By Rob Morse
Louisiana- (Ammoland.com) The man across the restaurant has a gun.
I look up. Yeah, there it is carried on his hip. I nod and go back to checking my mail while we wait for our food to arrive. I know some people with strange phobias and they are afraid of firearms.
The few people with phobias are unusual; not the 110 million gun owners in the US. It is time for the rest of you to get over the novelty and drama of firearms ownership.
The guy has a gun. So what?
Today, good guys have guns. Good guys have guns everywhere. Good guys and gals have guns.. and nothing happens. Most of the time you don’t even notice. It isn’t newsworthy. I want to change the attitude of the guy on the street towards firearms.
But, I don’t want to stop there. It is time our legislators, prosecutors, law enforcement officials and for the media to come to terms with gun ownership as well. We are not there yet.
We have a long way to go until guns are unremarkable. I can ask my friend if he has a gun. “Sure, I have a gun,” he says. To me it is insignificant, but saying those same words is considered a threat if my friend says them inside a store. Context is everything, and “I have a gun” has too many meanings today.
- “Yes, I have a gun” means her search is over when my neighbor wants to find firearms safety instruction for her teenagers.
- “Yes, that is my gun” means another new firearm to try for the friend who asks at the shooting range.
- “I have another gun” means we have to change our insurance policy when I tell my insurance agent.
- “I have a gun if we need it” means reassurance and safety as two women walk together across a dark parking lot late at night.
- “I have a gun” means it is time for him to leave when a thief hears those words as he climbs through a ground floor window.
- To the sheriff’s deputy being beaten by a thug, “Stop, I have a gun” means that good guys have finally arrived.
- I’m not sure what “Yes, officer, I have a firearm.” means to police officers these days. Some officers recognize that concealed carry holders are vastly more law abiding than the average citizen. Other officers see gun owners as an easy conviction given our contradictory gun laws.
- For many journalists, “He had a gun” means the story is over and written. The reporter can play to the audience’s emotions. The story becomes about the gun rather than the real life drama that just took place.
I expected us to be over our fear of guns by now. Guns exist. Guns are tools. We have them. Nothing happens. Yawn.
It is time we stop taking our attitude toward firearms from the people who write TV dramas.
Don’t get your information from Hollywood. Ask your neighbor instead. Ask the hundred million gun owners if you really want to know about guns in the United States. The facts are right next door.
Bad guys had guns for hundreds of years. Lately we’re seeing a resurgence of firearms ownership by ordinary civilians. It’s great that the good guys and gals have guns again.
Ask your neighbor if you want to know more. They have had a gun for years.. and you had no idea.
~_~_
Rob Morse: Rob writes about gun rights at Ammoland, at Clash Daily and on his SlowFacts blog. He co-hosts the Polite Society Podcast. He is an NRA pistol instructor and combat handgun competitor.
so hes got a gun…no big deal ..hes not pointing it at any body..
Two things: First, I don’t get much opportunity to deal with police, professionally speaking, because I almost never get stopped. However, on the few times I have either been stopped or interacted (for example, when my vest pulled up over my pistol while I was rendering first aid at an accident) the LEOs involved have universally been friendly, and actually gave me a “warning” instead of a ticket. The only questions I got asked were, 1) may I see your CHL please, 2) are you carrying a gun now, and if so, where is it, and, 3) So, what do… Read more »
Why advertise it?
I did the open carry while waiting on my CCW to arrive and over the years what my 4 children and 1 stepchild has learn after they watched me when went anywhere was to……. Se not just look Listen not just hear they have gotten so good at it that i cant sneak up on them any more and scare them with a RAAAAAAAR. So Nate yes he has the right and if he is like all the other Dad’s and now Mom’s that carry the only thing they are in danger of are the idiots that don’t have a… Read more »
I carry mine all the time but the darn 250 round linked ammunition belt is difficult to conceal and I guess the gun and it is sort of scary looking to some folks in the shopping center :).
After I turn 70 I will also carry concealed .I’ve been only carried for three decades and have never had to pull it or have anyone try to take it from me either..I’m often in areas which are labeled high crime rates ,I feel that if I had concealed my gun I would have had to use it ,Most criminals are cowards and will look for a better victim ,Also I use a level 2 holster ,And have insurance just in case..Stay safe beware of your surrounding.
I personally conceal carry regardless. Having your gun out in the open does two things, removes the tactical element of surprise, and two makes you the first potential target in a profit based crime.
You have to think like the enemy to defeat them.
I carry 24/7. I have trained my children and Grand children on all aspects of gun safety and maintenance. I have one grandson who by his own choice can break down and assemble an AK47 blindfolded. They have all been to the range and they all have a favorite. They all lord their better accuracy over each other as they practice. They all have had their targets mounted proudly on their bedroom walls for all their friends to see. All their friends too have an open invitation to go to the range for training, with their parents permission of course.… Read more »
I also believe in being discreet most of the time. On the other hand, being obvious may stop trouble before it starts.
