Amazing what a little historical perspective can add to the conversation
Thinking about the history lesson that McDonald tells, it is also worth considering the extent to which gun-rights activism itself has been distorted by this history. If you look at Second Amendment-equivalents passed in state constitutions during the mid- and late-1800s, a bizarre number of them refer to concealed carry. Incidentally, this seems to be more true of states in the South than in other places; indeed, the phenomenon of licensed concealed carry (together with the invention of gun boards) emerged as a way to control who (read: whites) could carry guns concealed, with great stigma (if not formal ban) increasingly attached to the open carry of firearms, the only form of legal carry effectively open to blacks (if even this was allowed either in practice or in law). This history played out in Michigan in the case of Ossian Sweet; a black doctor who moved into a predominantly white area of Detroit, Sweet allegedly defended his family and house from a mob of presumed KKK sympathizers with firearms. Though ultimately acquitted, the case is largely credited with giving rise to the 1927 legislation that established gun boards in Michigan, requiring citizens to appear before the board in order to be granted permission to exercise their right to self-defense. Thus, this puts the open carry versus concealed carry debate into historical perspective; had it not been for prior controls on the ways in which blacks can legally carry firearms, the very idea of concealed carry as the “preferred” mode of carry may never have taken such great hold.
From my reading, it's my understanding that originally Concealed Carry was considered to be the realm of reprobates and outlaws. But, seeing as you couldn't have blacks walking around with firearms, it made sense to turn CC into a good thing by 'licensing' it, and then publicly shunning Open Carry. And when blacks couldn't get the license, they were effectively shut off from bearing arms in public.
A very interesting bit of knowledge to have there. I am in no way insinuating those who are so vehemently opposed to OC that they are racist, just like I truly do not believe most progressives view gun bans as a way to keep a brother down. That they end up doing so is a by-product.
Fascinating!