MT, I have been carrying concealed everyday for almost twenty years and I have never had a problem, not madmoms, no police, no printing of the weapon, no accidental ride ups. No problems.
And I carry it everywhere, except places I know is prohibited by Fed law, (cause those jokers are damn serious about putting a case on you), or where I stand a chance of getting patted down.
The point I am trying to make is that while I know there is a vocal open carry contigent here on FR, self-protection of self and others close to you is the real reason to carry, not to stir up those who are apparently as committed against open carry. I know, some don’t care if it does stir them up, but comments made about SWATing open carry individuals should be taken seriously. Even more seriously, are the comments of preemptively shooting open carriers as a percieved threat. Some motivated individual might just make good on that just to make a political point. The it will become a national issue and debate and with the liberal media involved, I don’t think the NRA has the ink they do. As we are all aware their propaganda machine is immense and voracious and could make easy hay promoting pictures of open carry individuals, particularly those few goofballs acting stupid while carrying rifles.
Then throw the race or ethnicity issue in? That’s a stew we might not want to cook...
An anonymous call to the police with comments of threatening behavior by the carrier, real, false or percieved can have tragic results, like the kid in Wal-Mart. People blame the guy that called it in, but proving intent with malice is going to be a difficult case.
Personally, my red line is the repeal of all the hard fought battles for concealed carry and I firmly believe out of sight it also out of mind.
YMMV...
Here in Colorado us pro gun types worked to elect pro gun politicians. At our urging they passed open carry laws. With open carry laws we don't need no stinking government permits that put us in the criminal data base.
As open carry becomes more common it will be considered normal. Outside the big cities open carry is barely noticed.