Is there a topic more divisive to gun owners than open carry?
Miguel had to shut off comments on this topic.
I admit to not reading the post in question.
I'll toss my opinion on OC out here anyways.
People aren't going to get used to seeing openly armed people until they are seeing openly armed people. There's more than a couple parallels to getting used to seeing openly gay people.
Open carry would be tons more comfortable than concealed carry here in God's Waiting Room. The high temperature of His waiting room makes you think He's trying to tell those waiting that they're going someplace warmer...
I want OC as an option because I'm generally rebellious and THEY say I can't.
In line with the comfort equation I'd like to coin the term Semi-Concealed or Semi-Open Carry.
This would be your gun openly carried, but shrouded. Like with a tee-shirt draped over your outside the waistband holster; but without the worry of the shirt riding up and then exposing your gun.
Also with regards to people seeing openly carried guns and freaking out... The Chili's closest to here often has about 15 plain-clothes cops who meet for lunch about once a month. They're all openly carrying, and none of them is openly badged. Nobody raises a ruckus. Me thinks that people either really don't notice or that they genuinely don't care.
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I wonder if open carry laws would apply to swords? Or how people would react seeing folks walking along with katanas, sabers or cutlasses slung at their hips?
ReplyDeleteAs a SCAdian, many a time a group of us have gone to brunch after an event and people have been openly armed with everything from bootknives to stilletos to short swords and belt-axes. We'd call party-foul on the people with rapiers and big stuff, as that's a tripping hazard.
DeleteHere we'd be, some in regular clothing, some in various stages of semi-medievalish clothing, variously armed, and the church crowds in small towns tended not to notice or give a frick one bit.
Same with cops. Never had one get all assed-up over my pile of non-shooty death implements. Some of them got rather amused when I started listing all the weapons and where they were.
The 2nd isn't just about firearms. It's about all arms. From cannon to privateer ships to aircraft to edged and blunt weapons and the latest fad of what-caliber-is hipster upper for an AR lower. The 2nd covers them all.
And it's one of the reasons I carry a roofing hatchet with me in the car, it's almost the perfect hand weapon for self-defense.
We need to have and support both kinds of carry. Open so people don't forget that we do, and concealed to keep the worst elements guessing .
ReplyDeleteAlso if you allow open carry it means you can't criminalize wardrobe malfunctions.
That being said we need to do some defining on OC etiquette. A holstered pistol or a rifle slung on a two-point sling doesn't bother me at all. The rifles on single point slings with positive control on the pistol grip is essentially "low ready" and we don't accept that with hand guns....
I vote for "really don't notice".
ReplyDeleteSome years ago, I was called from the range to attend an emergency business meeting.
There was no way I was going to leave my pistol in my car - on a Sunday - in an industrial area.
I strapped on a holster I had in the bottom of my gun bag, shoved the pistol in it, un-tucked my short and draped it over the butt, and waltzed into the meeting.
Four hours in a conference room with seven other people, and NOT ONE noticed that I was carrying a gun.
Well, either they didn't notice, or they were too scared to say anything, but I'm going for the former.
As a rotund guy in God's Waiting Room, I'd love open carry, as IWB carry sucks big time. Heck, it'd suck big time even if I was rail thin like I was when I was 18. Being an acidic sweater, having any metal close to my skin is a no-Bueno move.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen people in Gainesville, except near the University or in University Professor type neighborhoods, get bent over anything resembling a weapon. But enter those socialist enclaves, well, might as well be carrying a Bible and have morals.
I live in an open carry state and used to carry that way all the time. You change how you behave around people and always keep an eye on anyone coming up on your gun side. It becomes second nature, after a while, to blade away from people on your gun side. Using public bathrooms, I'd go into the stall, as I didn't want anyone coming up behind me while I was taking a leak.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with folks open carrying. I went CCW just because I decided that if things go sideways for me someday, I want the bad guy to be surprised.