I do not agree...And it is a friendly dissagreement sir...Oldgringo wrote:I agree with Chas. and The Annoyed Man if they said what I think they said.
An "in your face" open carry position is not in our long term best interests in the larger scheme of things. As TAM suggests, open carry, should it ever pass, must have some qualification/license attached to it, IMHO. Would you want everybody running around in a car/truck without some qualifying process? Yeah, yeah...I know, the constitution doesn't mention cars and trucks but that was then and this is now.
The more I think about it, the less I'm comfortable with the thought that every nut case out there could be running around, unbridled, with a loaded gun on his/her hip. Have y'all ever gone to a WalMart on Saturday?
My 2¢ worth
I believe our society today has been dumbed down and forced into an immature, entitlement based, and intellectually lazy existance...
To understand that we have been led to believe that it is a privalege to carry a firearm openly or concealed thru legislation that is considered by some to be above the Constitution and its amendments is intellectually lazy...
To carry a firearm is a moral, individual, and most important, an "empowerment", that without saying a word, becomes a statement by that individual that they are more respectful of life than the ability to take a life in the defense of themselves and others against the evils we come across in our daily lives...
Even though I associate with some great people of like mind, I feel embarrased that I have to pay the "state" a fee and jump thru hoops to exercise a moral and individual right to keep and bear arms, in a manner "they" deem acceptable and regulate my doing so...
A co-worker came to me this week asking me what I thought the founding fathers would think if they were to awaken to this "new" normal...And I thought how they might be enraged by how society today has crumbled into decay as much as it has since they turned it over to us...
I thought about it further, and if the like of those people (founding fathers) came up to me and said, "How did you let it get this bad?"
That to me was more embarrasing than anything I have thought about in a long time...I honestly feel I have failed as an individual citizen of this country for allowing our lives to be so regulated and infringed upon that issues like "Can I open carry a gun." have become such a polarizing and devisive issue even amoung ourselves that it hurts me to the core...
And I feel that it is only going to get worse until the time it becomes necessary to sever the political bonds again...But that is for another discussion...
But in my opinion, open carry is an issue that should be given considerable thought as to why it is illegal, should it remain illegal or be regulated as a concession (to be allowed to be practiced by a select few who pay a fee) to something that should never had been made illegal in the first place...