Packing in public: Gun owners tired of hiding their weapons embrace 'open carry'

[JoshLowry]

Does Kevin Jensen post here? He is a RP supporter.

Article from LATimes.com: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-opencarry7-2008jun07,0,849912.story

PROVO, UTAH -- For years, Kevin Jensen carried a pistol everywhere he went, tucked in a shoulder holster beneath his clothes.

In hot weather the holster was almost unbearable. Pressed against Jensen's skin, the firearm was heavy and uncomfortable. Hiding the weapon made him feel like a criminal.

Carry your gun openly for the world to see as you go about your business. In most states there's no law against that.

Jensen thought about it and decided to give it a try. A couple of days later, his gun was visible, hanging from a black holster strapped around his hip as he walked into a Costco. His heart raced as he ordered a Polish dog at the counter. No one called the police. No one stopped him.

Now Jensen carries his Glock 23 openly into his bank, restaurants and shopping centers. He wore the gun to a Ron Paul rally. He and his wife, Clachelle, drop off their 5-year-old daughter at elementary school with pistols hanging from their hip holsters, and have never received a complaint or a wary look.

Read More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-opencarry7-2008jun07,0,849912.story

 

[pcosmar]

That's the way to do it.
It should be as common as man with a hat.

 

[phixion]

Not difficult at all for someone to creep up behind him and take his weapon.

Seriously, open carrying in a RALLY or in crowds of people, too?

Someone could just lift it straight from the holster.

Not at all difficult for someone to follow him and take his weapon when he's unawares.

I see so many problems with open carry I find it an insane macho-statement more than protecting you and your loved ones.

Pete

 

[phixion]

And just to add... sipping a fancy coffee in Starbucks through a straw while wearing a gun on your hip is just wrong on so many levels.

Pete

 

[Danke]

Not difficult at all for someone to creep up behind him and take his weapon.

Seriously, open carrying in a RALLY or in crowds of people, too?

Someone could just lift it straight from the holster.

Not at all difficult for someone to follow him and take his weapon when he's unawares.

I see so many problems with open carry I find it an insane macho-statement more than protecting you and your loved ones.

Pete

Cops do it all the time. You can wear a holster that makes it difficult to take the gun away.

 

[pcosmar]

Not difficult at all for someone to creep up behind him and take his weapon.

Seriously, open carrying in a RALLY or in crowds of people, too?

Someone could just lift it straight from the holster.

Not at all difficult for someone to follow him and take his weapon when he's unawares.

I see so many problems with open carry I find it an insane macho-statement more than protecting you and your loved ones.

Pete

What. You have not the slightest idea,,Oh wait,

Location: United Kingdom

Yup. That explains it.

 

[Uriel999]

What. You have not the slightest idea,,Oh wait,

Yup. That explains it.

Bwahahahaha.

 

[phixion]

My country of origin explains nothing.

If you think that by attracting attention to yourself in such a manner helps keep you safe, whatever.

All it does is make weak men feel like bad-asses. It's a social statement. It's retarded.

Pete

 

[pcosmar]

My country of origin explains nothing.

If you think that by attracting attention to yourself in such a manner helps keep you safe, whatever.

All it does is make weak men feel like bad-asses. It's a social statement. It's retarded.

Pete

Except the lack of knowledge regarding Firearms, Open Carry, The American Spirit, etc.

Remember what happened when the Kings troops tried to disarm the American Colonists.

 

[devil21]

The comments on the article are pretty scary. Shows the overall liberal attitude toward guns. I bet those people would change their tune if they were caught in another mall shooting and a guy open carrying took the shooter out before he could kill everyone like a shooting gallery.

 

[phixion]

The comments on the article are pretty scary. Shows the overall liberal attitude toward guns. I bet those people would change their tune if they were caught in another mall shooting and a guy open carrying took the shooter out before he could kill everyone like a shooting gallery.

Wouldn't the guy who'se open-carrying be the shooters first target? You know, eliminate the immediate threat.

Pete

 

[phixion]

Except the lack of knowledge regarding Firearms, Open Carry, The American Spirit, etc.

Remember what happened when the Kings troops tried to disarm the American Colonists.

You will then find it very bizzare how I have more knowledge of the American political system than my very own in the UK.

Pete

 

[devil21]

Wouldn't the guy who'se open-carrying be the shooters first target? You know, eliminate the immediate threat.

Pete

People that go on shooting sprees aren't targeting anyone in particular. They are targeting any one they happen to see at that given time. I can't accept that you would advocate only arming criminals!

