Category: Carrying / Self-Defense

Ride Fast has a question:

What I would like to hear from Mr. Cramer and others who support not openly carrying, is just how do we acclimate people to open carry without actually open carrying? Or is Mr. Cramer advocating we give up on open carry altogether? I can’t support that and never will.

I would ask why acclimating people to open carry is an important goal for the gun rights movement? Because doing that really only benefits the small number of people who want to openly carry. To me that’s a step 36 thing, when we’re on step 12.  Ride Fast talks about the path that motorcycling took from being frowned on to being accepted, and I largely think shooting will proceed in roughly the same way, but you have to bring the culture a lot farther along than it currently is before your average person, who has no familiarity with guns, and the people who own them, is going to look favorably on people openly carrying heaters in urban and suburban settings. Let me explain how, in my view, you normalize gun ownership:

• Everyone knows a gun owner. Your friends and family all know you’re a gun owner, and a shooter. Most of your coworkers know this too. This is probably has the most impact, because they know you, and hopefully don’t think you’re a nut. I don’t advocate gun owners hiding in the closet. We have to talk about it. Especially to people we know.
• People can see shooting in the media. Shows like Lock & Load by R. Lee Ermey, and Mail Call prior to that, and even shows that aren’t necessarily about guns, like Mythbusters, have done quite a bit already. Shows like like Michael Bane’s Shooting Gallery have helped bring shooting to larger audiences, and help dispel the myths even a lot of gun owners have about guns.
• People see shooting in the popular culture. There’s a gun shop and or shooting range in your neighborhood. Your favorite magazines have gun ads in them. There’s shooting games at the video game counter. Movies portray gun ownership positively. We’ve both lost and gained a lot here. I think it’s one area we need to work more on.

I know some will chide me for not seeing open carry within the latter category, but as I’ve said, open carry doesn’t paint a clear picture for the ignorant. Let me explain:

• Someone at the checkout counter doesn’t know you from adam. If they are inclined not to be upset at the sight of a gun in a public place, they will probably think you’re police, or a security guard. If they are a more hysterical type, they might imagine the worst. This doesn’t help normalize carry, because you don’t convey context.
• Most individuals do not understand why someone would carry a firearm openly in a public place. Most people wouldn’t understand why you’d want to carry a gun at all. More outgoing, brave types, who aren’t hysterical about the gun, might ask. I agree this is a good opportunity for outreach, but how many that don’t ask walk away thinking the worst because they don’t have context to put it in?

I also think it’s a mistake to suggest that we have to normalize guns in society. That is incorrect. We have to normalize gun owners. Whether you like it or not, the person down at the Stop and Shop does not know you are normal, does not know what a great dad you are, does not know you attend church regularly, does not know you regularly practice with your side arm, likely doesn’t know you can pass a background check, and obtained the firearm perfectly legally. All they see is someone with a gun, and that’s the extent of the context.

Your friends, family, coworkers, fellow congregationalists, what have you, know who you are and (hopefully) think you’re a fine upstanding fellow. Those are the people you need to reach out to, and I think that’s about the best outreach one can do. That’s going to make a whole lot more difference than being a person in public with a gun, and not much else in the way of context.

Caleb improvises a bit, weapon wise, with a mugger. Another person I know who’s drawn a pistol yet hasn’t had to fire. Good thing for Caleb too, because I’m pretty sure the coffee he used has more stopping power than that .25ACP Jetfire he carries. But good show, regardless. Any incident that ends with the bad guy running away and you keeping your stuff is a good ending.

A small product with a BIG message, for sure:

“By putting this decal on your car or home, it tells an intruder that you have a gun and you are going to protect yourself,” said Derflinger.

Let me rephrase that:

“By putting this decal on your car or home, it tells an intruder that you have a gun to steal,” said Derflinger.

I think I’d rather just donate to the NRA Youth Shooting Programs directly. But if you really like the decals, you could do what I’ve done with my NRA and IHMSA stickers, which is to put them on magnets that can be easily removed if circumstances call for it, such as leaving home for an extended period of time with the car sitting in the driveway, or going into the city and parking for any extended period of time. I’ve never considered it a good idea to advertise the fact that you’re armed, or to help make targeting easier for theft rings.

Gun Pundit is helping with a Personal Protection Survey for Shooting Illustrated. Before reading farther, go take it! Then come back and hit more for my take on it.

Continue reading “Personal Protection Poll”

Clayton Cramer has a column up on the open carry issue that I think just about perfectly reflects my own view on the matter.

Open carry in an urban setting, when you have some realistic alternative available (such as concealed carry), is rather like a homosexual “kiss-in.” The supporters are convinced that doing so makes Americans more tolerant and open-minded to the subject. I’m convinced that for every person who gets used to it, there are two who are repelled. In July of 2008, one of the open carry advocacy groups held an open carry event at the Zoo here in Boise, carrying loaded and holstered firearms. This is about as gun friendly a city as probably exists in the USA–and the reaction to it was about the same as if a bunch of same-sex couples had started passionately kissing and necking in front of the monkey cage. It wasn’t illegal–but it sure took people that didn’t think about the issue much, and made them unhappy.

I don’t agree with Clayton’s views on homosexuality, but I think he’s correct that you can’t normalize unusual or uncommon behavior by shocking the public with it. Gays didn’t make their advances by doing so, but by being our of the closet, and being normal people, and leading normal lives. I think open carry will proceed the same way. It won’t be open carry picnics to trips to the zoo organized by groups of activists that help people accept it, but only individuals engaging in the practice in the course of their normal lives, and in circumstances that aren’t likely to cause shock or alarm.

One commenter on the PAFOA forum in the thread about the Meleanie Hain murder:

I remember reading about her fighting the whole soccor game thing. It’s a shame this happened. I wonder if she just didn’t have a chance to defend her self or if maybe her husband took her firearm and she couldn’t defend herself. Either way this is horrible to hear and she will be in my prayers. RIP

Those could end up being the facts, but I think it’s probably more likely she didn’t have much of an opportunity to defend herself even if she had a gun. Firearms are not an amulet against being murdered, particularly in a domestic situation where you’re not likely going to be prepared at all times to defend yourself against a spouse or intimate partner.

As people who carry, we’d ideally like to think that the gun offers us protection, and it pains us to see someone who carried one for that purpose tragically murdered. But the fact is that it only evens up the odds. It’s not a guarantee. Someone intent on doing your harm can sometimes get the drop on you, and I think few of us, without hesitation, could draw a gun on someone we love.

Sometimes the good guy loses. Even when they are armed. This isn’t Hollywood.

Good show, I say:

His daughter was hiding under a bed when she heard him crying as the gunmen thrashed him with sticks. According to police, she ran towards her father’s attacker and struck him with an axe. As he collapsed, she snatched his AK47 and shot him dead.

She also shot and wounded another militant as he made his escape.

Police have hailed the woman’s bravery.

They said she would be nominated for the president’s gallantry award.

And good show on the part of the police for praising her behavior. Here they would have had to publicly say what a bad idea it is to fight back, and how such things can easily turn against the defender.

Dusting came up with a handy map.  New Hampshire and Alaska are is 16?  I didn’t know that.  Gang ridden crime havens those two states are.  I also didn’t know MD and DE were 18, even though you can’t get a license to carry in Maryland. But Delaware does issue CCDW permits, but since it’s may-issue I don’t know if they’d actually issue to an 18 year old.