This is something I'm not too sure about. I know many people favor this. In fact...historically speaking the carrying of arms openly was seen as a sign of being above board, and carrying concealed was for criminals. But now? I think the views have changed. So what restrictions on open carry would you put in place? If at all? Do you prefer open carry? Do you open carry? That kind of thing.
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I'm not
against it, but I don't think society is most states is ready to cope with it comfortably. Also, I personally prefer to carry concealed for both tactical advantages and social reasons.
Ideally, I'd prefer that it were legal. However, I think it is one thing to walk down a country road carrying a rifle or shotgun, and quite a different thing to walk into Starbucks or Wal-mart with an AR on a single point sling in tactical low-ready position.
For the most part, I think the latter is showboating and probably does more harm than good to the cause.
I've seen people open-carry in my home state, even though strictly speaking its legality is dubious at best. A holstered sidearm on someone's belt in the Piggly-Wiggly doesn't bother me... odds are very strong if they were planning to make trouble it would either be in-hand or concealed.
A guy walking down a country road with a shotgun or hunting rifle is not an issue to me.
But the guy who totes his AR or AK to go shopping or get coffee.... that's kind of an oddity. Even to me, and I'm as comfortable with guns around as most people are about cell phones. Long guns are not exactly convenient to tote around, for one. I wouldn't normally be carrying one on my person unless I expected to use it for something.
They're conspicuous and draw attention.... not something I want to do either.
If slung in a non-threatening manner they're not so easy to get quickly into action and are typically less useful in close quarters, which describes most self-defense situations.
Personally I don't see much point in toting one around, unless there's some kind of escalated threat situation going on.
Not real keen on wearing a handgun openly visible on the belt either. I did so when I was a cop and on duty... and wore it in a retention holster, and tended to keep my forearm over it when in a crowd, constantly aware of the risk of someone trying to snatch it (retention holsters are far from foolproof as we learned in instructional videos).
I much prefer concealed. It avoids social awkwardness among people who are made uncomfortable by firearms, but more importantly it gives you tactical advantages if something actually happens, as your status as an armed citizen is not immediately obvious (if you're doing it right).
Open carry probably is a deterrent, but it is also a "shoot me first" sign for bad guys who aren't going to be easily deterred.
EVEN SO, yes I do support legal open carry.
I just don't plan to practice it myself much, and would wish those who do would exercise some basic discretion about where, when and how they do so.
