The proponents of Open Carry fail to understand that the purpose of any political movement is to get the public on your side.
Public opinion eventually decides all issues. On every issue you have about 40% who see it one one, 40% see it the other way, and about 20% are undecided. The trick is to get the 20% undecided on yours side, not offend or scare them.
Open Carry supporters may make themselves feel good openly carrying their weapons, but their actions simply scare the undecided and drive them into the other camp.
A classic example was the anti-abortion protester who put huge pictures of aborted fetuses on the side of his truck and drove all over Florida. It offended huge numbers of people and swung public opinion against the Pro-Life movement for a decade.
It's the same sort of idiocy here. Remember, all we need to do (or do for the Dems) is to scare enough people into voting Dem so they can avoid all those “crazies with guns.”
Enough Dems and we get a SCOTUS that accepts the “Militia Requirement”, and the 2d Amendment is gone forever.
Carrying openly might be legal. So is dressing up in only a diaper and rolling around in squashed grapefruit and chocolate sauce in a public park.
Just because something may be legal does not make it smart.
So what you're saying is that to your regret, Open Carry is legal. In your perfect world, it would not be.
I refuse to believe, as some here do, that people look at open carry in a negative light and cannot be swayed. Public opinion was against slavery once, too.
That you describe open carry as equivalent to driving around with a murdered child on your truck, or "rolling around in squashed grapefruit and chocolate sauce in a public park," means you're a lost cause. I'll focus on the Americans who see guns in a positive light, as a deterrence to crime.
Another point to all of this - I don't aim to alarm people when I OC. My goal will be achieved when everywhere I go, anyone I meet sees my gun and thinks nothing of it (unless you were originally planning on robbing me).
Hardly a comparison to the shock-jock comparisons you give.
Herein lies the problem - we cave in on issues in order to not “offend” others. The focus should be on the fact that people who have CCW’s are typically not the ones who go out on rampages and begin shooting people or things up. IMHO we should be clearly making the case that law abiding citizens are not the problem when it comes to legal gun ownership and open carry. Every time we tuck tail and run from the issue we get beat. You are saying that unless we tuck tail and run from the issue we will get beat. Catch 22? How do you advocate for open carry or CCW laws if you cannot demonstrate how/why these laws are needed and useful.
As for the comparing/contrasting this issue with abortion - rubbish. People who are that easily offended by the sight of the aftermath of an abortion would not have been supportive of PRO-LIFE legislation anyway. I find it interesting that 1) you decided to use the abortion issue to compare with open carry/conceal carry, and 2) that you decided to frame it as anti-abortion. Gives me pause for thought on which side of the fence you sit upon.
Spot on, MB.