By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
As Nick Getzinger and Dave Morris put another coat of paint on the Oath Keepers Outpost at Woodland Mall, they talked about their organization being misunderstood.
The Oath Keepers organization, they said, is nothing for people to fear.
“Our goal is not to scare people, it’s to help,” Getzinger said.
Woodland Mall manager Michelle Beaverson also wants people to know she is committed to the mall being family friendly.
“We have so many family-based businesses in the mall,” Beaverson said.
Both the mall and Oath Keepers organization were rattled a bit last week when questions arose about the new business and the plan for a multi-state summit at the mall this summer.
Beaverson said an email about the summit was sent out from the organization prematurely, before she had an opportunity to review it. With the help of Bowling Green Police Chief Tony Hetrick, Beaverson revised the summit announcement to include only the activities that would adhere to the mall’s standards.
The new summit description also clarified that any firearms events would be held at other sites, not at the mall, Beaverson said.
The initial email stated the mall allows people with concealed carry permits to bring firearms into the mall. However, the mall currently does not allow firearms. Beaverson said Friday she is undecided about lifting that ban, but will probably keep it in place.
That email also said those attending the summit could camp on mall grounds. However, Beaverson said she has to get permission from city zoning before that can occur.
Oath Keepers Dave Morris and Nick Getzinger paint new store.
But Beaverson said most of the activities planned for the summit have now been approved by herself and the police chief. There will be classes on gunsmithing, ham radio operation, food canning, self defense, survivalist training, building a survival bunker, making fuel, building a hydrogen generator, and concealed carry classes.
Originally the plans offered an opportunity to do gunsmithing on AR-15 rifles.
“The AR-15 thing is not going to happen,” Beaverson said.
The mall manager said the summit offers a lot of family-friendly events, but the original email about the event buried those activities behind “too much gun stuff.”
Getzinger explained the Oath Keepers is not a radical organization. The members just believe in the U.S. Constitution and in being prepared in case of natural, manmade or financial crises. The group is made up of current and former military, police, fire and EMS personnel, who took an oath to serve the country.
“That pledge did not have an expiration date,” he said.
The group is non-partisan, Christian-based, and open to anyone willing take the oath to protect the nation.
“We welcome everyone,” Getzinger said. “We’re the biggest advocate of the Bill of Rights.”
“This is the greatest country on the planet,” he said. “We want to preserve that. We want to make sure that doesn’t get taken away from us.”
Getzinger and Morris, whose wives own the new Oath Keepers Outpost with one other woman, said their organization is focused on helping people.
“If someone attacks us, we want to make sure people can survive it,” said Getzinger, of the Weston area. “People are not prepared. According to FEMA, the average person doesn’t have more than three days of food in their refrigerator. We provide the training available to anyone.”
Both Getzinger and Morris said they were surprised that their organization was being referred to as linked with radical or extremist groups.
“I don’t know where you are getting that from,” Getzinger said. Though the national Oath Keepers members were blamed for stoking the flames with their well-armed presence in the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, Getzinger said the Ohio Oath Keepers has a different focus on helping people develop survival skills.
However, the Ohio Oath Keepers website pages open to the public put the emphasis elsewhere.
The website reads: “Our Oath is to the Constitution, not the politicians, and not to any political party. In the long-standing tradition of the U.S. military, we are apolitical. We don’t care if unlawful orders come from a Democrat or Republican, or if the violation is bi-partisan. We will not obey unconstitutional (and thus unlawful) and immoral orders, such as orders to disarm the American people or to place them under martial law. We won’t ‘just follow orders.’”
Getzinger and Morris said that isn’t the focus of their organization.
“Our meetings are open to anyone who wants to come,” Morris said. “Nothing is hid behind closed doors.”
The two said a secondary goal for the summit is to bring business to the mall, such as the machine shop at the Fab Lab and the martial arts center.
“The summit for us is about training,” Getzinger said. “There’s no radical views. It’s about helping.”
The current firearms ban at the mall is not a roadblock to the organization.
“We follow the rules,” Morris said.
And Getzinger pointed out that many of their members, who are current and former law enforcement officers, are allowed to carry firearms in most places they are banned.
