Posted on 02/24/2011 7:43:08 AM PST by Kaslin
There is a temporary restraining order action currently active against Michigan Open Carry, Inc. for a series of open carry demonstrations that took place at the Lansing, Michigan, downtown public library. Members carried rifles and handguns — not just into the library, but into the children’s section of the library.
I have spent much of the last twenty-five years defending the right to keep and bear arms — and I have been a significant player in making this an intellectually defensible position in the courts. I know that not everyone agrees with me, and even those who agree that there is a right to carry a gun for self-defense start to get downright weak in the knees when you have someone carrying a shotgun over his shoulder into a library.
It seems that in our political system, the pendulum, having once swung way too far one direction, just has to swing too far in the other direction.
Twenty years ago, the gun control crazies looked sure to eventually achieve all their goals, including house-to-house searches to confiscate all existing handguns and many rifles. Many gun control advocates did not support such extreme measures. But the extremists on their side were just cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
Gun control is now such an unfashionable idea that most Democrats run from it. But today the other extremists show an utter inability to understand how crazy they sound — and act.
You are probably aware that in the vast majority of American states, concealed handgun licenses are now easy to get, as long as you do not have a felony conviction, a recent violent misdemeanor conviction, or a mental illness history. In most American states, it is also legal to openly carry a firearm on your person.
In Arizona, and a few other Western states, open carry of handguns in cities is remarkable but not terribly shocking. In most of the country, it is a bit surprising or worse. Even people who are generally pro-gun do not like to see guns in cities, except on uniformed police officers and security guards. Yes, this is an irrational convention, because so many Americans have concealed carry permits. (Just because you do not see that someone is armed does not mean that they aren’t.) But it is a convention nonetheless — rather like the one that says it’s bad manners to show your genitals in public even though everyone’s got a set.
The open carry movement has two goals: one, to persuade state legislatures to repeal existing laws banning open carry; two, to “normalize” open carry. I have sympathy with the first goal, for several reasons. One is that situations come up where a person may need to be armed, and yet may not qualify for a concealed handgun license — perhaps because they are only 19 or 20, and most states require you to be at least 21.
Two, a person may not ordinarily feel a need to carry a gun for self-defense — but something happens, and there is no time to obtain a permit. You would then have to choose between breaking the law against concealed carry, or carrying a handgun openly for self-defense.
Three, picture this. You might be visiting a state that does not issue permits, or that makes it so difficult that you are unlikely to apply for a permit. Under those circumstances, it might be appropriate, under some conditions, to carry a handgun openly for self-defense. I would hope that open carry in cities would be infrequent because it is so disquieting. Please: spend the relatively modest amount of money and time required to obtain a concealed handgun license now, if at all possible.
What ticks me off about some manifestations of the open carry movement, however, is the second goal: the delusion of “normalizing” open carry. This is about as likely to work as “normalizing” homosexuality by having two guys strip naked and have sex in the middle of Main Street. Guns are powerful symbols — and even those of us who are strongly pro-gun, and support widespread gun ownership and carrying, respond negatively to unnecessary displays. You can imagine the reaction from those who are ambivalent or even slightly hostile to gun ownership.
A handgun is primarily a defensive weapon: something that is easy to carry and easy to put into action in the event of a sudden and unexpected attack. By contrast, a shotgun or a rifle is primarily an offensive weapon: clumsy to carry, slow to bring into use. There are circumstances where you might have occasion to carry a long gun while going around town — but almost all of these scenarios involve flesh-eating zombies. No surprise, then, that the reaction of most people to a stranger with a long gun in a public place is concern, if not outright fear: “Is this guy a lunatic who is going to start mowing people down?”
If you need to carry a gun into a public place, and there is some good reason why you do not have a permit to carry concealed, then going for discreet is a really good idea. Consider something small and black that is not going to scare the wits out of people when you walk in the door — like this Walther PPK, or this Colt Mustang. If you are carrying a gun to make a political point — and especially if you are carrying a long gun into the children’s section of the public library — well, you’ve succeeded. You’ve convinced everyone in the library that your pet issue is more important to you than the peace of mind of every kid and adult present.
be thankful for that person carrying the gun in public - you may need to hide behind him/her.
and with the crazies running around these days, the children’s section is a prime candidate.
rather than a knee jerk fear reaction, you should feel consoled that protection is on hand should, heaven forbid, it be needed.
I'll be it's normal here in a few years. If islam keeps spreading in America.
I worked for a gun manufacturer for three years. Almost every person was armed. They are good people, and I feel safer in my community because I know when they are in Wal-Mart, they are carrying.
