Read the blogs from Arizona on open carry and you will see that it is not all that common. Not everyone is walking around with a gun, and the proponents of open carry themselves even talk about feeling uncomfortable in public when they carry or see others carrying (which is rare). Apparently rural areas are more accepting of open carry, not Phoenix.
Mr. Reaster and Professor Wildenthal expressed their surprise that an ordinary citizen seeing an individual openly carrying a gun in public would be concerned enough to call 911. It was stated that a citizen calling 911 upon just seeing a weapon being carried in public may be an improper use of 911 that we should assume innocence until proven guilty. Furthermore, they stated that a criminal would not likely carry a weapon openly thus implying that the public should assume that an openly carried weapon should indicate that a person is law abiding. I disagree. It is not the societal norm for individuals to carry a gun in public. A gun is a dangerous weapon and I think most people upon seeing one being carried would feel concern and fear. It is not possible to tell by looking at a person whether or not they are law abiding and sane, whether or not their weapon is loaded, and what their intentions in carrying the weapon are. If you wait for a person to actually brandish their weapon or commit a crime, then it is too late to call 911, a crime has already been committed, maybe someone is seriously injured or dead. Personally I would call 911 and I would get the heck out of Dodge, which is apparently what these folks want to turn our society into.
Should carrying a weapon openly become the norm, then criminals would feel comfortable carrying their weapons in public as it would be a socially acceptable thing to do. Under these circumstance we would have no idea who the good guys are. Maybe we should go back to wearing black and white hats too.
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Escondido Group Carries Guns In Starbucks
Read the blogs from Arizona on open carry and you will see that it is not all that common. Not everyone is walking around with a gun, and the proponents of open carry themselves even talk about feeling uncomfortable in public when they carry or see others carrying (which is rare). Apparently rural areas are more accepting of open carry, not Phoenix.
September 16, 2009 at 12:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Escondido Group Carries Guns In Starbucks
Mr. Reaster and Professor Wildenthal expressed their surprise that an ordinary citizen seeing an individual openly carrying a gun in public would be concerned enough to call 911. It was stated that a citizen calling 911 upon just seeing a weapon being carried in public may be an improper use of 911 that we should assume innocence until proven guilty. Furthermore, they stated that a criminal would not likely carry a weapon openly thus implying that the public should assume that an openly carried weapon should indicate that a person is law abiding. I disagree. It is not the societal norm for individuals to carry a gun in public. A gun is a dangerous weapon and I think most people upon seeing one being carried would feel concern and fear. It is not possible to tell by looking at a person whether or not they are law abiding and sane, whether or not their weapon is loaded, and what their intentions in carrying the weapon are. If you wait for a person to actually brandish their weapon or commit a crime, then it is too late to call 911, a crime has already been committed, maybe someone is seriously injured or dead. Personally I would call 911 and I would get the heck out of Dodge, which is apparently what these folks want to turn our society into.
Should carrying a weapon openly become the norm, then criminals would feel comfortable carrying their weapons in public as it would be a socially acceptable thing to do. Under these circumstance we would have no idea who the good guys are. Maybe we should go back to wearing black and white hats too.
September 16, 2009 at 10:37 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )