The open carry condemnation thing brings up another thing the pro-gun side does really poorly.
We're always angry with the wrong people.
"What about how the mundanes will react to this? We must condemn and stop open carry because they might react badly!"
Is the problem the person who is carrying openly or the mundane who is frightened by something unfamiliar to them?
Whom should we be trying to educate?
People who condemn open carry must be terribly afraid of the mundanes because they go to great lengths to never expose them to anything which might scare them.
"Don't make noise, the herd will stampede!"
Hidden in this fear is the notion that the majority can rightfully take away our civil rights, so don't scare them!
But being armed IS a civil right.
Condemning open carry is akin to saying you can worship any God you like as long as you do it as a Presbyterian. You can say anything you want, as long as you say this (or never say that).
I know that analogy just doesn't work for the condemners, so that was lost on them.
It's OK to be gay, as long as you keep it a secret; because people being openly gay freaks out the mundanes!
How did homosexuals get from freaking the mundanes to common acceptance today?
How did black people go from being murdered for the accusation of being attracted to a white woman to being able to openly date and marry them?
It wasn't by laying low and hoping it would pass.
There's about 13 million people we cannot ask if laying low and hoping it will pass is a good strategy (and now I've gone Godwin).
The key to securing civil rights is to freak the mundanes and show them that nobody even got hurt, let alone died, when those civil rights are exercised and respected.
Respect! That's what's missing from the open carry condemnation side.
If the mundanes are not freaked, there's nothing for them to be educated about. They don't have to learn about it or how to deal with it.
The derisively named Florida Carry Fashion Show has shown me one thing which is lost on the condemners... Hardly a single person who's not participating even notices. If they do notice, they don't care.
The mundanes are not freaked.
But I was promised they were a skittish herd terrified of the mention of a gun and would vote Nancy Pelosi to save them from the evol gunnies!
Or maybe it's just prejudice.
Since the condemners are fond of calling people names, I have a title for them: Sonderkondemmer.
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Quislings also works.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, it isn't the mundanes who are having pantshittinghysteria over this. It is supposedly gun-rights advocates.
As to a right, well, it is a God-given right.
Now that I think about it, Sonderkondemmer does have a nice ring to it.
And, hey, I just had a pro-gun fud actually say that a long gun is just a replacement for a small unit. Woooo!!! I win. I just proved pro-gun fuds are as bad or worse than the anti-gun fuds!!! I win!!! Whoooo!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell, the average person going about their day isn't talking about it, no. What's happening is businesses are shitting their pants when an open carry incident happens and the "Karens" complain. I am reminded of the guys at Chipotle open carrying an AR and an AK-clone (unslung in low ready) and now anyone who open carries is refused service.
ReplyDeleteYou normalize in small steps, not big giant leaps. Without regard to how anyone of us feel about the policy and it's end results, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" normalized the existence of gay people in the military. It said, "we are aware you exist, but not going to come looking for you. Just fly under the radar and don't make a scene." It let other soldiers know there are some soldiers who are gay; don't ask them, don't expect them to tell you, just do your job. Today there are openly gay people in the US military, it was a stepping stone.
By extension, maybe we (people who want to normalize and destigmatize open carry) should start small and work from there. We need to put our best face and foot forward. I don't want the public to see open carry as a threat or a poster-child/photo-op for the gun control crowd. When we open carry (where it's legal), we need to be on our best behavior and set the best example. I'm sorry but going to StarBucks, Target, Chipotle, or Kroger wearing sweats, basketball shorts, a camo boonie hat, and a posing for selfies next to the hot sauce bar with your AK at low ready isn't cool or "normal", it's setting a bad example and is used as ammunition for those who oppose open carry and gun ownership in general. Even the Texas Open carry guys screwed the pooch, open carrying long guns to go to Home Depot (outside of a declared emergency): wear a hip holster and carry a pistol, psychologically you're less threatening. Dress nice; shave or at least trim your facial hair; be polite and don't be rude to other customers; be patient and talk to other customers, address their concerns or questions; teach, don't lecture. Above all, think beforehand, "Am I setting the best example for open carry at getting that other person to think 'That person was nice and not a threat to me. I didn't feel threatened or at risk of my safety'". The less threatening your gun, the more you yourself can be casual: carry a pistol and you can get away with shorts, ball-cap, and a nice shirt; carry a rifle and you better look like a fortune-500 CPA/middle-manager out on a lunch-break.
I currently live in Florida, where open carry has been banned since 1987: political trading of horseflesh to get "shall issue" meant no more open carry. Last year I went to visit extended family in Oklahoma, where Open Carry has been legal since 2012 (in one month it goes Constitutional Carry). It was both fairly normal for everyone who lives there, and a little surreal for me owing to not seeing holsters on hips here in Orlando; but by the end of my vacation it was pretty normal.
DADT comes a long time after "We're here! We're Queer! How do I look in a feather boa and leather codpiece?"
DeleteI keep repeating this about Open Carry Texas, the only legal way to open carry at the time was long-arms. They weren't allowed to make the baby steps without breaking the law. Open carry became legal in Texas even with their antics, so... Doesn't count as a loss.
I didn't want to be the damned spokesman for unlimited open carry.
Nobody bothered to read what my goals were before slinging insults and aspersions at me.
The fact remains that even with some people doing ridiculously silly carry, open carry got expanded. They did not end the world or cause any anti-gun laws to be passed.
The people who got businesses to close their doors to open carry are the same people we've been fighting all along. Rebecca Lowen of Minnesota's chapter of Mom's Demand Action mentioned guns being left in bathrooms to be found by *CHILDREN* in the same breath as mentioning open carry.
Target has a fairly long history of supporting Democrat candidates as well.
The people who hate us will hate us even if we're completely hidden from their view. They will never like us, so there's no point in currying favor with them.
Another point I keep having to make is there's only two places I find news about open carry freaking people out: Local stories and that only after a pro-gun blogger links to it complaining about the sky falling and the world ending.
The stories often mention police being called, but never have anything like a panicked rush to flee the open carriers. I am thinking that the pro-gun anti-open-carry people are just as locked into their position as the anti-gunners they happen to agree with on this topic. They don't like it, won't do it and want to make sure nobody else does it lest it affects their preferred means of carry.
Where have I heard this line of reasoning before... Oh yeah! In 1993 when the AWB was getting traction... "I don't own an M16 [sic], I don't want to own one, I don't think anyone needs one and I wish they'd go away before it costs my my hunting rifle!" We call those folks FUDDs today.