Posted on 09/20/2019 7:54:27 AM PDT by marktwain
Open Carry often leads to interesting conversations. An ethnic Chinese emigrant approached me as I was openly carrying, as I often do during my daily activities. I will not identify the woman, who is an acquaintance. The reasons will become obvious.
She started by asking me if I had been dove hunting. I said I had. She asked if I had been successful. I said I had. It was the start to a conversation on geopolitics, an opening, a subtle approach to ask about gun control in the United States.
The lady knows almost nothing about guns, United States gun laws, or even guns in China. She knows a good bit about Chinese governmental authority, Chinese cultures, and how governmental power is exercised in China. She has family there. She is multi-lingual.
To illustrate her ignorance about guns, she asked if I used the small one (the pistol on my hip) to hunt doves or a big one. We are all ignorant, just about different things. She knows far more about Chinese cultures than I ever will; I know far more about guns and American gun culture. I explained a bit about shotguns and ballistics.
As the conversation progressed, it became clear she wanted to understand about American gun laws, and American gun culture.
She asked how many guns I had; I answered with a non-specific reference to past numbers.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
One of my son’s college friends (a lab partner) is from China. We have offered to my son to have him join us at the range.
For Christmas, we gave his other friend (also from China) a Chinese/English Bible.
“...We are all ignorant, just about different things. ...”
That is THE single truest statement of all time, friend.
Bravo on the dialogue.
I try to do the same whenever and wherever I can. We are our own best (or worst, sometimes) Ambassadors for RKBA.
She didn't ask any questions but I'm sure my friend got an earful later.
See? I don't own enough guns or ammo yet ...
Other than you're not required to get (pay for) a CC permit, are there other advantages for open carry over concealed carry?
Admired and Envied,,,
That’s what I try
To point out in
Conversations.
This Nation was Founded
On the Private
Ownership of
Firearms.
He got to do a couple of cool things while here. Fire an AR-15 and an M1 Garand, and:
Ride in the back of a pickup truck!
Follows the rule: “what they don’t know won’t hurt them.”
Of course, you cannot CC in K-12 schools, government offices, etc. (might be jail time) but the rest, we CC anyway.
Businesses are limited to trespassing charges if they find out you are carrying. But how would they find out that you are carrying unless you are careless and your firearm is visible or actually have to use your firearm in self defense.
It likely keeps the "target of opportunity" criminal at bay. But the downside is that the criminal with the intent to kill will likely shoot you first to eliminate the threat.
That's dangerous! He could have gotten hurt!..................
Open carry sometimes requires a permit in some parts of the country, if it is allowed at all.
There are also instances where open carry is a far better idea than concealed, such as riding a motorcycle. Carrying a pistol inside your armor/safety gear can lead to a crash causing worse damage as the pistol gets rammed into your body instead of into your armor. Also some wintertime outdoor activities where you have to basically disrobe to get to your concealed pistol. “Please, Mister Bear/Miscreant/Mugger/Anti-Fa, wait a few minutes while I take all these clothes off to get to my pistol?”
Thanks for the reply/info. Good reasons for open!!
I married my wife, a native of Mexico MANY years ago. Told her, “This is my rifle, this is my gun, this one’s for shooting (the rifle), and this one’s for fun! (the um, other gun)”. Then, I proceeded to demonstrate both over the years. We get along fine after all of these years and she put up a U.S. flag AND a Texas flag out on the fence a few months back all on her own. Minds CAN be changed. I think I’ll keep her.
And stimulating this kind of educational discussion is precisely why open carry is a good thing. It has zero to do with ego of the carrier, carry tactics, and all the rest of the hoopla that the anti-open-carry types dredge up. It is about 1) education 2) freedom and 3) educating the ignorant about freedom.
You can't even show something like that in a music video over there. So a song like I Wanna Go by Britney Spears have to have an edited video version for the UK because it shows her standing up in a moving convertible.
As for riding in the back of a pickup, perfectly legal in Alaska.
I always think about open carry versus concealed carry from the standpoint of small children; open carry shows the child “see, this is just another tool, like the hatchet your daddy uses, both of them can be dangerous so you have to be very careful”.
Concealed carry is just to mysterious, scary, and FASCINATING to small children.
Small children always want to play with and test the FASCINATING and FORBIDDEN object.
“I married my wife, a native of Mexico MANY years ago.”
I had acquired numerous 20- and 30-round magazines (mostly in Pennsylvania, but some via mail order to my office in NYC) for various rifles in the early- and mid-90s, starting right after Governor (Flim Flam) Florio made that illegal. Well, I got married to my Mexicana in 1999. She knew that I had guns and didn’t really know much about them or care.
Fast forward to the end of 2000, when we were moving to Texas (or escaping from NJ, depending upon how one looked at it). We passed the “Welcome to Delaware” sign on the Delaware Memorial Bridge on the way out and, right in mid conversation I very casually said to her, “Oh, by the way, now you don’t have to worry about bailing me out of jail.”
I got the pie-eyes, and a demand to tell her what I had done. So I explained NJs “assault weapon” and magazine ban to her. She then asked me, “How many of them do you have?”
“Well, sitting about 18 inches behind my ass are something like 200 years’ worth in Rahway State Prison.” I STILL enjoy the immediate draining of all blood from her face and the open mouth that I got in response [that’s not wrong, is it?].
After about 15-20 seconds of complete (and very uncharacteristic) silence, she asked me if Texas had any laws like that. “No, babe, Texas is in America.”
I’ve been back about 4 or 5 times...the last one carrying my S&W J-Frame with hollowpoints (both rather felonious in NJ, not that I give a damn). I wasn’t going on a 2 1/2 week trip of nearly 5,000 miles with just my privates in my hand, that’s for sure. Only NJ, MD and DC were potential problems, with the rest of the states (including all the way down the East Coast) being both free and trusting of citizens.
This nation was founded BECAUSE OF the private ownership of firearms. That’s what the battles of Lexington and Concord, and Paul Revere’s ride, were about - the British were coming to seize the militia armories in those towns. When the British came to take our weapons...we shot them.
Next time someone tries to tell you that this country’s founding had little or nothing to do with guns, let them know the truth.
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