# Guy carrying a gun walking around the neighborhood... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 26, 2018, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630 "2018-02-26T23:08:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/41 "2018-02-27T20:24:27Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Florida is a stand your ground state. If you think these people are threatening you, you can legally shoot them To be precise, someone can legally shoot them “when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force” (FL 776.012). But be prepared for a shitstorm to ensue, with you at the center of it. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/42 "2018-02-27T21:43:07Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Missouri by any chance? This kind of thing happened often when I lived there (about 5 years ago.) We also saw guns up on the gun rack often, but then again, people hunted a lot, so it didn’t seem unusual. Nope. Much closer to you: Northern ID (it’s usually referred to as North ID but I refuse). WA, ID and MT all allow open carry (I don’t think OR does). Mainly it’s semi-auto handguns being carried but you do see the occasional SpecOps Dipshit carrying his AR with it’s “tactical” sling. When the shit hits the fan, that dude is prepared!!! And I can guarantee he’s dying for the shit to hit the fan. I have nothing against the folks that have obviously been in the woods/hunting. The main way to tell is they are usually carrying a large caliber revolver instead of the normal knucklehead open-carry semi-auto. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/43 "2018-02-27T22:49:48Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > (I don’t think OR does) Based on the video I posted, of which the first part takes place in downtown Albany (a town smaller than Coeur d’Alene but bigger than Orofino), it would seem that it does. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/44 "2018-02-27T23:22:05Z")
I also grew up around guns. In rural Utah and Idaho virtually everyone hunted and venison/game fowl provided a lot of families’ meat. My dad is a big game hunter, at one time he and my mother owned a hunting lodge in Alaska. He owns five gunsafes full of all kind of guns. My five brothers also own guns. They also hunt and do competition shooting. And none of them EVER EVER carry guns outside of hunting trips and gun/skeet ranges. They have some very choice words for assholes who strut around in public with guns and groups who spew idiotic militia crap. ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/45 "2018-02-27T23:29:43Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > When I was a child, it used to be very common to see pickups with a gun rack with a couple of rifles/shotguns on it mounted in the back window. Now, I can’t remember the last time I saw one. I can answer that easily enough as I used to do that with my 30.30 in my truck. Nobody ever bothered it when parked. Back then we had morals. Nowadays? Forget it, it’ll be gone in a flash. Look at the porch pirates, people in all walks of life steals them. Tis sad that human nature had gone to the pot. As to guns, I carry mine all the time even at home because in case of home invasion you DO NOT HAVE TIME to get your gun. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/46 "2018-02-28T00:52:40Z")
I don’t understand the freak out when someone is openly carrying a gun. This display is upsetting, but the same people are not upset by the probably dozens of other people around them concealed carrying that they don’t know about? ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/47 "2018-02-28T00:57:31Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Based on the video I posted, of which the first part takes place in downtown Albany (a town smaller than Coeur d’Alene but bigger than Orofino), it would seem that it does. I totally missed that was in OR. I guess open carry is legal everywhere around here. There’s quite a bit of population room between the village of Oro Fino and the city of Coredalane. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/48 "2018-02-28T01:35:07Z")
> [@nate](#): > > I was driving home from work the other day and pulled into my neighborhood (it’s a typical middle-class neighborhood with the homes built around 10-12 years ago) and there was a guy, his wife (I guess) and a small dog on a leash walking along the sidewalk. … I think it’s just a matter of perspective. Dig this, while dude, wife and dog (and rifle) are out parading around the neighborhood, it is also the perfect time to break into his house! ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/49 "2018-02-28T02:51:22Z")
> [@nate](#): > > … I think the quickest way to get new gun laws passed is to encourage all minorities to start openly carrying guns in protest. It’s how [it happened before](https://www.snopes.com/nra-california-open-carry-ban/). > [@](#): > > … the Mulford Act, which prohibited anyone outside of law enforcement officers (and others explicitly authorized to do so) from carrying loaded firearms in public, was enacted largely in response to the militant activities of the Black Panther Party. It’s also true that the bill was written by a Republican legislator, California Assemblyman Don Mulford of Oakland, and was passed with the full backing of Republican governor Ronald Reagan and the National Rifle Association. > > The bill was introduced in April 1967, six weeks after it had been reported that an armed group of Black Panthers acting as an escort for Malcolm X’s widow, Betty Shabazz, were involved in tense, nonviolent confrontations with airport security officers and police in San Francisco. As leftist writer Sol Stern later noted in Ramparts, “Local cops were dumbfounded to discover that there was no law which prohibited the Panthers from carrying loaded weapons so long as they were unconcealed, a legal fact which the Panthers had carefully researched.” > > In a statement quoted by Associated Press, a Panther spokesman said, “The cops asked us what we were doing and we told them. ‘We’re exercising our constitutional rights and we’re not going to take any bull.'” > > The Mulford Act was designed to impose a limits on those very constitutional rights in the state of California, establishing that “every person who carries a loaded firearm on his person while on a public street, or in a public place within any city or in a vehicle while in any public place or on any public street in an incorporated city or in an inhabited area of unincorporated territory is guilty of a misdemeanor.” > > Recognizing that they were its primary targets, the Black Panthers protested the Mulford bill by sending an armed contingent to the state capitol on 2 May 1967. That was a day Ronald Reagan would never forget — nor, for that matter, remember accurately. … ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/50 "2018-02-28T11:35:29Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > I don’t understand the freak out when someone is openly carrying a gun. I suspect the degree upon which that happens is highly dependent on location. I’ve been open carrying (handgun in holster) for many years. Around these parts, people either don’t see my gun, ignore me, or give me a thumb’s up. I think most simply don’t see it, which is fine with me. I have only had one occasion when someone “freaked out” when they saw my gun. A woman accosted me as I was leaving a UDF. (UDF is sort of like a 7-11.) She was yelling at me, waving her arms, telling me no one should be allowed to carry a gun, guns kill people, etc. etc. etc. It was clearly evident to me after a few seconds that she was unstable and possibly under the influence of a drug. I ignored her and walked to my car. