Open Carry at Meteor Crater Rim

Gun Watch ^ | 8 August, 2015 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

When I was on vacation to the Meteor Crater in Arizona, I open carried into the museum and display area, and on the tour.  The guard/ticket seller at the front entrance never blinked.  I listened to the tour guide tell us of some of the history, and I asked a question or two.  I must have caught the attention of a presumably Navajo grandmother with her family.  She might have been my age, give or take a few years.

She asked me if I believed what the tour guide had told us. 

I said that I believed most of it, except that I thought it took more than four ranch hands to load the biggest meteor fragment found, a 1440 pound monster, into a wagon.   She said that she thought the exact same thing.  I said that she had the mind of an engineer,  or a scientist, and that I had been both.  She was obviously pleased, but insisted it was "just common sense". 

She told me that her grandsons had ambitions to be scientists.  The trip to the Meteor Crater was a partial reward for her grandsons getting good grades in a challenging school in Texas. Her husband was content to let his wife converse.

She and her husband grew up and raised their children a few miles away from the crater.  I gave her and the boys Gun Watch cards.

It was fun to talk to someone of the same mindset who grew up thousands of miles away, in a different culture.   No one asked about my openly carried Glock 17.    

I have found that most people simply do not worry about whether someone is carrying a gun or not.  They are more concerned about how the person acts.  Act like a decent human being, be treated as a decent human being.  Treat others with respect if you wish to be treated with respect. 

I was glad to see that a remote Arizona business wasn't interested in alienating a potential customer base.  I doubt if they ever considered a gun ban for their premises.  I enjoyed taking the Meteor Crater tour and going through their Discovery Center.   If you are passing by on I-40 (old route 66) I recommend it.

©2015  by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

[marktwain]

It is a place well worth stopping at. The winds on the crater rim can be quite strong. Hold onto your hats!

[rlmorel]

I liked Meteor Crater, my wife rolled her eyes at me a little and jokes that I dragged us out there to see "The Hole in The Ground"...:)

Good on 'em with open carry...

[cripplecreek]

It was fun to talk to someone of the same mindset who grew up thousands of miles away, in a different culture.

That's why I get so irritated with those who constantly pimp a north south divide. The similarities between conservative minded people in different geographical regions are far greater than the minor differences.

[AppyPappy]

I worked at an amusement park that had cowboys and Indians, that kind of thing. I stopped man a one day who was open-carrying and told him he might want to conceal it or put it in the car. I had played a cowboy and it was not uncommon for kids to pull your pistol from your holster.

He took it back to the car.

[Eagles6]

Cool.

[rlmorel]

Hey...you kind of look like Mark Twain...

But not as much as me...:)

[semaj]

A refreshing account of civil and polite discourse. This is what a civilized society looks like..

[GingisK]

No one asked about my openly carried Glock 17.

Why not a Glock 19 or a Kimber .45ACP? ;-D

[Jack Hydrazine]

“...and jokes that I dragged us out there to see “The Hole in The Ground”...:)”

You should drag her to see the “Crack in the Ground” in Oregon!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_in_the_Ground

and the other “Hole in the Ground” found also in Oregon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hole-in-the-Ground

There’s also the Big Hole found in Oregon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hole_(Oregon)

[Jack Hydrazine]

“Why not a Glock 19 or a Kimber .45ACP? ;-D”

Why not a .50AE Desert Eagle? ;)

[thefactor]

I saw a list yesterday of the 50 States ranked by gun laws. Arizona was #1, so this doesn’t surprise me.

[llmc1]

We took a trip around the southwest which included some spots like the Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns. Meteor Crater stood out for me, though. Can’t say exactly why. It just felt good to be there.

[TexasBarak]

I once told my wife that I was taking her and the kid (with friend) to the W.A.S.P. museum, without telling her what it was really about it. You should have seen her face when we rolled up to that old hangar and she said “It’s an *airplane* museum!*.
Very interesting museum, about interesting people, and a unique episode in American history- I recommend it if you are driving through Texas on I-20 (it’s in Sweetwater, right in the middle of the state).

[crz]

In AZ, you very often see folks with firearms on them at stores.
Nobody thinks anything of it, except those who have criminal intent.

[JoeFromSidney]

It is a place well worth stopping at. The winds on the crater rim can be quite strong. Hold onto your hats!

We were coming back from California when I saw signs for Meteor Crater. I'd never seen it, although my wife had. We took the side trip to the Crater. The wind that day was a measured 35 mph. I was on the catwalk along the Crater, hanging on for dear life while taking pictures.

Well worth the trip. See it if you can.

[CPOSharky]

We live in southern AZ and have taken friends and relatives to the crater several times. Wife has one hat in the crater.

[onedoug]

‘Seen it many times from the air.

Daughter once bought me a small piece of the meteor.

[wita]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hole_%28Oregon%29

This might work better.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

A few notes:

Meteor Crater has one of the nicest gift shops with cool stuff I’ve ever seen.

Within an hours drive from there, a bunch of stuff to see:

Walnut Creek Canyon, also East of Flagstaff. Cliff face caves with adobe dwellings and a walking path right next to them. A federal visitors building on the rim above the cliffs. Lots of stairs.

Sunset Crater, near Flagstaff. A volcanic crater covered in dark red, pumice like ash that is a superb insulator, so during the day, the crater is like an oven, but when the sun is below the rim, the temperature drops like a rock.

Lowell Observatory, on the northwest side of Flagstaff. Named after the discoverer of Pluto. Good daytime tour and the telescope is still in use. Flagstaff has just amazing night skies.

South of Flagstaff are Oak Creek Canyon, with is very lush and beautiful, and leads to Sedona and its red rock mountains. Further South is Montezuma’s Castle national monument, with big, 3 story adobe dwellings in a big cleft in a cliff face. Lots of small and entertaining critters about at ground level.

[HiJinx]

Hmmm...you look like you could easily get a gig with the Tombstone Vigilantes!