As we celebrate Independence Day, we need to remember among other things not to take liberties with our liberties.
Open carry – that is, carrying or wearing a visible firearm out and about in public – has become a hot topic on both sides of the gun debate. On our side, there are some who claim “a right not exercised is a right that will wither away.” In recent years, it has turned out otherwise. Ostentatious open carry led to it being banned by the state legislature in California. More recently, a series of store and restaurant chains, most recently Target, have come out and asked customers not to come there armed with firearms. These have been direct results of AR15s, AK47 clones, etc. being carried in their premises for no reason other than “because I can.”
My own position is middle of the road. I would like to see the open carry of a handgun made legal in all fifty states without a permit, with the practice prohibited to convicted felons, those adjudicated mentally ill, and the like. First, legal open carry prevents arrest of concealed carry permit holders whose gun becomes visible when the wind blows their coat open. Second, when someone becomes a stalking victim or the target of death threats overnight, they don’t have time to wait for the bureaucracy to take weeks or months to process a concealed carry permit.
However, a growing majority of gun owners – including me – are fed up with clowns who sling a rifle over one shoulder, a camcorder over the other, and go out to show off and maybe taunt a policeman or two. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these people weren’t false-flag plants from the other side. Not all of them are, though.
It’s self-delusional to think that you’ll spread a positive Second Amendment image by frightening people already made leery of armed people in public by news reports of atrocities like Sandy Hook. The gay rights movement didn’t make the strides it did by having its members have sex with each other in Starbucks, and wandering into a coffee shop or department store with a loaded military style rifle won’t make positive strides for gun owners’ civil rights. A small handful of attention whores have done huge damage to the vast majority of responsible gun owners.
Enjoy the Fourth. I intend to be setting off some fireworks myself, but on the range. Hope you get some fun time for the holiday weekend as well.
I’m currently setting up my electric wheelchair to mount a Dillon minigun with 1000 round ammo can so could be properly armed when I visit my local mall.
I’m against open carry, but fully support concealed carry for all non-criminals and non-mentally deficient folks without a license or permit.
Long guns should not be carried in public except for transporting in a gun case directly to and from one’s vehicle. Having a right to bear arms doesn’t mean one should dress up in camo fatigues with body armor, assault vest, and combat rifle/shotgun and strut around in public alarming people and probably getting shot by the police or some concerned citizen wanting to protect their family from what they perceive as a lunatic on the loose. Anyone dressed and armed that way in a non-SHTF situation better be on their way to a Halloween costume party.
Carrying concealed gives one the element of surprise and keeps the bad guys/gals guessing who is armed. Besides not being targeted by criminals who are looking to obtain a gun by robbery or theft if they carry openly, people, especially unarmed ones, are safer because goblins don’t know who is packing and will be unsure whether to attack grandma who may be carrying a cocked and locked Colt .45 pistol under her hand knitted shawl.
I agree with Mas. I know a lot of people who are extremely anti-gun & most of the ones I know are deathly AFRAID of guns. They’re even afraid of the police & the U.S. military who are supposed to be their protectors. They’re especially afraid of civilians with guns & they’re more afraid of AR’s & AK’s than anything else. I’m certain that the sight of people carrying AR’s in public, which they never used to see anyone doing in the past, is absolutely terrifying to them. Although it’s easy for us to dismiss their fears as irrational, the result is likely to be that they will become even more fearful & even more determined to ban the object of their fears–guns & people carrying guns.
I’m not opposed to open carry & I’d like to see it legalized everywhere, although I prefer concealed carry, myself, for all of the reasons mentioned in previous comments by others on this subject. I just think that there are better ways to make carrying a gun a normal & acceptable behavior than by terrorizing people who are already opposed to gun ownership out of fear. Telling people who are afraid of guns to get used to seeing AR’s in public is like telling people who are afraid of dogs to get used to pit bulls wandering through their neighborhoods off the leash.
Although many of these people will never be persuaded to accept the use of firearms as a normal & sometimes necessary behavior, it seems to me that a less confrontational approach would at least minimize the opposition to it. A better strategy might be to publicize the benign aspects of gun ownership first, where it is obvious that no one is being murdered or maimed. Gradual acclimation to kids shooting .22 rifles at targets in a controlled environment, or to women teaching other women how to shoot handguns seems like a better place to start for those who are phobic about firearms than sudden exposure to scary looking men carrying AR’s into stores & restaurants amid news reports of mass shootings & a media campaign demonizing black rifles. Desensitizing people so that they will accept a major change like open carry in urban/suburban areas has to be a gradual process to succeed.
It’s difficult enough to get politicians, voters, & Supreme Court Justices to accept the concept of concealed carry, not to mention constitutional carry & concealed carry reciprocity. It makes more sense to me to win those battles first, before pushing for unrestricted open carry in places that are already hostile to gun ownership. Even the fervent 2nd Amendment supporters commenting on this blog are not united in support of this practice, so what does that tell you?
Mr. Ayoob,
Unfortunately, the premise of your article is unsound. You state that it is position that open carry of a handgun should be legal. Unfortunately, here in Texas, that simply is not the case. Open Carry Texas was founded and organized to bring attention to the state laws that allow open carry of a rifle, shotgun, or pre-1899 black powder or replica handgun, but do not allow the open carry of a modern handgun. One of the main goals of Open Carry Texas is to have this law changed as soon as possible and less restrictive open carry laws enacted. You say you’re in favor of this, and then criticize the activists who are trying to reach the same goal you espouse? There is an unmistakable incongruity or possibly a lack of knowledge between your stated beliefs and your criticism.
