Learn the 4 cardinal rules of gun safety and you’ll be ok.
Even knowing that folks around me may be carrying concealed weapons (legal or illegal) makes me uncomfortable living where I do in an urban, East Coast city. When I visit family I’m not bothered at all with guns being around (see above, re: how my family “does guns” and most people in the area do). There has been exactly one intentional gun murder in 120 years in the area.
I feel more threatened with open gun displays here because it’s a far more violent area and odds are the person doesn’t have a S&W 460 handgun because they’re hunting deer (it’s also illegal in New Jersey, but I still see it). People do get murdered here, and a dismaying amount of innocent bystanders are killed. Recently there was a shooting in the parking lot of our local convenience store; two adults had a beef with one another and a four-year-old was shot in the head.
Even better if you follow them.
There’s absolutely no reason for anyone to carry a long gun slung upside down over your shoulder in a Walmart. Unless you are trying to cause a kerfuffle.
God, I hope he didn’t scare any kids.
That’s utterly stupid.
This idiot needs to be sat down and sternly talked to by someone who has endured a tragedy of a gun shooting.
How dumb can he be.
If someone has concealed their weapon, it means they care enough about others to be discrete in their actions. It means they are trying blend in, not deliberately stand out as an armed person. This is more defensive posture than an offensive one.
People who wear guns out in the open are basically announcing they are ready to go to battle, even if in their minds it would be a defensive battle. Without knowing their intentions (good vs bad), their temperament (impulsive or calm), or their judgment (good vs poor), the average person can’t really know if a open-carrying person is a potential threat or a non-threat. So open-carriers are essentially asking for people to give them the benefit of the doubt and not be seen as threats, all the while glibly advertising their ability to kill. This is a big ask.
If I were to spot someone walking around in my neighborhood slinging a rifle, I would probably be wary of them. My neighborhood is generally safe, so there’s need to act as if we’re living in a combat zone unless you have a fighting mentality. If you have such a mentality, you’re probably more apt to bother harmless people minding their own business, like teenagers wearing hoodies in the rain. With a gun in the mix, the potential for violence is high.
I have plenty of things to keep me awake at night, but an accidental or intentional gun discharge is not one of them. Many years ago I was threatened by people with hand guns on 3 different occasions. I have outlived them all.
Really; I just made better choices.
Refresh my memory. Is one of those rules “Don’t carry while black?”
That is rule #1 as I recall with the exception that says, unless in uniform.
Because, with all due respect, it makes you (as in “anyone”) look like either a) a lunatic or b) an asshole.
“Lunatic” because what are you so afraid of that you need to have a gun that close at hand? Do you think a lion or Russian spy or street gang is going to jump out of the bushes to try and kill you? You expecting to have to draw down on someone?
and “asshole” because people who display firearms openly usually do it to intimidate or thumb their nose at the sort of people who think carrying a gun opening is poor judgement.
Out of curiosity, how many home invasions has there been in your neighborhood?
Snark aside, they go something like
[ul]
[li]every gun is loaded[/li][li]do not pick up a gun unless you intend to use it[/li][li]do not point a gun at something unless you intend to shoot it[/li][li]do not shoot at something unless you intend to destroy it[/li][/ul]
I know that is not quite right, but I think it is close.
We’ve never met, but I’ve seen you around here enough to know that you know entirely too much about firearms to argue that an assault rifle could ever be in any way useful in a Walmart or a school hallway. You know as well as I do that a gun and ammo that powerful are going to penetrate structures and ricochet around and through, remaining dangerous far beyond the point at which you have any control over where it’s going to go or who it’s going to hit. It would be worse than useless in any situation that might occur in that environment.
And I absolutely refuse to believe that you are lunatic enough to walk around a Walmart full of kids and families with a rifle aimed at the hips of everybody you pass. Do correct me if I’m wrong.
So no, I’m not trying to make you a nut case. Did you watch the video? That nut case is a freakin’ nut case. You know it as well as I do. And as I said above, if you saw him walk into a Walmart like that you’d get out of the vicinity as fast as you could. Just like I said I would.
Tell me I’m wrong. :dubious:
I cannot think of any reason, none, where you would need an open carry gun in a local Wal-Mart. If a active shooter appears the first person they’re gonna shoot is the person with a gun. Security guards die this way everyday.
It’s common sense for the bad guy to get rid of the obvious obstacles first.
You may as well paint a target on your head. IMO.
Of course you have the ‘right’ to open carry if its legal in your area.
But is it ‘right’ to do it?
There are many reasons not to.
Chiefly, being your own safety and those around you.
I wouldn’t walk close to anyone open carry-ing.
If gunfire starts I am cutting and running.
I am not gonna engage any shooter, I am gonna make myself small and gone as soon as I can.
Remember in the old west the sheriff would meet you coming to town and tell you to remove your guns. Even back then they knew less guns = less death. Bar brawls ended only fists and bloody noses.
The rules I learned, were:
- Treat all firearms as if they are loaded
- Keep firearm pointed in a safe direction always
- Keep finger off the trigger until ready to fire
- Know what you are shooting at and what is BEHIND it
People who open-carry rifles of any kind, are IRL-trolling. People who open-carry handguns, who are not wearing police uniforms, are mostly trolling or virtue-signalling. An exception might be made for guys whose job involves being exposed to the elements in open country - ranchers, cowboys, etc. It depends on the context. If I was in rural Texas and saw a guy in a cowboy hat and well-worn vest stop into a store for some food or water with a revolver on his hip, it wouldn’t be too surprising or unsettling; if I was in a city and saw a guy in a polo shirt and Dockers with a handgun on his hip, I’d think it was kind of fucked up.
Well, maybe:
I feel sorry for you, I really do. I’d hate to have such fear running through my body at every waking moment that I felt like I needed my blanket, or my gun, or whatever, on me for me to feel safe. It’s not your fault, per se, just the way your brain is constructed. I don’t think you’re a nut case, I know plenty of smart, otherwise adjusted adults who do the same, and I’m just glad I’m not like that. I have no problem with your right of self-preservation, it’s just that it must really suck to feel threatened every moment of your life.
I think there is something in there about not shooting at something you can’t see.
Maybe that replaces the second one? I’m pretty sure you aren’t obligated to fire every firearm you pick up.
You’re correct; eschereal’s list is not really correct.
Here is the correct list of rules formulated by Col. Jeff Cooper:
- Treat all guns as if they’re loaded.
- Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.
- Don’t point your muzzle at anything you do not wish to destroy.
- Know what your target is, and what’s behind it.
But I always add this rule:
- Always know the condition of your gun; always check the chamber after picking it up.
Thank you for that. I have been restraining myself from further response to this threat because it is drawing out all kinds of stupid, but the repeated misstatement and mangling of basic safety rules was really making me dyspeptic.
Stranger
You are absolutely right. Your observation, assessment and conclusion regarding the situation being very different if the man were black are all exactly correct. The right to bear arms is for white men, not black men. A black man walking around with a gun clearly visible would be an object of fear, the police would be called, and they’d shoot him dead. Exactly.