froggie, I like your approach and your reply; it was anything BUT in-your-face. And I, while I am put off by open-carry in everyday social situations, I am a big fan of conceal/carry. The former is fraught with a strut-your-stuff mentality, and the moods that can engender; while the latter has none of that.
I'm serious, though: if I and my family are sitting down to a nice meal and a bunch of civilians strut in wearing pistols, I get us up, walk out and tell the manager "those guys make me nervous".
I would applaud your doing so and support your decision as your feeling uncomfortable in that situation would not be conducible to a nice meal, etc. However, the mere carrying of the weapon would not bother me, unless their demeanor was inappropriate. If some citizens in Kileen Texas has openly carried, perhaps some of the carnage could have been prevented. Passing laws to restrict the 2nd amendment rights of the citizenry does nothing to prevent criminals from breaking those laws -- HELLO -- they are criminals they don't mind breaking laws !!
By the way, I have a concealed carry permit but rarely actually carry the weapon. I got the permit so I could have the option to exercise the right granted by the founders before those who would limit these rights passed barriers to effectively remove those rights.
So when some cops walk in, you get up and leave?
(They are civilians too)
If I see a couple guys carrying and in a restaurant, I'm as likely to think they're LEOs as anything else. Especially in Chantilly with its several ranges.
Why someone would call the police on guys who are potentially also police, also is a mystery. VDCL seems to draw a lot of attention to itself.
Your attitude makes me nervous... why tell the manager you were skeered, other than to escape paying for your meal. Open carry makes a lot more sense. It lets the bad guys know they must behave, or be tested! Methinks they would probably find another place to do their thing!
I live in WV, and am licensed to carry here. I rarely do, except when in the woods. I think I will find out their dining schedule, since VA is reciprical with WV, and join the comraderie and fun...
Perhaps you'd find this essay to be an enlightening insight into your own psyche:
Raging Against Self-Defense: A Psychiatrist Examines The Anti-Gun Mentality
About a year ago I received an e-mail from a member of a local Jewish organization. The author, who chose to remain anonymous, insisted that people have no right to carry firearms because he didn't want to be murdered if one of his neighbors had a "bad day". (I don't know that this person is a "he", but I'm assuming so for the sake of simplicity.) I responded by asking him why he thought his neighbors wanted to murder him, and, of course, got no response. The truth is that he's statistically more likely to be murdered by a neighbor who doesn't legally carry a firearm1 and more likely to be shot accidentally by a law enforcement officer.2How does my correspondent "know" that his neighbors would murder him if they had guns? He doesn't. What he was really saying was that if he had a gun, he might murder his neighbors if he had a bad day, or if they took his parking space, or played their stereos too loud. This is an example of what mental health professionals call projection – unconsciously projecting one's own unacceptable feelings onto other people, so that one doesn't have to own them.3 In some cases, the intolerable feelings are projected not onto a person, but onto an inanimate object, such as a gun,4 so that the projector believes the gun itself will murder him.
I submit that your condescending use of the term "strut," and your irrational nervousness, says more about you, than anyone who is forced by law to carry openly in a restaurant.