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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGood luck putting the "open carry" genie back in the bottle
According to the poll, 55 percent of Americans prefer that retailers and restauranteurs don't allow guns, while only 32 percent prefer that they do. The poll found a partisan divide, with a no-gun policy preferred by Democrats 72 percent to 19 percent, and by independents 48 percent to 34 percent. Republicans said they preferred establishments that allow guns 50 percent to 41 percent.
It looks like the NRA is getting the message that their lunatics are on the verge of ruining everything
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I'm sorry, these opportunists created this monster and now they're going to have to deal with it. The have demeaned anyone who calls for common sense with guns up until now, even including the relatives of gun violence victims, like those who lost 6 year olds at Newtown. They have proclaimed to anyone who would listen that there is an "unfettered" right to bear arms whenever and where ever you want. Where in their approach has ever "consideration for others" been a part of their message?
They have managed to create an entire movement of people who think they are not only empowered to carry guns whenever and wherever they want, they are empowered to use them. Some of them even believe they are there as adjuncts to the police departments, as if anyone in their right minds want these bozos to "protect" them.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/good-luck-putting-open-carry-genie-back.html
muntrv
(14,505 posts)herding cats
(19,585 posts)These open carry groups in Texas are shining a light on just how little respect these types have for other citizens rights. The end result is it's forcing restaurants and other businesses to take a stand against this type of behavior in their locations. Which is making the point that most people don't want to have to deal with a bunch of armed goons near their person.
spin
(17,493 posts)in a restaurant or while driving to and from a restaurant.
DrDan
(20,411 posts)hack89
(39,179 posts)but a handgun is better still.
spin
(17,493 posts)However I live in a urban area.
While driving to and from shopping or eating at a restaurant, I chose to legally carry a snub nosed revolver concealed.
Some many question why I feel the need to carry a handgun in a restaurant. I simply feel that leaving a firearm in a car in the parking lot is a bad idea. Also parking lots can be dangerous places.
Of course many see no need to carry a firearm. That's fine with me. I'm 68 years old with a bad back and am a candidate for a hip replacement. I have a very noticeable limp. Predators pick the weakest members of the herd. I qualify.
Still I don't believe that I will ever have to use my handgun for legitimate self defense. I practice something called situational awareness which mainly means I do not walk around with a cell phone glued to my ear. Instead I am alert to my surroundings.
spin
(17,493 posts)It has far less recoil than a 12 gauge shotgun and is somewhat easier to handle. A lever action rifle could also be a good choice in such an environment.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)You should not even consider the relative advantages of weapons for open carry.
I know, you are a fan of concealed carry, the old west did not allow either. They recognized the importance of real controls. Now the mythical west...and it seems you want to go back to the myth
spin
(17,493 posts)The Culture of Violence in the American West: Myth versus Reality
By Thomas J. DiLorenzo
The Not-So-Wild, Wild West
In a thorough review of the West was violent literature, Bruce Benson (1998) discovered that many historians simply assume that violence was pervasiveeven more so than in modern-day Americaand then theorize about its likely causes. In addition, some authors assume that the West was very violent and then assert, as Joe Franz does, that American violence today reflects our frontier heritage (Franz 1969, qtd. in Benson 1998, 98). Thus, an allegedly violent and stateless society of the nineteenth century is blamed for at least some of the violence in the United States today.
***snip***
The mining camps hired enforcement specialistsjustices of the peace and arbitratorsand developed an extensive body of property and criminal law. As a result, there was very little violence and theft. The fact that the miners were usually armed also helps to explain why crime was relatively infrequent. Benson concludes, The contractual system of law effectively generated cooperation rather than conflict, and on those occasions when conflict arose it was, by and large, effectively quelled through nonviolent means (1998, 105)....emphasis added
When government bureaucrats failed to police cattle rustling effectively, ranchers established cattlemens associations that drew up their own constitutions and hired private protection agencies that were often staffed by expert gunmen. This action deterred cattle rustling. Some of these gunmen did drift in and out of a life of crime, write Anderson and Hill (1979, 18), but they were usually dealt with by the cattlemens associations and never created any kind of large-scale criminal organization, as some have predicted would occur under a regime of private law enforcement.
In sum, this work by Benson, Anderson and Hill, Umbeck, and others challenges with solid historical research the claims made by the West was violent authors. The civil society of the American West in the nineteenth century was much more peaceful than American cities are today, and the evidence suggests that in fact the Old West was not a very violent place at all. History also reveals that the expanded presence of the U.S. government was the real cause of a culture of violence in the American West. If there is anything to the idea that a nineteenth-century culture of violence on the American frontier is the genesis of much of the violence in the United States today, the main source of that culture is therefore government, not civil society.
http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?a=803
There were indeed gun control laws in some of the large cities in the Wild West. There is some question if they were strictly enforced or selectively enforced. Cowboys driving a herd of cattle arriving in town might have been required to turn in their handguns but an honest and respected citizen might not. Add to that the fact that most citizens who lived in a western town saw little need to own a handgun as the crime rate was so low.
New York City at that time was a very violent city.
June 4, 2013
7 Infamous Gangs of New York
By Evan Andrews
During the Victorian era of the mid-to-late 1800s, New York City was rocked by an epidemic of gang violence. Crime was especially rampant in Manhattan neighborhoods like Five Points, Hells Kitchen, the Fourth Ward and the Bowery, where back alleys and tenements became infested with thieves, hustlers and street thugs. These groups trafficked in everything from robbery and prostitution to murder, and their names could strike fear into the hearts of even the most crime-hardened city dwellers. From river pirates to knife-wielding adolescents, get the facts on seven of 19th century New Yorks most notorious street gangs.
http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/7-infamous-gangs-of-new-york
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)This discussion fits very well in the myth, not the reality.
Somewhere Wyatt Erp is doing summersaults.
spin
(17,493 posts)justice1
(795 posts)I could care less if a person has one at home, but I have kids running around during dinner, and drunks to deal with. That is the last thing I should have to worry about.
spin
(17,493 posts)I will agree that their demonstrations are foolish and unnecessary.
Such gun owners should realize that they are not advancing gun rights by acting like belligerent and intimidating idiots.
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Response to spin (Reply #3)
spin This message was self-deleted by its author.
billh58
(6,640 posts)Agree with the OP 100%...
hunter
(38,717 posts)Approach one of these gun fools friendly-like and slap a label on their backs. More fun than "KICK ME!"
But there's not much possibility of seeing an open carry idiot in my town. People will call 911 if they see someone with a gun and then the police will come and shoot the guy with the gun. Hell, they've shot people holding screwdrivers and other pointy implements.
phantom power
(25,966 posts)Their guns *are* their shoot-me signs.
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2014/05/what-is-wrong-with-these-people.html
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2014/06/gun-wielding-yahoos.html
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)what the Tea Party is to the GOP.
surrealAmerican
(11,455 posts)Surely, any restaurant that's dangerous enough to need to bring a gun to, is too dangerous to go to in the first place. What kind of person would need to bring a gun of any sort? Dining out just isn't worth risking your life, no matter how good the food - even if you are a crappy cook.
spin
(17,493 posts)I simply feel it's a bad idea to leave a firearm in my car.