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/51 "2018-02-28T13:13:14Z")
> [@SigMan](#): > > As to guns, I carry mine all the time even at home because in case of home invasion you DO NOT HAVE TIME to get your gun. You are so afraid of a home invasion that you carry your gun into the bathroom with you? ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/52 "2018-02-28T13:25:01Z")
This guy walking around walmart with his rifle slung over his back would probably have his rifle barrel pointed at some young kids if he walked around the shop long enough. Aren’t you supposed to never point the gun at things you wouldn’t want to shoot at? Seems kind of careless. Barrel up to the sky would be a better carry I think. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/53 "2018-02-28T13:42:57Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > It’s how [it happened before](https://www.snopes.com/nra-california-open-carry-ban/). Yeah–as mentioned in posts #32 and #34 above. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/54 "2018-02-28T16:37:41Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > I don’t understand the freak out when someone is openly carrying a gun. This display is upsetting, but the same people are not upset by the probably dozens of other people around them concealed carrying that they don’t know about? I don’t understand why people take disapproval for “freaking out”. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/55 "2018-02-28T17:25:14Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > You have to admit it might send a message to anyone casing the neighborhood. > > Otherwise I think its over the top and unnecessary. So does taking their picture or politely confronting them. If the caser is carrying and feels threatened, confronting with a gun could lead to someone getting shot. And of course who the person doing the confronting thinks is a case might just be a legitimate visitor. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/56 "2018-02-28T17:30:43Z")
> [@SigMan](#): > > As to guns, I carry mine all the time even at home because in case of home invasion you DO NOT HAVE TIME to get your gun. What do you have at home that makes you such a tempting target? I thought that lots of guns, like in Texas, was supposed to cut down on such things. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/57 "2018-02-28T18:39:12Z")
When I see someone walking around with a gun, my immediate assumption is that they fantasize about having the opportunity to use it. People who want to be a hero, with a gun, are far more likely to end up shooting a family member or an innocent person, or themselves, than they are to do something heroic. Insecure people are always the most dangerous. Insecure people with guns are more so. And really, why else would you feel the need to walk around the Walmart with an assault rifle strapped to your back? I appear to fit the demographic most of them are seeking to protect. But I still get the heck out of the area when one of them comes around. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/58 "2018-02-28T19:29:11Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > What do you have at home that makes you such a tempting target? I thought that lots of guns, like in Texas, was supposed to cut down on such things. [Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey Victimization During Household Burglary Special Report](https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/ascii/vdhb.txt). Not that home invasions do not occur, but they’re typically by perpetrators known to the home owner, and many of those are drug- or domestic violence-related crimes. Random home invasions are less of a household threat than fire, slipping, or poison hazards. But hey, if you feel the need to carry in your own home, far be it from me to criticize. It doesn’t seem very comfortable or convenient, and probably not as good of a deterrent as a medium sized dog, but if you have the handling discipline to not have a negligent discharge it isn’t really my concern. Carrying an AR-15 over your back at Wal-Mart, however, is inviting all kinds of unnecessary upset or trouble. And if your local Wal-Mart is so dangerous you think it likely that you’ll get in a running firefight like the downtown robbery scene in _Heat_, you should probably just order off of [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) and have stuff delivered. Or move to a country where you don’t have to gear up like the Vault Dweller to go on a shopping trip. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/59 "2018-02-28T19:44:34Z")
Don’t bother trying to make me a nut case. I have a family to protect and since I’m a licensed carry I just carry. It’s horseshit that you’d think I fantasized about using it. It’s the last thing on my mind and lots of legal aspects are involved. I’d rather not have a confrontation and will walk away nor will I play a cop. I’m not a cop and because of that you’re on your own. This is for my own protection and the majority of perps will have a weapon of some kind when they come around. ---
**Author:** ![ArtBeforeScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@ArtBeforeScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArtBeforeScience)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630/60 "2018-02-28T19:52:08Z")
One of my firearms educators pointed out when discharging a firearm on a street, or even inside an apartment, to maintain awareness of shooting angle, and who could get hit. Bystanders or even your neighbors through the walls, depending what you’re shooting and what kind of ammunition it is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-carrying-a-gun-walking-around-the-neighborhood/809630.md?page=4)