And I totally respect that mindset. Personally, do what's right for you. What worries me is the mindset of the author, and some of the posters, who think that Open Carry sets the movement back, because they assume guns frighten people, and there is no possible way to convince these people otherwise.
How many of these people wet their pants when officer speedtrap comes up to them open carrying?
Thug criminals also aren’t the kinds of people that walk around open carrying. They all conceal carry, they don’t want the attention or lose the element of surprise to an impending victim.
The questions open carry people get from sheep who see them open carrying is “Are you a cop (good guy)?” never “Are you a criminal (bad guy)?”
I have to admit that my friends that do not have an affinity for guns like I do, do not speak very well of those that do carry open. They all want to know why those people feel the need to open carry, and I don’t think it really does any good.
I walked into a stop n shop type store one day, and a man was buying a black nylon holster for his .38. I noticed it because it looked a lot like mine, except mine has a pink handle. The clerk looked at me nervously and said, “I’m going to wait on him first, he’s armed.”
I said, “Is that a problem?” The guy looked at me and grinned. I mean, just looking at him, anyone could tell he was nicely dressed, past middle age, had a beautiful big truck outside, not your average tweaker or drunk.
I had my weapon in my car, otherwise I could have bought a nylon holster too. If it came in pink. :-D
But you ignore a page from the democrat playbook - incrementalism. We still have a large number of people who are terrified of firearms. Hoplophobia is not rational. It’s the product of decades of effort to demonize self defense. The propaganda machine against us is remarkably powerful and it won’t give up so easily. Any opportunity to demonize shooters will be exploited. Those two Associated Press stories demonstrate that.
The N.R.A. said that it didn’t want to argue the second amendment in court because it wanted to change the thinking of legislators, else they would find ways to weasel around any other gains we’d made. They’re already doing that in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
The strategy was working. Gun owners used the crime wave of the 1980s to change a relatively insignificant gun law in Florida and reflect the progress on the national news. Now you can carry a loaded gun in your car in Florida. No shootouts happened. Now you can get a concealed carry permit in Florida. No shootouts happened. Now you can get a non-resident carry permit in Florida. No shootouts happened. In the 25 years since those changes were made, concealed carry became an issue that carried in all but the most dank, liberal hellholes.
The strategy is working. I see no reason to change it. We have not carried the whole country yet.