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Generally the criminal elements of society that would not be trustworthy with a weapon don't want anyone to know they have it till they do. Additionally OC even in a OC state tends to attract at least a bit more LEO attention. If it one thing those cockroaches of society don't like it is the light of extra attention by LEO's. Generally around here (where OC is both legal and observable) you don't worry too much about the guns you see. They would not carry them out in the open if a simple name check is going to return felon, or warrants.

A house divided against itself will not stand. We need to all be on each others sides. Those places where OC is feasible should pursue it, where it is not, baby steps my friends. The Infingment of our rights did not happen overnight, the restoration will take time too. We must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

This is true VA is a smaller state. "the sun has ris' the sun has set and here I be in TX yet".

Keith B wrote:
These are people that know you. It will be totally different in Walmart with 100's of others that don't know you. And, while over time some people might get more accustomed to seeing it over time, there will always be those that won't know or will get frightened in the large cities.

Unfortunatly I can't control what makes people nervous or uncomfortable. It bothers me that teens walk around with nearly no clothes on. I have to learn to look away. I have to teach my son to look away.

Keith B wrote: Texas, especially in the large metro areas, have many transplants from California, New York, etc. and have never even seen a gun, much less touched one. I just taught a lady who is 50 years old and a native Texan to shoot. Her Dad had lots of guns, but because there is little to no public land to hunt on, he never hunted or shot a lot, so she never got exposed to them, thus never had even fired a gun. She was very concerned about anyone with a gun until she married her current husband who owned a couple. Her previous husband was a native Texan also, but never owned a gun.

Here in VA we have bunches of transpalanted northeasterners that have the similar gun laws as CA. They learn that here in VA people are free to openly carry guns if they wish. Even the 911 dispatches are trained to train these yanks as they accostom themselves to VA life (a higher level of freedom). A MWAG call (from what I have been told by LEO friends) is usually handled at the point of 911 call ( is he doing anything that makes you think he will use his gun...etc.etc).

I am not trying to be argumentative or belligerant. Just trying to show that OC works fine, and if TX had it there would be few problems (especially if you gave a 90 minute training to the 911 operators on how to handle MWAG).

These are all valid points that OC may cause a stir. However here in VA even in suburbs open carry is barely noticed. OC is not common, but neither is it uncommon. I see an OC-er one to two times a month.

Really this Is my experience, but just because something makes others sightly uncomfortable is not a reason to not do something if I see it is in my best interests to do so. Example, I wear my NRA hat all the time. If I am going out and it is not a formal day I have my NRA hat on. I know it makes others uncomfortable, they have told me so, but I wear it cause #1 I like the hat. #2 I like the organization #3 if it makes a theif or a potential attacker think twice about me as a a potential target it is worth the hat hair. Same with a gun.

Look y'all, people are uncomfortable with change or anything out of the ordinary. But people also get used to things as they see them again and again. My neighbors eyes bugged out the first time they saw me OCing, today if I don't have my gun n my hip they ask me where it is. When the neighborhood kids saw what they thought was a creepy guy on the street they ran to my house to get help (it was nothing--a poor fellow with a broken down car on his way home from work). I asked my son why the other kids ran past their own houses and came to mine it was because I they knew I had a gun. I am not sure what they thought I was going to do with it, but I am glad they felt like I would protect them if I could.

I say all this,not to say TX must have open carry, but to say that it is not usually a problem here in VA. If it would jeopardize what y'all have gotten by the sweat of your brow then baby steps. I am just trying to tell yall that where it's legal it does work just fine with very little drama.

Jusster wrote:
It has already been proven that laws prohibiting the above mentioned from purchasing guns do not work. That’s one of the primary reasons I have a CHL. As far as who causes blood in the streets, well I think that is debatable. Everything can't be blamed on the thug in a hoodie. If that is the only threat we are looking for then we’ve already lost half the battle. Where I live, in NW Harris County, a lot of the crime is committed by your typical suburbanite.

