[clip11]

I was having a discussion about open carry with my cousin and he said he didnt feel it was right. No facts or evidence of it being wrong, he just didnt "feel it was right". In discussing the topic, he kept discussing from a standpoint of feeling and emotion, while I discussed from facts, such as the fact that it is legal. I asked the difference between a gun and knife, he said a knife could be used for other purposes, while a gun can only be used to kill. So I asked that if I were to go into the kitchen and grab the biggest butcher knife I could find and came and stabbed him 30 times would he be any less dead than if I shot him in the head with one of my pistols. We both agreed he would be just as dead.

The point was that alot of things can be used to kill, but people just villify guns for some reason. I guess it is because alot of lawmakers feel the way he does instead of the way I do that there exists so many restrictive gun laws there are today.

He even told me the most ridiculous reason I should not carry a gun......because it might be "my time to go". Thats right, I'm supposed to happily let someone kill me because it might be my time to go! Thats stupid! I would rather it be my attacker than me. I told him you can walk around unarmed and feel that way, but I think exactly the opposite.

[murraywc]

guns only have one purpose but as an electrician I carry a knife on my belt all of the time for stripping wire. Yes it would kill you but that is not its purpose. Open carry does not help anything. It gives people an uneasiness. I carry but only concealed its legal to open carry here with permit but the only people I know that open carry look like they should be in Waco or Deliverence and make people uneasy which does nothing for gun rights. It just makes you look like some kind of fanatic.

[clip11]

Originally Posted by murraywc

guns only have one purpose but as an electrician I carry a knife on my belt all of the time for stripping wire. Yes it would kill you but that is not its purpose. Open carry does not help anything. It gives people an uneasiness. I carry but only concealed its legal to open carry here with permit but the only people I know that open carry look like they should be in Waco or Deliverence and make people uneasy which does nothing for gun rights. It just makes you look like some kind of fanatic.

What if the only way someone can carry is openly, should they not carry at all? If not why not?

People dont have anything to fear from guns. When I walk into a gun shop and the guys behind the counter are open carrying, I dont take a crap in my pants, I dont even pay them any attention! Now if they took it out and angrily started waving it around, thats another story.

[CHLChris]

This point I'm about to make has been made before, but here goes. I won't open carry because that would make me a major focus of 1) verbal attack, 2) BG attack because I'm the biggest threat, or 3) someone's fear that I'm about to hurt them. I don't want to scare people or flex my constitutional muscle.

I just quietly carry my firearm in a responsible, legal, and discrete manner.

Not to say open carry shouldn't be legal! You can't get much more accessible than a tactical holster on your thigh.

[murraywc]

Originally Posted by clip11

What if the only way someone can carry is openly, should they not carry at all? If not why not?

People dont have anything to fear from guns. When I walk into a gun shop and the guys behind the counter are open carrying, I dont take a crap in my pants, I dont even pay them any attention! Now if they took it out and angrily started waving it around, thats another story.

I probably wouldn't can you not conceal carry. Its one thing behind the counter at a gun shop people who go in there are expecting it but what about the little old lady behind you in the bank or the super market thats a different story.

[Gatekeeper]

Originally Posted by murraywc

Its one thing behind the counter at a gun shop people who go in there are expecting it but what about the little old lady behind you in the bank or the super market thats a different story.

I'd have no problem with the little old lady carrying a 45 on her hip in the supermarket.

[clip11]

Originally Posted by murraywc

I probably wouldn't can you not conceal carry. Its one thing behind the counter at a gun shop people who go in there are expecting it but what about the little old lady behind you in the bank or the super market thats a different story.

1. In banks around here you cant get into a bank with weapons cus they have security doors with metal detectors so you cant get in if you have a weapon.

2. I dont care what the old lady at the supermarket thinks. I may not like her wig.

[Flintlock]

Originally Posted by CHLChris

This point I'm about to make has been made before, but here goes. I won't open carry because that would make me a major focus of 1) verbal attack, 2) BG attack because I'm the biggest threat, or 3) someone's fear that I'm about to hurt them. I don't want to scare people or flex my constitutional muscle.

I just quietly carry my firearm in a responsible, legal, and discrete manner.

Not to say open carry shouldn't be legal! You can't get much more accessible than a tactical holster on your thigh.

None of the negatives you mentioned about open carry are prevalent on a day to day basis. I have open carried in multiple states and all of what you mentioned is absurd. If you are not willing to "flex your constitutional muscle," then perhaps you should re-evaluate your reason for carrying in the first place. Just my opinion.

[murraywc]

Originally Posted by Flintlock

None of the negatives you mentioned about open carry are prevalent on a day to day basis. I have open carried in multiple states and all of what you mentioned is absurd. If you are not willing to "flex your constitutional muscle," then perhaps you should re-evaluate your reason for carrying in the first place. Just my opinion.

Maybe your reason to carry is to make a statement or scare people. That is not what was intended when the second ammendment was added to the Bill of Rights. It was added so that we could have protection and a way to hunt to provide for ourselves. People did not die in the wars to provide us with a right to show off our hardware. I think open carry is an irresponcible way of making a statement. I'm all for carrying but in a discreat manner.

[pandamonium]

IMO, this really shouldn't be an issue at all. This whole country, including the majority of red blooded pistol-packin American Patriots, have had our minds poisoned by the entire gun control movement. Society today is, for the most part, afraid when they see someone carrying a gun openly and they do not see a badge to go with it.
This truely should never have happened. Gun control has conditioned people to BE afraid of guns. Hoplophobia. We as gun owners, and 2A activists(and we should all be sending letters and supporting your flavor of activist group) have come a long way in the past 15-20 years, still we have a very long way to go. With dedicated efforts on all of our parts, never relenting, voting out the trash, and fighting the good fight, I do believe we can achieve the true UNIFRINGED right to bear arms.
Now, with all that said, as people become more and more accustomed to others carrying firearms, either concealed or open, this irrational fear will fade. I know for a fact that there are many members here who remember walking around the neighborhood with their .22's, having shotguns and rifles in the gun rack in their pick up, and no one gave it a second thought.
We, as a country, need to get this back. This the only way we can be a free people, in a country free of tyranny.
This is some thing I learned recently( thanks BKT), the second ammendment only limits the FEDERAL government, states are free to make all the gun laws they want. This because the 2A was never incorporated to the states, as was the 1A. That is where the whole problem lies,IMO.
So anyway, my opinion on open carry, I live in NJ, so if I had ANY way to legaly carry you can bet your a$$ that I would,open or concealed.