SG> as if it is loaded.") Other than the new CHL law, they also don't
SG> distinguish between how it is carried - in plain sight, concealed, or
SG> out of reach. Though naturally, "in plain sight" is asking for trouble.
SG> PN> How is "'in plain sight' is asking for trouble?"
SG>You mean you don't know? Say you're on your way to the range, in which
SG>case you're allowed to have a handgun with you, or you're "travelling",
SG>and you get pulled over for a busted tail light or something similar. If
SG>you have a handgun on the seat next to you or in a visible holster when
SG>he walks up to your car, what's he going to do?
Oh fer cryin' out loud.  You're afraid of a cop who comes across
someone who is exercising his rights.  What kind of society is it
where we have to fear cops when we are lawfully exercising our
rights?  If you are correct, and you mean we DO have to fear cops
when we exercise our rights, then our society is too far gone already.
Not only that, but you are fostering or at least tolerating the
notion that only bad guys are armed.
SG>Or you're driving home from a bar in town, and you may have had just a
SG>little more than you should have. Maybe you hadn't eaten supper, and it
SG>went straight to your head. If you're in a pickup truck with a shotgun in
SG>the rack, a policeman is going to be a bit more careful with you than he
SG>would otherwise.
SG>In the case of a handgun, he is not required to figure out if you had it
SG>for a legitimate reason. Now, in rural areas or some such, he probably
SG>would let you go if you seemed legitimate. But many city cops won't take
SG>that chance - they'll let the legal people try to figure it out. So you
SG>get to spend some time downtown, and depending on what the legal people
SG>thought you might lose your gun for a while - until they did figure it
SG>out.
SG>A similar point, but not as bad, applies to the shotgun in the gun rack.
SG>He's probably more likely to let you go if you're not too badly impaired
SG>if he doesn't see a gun. But if he does, he may take you downtown for a
SG>blood-alcohol test just to be safe.
SG>And of course, "in plain sight" is also asking for trouble from the bad
SG>guys if they think they can get the drop on you.
That's why a combination of people carrying open and people
carrying concealed is good.  The possibility of someone carrying
concealed is brought to the bad guy's mind when he sees someone
carrying openly.
And what if 50% of the people were carrying OPENLY?   Why is it so
often assumed that at most only one of "us" is in any group?  What
if 50% of the people in the McDonald's or Denny's or that San
Franciso law firm, or Luby's or on the Long Island Railroad were
openly carrying?  Could the bad guys "get the drop on" all of them?
For that matter, what if it is just 10% ?
I carried openly at a social club meeting one night, and some
anti-gun prissy intellectual said something, and we found out that
at least THREE other respected club members were carrying
concealed. If some bad guy had gotten the drop on me, he would have
had three others draw down on him. Besides, open carry usually
means a quicker draw than concealed carry.
I don't understand why so many Texans have gotten so prissy over
carrying a firearm. (I think you guys shot yourself in the foot
with the training requirement and fees. Like Florida, yours will be
harder to get, and permit fees will go up.)  AZ and VT have
unlimited open carry, no permit needed.  How have gunowners
survived there?  I have a friend who used to carry openly and he
never drove after drinking in the least.  He had to remind quite a
few prissy civilians that open carry in Indiana is legal, but cops
did not hassle him over it.
You guys in Texas have been without your gun rights (or have had
them infringed) for so long, your culture does not know how to
handle it, and too many people are ASSuming that the "other guy" is
going to FREAK when he sees a gun.  So what?  Maybe people do need
to get used to the idea of open guns in public.  I think it's a
GREAT thing, and more importantly, it is part and parcel of RKBA.
Instead of promoting more CONCEALED carry, let's promote more OPEN
carry.  It didn't hurt AZ and VT, and it sure didn't hurt in FL
before they disallowed open carry and went to concealed carry only.
Damn those prissy Florida legislators who voted to ban open carry
after having allowed it.
The correct thing is not to curtail YOUR essential rights so the
prissies don't get upset, the correct thing is to educate the
prissies to NOT get upset when you exercise your essential rights.
I've learned a few come-backs to the prissies who ask questions.
And as for being stopped by cops, I behave myself like I always
do.  And if a cop stops me, I tell the truth and call him SIR, or
MA'AM if it's a lady cop.
I know you're "one of us" Steve, but get used to the idea of open
carry, which is an essential part of RKBA.  And PLEASE push for
removing the restriction against open carry in your state, and
for removing all other restrictions on RKBA while you're at it.
When the government intimidates us into not exercising a right,
and makes us believe that exercising a right is "asking for
trouble" it's the same effect as taking that right away.
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 þ SLMR 2.1a þ Criminals love gun control.  It makes their job safer.
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