He walked Clearwater Beach with an AR-15. Is he a menace or a martyr?

[Zorro]

The tactics used by Michael Taylor, a gun-rights “auditor” with a YouTube following, are legal. Whether they’re in good taste depends on who you ask.


Michael Taylor, also known as the “The Armed Fisherman," strapped with his assault rifle and hand gun, baits his fishing line while at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach on July 2, 2021. Taylor travels around Florida, "auditing" authorities' knowledge of a law that allows people to openly carry firearms if they're hunting, fishing or camping or on their way to or from one of those activities. He records his confrontations with law enforcement officers, including those in Clearwater, and posts the results online. [ Octavio Jones ]

CLEARWATER BEACH — Michael Taylor trudged over the crowded sugar sand, between sunbathers on beach towels and water-winged kids digging with plastic shovels. A few people peered at him from behind sunglasses. What was he doing?

“Livin’ that dream,” he told anyone who engaged with him on a recent Monday. “Livin’ that Florida dream.”

In his left hand, he carried a fishing rod and a pole flying a “Don’t tread on me” flag. They bobbed in front of the GoPro camera strapped to his chest and shooting video. Something else, dark and dull but obscured, kept intruding on the frame.

He fist-bumped a beachgoer and complimented the man’s tattoo, the symbol of the Three Percenters, an anti-government militia movement. The man asked about the thing slung over Taylor’s shoulder, that shadow on the screen.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2021/07/10/he-walked-clearwater-beach-with-an-ar-15-is-he-a-menace-or-a-martyr/

Menace? Yes. Asshole? Absolutely. He wants to force everyone around to accept his perverse fetish.

[niyad]

1. In a sane world, he would get the help he so clearly needs.

[sop]

4. I find myself saying "in a sane world..." quite often these days.

[niyad]

13. Sadly true.

[RKP5637]

17. K&R!!! It's like we live in a world today with a viral insanity going around. n/t

[OneGrassRoot]

32. I don't think the majority...

of these right-wing fanatics are mentally ill or victims, as many choose to label the Qultists. Well, no more than most of us. I believe mental illness lies on a spectrum and how many of us are truly WELL? Our world is indeed ill.

I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that most of the right-wing fanatics are simply assholes, lacking moral character.

Not sure what kind of help addresses that. so think they should be shunned when feasible.

[NoMoreRepugs]

2. Every single day, multiple times a day, a new

FloridaMan appears - why do I stay here???

[Throck]

3. It's shark week.

[luckone]

5. he told anyone who engaged with him on a recent Monday. "Livin' that Florida dream."

[Floyd R. Turbo]

6. Eventually his "auditing" activities will get his ass shot!

[woodsprite]

7. Might take awhile, but I bet one day he gets shot before he gets to "explain" himself. nt

[samnsara]

8. neither.. hes an idiot who needs constant validation of his manhood

[RKP5637]

18. K&R!!! n/t

[LakeArenal]

29. Yep. I love it when men have penis envy.

It’s so obvious.

[2naSalit]

9. Attention whore.

[sop]

10. Open carry in Florida is banned except while engaged in certain protected activities, like fishing,

hunting, camping, and while traveling to and from those activities.

[Zorro]

33. Guns were banned at TFG's July 3 Sarasota rally

You'd think that would have been one venue where they should have congregated and celebrated their 2nd Amendment rights.

I wonder why that wasn't allowed...

[randr]

11. Tiny Dick World's new posterboy

[MineralMan]

12. As a long-time pier angler,

I cannot imagine how awkward his fishing experience must be with an AR-15 draped across his chest. He is a moron.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

27. No shit.

I've fished at that pier many times in the past. It can't be any easier strapped like that.

[MineralMan]

34. Well, he should have plenty of space around him.

Most people would spot him as a dickhead who has no manners and who would probably snag your line within five minutes, or refuse to let you move past him if you had a large fish on. I'd move to some other spot for my fishing. When pier fishing is good, it is a cooperative effort when someone has a big one on.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

37. Yup!

👍🏼

[Javaman]

14. This country is in a severe mental illness crisis. nt

[Jim G.]

15. Sad...

I remember back in the 80's when I lived there, homeless guys used to sleep under Pier 60 & the "short pier" about a 1/2 mile north of it.

It was against the law to sleep on the beach, so they had fishing rods they'd cast out & stick in the sand because then they were "night fishing", which was allowed.

