I am not against open carry. Matter of fact during the summer months when it is hot, I will open carry because I don't have a long or heavy shirt to conceal my pistol. But that's just it;
I CARRY A PISTOL.
I don't lug my AR-15 into Chipolte AND POSE WITH IT FOR PICTURES LIKE A COMPLETE F*CKING DUMBASS!!!!
Understand this psychology and understand it well. This is no different than a woman who breastfeeds in public.
It isn't for the baby.
It isn't for convenience.
It is first and foremost for her ego.
And the morons totting rifles into public restaurants are guilty of the same. It's all about them, not gun rights.
Want to carry a pistol discreetly on your side?
Sure.
Perhaps make a fashion statement with a particularly nice piece of gunsmithing, maybe even an admirable hoslter?
Sure.
But looking like the rejected Taliban applicant dude-bros from the suburbs is going to intimidate and alienate people to the point you can't open carry period.
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11 comments:
I suspect your correct for a large portion of the rifle slinging set. I think there may be a few who felt the need to rub it in the face of the anti-gun crowd. I think a political rally outside the seat of government (there have been lots of those) - then fine.
Even so, taking a long gun into shops and stores if you have another choice is counter productive, childish and generally not useful to the cause. If you have no other option, then I'd have to ask: why? If you're not expecting an armed attack, then at best it's seriously inconvenient - at worst (and what you describe fits here) it's counter productive and stupid.
If you are expecting an armed attack, what the hell are you doing there looking for trouble anyway? Sure you have the right, but despite the nanny states best efforts, extreme stupidity can still be a capital crime punishable by death. Always has been - and will be until they lock us up in little tubes and hook us into the matrix.
I breastfed in public. In a booth, under a blanket. When the kids got big enough to start pulling the blanket off, I took it to the ladies' room.
I hate the "lactivists."
(I also open carry when convenient. But the holster looks like a binoculars case.)
i understand your position, and im sure it is true in a large percentage of people toting rifles, like the ones who just want to pick fights with cops and post it on youtube, but there are several valid reasons people are doing this:
1) it normalizes legal behavior to the public who would otherwise call the police. if it is something they see often they tend to stop panicking,
2) it normalizes legal behavior to the police and forces them to deal with the use of police resources efficiently rather than sending cops out every time someone says there is a man with a rifle, this makes anti-gun (???) people and their ¨fuck those people, call the cops on the gun nuts to give them a hard time¨ tactic useless, and
3) to a lesser extent, only because it isnt common, it reduces the likelihood of crime in the vicinity. nobody is going to mug a guy when there are country ass white people walking around across the street with ar15s. this is the main reason i wish it was a bit more prevalent.
i personally dont understand why there are even anti gun activists, but my gut tells me that they just use ¨the children¨ as an excuse to tell other people how to live their lives, to wield power over others in a way that they voluntarily have no business doing, much like they accuse anti abortion people of acting. but that is a different topic altogether.
The people who open carry rifles in urban areas are the particular flavor of dumbass who don't know the difference between "can" and "should". Just because you CAN do something does not mean you SHOULD do something. Scaring the sheep is #1 of the list of things you SHOULD NOT do....
You carry a pistol for self-defense.
You bring a rifle if you know you are walking into trouble.
The first thing you ask a rifle toter is "Where is the shooting competition", followed by "Is there trouble somewhere?"
Carrying a rifle when you don't need to says Nutter.
A complicating factor is that in Texas, where this took place, it is legal to open carry of rifles, but not pistols.
Indeed, when Texas gets open carry next session, this sort of thing should die down as folks start carrying pistols instead.
Does this also explain candle-light aids vigils, and meet-at-the-flag-pole to pray gatherings?
I know I'm dating myself, but these were all that came to mind.
It’s about intent.
A pistol is a defensive weapon. It is a sub-optimal firearm in every way. They are not accurate, they are not powerful, and as a result, no military issues pistols as a primary weapon for going out hunting men. The only advantage a pistol grants is that it is tote-able, light, small, and easy to conceal. In essence, it is a defensive weapon, meant to sacrifice power, accuracy, and so forth for ease of carry. Carrying a pistol says “I’m not looking to get into a fight, but I’m prepared to defend myself if one presents itself. I’m here to buy coffee, with my hands free to do commerce, not kill anybody” You carry a pistol when you have a high confidence level that you are NOT going to get into a gun fight today, but just in case you do, you won’t be defenseless.
