial America would be a lot easier to figure out.

This is just nuts. In a few short months we have gone from it being un-American to question the president to a constitutional right to stand around outside of a presidential event screaming about how much you hate him and carrying an assault rifle.

Although the guy does have a point. Obama is an evil man trying to take away my freedom to not be able to afford health care. Nothing says America to me like the inalienable right to die broke and alone from some disease which has been easily treatable since the mid-19th century.

"Down with Obama. Up with tuberculosis!"

Two guns?! Two guns! This man is insane. An assault rifle? How in any sense of sanity can this be legal? And even if it's legal where he lives surely the president being there precludes his so called "rights" to own an assault rifle.

I'm sure that the local whack-job recruiter was eager to show some diversity in their group. I'm sure that it was suggested he "up-the-ante" w/ an assault-rifle to make sure he got the attention they were looking for.

I bet this fella would love living in Afghanistan, where toting is legal and people actually use their guns instead of trying to establish manhood with it. Education is legal in Arizona also, but obviously this guy didn't take them up on that because he can do it (I got slugged in high school for calling a thug-in-training "stupid" but guess who showed up in school the next day with the black eye (me) and who stayed home. The Secret Service needs to lock this guy up without taking his gun away in one of their armored detention vehicles labeling him a threat to the President of the United States because "they can do it!" Those people shouting "American, love it or leave it," left it a long time ago--mentally.

I understand that Obama want to avoid the comparisons to Bush-era policies (where you could get arrested for wearing the wrong SHIRT around the president), but this seems to have gone too far.

Of course, the paranoids will point out that if a right-wing nut actually took a shot at Obama, the gloves would officially be off. Would police raids on teabag headquarters be justifiable at that point?

The NRA says guns make you safe.

Perhaps he is making a point it doesn't make anyone feel safer, particularly if half the protesters come armed the next get street get together.

In February, 2010, he can carry his assault weapon along the viewpoints at the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone and feel safe. Thanks to Congress and the Obama administration

Arizona Republicans tried to make it legal for elementary or high school students, K-12, to carry loaded and concealed weapons to school. Fortunately, that did not pass.

Remember back in June of '06, the guy who walked up to Cheney at a mall in Beaver Creek, Co., and gave him a piece of his mind? He was arrested for assault by the SS. (The charges were later dropped.)

We've got a bit of a double standard here, I think. Tell Cheney he's despicable, and you're off to the hoosegow. yet, you bring an arsenal to an Obama town hall and they just keep an eye on you.

Now, which amendment is more under threat?

My biggest question here is why is this "perfectly legal" and why does it need to be perfectly legal. It's one thing to allow private citizens to own licensed and approved firearms. But this? Is Tempe, AZ, actually an Israeli settlement on Palenstinian land?

And this guy wasn't satisifed with just a sidearm....that was yesterday news...that dude in NH already did that a few days ago. So this lovely gentleman went for the sidearm AND the semi-automatic rifle with clip inserted slung over his shoulder. I must say - nice touch!

Is Tempe, AZ, actually an Israeli settlement on Palestinian land?

Well, same general idea.

More power to him. A Black man armed for insurrection? How's that feel NRA members?

Who thinks it's a mere coincidence that those whackjobs are chanting a phrase that begins with "KILL"?

Subliminal messaging anyone???

I much prefer to see the weapon out in the open than those whack-jobs walking in with a concealed hand-cannon.

Isn't it classic military strategy to probe your enemy's defenses prior to an attack? Probe to see how the enemy reacts and adjusts, then finalize your attack strategy in light of the info gained during those probes?

First we see someone carrying a sidearm outside a Town Hall. Then someone drops a sidearm inside a Town Hall. Then a sidearm and an assault rifle carried nearby the POTUS. Maybe even two assault rifles.

How many snipers and on-the-ground agents and cops will the Secret Service have to deploy to cover not only the known gun carriers, but also the additional unknown gun carriers?

Might these be some of those classic military probing strategies being carried out?

Never underestimate your adversaries. Especially the ones who have been preparing for military-style "responses".

Where are the fucking police and secret service?

It's our God given 2nd Amendment right to own a gun and kill for God.