Everyone should have the opportunity to spend some time on the range and get comfortable with the sight and feel of a good firearm. Maybe they wouldn’t be so freaked out by a gun.
People are uncomfortable with guns because they don’t know anything about them or the vast majority of responsible people who carry them.
I am not a fan of open carry...except in the woods, the range etc.
.... I think concealed carry is the way to go...open carry tends to have the look and feel of ‘brandishing’ and can be taken by some as threatening or by others as a spoiling for a fight...
That being said....I do not think the Govt. has the right to tell me how or where I should carry....
.....nor should the govt., license me to do so....I am licensed by the Constitution of the US...that should be enough...(not being willing to go to jail for my beliefs, at this time, I DO carry concealed under state license...)
I would hope that open carry in cities would be infrequent because it is so disquieting...
Really? In that case Mr. Cramer, do you also "hope” that openly exercising free speech in cities would be "infrequent" because it is so "disquieting" to those who disagree with what is being said?
Or, Please: spend the relatively modest amount of money and time required to obtain a concealed handgun license now...
You do realize, do you not, you self-proclaimed long-time defender of the RIGHT to keep and bear arms, that condescendingly calling on everyone to register themselves with the government and submit to a licensing process in order that they may be 'permitted' to exercise a RIGHT shows anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together that you are, in fact, NOT a defender of the RIGHT to keep and bear arms. I have to ask you, sir, is there some part of “Shall Not Be Infringed” that you do not understand?
They are that, mainly because of the influence of fictional representations in the media.
We aren't above practicing idolatry in our age, just because we don't usually engrave the images of our gods in stone like the Romans did. We do it in movies and TV, and hire otherwise ordinary people to portray their images on screen. A number of these "gods" include guns as a symbol of their power.
Last night, while waiting for a prescription refill at the pharmacy, I happened to notice one of those carousel displays with bargain DVD's on it. I should have brought my camera: three of the DVD covers (different movies) had a man in the exact same pose, holding a gun out at arm's length, aimed off to the right out of the frame.
Coincidence? No, it's iconography. It's worship.
Given such conditions, I'm more surprised to find as much rational thinking about guns as there is. Range time helps with that, of course, which is why leftists are such immoderate gushers of emotional nonsense about them.
If a police officer in uniform walked in, no one would think twice about his firearm or feel threatened. The same should apply to any open-carrying citizen, but the only way that will happpen is through advocacy that drowns out the anti-gunners’ lies.
Mr. Cramer until you realize that if you allowed the government to place the same restrictions on the first amendment, that you feel are ok for the second then you would realize that you could not voice your opinion on this or any other matter without the governments permission. Get a life and pull your head out of your butt.
Walther PPK 380ACP Magazine, Blued, 6rd
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I copied this from the link for the PPK. At that price, I’ll take ten, please!
After reading it again, it just dawned on me; that’s just the magazine! I first thought it was for the gun, and obviously incorrect.
Cramer wouldn’t have liked Rosa Parks, either.
--then you are apparently ignorant of the pro-firearms legislative and judicial controversies of the last twenty-five years, in which Mr. Cramer has played a leading and important role---
What part of “Gun Control” don’t you understand? Either you have open carry or you dont’. What is an unecessary display for you may be every day normal for others. You can’t have just a little bit of gun control.
Wait a couple of years until things devolve to the point whre we are all carrying weapons everywhere so somebody doesn’t kill us for the bottle of water in our hand. Open carry will look pretty necessary then.
Whatever you say, brother, whatever you say.
I’m basing my assertions on his illogical and apparently hysterical fear of openly carried fire arms, as described by HIM in the article posted here.
Where I come from, people who support freedom do not write anti-freedom articles.
He’s having a Zumbo moment.
As someone who has open carried in the library a number of times, I believe that Clayton is simply wrong about this. Normalization works. If a person is not upset when seeing a police officer carry openly, there is no reason to be upset when seeing a citizen carrying openly, going about their daily business.
Exercising a Constitutional right is a very political act. It is not the same as having sex in public. It is restoring a right. The more quickly it is recognized as a right, the less people will feel compelled to exercise it in order to keep it.
Absolutely!
One carries a handgun for mundane self defense.
One carries a long gun when one knows it will be needed.
Ergo, if you see someone carrying a long gun in an otherwise normally safe situation, you assume he knows something you don’t and leave before you find out the hard way.
Clearly, Cramer is "cartridgaphobic." I bet he really needs to "come out" of the "gun cabinet."
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