[Paladin]

16. Fuck this guy. He's an obvious menace.

It never fails: the civilian assholes who walk around with guns in public are exactly the sort of people who shouldn't be anywhere near a firearm. This "auditor" is doing nothing more than bullying the public. He could stash a 9mm pistol in his tackle box, but oh no, he's got to walk around with an assault rifle strapped to himself. I've got your "audit," motherfucker.

[Mad_Machine76]

19. How can he be a "Martyr"?

He's not dead


But I vote "Menace". He seems simpatico with an avowed anti-government militia (how are we the only country that allows armed anti-government groups to exist/flourish?).

[gulliver]

20. Can't think of a better way to get the law repealed.

A guy walking around recreation areas with an AR-15, sneering that it's legal when confronted by cops? I can't think of a better way to get the law repealed. And he's a POC, no doubt causing the typical Republican's support for his AR-15 to wane.

We need several of these guys on every beach, at every public lake, on every hiking trail that is used to get to hunting ground, etc. When "traveling to a hunting or fishing destination" these guys should avoid highways (in the name of safety) and take only routes through white majority residential areas, prominently displaying their movie merchandise toys. And they should walk to avoid the risks of automobile travel.

(Sarcasm, but with a point.)

[riversedge]

21. He is nothing but a creepy selfish little man.

[onethatcares]

23. he's not even a man

he's an asshole.

The world has passed him by and he'll never get out of his movie.

What's he afraid of? It must be hell to be afraid of living the life of a "normal" person. No matter the words, it's not normal to be that fearful.

Maybe he should start a gofundme for a one way ticket to Somalia where he can carry anything he can afford to buy..

[Eyeball_Kid]

22. Looks like he's loading his AR-15 with a giant maggot. Works for me! n/t

[PTWB]

24. That looks like a shrimp...

[Baitball Blogger]

25. Does that right end if he handles the gun in an unsafe manner?

In other words, if you see him point the gun at someone, can you call the cops?

[hlthe2b]

26. Any of those justifying this behavior should tell me how the crowd can ever know when or if

he's going to go "postal" on them and commit our next mass shooting.

This is more than a menace. It is legalized domestic terrorism.

We should not have to put up with it. Maybe if those so inclined felt threatened and started shooting THEM before they could shoot US? (No, I'm not serious, but there ought to be some repercussion for this threatening behavior).

[LiberatedUSA]

28. Maybe legal, but he is an idiot.

What is the over/under, in the event of a moment’s notice mass shooting happening, he:

A - Drops what is in his hands, pulls that bad boy up into firing position and drops that sum bitch two the chest, one to the head.

B - Drops everything running for cover, shitting his pants as his arms become jelly at the thought of shooting back.

C - The shooter, having a chance before surprising everyone by pulling a gun out, takes a quick look around to see who to shoot first.

Guys like this do the gunner side no favors.

[LakeArenal]

30. Just begging for a smaller penis to to start something with him.

[hunter]

31. It's illegal here, and it's also dangerous.

One of our neighbors brought a similar gun into a local fast food place for unknown reasons. Somebody called 911 and the cops shot him dead when he came out holding the gun.

I think the consensus was "suicide by cop" but nobody will ever know.

I'm surprised nobody but the cops have taken this guy's gun by force.

He looks like an easy target for armed robbers.

Poke him in the back with a stick and tell him to hand over his gun or get shot.

Personally, I don't know why the cops haven't "accidentally" dropped his guns in the ocean.

Sand and saltwater are bad for guns.

[11 Bravo]

35. Other: Attention whore

[mackdaddy]

36. 'Technically' that looks like an AR PISTOL strapped to his chest.

So even though it shoots the same bullets as an AR rifle, they have shorter barrels and are not suppose to be shoulder fired. The thing on the end is an "arm Brace" and not a shoulder stock.

So from the ATF legal standpoint his AR 'pistol' is no different than a 2 shot derringer. Well other than the 30 round magazine loaded with rifle rounds..

There are many vids on YT of these guys "open carrying" their "pistol" like this and officers responding to calls on these guys.

Some of them may end up literal martyrs.

[Midnight Writer]

38. Equivalent mentality of a wienie wagger.

He likes to shock, but secretly he hopes a woman will see his big, manly gun and throw herself at him.