Joe has some comments on open carry that is very well said, and adds some new information to the debate; namely that open carry has actually been focus grouped. It’s well worth reading.
3 thoughts on “Joe Huffman on Open Carry”
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The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
Joe has some comments on open carry that is very well said, and adds some new information to the debate; namely that open carry has actually been focus grouped. It’s well worth reading.
Comments are closed.
Joe makes perfect sense , and the guidelines he lays out are well thought out.
Joe is also correct about the goal being , any type of carry a person chooses being legal, and common place .
Society accepting carry as something normal , whether they take advantage of that right or not would be victory for our side.
The hole, is, of course, that we don’t know anything about the focus group and its methodology.
And of course, the post has little bearing to my preferably method of open-carry-activism: “Just strap a gun to yourself as you go around your regular business.”:
MicroBalrog,
I suspect I could get the details but couldn’t talk about them. So I didn’t, and won’t, bother.
Assuming, of course, that you conform to the law it is my opinion your method does little, if any, harm and may do some good. It probably depends on the culture of the location you open carry in.
The following is my speculation. A hypothesis in need of testing…
People generally need the support of their friends and associates to maintain a belief.
If 75% of the population believe guns are nasty things only used by criminals you are doing harm with OC even if it is legal. This is because people will likely think gun owners are not only criminals who just haven’t been caught committing a crime yet but are also intimidating. In this culture OC will do harm to our cause.
If 75% of the population believe guns are useful tools and their employment by private citizens makes people safer then things change. Those who believe guns are nasty will have difficulty maintaining their belief and will be forced to examine it more closely.
My model for this is interracial couples. In the deep south 50 years ago interracial couples would have inflamed public opinion about blacks. But in more tolerant locations in the north it desensitized people to an unusual but perfectly acceptable practice.
But, as I said, this is all speculation on my part. I always got straight A’s in the psychology and sociology classes I took but it’s not my profession and I didn’t take any of those type of classes past the 300 level.