Why carry to political events, restaurants, bars, and...

[ELB]

...everywhere else is a good idea. Especially in New Orleans, since the question of carrying there seems to pop up on this forum from time to time. Alice Tripp, writing in the TSRA magazine, once quoted a pro-carry Louisiana legislator as saying, "When I travels around the state, I carries me a gun. When I go to New Orleans, I carries me two guns."

On 9 April the Southern Republican Leadership Conference held a fundraising dinner at Brennan's in New Orleans' French Quarter. A bunch of leftists and anarchists holding a protest at a nearby hotel shifted their focus to Brennan's, and at some point were chased away by the cops, altho they apparently did not leave the area. After the dinner the Louisiana GOP chairman tried to leave but found the front door blocked by protestors. He left via the kitchen, was spotted by the protestors, and chased to a cab.

Sometime later, perhaps an hour or two, Governor Jindal's aide in charge of fundraising, Alexandria ("Allee") Bautsch and her boyfriend Joe Brown left Brennan's via the front door. Protestors were still in the area. Bautsch and Brown were followed by half a dozen or so young white men, who yelled not-TxCHLForum-friendly insults at them, focusing on the fact that the couple was well-dressed and appeared "rich." The couple attempted to get away -- the group following them chased them down and beat them to the ground. Brown got at least a black eye, and broken nose, and a broken jaw (one account says he told her to run for the car and he tried to fight/delay the group). Bautsch was knocked to the ground and her leg stomped on, breaking it in four places (she now has a rod in her leg with the bone segments screwed to it). Apparently neither was robbed during the beating, but Bautsch's mother said Allee's purse was stolen after the men who attacked the couple ran away.

There seems to be minimal "MSM" reporting on this -- one story even claimed that Allee broke her leg in a fall, although it was actually deliberately broken. The NOPD first stated the attack was "political" altho since then their official spokesman has sinced tried to downplay that. An anarchist related group who helped organize protest against the SLRC initially bragged on their website and youtube videos that there were "lots of confrontations" that night, but pulled all references off the website and deleted a bunch of videos after a Louisiana political blogger started trying to verify if they were in fact the group the beat the couple. You can read about this here at the blogger's:
http://thehayride.com/2010/04/the-brenn ... r-a-story/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://thehayride.com/2010/04/the-frenc ... political/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=36559" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For "MSM" accounts, just google on the couple's names.

Regardless of the political motivation, the couple took a pounding, and are alive because only the thugs decided to stop before the couple was dead. I have found no indication that the police had anything to do with breaking up the attack. In fact, it appears that after the attack, someone else victimized them by stealing the purse. (A good example that cessation of one threat does not mean cessation of all threats, or "it ain't over until it's over.")

Draw your own lessons and conclusions. This story just reinforced mine. One is that regardless of the motivations of your attackers, you don't get to choose the time or place of confrontation.

[chabouk]

I appreciate the reminder that political events might be among the placers where we need to carry more than almost anywhere else.

But, please don't repeat the lie that these violent communists are "anarchists". They're not. They're simply violent thugs who wish to impose their own *archy.

[ELB]

Oh please. "Lie" is pretty big word to be spouting off with. Slicing and dicing that end of the political spectrum is a fun academic exercise but we're talking about people who think National Socialists are "right wing." The real world difference between "violent thugs" claiming a political motivation and "anarchists" is irrelevent on the street (and YouTube)-- especially to the "anarchists."

[frazzled]

Carrying in a bar is illegal. If you can't avoid carrying in a bar then don't go to a bar.

[Dragonfighter]

Carrying in a bar is illegal. If you can't avoid carrying in a bar then don't go to a bar.

Just one of the myriad infringements that need to be corrected.