Don't be a jerk

There is a guy in Tennessee by the name of Leonard Embody. Mr. Embody feels like he is making a stand for liberty and gun rights by parading around Bicentennial Mall with a loaded AK-47 clone pistol slung across his back. He also is known to walk around local parks.
What he is doing is completely legal, and he thinks that he is making progress on the gun rights front by being in your face with gun rights.
When it comes to open carry in the promotion of gun rights, there is a lot of controversy among bloggers in the pro-gun community. Uncle has this to say:

I don’t think it’s an effective way of getting converts. That doesn’t mean that I oppose open carry. But if you’re open carrying trying to get people to turn pro-gun, it’s probably not a good marketing technique. 

He also had this to say:

  Carrying a shotgun into a library is not going to win hearts and minds. It’s going to turn people away. This bill is going to draw more attention to the incident that led this politician to propose the bill. And not your rights.
You have rights. We get that. But when you’re focusing on your right and acting like a jerk, people tend to focus on that whole being a jerk part. There are effective ways to to win hearts and minds with respect to OC. Flashing guns at librarians and toting a shotgun on your back are not some of those ways.
This is like the kiss-ins that gay groups used to have. I’m all for gay rights and support gay marriage. But I don’t think a bunch of gay dudes kissing at the mall is effective at converting people to their cause.
You guys suck at marketing. And that’s it.

When you engage in activism, there are a number of ways to go about it. One way is to be arrested, and either fight in court on Constitutional grounds, or be a martyr for the cause. Another way is to win the hearts and minds of the people. Scaring Suzy Soccermom by being all in her face with a heater is not the way to do it.
If your point was "you can't stop the signal" with regards to the Liberator pistol, then you use Pirate Bay or Kim.com for that. It's anonymous, and Suzy Soccermom already thinks those guys are kooky but harmless.

The tactic of putting the file out and then retracting it several days later wasn't ever going to work to advance gun rights. What it did do was let you brag about how "edgy" you were.  Minuteman proves that he is a post whoring jerk that is just looking for accolades and pats on the back when he links to my blog in an apparent dick measuring contest.

Don't be a jerk. That won't win you any converts.