>>>The whole point of the open carry movement is to inoculate the “nervous Nellies” so as to have them NOT see someone openly carrying a gun as “scary”.
Yes, but nervous Nellies often react by passing more laws. For example, here in Charlotte, a couple of reports of young African American males walking around downtown openly carrying a handgun (which is not against the law), caused the police chief to push for a new city ordinance that would make open display of a firearm illegal. It didn’t get past that city council, but there was the potential that it might.
If they can stir up enough hoopla to get the law passed at the first incident, yes. But longer term, education and exposure can lead to BETTER laws and not worse ones. As evidence, we can see the ongoing growth of CCW rights as one state after another passes CCW, with zero negative consequences. Even the diehard blowhard liberal states are finally "getting the picture" that it is not GUNS that is the problem, it is CRIMINALS.