Who are these morons who are carrying long guns in public? That’s an in-yer-face sure enough reason to scare people. I have a CPL. I am familiar with our gun laws, and have had experience with local law enforcement. We are an open carry state, so it’s legal-but it’s still stupid! If I see a long gun in public, my first thought is “bad guy”. When I see a holstered gun, no biggy. When the folks at our grocery store see me, they automatically look at my face, then down to the side-they always want to see if I remembered to pull my shirt down over my holster!
Sorry, but the long-gun pro open carry idiots are ruining it. They are not educating the public, they are scaring the public. And they for darn sure are scaring me. First, because they’re Operating Dumb While Armed, and second, are they a good guy or a bad guy? Escape, evade.
These open carry folks could very well be forcing a major fed court battle down the road.
Which is precisely the conditioned reflex that the anti-gunners want you to have. And that reflex is precisely what the "rabid open carry" folks are trying to educate out of the populace. If the hypothetical "rabid open carry" individual is carrying the long gun slung over his/her shoulder, or in "hunter safe" condition (barrel down, action open), then neither you nor anyone else should get your knickers in a knot.
I don't think I would have any problem distinguishing the above situation from "potentially active hostile" at all.
I fully support the OC folks. Haven't had occasion to do it myself, but if I take up biking again, I will probably OC. Sort of hard to CCW in bike shorts.
Growing up in S. Louisiana as a teen, I routinely OC'd a 22 pistol (our farming operation at the time had some leased land a couple of miles from the home farm, and I would regularly motor farm equipment between the two sites). Pistol was loaded with "rat shot", as snakes were pretty common when cutting hay. I would often stop in at the local grocery (located about half-way between the two farm plots for an ice-cold small-bottled Coke). Nobody ever remarked on the firearm, nor the fact that I was carrying it, despite being will under 18 at the time.