Open Carry Texas legally, peacefully, and non-threateningly carried their rifles into a Jack In The Box in my neck of the woods over the weekend, as they grabbed a bite to eat. Apparently one person freaked out over the inanimate objects, and a about half a police squad showed up because DFW has the resources and man power to waste. Were there no kittens in trees that day?

NBC5 DFW parroted Bloomberg talking points in their report:

An email from Sgt. Ray Bush, with the Fort Worth Police Department, said Jack in the Box employees at the South Freeway location on Sycamore School Road, were scared about the armed men protesting outside of the restaurant.

“They locked themselves inside a freezer for protection out of fear the rifle-carrying men would rob them,” the email stated. “The demonstration had no signage that would have alerted anyone to their real purpose, and to our knowledge they did not attempt to contact anyone in the Fort Worth Police Department to advise us prior to the demonstration.”

Fort Worth police responded to the situation as if it was a robbery.

[…]

Open Carry firearms demonstrators say police treated them like criminals when they staged a protest with their guns in Fort Worth on Friday.

Open carry firearm demonstrators are complaining that police treated them like criminals Thursday night as the group staged a protest with their guns.

An email from Sgt. Ray Bush, with the Fort Worth Police Department, said Jack in the Box employees at the South Freeway location on Sycamore School Road, were scared about the armed men protesting outside of the restaurant.

“They locked themselves inside a freezer for protection out of fear the rifle-carrying men would rob them,” the email stated. “The demonstration had no signage that would have alerted anyone to their real purpose, and to our knowledge they did not attempt to contact anyone in the Fort Worth Police Department to advise us prior to the demonstration.”

Fort Worth police responded to the situation as if it was a robbery.

“I’m upset that that many officers had to arrive on the scene,” said demonstrator Edwin Haros.

Haros said that more than a dozen officers arrived at the restaurant where the group of rifle-carrying men planned a protest.

“I would estimate around 10 squad cars showed up, some with two per squad car. I believe we counted more than 15 officers showed up on scene,” Haros said.

Haros took pictures of the crowd of Fort Worth officers who greeted the demonstrators outside the restaurant.

The open carry demonstrator said he carries his semi-automatic Smith and Wesson rifle with him at all times, even in public when attending demonstrations with his friends.

“Everyone was nice at the Jack in the Box. We ordered, received our food, walked back out,” Haros said.

The demonstrators are pushing for the right to carry handguns in public.

“We’re not breaking the laws,” Haros said. “We’re not here to hurt anybody. We’re not trying to alarm anybody. We’re doing this because it’s our constitutional right.”

Ft. Worth police suggested that free citizens register their ability to exercise their First Amendment before doing so next time:

An email from Bush stated that there are other ways the demonstrators can help police in the future.

“We respect the rights of all citizens to peacefully protest and the right to bear arms. However, we cannot stress enough how a simple phone call to police prior to this demonstration and the use of easily visible signage could have avoided unnecessarily alarming the public,” the email stated.

So DFW police aren’t educated about the law or trained to tell the difference between a threat and a law-abiding citizen? Make no mistake: these peaceful carrying Americans didn’t “alarm the public,” the Ft. Worth police did by sending a squad of cars and officers because people were following the law.

The Bloomberg anti-gun group then spent all weekend Facebooking about, and Tweeting to, Jack in The Box, falsely claiming that “terrified employees hid in a freezer.” Not sure how Open Carry Texas had their orders filled or posed for these photos with enthusiastic 2A Jack In The Box employees:

The gentleman posing with OCT is reportedly one of the managers of the establishment. Look at the terror in his eyes.

Workers in the background are seen filling orders and going about their business, quite unlike what the Bloomberg-funded “Moms Demand” group, located thousands of miles away in another state, is claiming.

Americans have the liberty to keep and to bear arms. This hoplophobia has gotten ridiculous. When parties resort to lying as a substitute for facts, they’ve already lost. Leave these law-abiding Americans alone.

FLASHBACK: The Bloomberg moms group had no problem with their gun-toting folks last weekend.