By Dean Weingarten
Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- On April 13, 2016, at the Second Amendment March that took place at the state Capitol in Lansing, a vandal took the opportunity to deface the white Chevy Silverado in the picture. From Michigan Open Carry facebook:
Yesterday at the Second Amendment March, someone took it upon themselves to key and scratch the white Chevy Silverado that was pulling the MGO trailer parked outside the Capitol Building.
This makes us sick! These are the types of people that want to disarm you while pushing their hate and defacing private property. Leaders of organizations like MGO and MOC are volunteer positions that rely on member funds to run. We don’t have millions of dollars sitting in the bank and we certainly don’t have vehicles that are paid for by the organizations. These vehicles are our own. We pay out-of-pocket for a majority of what we have to keep these organizations going.
It’s certainly disheartening to hear about something like this happening simply because of a different belief.
That being said, someone knows who did this! Spread the message far and wide that I personally will be awarding $1,000.00 (out of my own money) for information leading to the conviction of whoever damaged this personal vehicle.
Do you think that someone wont turn you in for $1,000.00?
I don’t think so.Spread this message as wide as you can please!!
Sincerely,
Johnny Roehrig
Vice President
Michigan Open Carry, Inc.
I was sent three pictures detailing the keying. They are boring, just showing the deep paint gouge, down to the metal in numerous places, from the bed to the front wheelwell of the truck. We do not know the motive for the keying, but it seems likely that it was an act of political intimidation, meant to chill the exercise of both the First and Second Amendments.
In the comments, several people note that there are numerous surveillence cameras in the area. From Dave Mckellar:
There are cameras that cover where you parked. FIA MDOt for the video
I would not be surprised if the vandal is identified and caught. The reward started as a $1,000, but promises of more donations keep adding up. They totalled over $1,500 and a free repair of the damage in less than a day.
We have seen numerous cases where groups who seek special status have faked vandalism to gain status for their cause. I do not believe that is what happened here. A clearer message would have been sent with a scratched “Guns Kill” or something similar. Finding the actual culprit is important show that this was not a fraud.
One of the reasons that fake crimes work well for “progressive” causes is that the “progressive” media treat them differently than they do vandalism against conservatives, libertarians and Constitutionalists. Imagine the outrage and national publicity that would have been gained if a vehicle owned by Moms Demanding Action had been keyed. I suspect that a congressional committee would have been formed to investigate.
I have not seen any indication that the culprit has been found at the Michigan Open Carry site.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch
About Dean Weingarten;
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.