4V50 Gary: OOPS!! Um, sorry about the rant!
Hal: I absolutely agree. I had a friend come over to show me his new M94 Trapper recently, and had the cops on the step checking out a "Man with a gun" call about 4 minutes later. Now, my friend walked the rifle from his car on the curb to my front door across my yard, a straight shot of maybe 50 feet, and waited by the front door for... what? 15 seconds? while I answered the door. I thanked the officers for being vigilant in our neighborhood, and showed them my friend's carbine, and said goodbye. They stopped before leaving to admonish my friend to get a case for the carbine, so as not to incite alarm. I smiled and mentioned that he had, of course, not brandished the arm in a manner intenionally calculated to cause alarm (Texas' test for Disorderly conduct, where weapons are concerned.). They furrowed their brow and repeated that he needed to cover his gun.
Mark me for a coward; I smiled, thanked them, and shut the door.
The more I think of that, however, the more I get a little p!ssed off. I agree that Ben should carry the carbine along his leg, not muzzle-up at port arms, but come on!
It is because I'm NOT willing to camouflage completely that I am a gun-owner that I have a locking steel cabinet, and will soon own another. My newest interest is in the bedside spring-loaded drawer-safes that use a hand-print combo-lock. With that, the Gold Cup can be a primary battery bedside piece, instead of an old Model 10.