Isn't the fact that this guy shows up where the President is speaking with a gun enough evidence that he needs a mental health evaluation? Even if the President were not in town, who would want to share the sidewalk with this moron? When Bush was President the cops would take you away and detain you even if they released you later without charges. Where is law enforcement to allow this insanity? There is NO REASON for this guy to be carrying a weapon and that should be reason enough to detain him whether he is charged or not for any violation.

"If we need to intervene, we will intervene at that time," said Detective J. Oliver.

OK, great. You might want to put the coroner on standby, in the meantime.

People seem to see this as an isolated issue, one or two wing nuts packing firepower just to make a statement, a somewhat dangerous statement. But don't worry, the cops and the secret service have their eyes on them. Well consider this, suppose there are more than one or two wing nuts there carrying firearms, suppose there is an army of nuts all carrying legal arms, rifles, assault guns, pistols; do you really believe that there will be enough cops and secret service to protect us against a neo-nazi army mobilized and positioned to create mayhem? This should be the scenario that must be considered in order to assess the legality (and wisdom) of allowing guns near political events, especially highly charged political events with the president. If anything, the extreme right has shown no respect for boundaries in the past. We've already seen them kill cops and doctors in the exercise of their rights, and their spokesmen like Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh are coming dangerously close to inciting violence. What do you think it will take for one of them to cross the line (again)?

Why feed the obsession with form (how many people shouted, who dissed whom, who was carrying a gun, what type of gun...) vs. content (what was discussed, what was learned, what happened inside)?

At this point, I think you've made your point - people with guns at Presidential events = bad.

I understand the need to continue a narrative, but why page one, top w/picture. It's almost as bad as the 24-hour networks. Don't feed the beast!

Attacking the guy over the internet for exercising a right is also a sign of small genital size...

I am so upset about this that I am having trouble writing about it. I am working on a blog right now.
My conclusion?

DEMOCRATS, START ARMING YOURSELVES. BUY THE BIGGEST MOST ACCURATE FIREARM ALLOWABLE IN YOUR STATE. RIGHT NOW. THE RIGHT IS SMUG IN ITS DETERMINATION TO MAKE ALL THOSE ON THE LEFT COWER AT THEIR PRESENCE.

THE BATTLE SO FAR HAS BEEN WON BY THE RIGHT.

All the left can do now is to properly arm themselves. The left did not ask for this.

THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE.

Oh snap, I've been had. BACK TO THE STATE HELICOPTERS!

Check out the crowd the black guy was standing with on the AzCentral video. I suspect that guy was pro-reform & wanted to see if he'd get an interview too.

Hmm,,
1.Remember back in June of '06, the guy who walked up to Cheney and gave him a piece of his mind? He was arrested for assault by the SS. (The charges were later dropped.
2.The guy with the gun stuck out like a sore ****,,everybody saw him.
3.A US citizen can't get threw an airport with a fingernail clippers,,
4..We have the same Secret Service.
But they do follow orders,,,

So the question is,,Who gave the SS orders to allow this man to be in the crowd with a gun?
The same SS that took down a man for VERBALLY assaulting Cheney,,They saw this man with a BIG gun..everybody saw this man with a BIG gun...
Whose trying to make the United States Secret Service look incompetent?

I really can't believe idiots who probably think they are liberal (look the word up, people) are responding to this complete non-story as if anything said mattes!

Man takes gun to protest, doesn't fire it. Where is the story?

"I may not approve of your carrying a firearm to a POTUS show, sir, but I will defend with my life your right to carry it."

Get a clue, people. POTUS gun totters are making a simple, yet very powerful, Political Statement. You may think it unwise, unnecessary, unintelligent -- whatever. That's YOUR opinion. But it is perfectly legal. Don't like it? Then don't do it. It's a free country. Or at least it used to be.

And I am an ultra-liberal, card-carrying member of the ACLU.

Are the POTUS totters over-reacting to the right-wing propaganda machine whipping up anti-Obama fervor? Perhaps.

Were the BushCO Patriot-Act/Habeaus-Corpus/Fisa-Spying/Gulag-Torture/Cherry-Picked-Intel/Illegal-Iraq-Fiasco/Signing-Statements/WallStreet-Bailouts more of a danger to the constitution in general, and the First Amendment in particular, than Obama Stimulation-Packages/HealthCare-Reforms? Certainly.