Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

And some people are looking for a reason to give offense. It goes both ways. When people make a BIG display of their views, they're basically inviting viewers to have an opinion on the display - and the views being displayed.

Just like civilians walking en masse into a town hall with AR-15s, wearing camouflaged bullet-proof vests, and other arms and armor - they're not actually carrying it to defend themselves from a potential threat at the town hall. They are making a statement. They are making it, because they WANT people to respond, and possibly react. They're basically saying "I DARE you to disagree with me about this topic of interest."

Because - if you're preaching to the choir, you don't need to be hauling all your equipment with you. They already know what you have and what you can do with it. Making a display of it in a town hall is challenging people to disagree, or to try and do something about it.

So of course there will be some people who are offended. That's the point of the display - to offend someone.