"Ignorance and inconsideration are the two great causes of the ruin of mankind." -- John Tillotson
For some in the ongoing civil rights saga over the 2nd Amendment in California, the issue of Open Carry is merely academic. Democrat legislators in Sacramento decry common, law-abiding citizens carrying properly-holstered and openly displayed handguns on California streets because they believe that it represents a threat to public safety. Despite not being able to cite even one single case of an Open Carry advocate ever committing a violent crime in California, these anti-gun politicians press on to demonize a class of law-abiding citizens in the Golden State to try and revive a floundering anti-gun political agenda that is quickly losing ground across the State and the country.
However, there are those Californians for whom the issue of Open Carry is more than academic. While anti-gun State legislators cannot even present one single case where an Open Carry advocate has ever committed a violent crime in the entire 160-year history of the Golden State, there is no shortage of real-life examples where innocent, law-abiding citizens fall victim to armed robbery, forcible rape, murder, and aggravated assault. One such example is 61-year old Antioch resident, Karen Nixon.
Having been robbed once at knifepoint after being repeatedly punched in the head while she was visibly pregnant and once when three men made off with her purse in the parking lot of a major retailer just last year, Karen Nixon knows all too well the high personal cost that every law-abiding citizen might pay when only the violent criminals (and police, who virtually always arrive too late) are armed in society. Like many other common, law-abiding Californians who have been victimized firsthand (some, multiple times, as in Nixon's case), she has taken the steps necessary to become proficient in the use of firearms for the purposes of lawful self-defense.
After experiencing the very personal trauma of violent crime and, in addition to taking firearms training classes, Nixon found meaning in her encounters with these criminals by resolving to help protect other women from being preyed upon in the same way. Nixon became an NRA-Certified "Refuse To Be A Victim" Instructor and holds classes to educate other women about the reality and frequency that innocent Californians fall victim to murder, forcible rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault. She teaches situational awareness to augment the training that an ever-increasing number of women are interested in concerning firearms for self-defense.
Being a champion for women's rights does not end there. Having spent much time in political activism on both sides of the pro-choice/pro-life debate that continues on to this day in this country, Nixon has now dedicated twenty years of her life as a volunteer Crisis Pregnancy counselor and a public advocate for life. Getting here was no small task. In order for Nixon to speak in front of crowds as a NRA-Certified "Refuse To Be A Victim" Instructor, address the general public, and present her statements in front of government officials in defense of both the 2nd Amendment and women's rights in California, she had to conquer one of the biggest obstacles that she has had to face since childhood--dyslexia.
Nixon openly admits that overcoming this personal challenge was her biggest accomplishment in life,
As a kinetic learner, school was a struggle. My greatest fear was public speaking (i.e. at the blackboard and reading aloud). Dyslexia education, the Manpower Program and Toastmasters helped me face my fears and I haven’t looked back. As a result of those programs, I was able to teach English as a Second Language, become a Project Business Consultant with Junior Achievement, volunteer as a Camp Fire Leader/Trainer, become an accredited Credit and Collections Instructor, serve as a Life Skills Educator doing Youth/Parent Workshops, train as an STD/HIV Prevention Facilitator to middle and high school students, and also become an NRA-certified ‘Refuse To Be A Victim’ Instructor.
In the spirit of service to her community, Karen Nixon chose to take on her most daunting personal challenges and overcome them so that she could serve others. Nixon perfectly embodies Adlai Stevenson when he postulated that, "Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime". And it is with that tranquil and steady dedication that Nixon defends every common, law-abiding Californian's 2nd Amendment Rights,
I call, write and speak to legislators and their offices (locally, in Sacramento, and Washington) regarding a cadre of topics--among them gun rights, ownership, purchasing choices/locations and carry issues. Some proposed bills are not taken up, others are voted down, and still others rise up again and again (such as the California Open Carry ban bills, AB 1934 for 2010, and AB 144 for 2011). These are usually driven by organizations trying to justify their own existence.
Nixon is tired of the hearing the same transparently obvious and rehearsed rhetoric from the household names representing the gun control lobby,
Really, who is for gun violence? The regurgitation of these (anti-gun) bills squanders the time spent on our state/local/national legislative calendars and also places heavy burdens on our financial resources. Because of this, I support many fine organizations who work tirelessly to defend our 1st and 2nd Amendment rights to thwart the undue burdens these anti-gun bodies place on the public.
