Open Carry ≠ Public Panic

Open Carry ≠ Public Panic

Long ago another blogger (I won't link to it now, but you can search this site if you'd like) said about citizens carrying firearms:

I just...I just blink my eyes in amazement everytime this crops up - actually watching people feel the need to carry a concealed weapon in public...

If I were to take a live, armed weapon and carry it on my person, in public, it would eat away at my sanity just as if it were emitting lethal radiation. To know that I carried an instrument of sure and certain death on my person, available and ready to be pulled out and used at a moment's notice to possibly kill...a child. A homeless person. An innocent.

Tonight I had dinner with about thirty people at a packed Golden Corral restaurant in Phoenix.

And almost every one of us was open carrying. About half of us (me included) were toting 1911s. At least another third were carrying revolvers of various types, from Single-Action Army models to modern Smith & Wessons. Then there were a smattering of the various plastic-fantastic pistols - Glocks, Springfield XDs, etc.

There was no public panic. Lots of children running about the place. (I damn near stepped on the cutest little girl - so much for my situational awareness in a crowded restaurant! She came around me like John Force at the WinterNationals, only without the blast of nitromethane exhaust to warn me.) Lots of families. No one got shot at the salad bar. No one was winged at the dessert buffet. There were no duels over the last popcorn shrimp. No wild-west shootouts over the last parking space.

No one ran screaming from the restaurant in fear. No one (to our knowledge) complained about all the armed people in the place. The police were not summoned. The FBI did not put in an appearance.

And nobody robbed the place either. (Can you imagine what an epic failure of the victim-selection process that would have been?) All in all, it was a pleasant meal with good company - all members of The Gun Counter. And me. I'm not a member, but I got an invite anyway. It was a much bigger turnout that I expected.

UPDATE - 8/16/09: INSTALANCHE!! Welcome! Please do spend a little extra time perusing the site. I recommend checking out the "Best Posts" on the left column.

<--------- (Over there! Scroll down a bit.)

But get a beverage and a snack first. Some of them run a little long. I call them "Überposts." One reader, for example, said Of Laws and Sausages was a "13,000 word wall of text, but I assure you, it's worthwhile."

Thanks for visiting!