By the way, hasn't the UK been experiencing a sharp rise in knife attacks and murders lately? Goes to show that it's not the weapon that is the problem. It's the person carrying it.

 

[phixion]

People that go on shooting sprees aren't targeting anyone in particular. They are targeting any one they happen to see at that given time. I can't accept that you would advocate only arming criminals!

I'm all for concealed carry and believe in it whole-heartedly if the person is proficient in the use of their firearm.

It's open carry which seems foolish to me for many reasons.

Pete

 

[pcosmar]

Wouldn't the guy who'se open-carrying be the shooters first target? You know, eliminate the immediate threat.

Pete

No.
Seeing an armed person would cause him to retreat in most cases. Add to that, once common again ( and in areas where it is) there would likely be more than one armed person.
On the occasions where I met someone with criminal intent while armed, the other guy retreated.
As to taking a weapon, Unlikely, possible maybe for a professional but unlikely.

Putting your hand on or near mine would have been a good way to get shot.

 

[phixion]

People that go on shooting sprees aren't targeting anyone in particular. They are targeting any one they happen to see at that given time. I can't accept that you would advocate only arming criminals!

By the way, hasn't the UK been experiencing a sharp rise in knife attacks and murders lately? Goes to show that it's not the weapon that is the problem. It's the person carrying it.

Plenty of knife crime and murders are occuring in London it seems. We've had 2 knife deaths in our city in the last few years. Never used to happen before.

Pete

 

[pcosmar]

The Fact is,
In places where carry is common, crime is low, and there have NOT been a rash of gun snatching or shootings of gun owners.
In places where there is excessive gun control, crime is rampant, shootings common.

Maybe there is a cause and effect.

 

[Kalifornia]

I support open carry, for mostly political speech purposes. In some places the animosity towards weapons is so great (interestingly, even in places where it is legal), that it is worth getting the attention, (and potentially negative attention) that comes with open carry just to get people used to the idea that not only cops, bad guys, and the crazy people portrayed by the media carry guns.

The best way I can put this in perspective is to tell a story. In my first year torts class, 100 or so future lawyers sat and discussed a case in which three men were out pheasant hunting and one of the hunters shot the other two hunters with one accidental shot, which damaged the eye of one of the two he shot... Many who read this will know immediately what happened. He peppered them with birdshot.

Of those 100 future lawyers, 98 had no idea how one shot managed to wound two people. The professor, a well known writer in the legal community, a great scholar of the 'law and economics' school, who is considered to be one of the best conservative legal minds in southern california, also had NO IDEA.

Two people in that classroom knew what had happened. Me, and an active duty U.S. Marine Corps officer. That's it. We had to explain that shot guns can shoot a variety of projectiles, and the one that the hunter had fired was birdshot. Then we had to explain what birdshot was and how it worked.

If people with that much education had no clue about guns except what the media tells them, what do you think the average voting woman who spends her time reading vogue and watching American Idol, with no direct experience with guns, thinks? We are in a struggle for hearts and minds here. If people see a peaceful person openly carrying, smiling, and having a pleasant time with their friends and family, once they get past the possibility of fit of media induced hysteria, they are going to get curious... Maybe they will ask questions, maybe they will actually ask that guy what he thinks, and maybe he can talk them into a trip to the range...

In the end, those that the open carriers piss off are beyond redemption, but those that they befriend become fellow 2nd Am voters.

 

[newyearsrevolution08]

I see this the same way I see drunk driving, until you harm, hurt or kill someone then it shouldn't be a problem.

I would be more then happy to see people carrying all over the place. Up in the hills around Fresno it is very common to see Hunters with holsters due to bears and whatever else might get em and no one worries.

If me carrying a gun opening would make a criminal try and attack me then good luck to that soon to be dead criminal. That is usually why they are criminals anyways because they are stupid.

If I were a criminal and saw a few open carry patrons in the store I would think twice because odds are I would be spun off my butt on dope or whatever the criminal is on atm and then realize that those LAW ABIDING citizens odds are shoot daily waiting for the chance to kill a crack headed criminal.

Just my thoughts lol.

 

[FindLiberty]

Cause and effect:

Ah, "that" must be why the occasional mass murderer nut case always heads straight to a (gun free zone) school, instead trying to have their shoot out rampage begin and quickly end at a Police station.

I feel the safest when lots of good people around me have guns. CC is more effective than OC because the bad guy (nut case or tyrant) can't be sure that they're the only one armed, so they tend to pick an easier, safer target elsewhere.

e.g., Smart bad guys tend to move away/stay away from Kennesaw, Georgia.