An example of Nixon's 2nd Amendment activism occurred on Tuesday, April 26, 2011. When Nixon found out that two national-level special interest groups, the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence and LCAV, were secretly engaging with high-ranking members of the Pleasant Hill City Council behind closed doors to force local law-abiding, and tax-paying businesses out of the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Pleasant Hill, she stood up and, along with 55 other 2nd Amendment proponents, spoke out against this injustice in front of the city's Planning Commission.
In addition, Karen Nixon has also spent a great deal of time speaking directly to State legislators and their advisors in Sacramento on this critical civil rights issue, particularly in regards to Unloaded Open Carry. Wishing not to fall victim to violent criminals for a third, and perhaps, final time that could very well end up costing her life, Nixon explains to California lawmakers why she exercises her basic, fundamental, and enumerated civil right to self-defense in the only legal manner left available to her in California--Unloaded Open Carry. However, with Democrat State representatives in Sacramento threatening to take away even this less-than-ideal method for self-defense left available to her with an Open Carry ban bill, AB 144, Nixon is faced with the terrible reality of having her personal ordeals of falling victim to multiple violent crimes repeated in the future as she is backed into the legislatively-forced corner of being completely unarmed and defenseless in public.
As a resident of Antioch, and seeing friends in very similar situations being turned down with their own submitted concealed carry permit (CCW) applications, Nixon knows firsthand that obtaining a CCW through her local Police Chief would be virtually impossible and without Unloaded Open Carry as an option, Nixon feels justifiably threatened in public in regards to her own personal safety. Nixon continues regarding the state of Right-to-Carry laws in California,
I am already a licensed CCW (concealed carry permit) holder in another State. I’ve taken the 8 hour class, been fingerprinted, photographed and background-checked. I can legally carry concealed in more than 30 States. Constitutional Carry (no license required for either Open Carry or concealed carry) is legal in several other States and 10+ more are considering it. Between them, it means literally hundreds, if not thousands of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police will not require me to provide them with cause (other than implied self-defense, the reason I wish to carry) and they don’t know me. I do not believe the local authority and the State in which I live, work, and pay taxes should ask more of me than all the others.
The gun control lobby and their State legislators in California have been stunned by the overwhelming response from the general public here in the Golden State regarding the defense of every law-abiding citizen's 2nd Amendment Rights. The groundswell of support to restore those rights that have been systematically removed over the course of more than two decades has finally awoken that sleeping giant of repressed public opinion. When even the gun control lobby is forced to admit the ever-growing popularity of the Open Carry Movement in California, it becomes obvious that California's reputation of being the gun control lobby's ideal State is clearly being threatened in a very big way.
Karen Nixon's voice represents that of so many common, law-abiding Californians who are no longer willing to see their basic, fundamental, and enumerated 2nd Amendment Rights eroded beyond reason. They are standing up in record numbers to exercise their 1st Amendment Rights in defense of their 2nd Amendment Rights. As common, law-abiding Californians continue to become victims of murder, forcible rape, aggravated assault, and armed robbery at a rate that is higher than the national average, Democrat lawmakers in the State Assembly are leveraging their legislation efforts against common, law-abiding Californians who have yet to commit a single violent crime in the past 160 years. Looking beyond these anti-gun legislators' empty political rhetoric, the People of California are standing up and speaking out in an ever-growing and unified manner against this injustice through the voices of patriots and violent crime victims like that of Karen Nixon.
Those wishing to support the Open Carry Movement in California can do so by signing the online petition against AB 144 as authored by Opencarry.org and Responsible Citizens of California. Furthermore, concerned citizens can contact their State legislators to express opposition to this bill by clicking on the link here.
The Oakland Gun Rights Examiner Profiles in Courage Series
This article is the second installment of the Oakland Gun Rights Examiner's Profiles in Courage series, where local civil rights activists are introduced and recognized for their exceptional contributions in moving every law-abiding citizen's basic, fundamental, and enumerated 2nd Amendment Rights forward in California. Throughout U.S. history, civil rights activists have stood up and publicly staked their names, faces, and professional reputations on the line in defense of a cause that is greater than themselves, often at great personal cost. The Profiles in Courage series introduces these patriots to the general public so that they may be lauded and recognized for the personal sacrifices they have made in securing that most basic of all fundamental civil rights--the right to self-defense, in the San Francisco Bay Area and the rest of California.
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