Open Carry

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A friend sent this to me wondering why anyone would want to open carry. He lives in New Hampshire where open carry is permitted. You need a permit to conceal carry, but any legal gun owner can open carry. Go up above the notches in the fall and it looks like a scene from a Western. Everyone is carrying.

For most Americans, Texas conjures images of gun-toting vaqueros, cowboys wielding six-shooters and epic battles over independence and secession. Gun manufacturers Colt, Mossberg and Magpul call the Lone Star State home, and a concealed carry license grants you a fast-pass into the state Capitol.

All the more surprising, then, that Texas was the first state to ban its citizens from carrying handguns, a restriction that remained on the books for 125 years. Now, 20 years after the Texas Legislature OK’d the carrying of concealed handguns with a license, some lawmakers want to make it legal to carry holstered weapons in plain sight.

The rest of the piece is weeping about how people were mean to blacks in the old days, but no one cares about that. The people interested in this issue wonder why it is anyone would want to carry in the open. I’m a Second Amendment absolutist. If you are allowed to own a gun, you have the right to carry it around with you. I’m against any and all permitting of firearms.

That said, I can’t think of a reason why I would want to open carry. I get why cops do it. It is part of their uniform and we want them to have ready access to their firearm in order to shoot those unarmed, fleeing black people. A a private citizen, I think I’d prefer it if my fellow citizens don’t know who is and who is not armed.

The more I think of it, the more it strikes me that open carry is problematic for a number of reasons. In every state the cops have a right to inspect your firearm. If you are carrying and a cop asks for your gun and permit, you are required by law to produce them. But, cops are not randomly stopping people asking for their permit.

In Virginia I was pulled over for speeding and had my pistol bag on the front seat. The cop came up to the window and I had my permit out, along with my license. That let him know I was a good guy and following the law. That’s all he needed and we went about the business of a traffic stop.

Open carry complicates this. Every cop is going to be on the lookout for a dodgy looking character carrying a pistol. Maybe that’s a good thing, as criminals are stupid. They will end up self-reporting, so to speak, by carrying their illegal gun openly. Still, I’m puzzled as to why anyone would want to open carry, other than small dick syndrome.

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Comments (Historical)

The comments below were originally posted to thezman.com.

10 Comments

SamT #5094 May 11, 2015 6:24 pm 0
In Missouri, I started carrying as soon as I was disabled. ca 2003. Being broke and a CCL costing $200, I open carried a $145 pistol. Later I bought a $225 pistol. Still later I bought my CCL. Been carrying concealed since. I did buy a better gun 🙂In two years of constant OC in CollegeTown, USA, around a dozen people mentioned it and only one of those was a LEO. One was apologetic about asking me to return the weapon to the car. One was a hoplophobe who called 911 over an empty holster. The freshman LEO was just stupefied that somebody was carrying..
DirtyJobsGuy #4808 April 20, 2015 0
I agree with the need for open carry laws as a remedy to risky transport laws. I know a few Open carry fanatics and i think they would relax if the constant threat of new gun control actions were not in the picture.
JSCD3 #4809 April 20, 2015 0
Open carry resolves all issues associated with legitimate transport of firearms It also eliminates possible issues associated with, say, carrying a .22 in a holster when you are in the woods. Growing up in a rural area and spending a lot of time hiking, I can say from personal experience that having a .22 at your hip in the woods can be a pretty handy thing to have.
jd #4807 April 20, 2015 0
Living in Texas, I don’t have a concealed carry permit, and I don’t care to open carry. I figure any permit just puts you on some list. Besides, having a 45 for several months in Nam as my personal weapon (because I had a squad weapon, an M-60), they are a pain in the ass. Except when you really need it.
ed in texas #4801 April 19, 2015 0
The root of changing the concealed carry law to open carry in Texas has it’s root in the vagaries of how the concealed carry law was written. Under the ‘concealed’ law, you (1) have to have a permit, and (2) it has to remain concealed. Change either of those conditions, and you could become a felon.You can’t show someone the gun (unless it turns into life and death), intentionally or inadvertently. That supposedly included “they could see the shape through your t shirt”. (Or so we told by the instructor lo these many years ago.)
thezman #4803 April 19, 2015 0
Ah, that would explain it. In Virginia, having a concealed carry is necessary if you plan to go to a range. The laws of transport are so weird and open to interpretation, taking a handgun to your range is hugely complicated. Get the permit and all of those rules go away. In some states, you are only permitted to transport a handgun to and from a range. It’s just further proof that gun control has nothing to do with public safety. It is just a way for one group of white to torment another group of whites.
james wilson #4798 April 19, 2015 0
No, criminals are not going to open carry. In NYC criminals don’t conceal carry and in Chicago they do–in NYC cops can and do stop and frisk. End of problem. Vermont has no permit open and concealed carry. But the citizenry don’t carry because they have small dicks.
thezman #4799 April 19, 2015 0
Vermont appears to have an above average gun ownership percentage. I’m always skeptical about these numbers because they really on self-reporting and most gun owners don’t report. Whenever asked, I report owning no weapons, not even a butter knife. Yet, I could could be described as living in an armory. I agree with Phil Graham on the issue. I have more than I need and less than I want.
james wilson #4805 April 19, 2015 0
If you keep an armory that tells me you don’t actually reside in D.C. proper, which is what the Hood meant to me forty years ago when I lived there. Although. I read that urban pioneers are buying back D.C., but they are not 2nd amendment fans either.
grey enlightenment #4796 April 19, 2015 0
Still, I’m puzzled as to why anyone would want to open carry, other than small dick syndrome. as a deterrent?


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