That happens here too, but most violent suburbanite crime seems to be specific (domestic disputes...angry neighbors), most random crime seems to be career criminals and thugs. At this moment in time I have little to fear on the domestic front, and what I worry about most is the career criminal going after me and mine because I am a mom with kids and therefore look like a soft target. So while suburbanites commit crimes, I am not as worried about the financial crimes and domestic disputes because I am not LE, just a mom trying to keep her family safe.

[quote="Jusster]
It may not be licensed but it surely is regulated/censored. You can’t tell me you can walk down the street (or TV/radio) and say whatever you want to without repercussions. Privately, yes. Publicly no. But I do agree with you that in theory it should be this way.[/quote]

I can say pretty much what I wish in most public places. I can't slander someone, threaten someone, be vulagar, or cause public panic (fire in a theater), but outside of that I can say pretty much what I want to. Now is it always advisable to do so, nope. If I want to stand on a corner and say the world is coming to an end on March 28th I can do so. If I want to stand on a street corner and say pink and purple elephants are coming to town most places it is legal to do so. There are some exceptions and places where you may beat the rap but not the ride. As far as relgion goes, well most of the history of this nation religion has been left alone by those in gov't. Now the current admin seems to be having a go at forcing people to do things against their relgion, but I am confident it will be handled in the courts.

Nope, I have never lived anywhere that open carry was common or legal. I will disagree with your assumption that gangbangers who typically have multiple “police experiences” have learned not to carry or be caught with a gun. I'd go as far as say it's a common occurrence that they probably have multiple gun related charges on their record. How hard is it to purchase a holster? You know what they say about assumptions right?

Why do we wear holsters? To keep ourselves and others safe and to facilitate the responsible carry of our firearm. Gangbangers don't care about either thier lives or others or they would not be gangbangers. They live for the moment and have no respect for saftey or responsibility. Open carry attracts attention and whether you like it or not draws people's eyes including the police's eyes. That is why gangbangers won't open carry. They do not want to in any case draw the police's eyes. So while I am certain that gang bangers carry and they might even use holsters on occasion (if they have any sense of self preservation left), they certainly won't do it openly.

Jusster wrote:

rm9792 wrote:My point is how would we know? How do you keep these people from open carrying if there is no license that permits proven law abiding citizens to do so, and the assumption is everyone has the right to carry without question? We wouldn’t let them drive a car, but they can open carry down Main St. no problem? I’m all for 2A rights, just with a little common sense behind it to make it safe for all.

I don’t know I could be wrong….hopefully so. But that is my dilemma, two contradictions


Jusster

Well here in the gold star carry state of VA if you can buy a gun you can carry a gun. So the mentally ill (proven), felons, etc are not permitted to buy guns. I bet it is the same in TX. Blood does not run through the streets here too often, and when it does it is usually a thug with his gun in his hoodie, not an OCer with a gun on their hip in a retention holster that does the misdeeds.

You know, no one would say that we should only have licensed religion or licensed speech (other freedoms listed in the bill of rights), but we do this for the 2nd amendment and accept it as just dandy. It comes down to a philosophy thing. Are the citizens in this country to be viewed as "we the people" and thus sovereign, or are we serfs asking permission to be able to exercise those rights God has given us. In truth I think if you are not a violent felon, or mentally ill (a proven danger to society) you should be able to carry any way you darn well please without any license whatsoever.

That is theory and philosophy. We live in the real world where we have to deal with the brady bunch and people whose underpants gets twisted in a knot the moment they think they see a weapon. So like I said before take what you can get and if at this time going for constitutional carry/open carry would tear up everything else you are doing then get what you can. Licensed carry is better than no carry, shall issue is better than may issue.

If you can get an inch take it(campus carry etc). If you can get a mile (open carry/constitutional carry) by all means take it. We have open carry here in VA and people get used to it. Does everyone open carry, nope, but it is nice to be able to do so if one wishes too. Living in an OC state with a CHL I conceal carry most of the time, but around the house and when CC is too onerus I am glad to be able to OC.

IF you guys ever are in a state that has OC or if you ever get it in TX for heavens sakes wear a retention holster! Lost a good man in my area this past year cause he was OCing without retention.