Why?
Was his rifle threatening to do something bad?
Maybe the man has some unexplainable urges somewhere deep in his psyche and he doesn’t trust himself around that rifle.
A nut who fears his own potential actions is probably doing a great service!
‘Was his rifle threatening to do something bad?’
that’s why his gesture amounts to no more than virtue signalling, no matter what he thinks he is accomplishing...
if he didn’t intend to go out and shoot people in a populated space, then his weapon is no more dangerous than a loofah sponge...he’d have made more of a statement by hanging on to the gun and putting it to its intended use, whatever that is for him...