Welcome, Mr. Arnold. Now that you’re here, can you explain how you believe scaring soccer moms in restaurants by carrying loaded rifles therein, is going to further your goal of legalizing open carry of holstered handguns in Texas?
Other commenters here have already noted the profound distinction between a holstered handgun and a rifle in a place of business, so I won’t belabor that point.
N Arnold, it seems from all outward appearances that Open Carry Texas’ main tactic begins with the desire to either pick a confrontation with police or shock and scare everyday folks going about their daily routine. If they think this is going to win the hearts and minds of most folks they are “a little narrow between the ears” (yes, I was born and raised in Texas).
We all want less restrictions on carrying weapons, but like it or not, right or wrong, the Supreme Court has repeatedly in their opinions, left open the constitutionality of “common sense” restrictions on 2A rights. This leaves us with legislative action to chip away at those restrictions.
Who do you think the politicians are going to listen to, those who make the news by parading around with what some folks have come to believe are assault rifles, or those who believe their peace has been violated by what they see as obnoxious and confrontational behavior?
Any true Texan knows you will get more horses into the corral with sweet feed than with a bullwhip.
I followed these clowns very closely, back when they first appeared in California. I begged them to stop as I knew what would happen.
Now, there is a new and huge possibility that an innocent hunter, target shooter, person packing their car, whatever might be arrested for her gun being seen.
There’s not been a single good thing ever come from a single one of these clownish and immature displays. If they want to actually do something positive, then spend their energies taking people who don’t own a gun to the range and introduce them to safe and fun gun use.
The detractors of Open Carry (OC) always mention that the OC citizen will have their gun taken from them and used against them. They also always say that the OC citizen will be the first one shot. Certainly there should be many news stories of such things happening since there are now a lot of people that open carry. I would love to read about all of this…but nobody can ever point me to any more instances that can be counted on a single hand. It’s a bunch of BS.
Certainly this happens to police officers sometimes, who actively hunt down criminals and initiate contact with them at time of arrest in order to remove them from society. This is a different scenario for the OC citizen who does not hunt down bad guys and attempt to handcuff them and ultimately take away some of their freedom. Bad guys look for soft targets, and avoid the hard ones. Showing your teeth is a deterrant to the wild animals.
Common sense, use it.
People are apparently confused about what happened in California.
1) Unloaded OC was all that was legal
2) The legislature decided to ban the UOC of handguns, but not long guns
3) People switched to LGOC in protest of not being able to OC a handgun
4) The legislature decided to ban that too
The ability to UOC a handgun in CA was not lost because of people doing LGOC in CA, it was lost because of an anti-gun legislature.
As for these people doing LGOC in Texas, several of the groups got permission from the stores before doing it, and a lot do it to raise awareness that they would prefer to OC a handgun but legally can’t. It is not their fault that corporate caved to the astroturf known as MDA (which when you look at the issued letters, none of the ones I’ve seen flat out ban OC/CC, they simply would prefer if you didn’t).
And while the media would have us believe that it is causing more harm than good, when was the last time the media wasn’t biased against guns? The fact that people were asking to either take pics of the carriers, or get their pic taken with them should tell us something about it. Even more telling is that these stores simply “ask” us to leave our guns at home instead of coming out and making it corporate policy to post no-guns signs (a way to try and sit on the fence, but shows that MDA isn’t getting as much out of them as they think).
Sadly it seems that even gun people are willing to believe the false narrative of the anti-gun media when it feeds their anti-OC views. While it hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows, OCing isn’t setting back the gun community as much as people seem to think. I know that every one of my OC experiences (though with a handgun) were positive, helped teach people about gun rights, and even led to some people thanking me. And remember, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
Massad, you couldn’t be more wrong. I remember when you were telling people to carry revolvers and to stay away from semi-autos. You are just as wrong this time.
You are claiming that the open carry of firearms is causing a restriction of gun rights. Open carry is becoming more prevalent, more widespread across the United States, and—with just a couple of narrow exceptions—most states are simultaneously enacting more pro-gun legislation every year. More states are expanding their “stand your ground” laws and slowly eliminating gun-free zones. Give me the web space and I will provide cites and legislation. For you to focus on one or two or three states who are rabidly liberal and adamant about infringing on a citizen’s RKBA is disingenuous at best and should be beneath you.
To make it worse, you “assume” open carriers routinely carry AR-15s, when you know that is a lie. As a rule, the only people who carry long guns are people who cant carry handguns.
I know a couple who own a handful of Sonic franchises. When I asked them about the corporate request that gun owners not bring guns onto their property, they laughed. They told me that Sonic franchise owners rarely agree with what comes out of corporate’s mouth, and that gun owners openly carrying or concealing are more than welcome there.
You have yet to show anyone that any corporation is banning guns. All a couple have done is to request that gun owners don’t carry, to placate Demanding Moms. On the other hand, MDA has gotten thrown out of a few establishments, which is more than I can say for lawful gun owners.
Bloomberg has millions and millions and millions of dollars behind this effort. Why are you aiding and abetting him?
Danny Griffin, new points of view are always welcome here, and if they’re as delusional as yours, they’re all the more amusing.
No one but you said open carriers “routinely” carry long guns… I was stating the case for the defensive auto pistol in guns magazines 40 years ago…and the chains asking people not to carry in their stores are nationwide.