Ladies and Gentlemen I will preface my comments by saying I am very much in favor of Open Carry so if this taints the rest of my comment you may stop here if you like.
Open Carry in my best observation is pure honesty. When I wake up and put my pants on my firearm starts its day with me and we are together until I go to work or back to bed. It is who I am and it plays a large roll both in where I go and how I conduct myself. I feel very confident in saying that I would be a different person if I was not an avid shooter and interested in both the well being of those I love and myself. Concealed carry is great in that it allows me to do this but it hinders my other personal traits and that is honesty. I am an honest person and don't like the idea of hiding such a large part of who I am. Knowing that being involved in my own well being and that carrying this tool has altered my life for the better gives me this evangelistic urge to try and convert others to the belief of personal responsability. I do not like the feeling of hiding something that without me is as useless as the holster it is carried in. There is an honesty in OC, a truth that allows people to either distance themselves from you because of differing beliefs or to ask questions that could potentially lead them on a path of discovery for themselves.
Aside from this personal belief, lets talk facts. A Concealed Carry Permit, or License To Carry Firearm is exactly as described. It is a permission slip, or a compliance license to do what the US Constitution says is a God(ess) given right. I do understand that some states have "Shall Issue" laws in place, but it still amounts to you asking your local officials to issue you a piece of paper/plastic that allows you to do what you had the right to do at birth. In such times of econimic strife it would certainly be nice to not need to tie up funds in programs that issue such redundant and ignorant hardware.
Now I can hear some people now, "Aww JD thinks its ok that criminals can OC guns then since his ideal world does not involve a check system."
I got some news for you, criminals do carry guns. Criminals do buy, sell and use firearms in some of the very same ways that you or I do. You cannot stop that, if you could then we should all turn in our firearms because that would mean gun control works. The truth is, gun control does not work and the only people that get these licenses or permits are those who most likely have no intention of commiting crimes. I for one despise the idea of allowing the .Gov to feel it has the power to issue me a permit/license to do what the US Constitution says I can already do in spite of them or more to the point because of them.
Enough of that, closing argument time.
Now I am not ignorant of the fact that OC is a new-er movement and just like the Openly Gay movement or the Equal Rights movement for women and blacks you are going to have casualties. People have been arrested and charged with disordly conduct (and other) and have temporarily lost their license/permit to carry concealed. To my best knowledge everyone who has been charged with anything or who has had their license/permit revolked has won their court battle and have retained their permits/license. Did it cost money? Sure it did and a lot of it, but there is no gain to be had without a cost. To my knowledge no body has been killed or hurt while OC'ing and don't see that as an immediate danger but who knows how radical those who array themselves against us will get. They are terrified at the thought of every American carrying a gun in plain sight because then they can't pretend like their side is winning.
I want to end my post with the praising Mr. Bane and his bravery in taking on the topic.
Sir, you are a very brave man to take the stance you have on a topic so heated and so controversial with the position you have in both the media world and the shooting industry. I applaud your open mindedness on open carry and hope that maybe you can have some more information on the topic for those new to shooting.
You might just change some minds and rally us all to fight against them and not amongst ourselves.
For more information on the Topic, many arguments and facts can be found at:
http://www.opencarry.org 
MBTV
Forum Index
Help
Calendar
Contact Info
Register as a member
