Wouldn't it be great if people weren't so scared of guns?
Cops with guns don't scare the rabbits because they are expecting the cops to have the guns.
Why not private citizens?
What better way to facilitate the process of acclimatization than open carry?
Sure it would be great if it were that way. But we can't change reality by wishing it was different.
Today's media have a liberal agenda. They rarely portray guns or gun owners in a positive light. When people see a story on TV about a shooting, the media often displays a picture of a gun and use words such as "gunman" or "armed and dangerous." They see the images of survivors weeping and hugging each other and are left to answer the question "why?"
And in their defense, if someone has ever had a loved one murdered by a gunman, how sympathetic do you think they are going to be to your gun rights? What is easier to do? Pass tougher sentencing laws, or pass tougher gun laws?
In the aftermath of such a tragedy, their emotions drive their determination to ban guns, believing that such laws will make it harder for criminals to murder someone else's loved one. The laws pass because opportunistic lawmakers tie "crime" with "guns." They see a chance to get facetime on TV, and everybody feels better about themselves. These poor people are emotionally spent and angry how someone like that was able to get a gun.
Ask yourself. When's the last time the major media outlets portrayed a citizen successfully defending himself with a gun outside his home? Doesn't happen often. For every story like that, there are a hundred others that show civilians walking around with guns in public as some paranoid nut case looking for trouble.
Police administrators don't like Open Carry because of the "subject with a gun" calls that can potentially turn into a lawsuit, either for "infringing upon your rights," or even worse, a use of force incident. May God help you if you're the subject of such a complaint and you run from police.
So it's no surprise when people at Wal-Mart see some guy with a gun, those negative images or words pop into their mind. To them, only police have been properly trained in the use of firearms, and to them, police conjure up such positive feelings as "secure" or "trust" and usually "competent." Simply put, in a general sense, people trust the police.
You can't change these mental images by flaunting your rights in their faces when that's all they see on the news.
You may Open Carry your whole life and never have a problem. You may meet a lot of people who support your right to Open Carry.
But many others may not say anything to you directly, but they might call the store manager or police behind your back. And if you're a store manager, what are you going to do?
Are you going to tell these people that you have a right to carry that gun in the open in this State, or are you going to tell the guy with the gun to leave?
That's a no-brainer.
If we're going to win the battle of the minds, we can't fight the mainstream anti-gun media. In my opinion, we have to show the world that we are competent and that we use discretion, not waving the 2nd Amendment in everybody's face. The media makes it look like we have a 'chip on our shoulder,' and then they find some idiot gun owner who reinforces that opinion.
People at the mall or any other place are only going about their daily business. They aren't thinking about anything else, and suddenly they see some guy walking around with a gun strapped to his side. Suddenly, those negative images and emotions just popped into their minds.
Keeping the gun covered until it is needed in a lethal force situation may help people get over negative imagery of the guns and stereotypes of their owners.
Not only will it help change public opinion, but it's really the only reason most of us carry a gun in the first place.
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