…to carry an assault rifle in public, as Justin Dean, a Maine man, did?

He swore that he wasn’t trying to make a political statement; basically, he was just taking his rifle, with its 30-bullet magazine, out for a walk. (He told the Portland Press Herald that the gun was for protection.)

But it’s hard to believe that he wasn’t trying to intimidate people, like the gun nuts who bring their guns to political gatherings where gun control is being discussed—or the people who have so threatened the New York newspaper that published a map of gun owners, it’s been forced to hire armed security guards.

I don’t know about you, but if I saw this guy, I’d do exactly what most people did; steer clear of him and call the cops. And if I knew that this 24-year-old had served three terms in Afghanistan—enough to make anyone a little nuts—I’d get in my house and lock the door before calling the cops. (Not that locking the door would accomplish anything when a guy has an assault rifle.)

Our pro-gun laws are stupid.

Here’s the gun Justin Dean was carrying;