Should civilians who carry guns be required to do so openly?

Those same folks are likely to claim in other threads that they're offended by the sight of firearms and feel that displaying weaponry is an attempt at intimidation. What they really want is no one carrying guns at all. They're just making excuses in liu of admiting it.

 

Because their feeling intimidated is, somehow, a sound argument against the exercise of our rights.

 

Some people are ruled by their emotions. They think the rest of us should be ruled by their emotions too.

 

Criminals carrying guns are the problem.
The People carrying guns is the only rational solution.

 

Winner winner chicken dinner. Trolls do what trolls do. In the meantime, reasons not to open carry:

1. As others have already noted, it makes people nervous.

2. Hardcore criminals and the chronically stupid are not intimidated by your gun (just ask Kyle Rittenhouse). Carrying it openly gives them time to come up with a plan. Best case scenario is a plan to leave you alone. Worst case scenario is a plan to take your gun and use it against you and others. There is no shortage of youtube vids showing cops struggling with a bad guy trying to take his or her gun. The Boston marathon bombers murdered a cop for the sole purpose of adding his weapons to their arsenal.

3. Concealed carry confers a tactical advantage. The bad guy gets to choose the time and place of his attack. As his target, you’re already one step behind. A concealed weapon the bad guy doesn’t expect changes that dynamic and puts him at a disadvantage.

For those who choose to open carry in a jurisdiction that allows it, more power to you. It's not my glass of whiskey, but you do you.Meanwhile, no one will ever know I am armed unless they come after me or mine. Then all bets are off.

 

no, cause it scares people, especially cops - the polite way to carry is concealed

 

one of the top trainers (now a nationally prominent custom gunsmith as well as firearms trainer) used to tell us that guns and knives carried for self defense should never be seen until after you had to use them

 

I would definitely agree there are times when open carry is called for, such as your examples. I'd qualify my statement with saying open carry is dumb when unnecessary, which unless it's a situation like you describe, it isn't. Also, that wouldn't count folks carrying their guns down the street on the way to a shooting range, gun shop, etc etc.

 

All good points. But theres something to be said for the deterent effect of a visible weapon as well. Just as there are the 'smart' criminals (floabt) that will plan out an attack on a known armed victim, theres also the dumb ones who wont even consider their target might be a threat, who would just as soon avoid crime as risk injury in crime. Ideally there would be a mix, enough open carry to deter the latter and enough concealed carry to make the former worried about the guns they dont see.

 

If it is not a concern then why go to the bother of carrying a gun in the first place?

 

The modern equivalent of the medieval codpiece

 

what about all the women who are carrying now? but thanks-again you are proving what I have said about what motivates anti gunners-and it has nothing to do with public safety. It's a cultural hatred of people who aren't part of the leftist mindset

 

So you prefer people conceal their firearms. Cops too?

 

I think her position is she doesn't want Americans being able to own guns because she has stated that she was upset the NRA had the temerity to lampoon the silly laws of Australia on an Australian site.

 

Or anyone else. Just another cookie-cutter anti gunner.

 

Why wear a seat belt? Why look both ways before crossing the road?

for me, I’m far more concerned about having an armed populace to keep politicians and the federal government in check than anything else. I am far more concerned about their crimes and power grabs than any everyday criminal.

other than that, I shoot guns for fun. I generally don’t carry guns with me. I am not particularly worried about getting killed, as death is not something I get too worked up over. But I fully understand why people do, and support their right to carry.

 

I've never used the fire extinguishers in my home or vehicles, but have them nonetheless. Are you equally curious why I bother? If not, why?

When I was an infant, we took a day trip to the mountains and stopped at one of my parents’ favorite spots. During our stay a couple bikers rolled in. Dad could tell they were trouble and loaded wife & kid into the car. During the load up one of the bikers shouted at dad to “hand over summa that slant eyed pЧ$$y!” Loudmouth wheeled his bike about 4 feet off the back bumper and dismounted. He walked to the driver’s side window and leaned in to find himself looking down the barrel of a .357. He and his compadre saddled up and rode off.

25 years later I owned a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda. One day I towed it to a building where I was going to work on it. As I pulled onto the property there were a couple guys about my age sharing a crack pipe. I rolled down the window and said “Hate to tell you guys, but this is private property and you’ll need to clear off." They snarled and cursed. One of them picked up a piece of rebar and both advanced. I let them see my pistol and told them to simmer down. Both men split.

In both instances: no shots fired, nobody hurt. According to the FBI, that is the result in better than 95% of civilian-involved defensive gun usages. This is the umpteenth time I've shared those episodes on this board. Do you approve of our having been armed on those occasions? If you can answer yes or no, you'll be the very first PF anti-gunner to pull it off.

 

I can’t work out whether this idiotic trope is a product of the NRA or the “westerns” that many grew up on. If you have to resort to a gun to “keep the government in check” then you have already lost. Look at any civil war - there is one going on in Mail at the moment. Do you really want things to get that bad? Plus it would be like starting a barefoot arse kicking contest with a porcupine!

 

Seems like a hell of a lot of bother for what might never be. Ask yourself this. “Why don’t people in other countries need to carry guns? Aussies don’t and our murder rate is a fraction of yours, same as the UK and most of Europe and NZ and……..

 

The fire extinguishers or the gun? Or both? The former are actually more of a bother, given their bulk, and the necessity of properly securing them in moving vehicles. My carry gun isn't bothersome at all. But it's certainly adorable that you're concerned about what might bother me.

Do you approve of my dad & I having been armed on those occasions? Now that your fabricated "bothersome" argument has been disposed of?

 

I never heard anyone say that, and I dont think its a good idea, because it paints the gun carrier as a target for robbery just like a Rolex might do.

 

what are you talking about? It works wonderfully. It has kept things from getting “that bad” throughout our history. It has been the one thing that has kept our government from going too far with anything.
And no, the government would not stand a chance in a general uprising. But I don’t think it would ever come to that, precisely because the people are so well armed.
So yeah, it is working and has been working.

 

Given the level of gun-related violence in the US, why would any rational person think it "might never be"/

 

IMO, carrying guns like most useful behavior should be optional. Carrying a concealed handgun would probably be most beneficial for the urban poor.

 

Because her credo is the opposite of Ben Shapiro's famous quip: Feelings don't care about your facts.

If you search “defensive gun usage" (DGU) you’ll find it happens anywhere from 500k – 3.5 million times annually (in the US). The raw numbers come from the CDC, most recently from a study ordered by President Obama in 2013.

While injuries and fatalities resulting from those encounters are delineated in the Obama study, peaceful resolutions are not (one wonders why; I am forced to consider political motivations). Depending on who’s digging into the data, DGUs where the weapon is brandished but not fired & no one is hurt occur anywhere from 200k - 1 million times every year.

"Might never be" seven figure number in her world. She can't bring herself to acknowledge real-world examples like mine & my dad's; she can't even muster the courage to label our responses as good or bad. The real world is to be ignored, dismissed & ridiculed, to make way for her feelings. 'I feel, therefore I am:' The rallying cry of the intellectually craven the world over.