A rifle is an offensive weapon. A rifle represents the best, most powerful single-man weapon available. They are accurate. They are powerful. They are what militaries the world over issue to their troops when they intend to go into harms way. A rifle is for instances when you don’t care about tote-ability, lightness, and ease of concealment, because you aren’t planning on putting your rifle away – when you are carrying a rifle, it is your primary purpose in life. You are going into harm’s way, as a belligerent, on purpose. In essence, a person carrying a rifle is a person who intends to use that rifle. There is no other reason to carry a rifle. In essense, it is an offensive weapon, meant for times in your life when you don’t care about doing anything else but using that weapon to effect. You carry it when you have a high level of confidence that you are going to be in a fight, or when you are out looking for one. A rifle says “I’m not here to buy coffee. My hands are not free to buy coffee, because they are holding a rifle, which is my primary intent and purpose. I carried this rifle today because I am intending to get in a gunfight.”
Look at police. When they are going into a situation where there is a low risk of getting into a gun fight, they take their pistols. When the situation has a higher risk of getting into a gunfight, they take their AR-15s.
If I were in a Chipotle and some goon walked in carrying an AR-15 on his single point “operator” strap, covering people with the muzzle like some Somalian warlord’s lackey, I would get the hell out of there with a quickness. That would be no different than guy walking in with an unholstered pistol in his hand. Probably even worse. Having it out, in your hands, ready to do battle? Bad deal.
I am not anti-gun. I carry a pistol with me everywhere but at work (company policy). But a guy carrying a rifle tells a story, and it’s a story that I don’t want to be involved in.
When I’m out hunting, I leave my rifle safely locked in my truck whenever I go into a business.
Oh, and thanks, carry-in-your-face OC advocates, now if my gat imprints through my shirt when I’m in Chipotle, they’ll kick me out, when before you fucked everything up, they wouldn’t have cared. Good job, you douchebags.
1) it normalizes legal behavior to the public who would otherwise call the police. if it is something they see often they tend to stop panicking,
No, it doesn't. It makes gun owners look like idiotic douchbags in the same vein as a homosexual man walking down the street in assless chaps and a penis hat trying to "normalize" homosexuality in the eyes of "normal" people. It makes you look like an idiot. It makes you look like "the other". It gives them ammunition to use against you, instead of forwarding the cause. Something to be lampooned as backwards, silly, and stupid. Something that "proves" their point that gun owners are imbalanced (sort of like penis-guy "proves" that homosexuals are all degenerates, blah, blah, blah). You're winning the fight for your opponents when you act like this.
Our right to keep and bear arms is not summed up by a selfie in a Chipotle with two overweight dudes hauling around a civilian modified battle rifle just to make people uncomfortable. THat's clown-shoes shit.
You want to open carry a pistol in a holster on your belt? GO for it. I see it all the time. I DO it all the time. There's a difference between open carrying, and open carrying AT somebody.
2) it normalizes legal behavior to the police and forces them to deal with the use of police resources efficiently rather than sending cops out every time someone says there is a man with a rifle, this makes anti-gun (???) people and their ¨fuck those people, call the cops on the gun nuts to give them a hard time¨ tactic useless, and
No, it doesn't. I, for one, would like for police to check out reports of dudes carrying around civilian modified battle rifles on the downtown streets of my city. See my previous post. Carrying a rifle means you're going out looking for trouble.
I do not think that it shold be illegal. Not by a long shot. But I still think that doing it, just because it IS legal, is stupid as fuck.
The police should not hassle a rifle carrier i they determine that his intentions are good, but I still think that it is wihtin their reasonable duties to check out why sumdood is hauling a rifle around town.
3) to a lesser extent, only because it isnt common, it reduces the likelihood of crime in the vicinity. nobody is going to mug a guy when there are country ass white people walking around across the street with ar15s. this is the main reason i wish it was a bit more prevalent.
No one is going to mug a guy when there are a bunch of people walking around carrying concealed and open carry pistols, either. And to be honest, I'm not certain that I'm all up with the judgement of these folks hauling their battle rifles around town for the lulz.
They got me banned from Chipotle, for instance. How's that for good judgement. They got me banned from Starbucks, also, and this is after BOTH companies explicitly stated that they were totally cool with folks carrying weapons in their stores.
Until these douchebags showed up, and started chasing off customers, and they had to change the rule.
GOod job, guys. Thanks a lot. With friends like you , I don't even NEED enemies.
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