The Problem With Open Carry

This is not a debate on guns. This is not someone who wants to take away your firearms. This is about being reasonable and not putting your rights into jeopardy by abusing them.

Here's the problem with open carry.  Let me illustrate with what could be a typical situation.   I see a guy carrying a rifle down the street.  I call the cops. The cops come and stop the guy and see what is going on.  With more open carry, I ignore the guy carrying a rifle down the street, I don't call the cops and he makes his way to the nearest target and shoots the place up.  It boils down to this, there is no real reason to carry a rifle down the street unless you mean to hurt someone.  That is, and should always be the assumption.

So what about rifles on gun racks?  Not a problem.  I'm willing to take the risk that you're law abiding and on your way to hunt or something.  It's kind of the same thing with concealed carry. MOST people who are licensed for concealed carry not only keep their firearm in a holster, they generally don't want people to know they're packing.  On the other hand, if I guy is walking down the street. with a pistol in his hand, I would also infer he has bad intentions.

I would also say this, it's just a matter of time before there is an accident with one of these open carry demonstrations and someone is hurt.  Personally, if I was a guard in a store and I saw a bunch of men walk in with rifles I would take my shot before I found out what their intentions were.

So the long and short of it, people taking advantage of open carry laws make it a little harder to tell the bad guys from the good guys. These open carry guys are performing such a disservice to gun owners, it's almost as if they're being paid by anti-gun groups.   You should be able to take your firearm with you on trips, to the dealers for maintenance and take it from point A. to point B. for various reasons.  These guys are really putting that right in jeopardy.  They aren't anything more than attention whores trying to thumb their nose at the government.  In other words, open carry laws exist so you can live your life freely and not be hassled for having or transporting a gun, not so you can be a dick and scare people.