On Friday, an Arizona woman took to Twitter to express her displeasure with a man exercising his Second Amendment rights, but her tweet did not receive the response she expected.
Sharon Loeff posted a photo of a man openly carrying a gun at a grocery store in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Friday, saying she thought it was strange that he was carrying a gun in public given that it’s a “very high-end area, far north of the city, very low crime.”
I saw this man w gun, at a grocery store in north Scottsdale, AZ….very high end area, far north of the city, very low crime, so I just have to ask why? Felt so odd to see it in that environment! What do you all think? pic.twitter.com/r2Zntm6lk7
— Sharon Loeff (@sharon_loeff) January 27, 2023
In a follow-up to her original tweet, she wrote “As an American I find it frightening!”
She then posted a second photo of the man in the store’s vegetable section.
Here’s another earlier shopping photo I took of the “legally carrying” gun guy! This time in the veggie area! pic.twitter.com/zcSTQADLyl
— Sharon Loeff (@sharon_loeff) January 29, 2023
Loeff presumably expected people to be horrified by the photos because they showed someone carrying a gun in public. People, however, reacted very differently.
First and foremost, what this gun owner is doing is entirely legal. The state of Arizona, according to the Behan Law Group, allows all citizens aged 18 and up to open carry a firearm. Arizona state law allows this man to openly carry a gun in public.
One Twitter user responded to Loeff’s photo by stating the obvious: he was simply exercising his constitutional right to bear arms as an American.
Because freedom, Karen.
— Brad Polumbo 🇺🇸⚽️🏳️🌈 (@brad_polumbo) January 29, 2023
Others expressed dismay, not at the fact that the man was carrying a gun, but at the fact that Loeff appeared to be stalking him and taking pictures without his knowledge.
It’s odd that your taking photos of people without them knowing tbh
— Jays (@JaysWASD) January 30, 2023
What's odd is you taking pictures of random people who aren't doing anything wrong.
— James Kirkpatrick (@VDAREJamesK) January 30, 2023
The Libertarian Party of Arizona, meanwhile, pointed out that in her original tweet, she said that there was a low crime rate in that area of the city, and wondered if there was a connection between that and gun ownership among citizens.
A largely armed population in an area with low crime? Must be some kind of coincidence…
— Arizona Libertarian Party (@Arizona_LP) January 30, 2023
Clearly, this is a silly tweet. She was publicly shaming someone for exercising his Second Amendment right and stalking him and invading his privacy.
Also, we know that many of the areas with the strictest anti-gun laws have some of the highest crime rates in the nation.
So yes, this encounter is disturbing — not because a man was carrying a gun, but because someone stalked him and tried to shame him for doing nothing wrong.