I’ve carried concealed for nearly two decades and it never leaves my side, much less leaving home without it. No one is aware that I carry with exception of my family and closest friends. If anything, carrying has made me more aware of my surroundings and has enticed me to deescalate situations with conflict.. I do go anywhere different when I am carrying than I would if I were not carrying. In the time I’ve carried, I have disclosed the weapon 3 times, drawing only once. In all instances, the aggressor deescalated and reconsidered their position. I pray to god… Read more »
My gun also goes everywhere everyday with me. No one knows I conceal carry expect for my wife, my family and my friends. I don’t want anyone else to know especially the bad guys. The element of surprise can end a threat faster then a cop on a phone.
So: he carries a gun. BFD!!! I discreetly carry mine everywhere, even to church. During the past five decades, it (or its predecessor) has left the holster only four times when my life was threatened; yet, not a round was fired by either side. That is EXACTLY the finale we hope for in life-threatening situations, without law-enforcement investigations, temporary disarmament (but I have backups) and the ever-present ambulance chaser who seems to be attached to any projectile that leaves a gun. Now, one comment about open carry: All the gangbanger has to do is wait for the gunny to turn… Read more »
Right on… My CCW helps to even out any number, or size disparities.
Amen. Open carry is just a bad idea.
He has the right, but he’s also endangering his children. Right, not wise!
How so?
Yeah explain Nate…..
He’s probably one of those people who believe that the guy is going to be a victim of a snatch and grab on his gun, since he’s OC instead of CCW. Which we all know rarely happens.
Because he can be struck from behind and now he is in a ‘free gun zone’. Remember, action always beats reaction. And don’t start with the ‘situational awareness’ crapola ’cause you don’t have eyes in the back of your head. The man in the photo can round the corner in the aisle, reach up for a product, and BAM! a suspect(s) bops him in the back of the head with a wine bottle. Don’t forget prisoners practice disarming police officers while in prison. P.S. Just because you CAN do something (like golf in a lightning storm) does not mean you… Read more »
Can’t put words in Nate’s mouth but, I do have a valid explanation; I open carry while on duty every working day. After taking the uniform off, I still carry full time consistently, always concealed. To each his own but for me, when in plain clothes, I feel it reduces the opportunity of having a “bulls eye” painted on my back by carrying concealed. If I go into an unknown situation or a bad guy comes into a location I’m already at, I don’t want to be singled out as target number one just because I have a sidearm showing.… Read more »
excellent comment. Cc is the only way I carry.
Because people who open carry are statistically more prone to being the first target of a number of different incidents that’s y I always carry concealed
His kids are more safe
How? The stats (the real stats no the Brady Bunch stats) are that more than 1.5 million times per year a firearm is used for defensive purposes. That dwarfs the accident rate and vastly outnumbers the 30,000 gun fatalities that the President even admitted is 2/3 gun suicides. Every suicide is terrible but Japan exceeds our suicide rate and is nearly a zero gun society.
I’d say NOT having a gun endangers your children when any of many possible situations arises.
Nate, you know nothing about this man. You do no know if his guns are locked in a safe at home, you do not know how well his kids are trained about guns and so on. Comments like yours are ignorant. You are like a river “big at the mouth small at the head”
i like that one mind if i use it?
“big at the mouth small at the head”
So you say he is endangering his children, have you looked at every option? Let me explain, as a former police officer I looked at this picture from an open mind: #1. The rig or holster this man is carrying is that of a law department detective. #2 As a law enforcement officer he is required to be armed. #3 If the shit hit the fan and a bad guy attacked the store and he wasn’t carrying “people” and the media would attack him for not carrying a gun to protect the public. ( IT IS ALL YOU COPS FAULT,… Read more »
Well said.
I’m totally is support of open carry but think it a bad idea also. He has also made himself a target for those that want that gun. If a criminal can take a firearm from a cop trying to prevent that, a citizen can surely be ambushed and have that taken off him quite easily. Should a fight ensue, a discharge in the wrong direction is certainly possible.
Again, not dictating what’s proper for him, just saying concealed carry just seems wiser to me personally
Hey Nate, can you explain that to me? I’m not seeing it.
Gee Nate;
How does it feel to be a totally ignorant moron and idiot? Been that way all your life?
I taught my kids about firesrm safety and handling when they were small and STILL take them to the range with me to improve their aim and weapon handling.
Now back to your liberal out house of ignorance.
Nate, You have the right to drive at the speed limit right past a person riding a bicycle, but, you are endangering that person. You have a right to drive down a 2 lane road at the speed limit with oncoming traffic doing the same, but you are both endangering each other. You do that hundreds of times each day you drive. You have a right to cross the street. You have a right to eat a piece of steak but you could choke on it. You have a right to eat but farmers have twice the on the job… Read more »
Nate…..waiting on your reasoning behind that one…..yes….still waiting….how is he endangering his children???
In the immortal words of Colonel Sherman T. Potter: HORSE HOCKEY!!! This genuine American male sheepdog is more than capable of keeping his children safe from perverts, criminals, and democrat gungrabbers. (Sorry, didn’t mean to repeat myself).
My Gun. I never leave home without it. If I forget it, I go back and get it. It is a tool, therefore I don’t take it out and play with it. That would be dangerous!