What is the source for your 44 state figure? Last I knew, California, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina, Illinois, and New York don’t allow open carry in public. That only leaves 42 states and doesn’t include those states that allow but severely restrict open carry.
You are correct that California is rather restricted. However, Oklahoma passed open carry legislation recently.
http://www.opencarry.org/opencarry.html
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9NxiPKWY0FnU0RWVmdYZUhOWkE/edit?pli=1