Fullauto,
Why do you want to become the focus of everyone's attention when ever you go out to eat, go for a walk, go shopping, etc? Have you stopped to think that your pushing a visible firearm in a business may be the reason another gun free zone is created? Have you ever stopped to think of the fuel you add to the anti's fire by flaunting your protected Right as opposed to after a peaceful demonstration you and your friends let the media know how many guns were on site and how nobody was harmed or even knew they were there?
In a self defense situation, why do you want the "bad guy" to know you are armed prior to your acting in self defense? Under the number one rule of use of a firearm for self defense, you must be an unwilling participant, why do you want to expose a weapon that may assure that the fight will be a gun fight? Why do you want to single yourself out as the person that may be ambushed and have your tool removed from you? Why do you want perps prepared to deal with you before you even know they are perps?
Even if the fact you are carrying has slipped past the bad guy, why do you want everyone else in the area to know that you have a defensive tool available? Do you really want them forcing your hand before you are ready to act?
The best way for me to make sure that I am an unwilling participant, that no lesser force will do, and that I could have a means of escape, and to a certain level that I am not pushed to fearing for my life, is for me to not let the bad guys or anyone else that is not prepared know that I have the tools and ability to stop this situation. I do not want a non-deadly situation to become a deadly situation because a bad guy spots my tool on my body. I do not want my ability to take my time to assess the situation and act in what I feel is the best way taken away from me because others know in advance some of my options. I do not want anything that will draw undue attention to me in a potentially deadly situation.
If I am in a C-Store with five other people and someone pulls a gun on the clerk I have no reason to respond with deadly force. If the clerk hands over money and the robber leaves that it a good thing. If the bad guy shoots the clerk, starts waving the gun at the rest of us or aims at me, I will take my best opportunity to shoot if given a chance. However, if everything is going smoothly in the robbery and the bad guy spots my gun on me and starts shooting people, was I a part of the solution or the cause of the deaths? If we are standing there and someone spots my gun and reacts, either thinking I can help or that I am another bad guy, am I prepared to react fast enough in the forced fight?
Exposing our tools of self defense in as a political statement in a demonstration takes away the ability to show clearly that we are no different than anyone else on the street. It gets us labeled as fringe at best and whack jobs more commonly as we try to present our case. However, by keeping them concealed and then revealing how many were there to make a point at the end lets them learn how normal and main street we are and that there is no reason to fear someone with a gun. I compare this to exposing a person that fears dogs to either a pit bull or a lab. If we want them to be a dog lover we get them with a nice gentle lab, so why not put them in the midst of a group of gun lovers that are secretly carrying?
Exposing our weapons in a self defense situation takes away every tactical advantage we had, and it limits the number of options we have in a potentially violent situation. There is a comparison that many instructors use that if a carpenter has a hammer - every fastener will become a nail, so we must be careful when we chose to carry that we don't turn every fight into a gun fight. Open carry will quickly narrow your options in choosing what the outcome of any given confrontation will be. Do you really want to tell an officer or a jury that everything was going smoothly during the C-Store robbery until either the perp spotted your gun or the lady in line behind you screamed "why don't you use your gun and stop him?"
Nuff said. You can see my point, and ignore if you chose.
P.S.
Haz, I fully understand. When it is 100+ and 95% humidity every bit of clothing becomes smaller and stickier. It sure would be nice to just put on the CR Speed rigs rather than packing all that steel and leather inside the pants and pockets.
Ok. Here are my final thoughts on this.
To sum up:
Concealed carry does offer tactical advantages over open carry. For centuries criminals have used this tactic to great effect to conceal their intent. We use it today primarily because the law mandates it in most states and we have identified all of the advantages that criminals have long known. However, I do not believe that because you carry concealed you automatically get the "Superior Tactical Advantage Card." I keep coming back to states like AZ, VT, AK and others that allow open carry. I think if people were getting killed because of OC, the media would be reminding us every newscast. The data just doesn't support your view on the tactical inferiority of open carry.
As for your concerns about the political statement of open carry, I submit that carrying itself is a political statement, no matter whether you are carrying open or concealed. Buying a firearm is a political statement in some form too. I don't believe because we carry concealed the public is going to like us more; we ought to know that just doesn't happen. Michael Bane brings up the gay rights movement. He said he was told by their activists that in order to change the culture they had to come out of the closet and into the street. I say based upon current events, they succeeded in changing the culture. We still are the "fringe" in the community but that is changing. Open carry is the logical next step in the transformation of our culture back to a society that not only respects firearms but embraces them.
I will freely admit that I am a radical when it comes to gun owner rights. For example I think you should be able to purchase select-fire weapons like you can purchase rifles and shotguns. You don't need a LEO permission to own one. You don't need the feds mandating you have to carry a piece of paper around with a stamp to show you are part of the good guys and the gun is "legit." Just because you own a Ma Deuce doesn't make you a mass murderer, but it sure means you have some bucks if you can afford to feed that thing!
I think I have said enough on this topic. It's time for me to leave it alone.
MBTV
Forum Index
Help
Calendar
Contact Info
Register as a member
