I'm a proponent for open carry. Here in the Sunshine state, we're not allowed by our masters to do so, but it's something I think is about time to start pushing for. However, anywhere I see it come up, the idea is viscously attacked. The attacks come from two basic angles

Fear - Many gun-toting Floridians believe that pushing for Open Carry will scare the sheep and cause us to actually lose the ability to exercise our rights freely. I think this is cowardice in the extreme as it assumes we only have the rights we have because of an oversight and that if we push for more, some legislators would realize their mistake and clamp down.

Hogwash. These are our rights and we need not back down in the face of a tyrannical government bent on preventing us from exercising them.

The other fear is that tourism would suffer because people wouldn't come to Florida if they saw scary firearms on every man, woman, and child. Again this is not a true statement but a good sound bite to use as a scare tactic come election time. Each time Florida has passed a new, pro-rights friendly law, the standard screeches come out regarding loss of tourism. And each time, it never comes to fruition.

The second attack against Open Carry is what I can only describe as Open Carry Violates a Major Ninja / Martial Arts / S.W.A.T. / Navy SEAL Law - something about not tipping your hand to the criminal as to your capability. Apparently it's better to use your superior stealth skills to lure the criminal into attacking you, then blinding him with a quick draw that would make the Lone Ranger give up his mask.

From Say Uncle, I read about this young lady's adventure in firearms. She also shows off her sidearm here. And here's what I thought.

Now, I hope my wife will forgive me for what I'm about to say, but that girl has a nice body. A little on the thin side, but quite attractive nonetheless. She's tiny enough that any decent sized male could probably overpower her in a heartbeat, and looking that good, she makes an attractive target (no pun intended).

Now, the Super Mall Ninjas who think you should never show your firearm must assume that girls such as Sarah also have their lighting quick reflexes and can un-conceal and fire a four shot, .732" grouping in under 2 seconds. I doubt it.

In the second link, a commenter replies

Diana said...

I bet nobody messes with you!!

Of course not. If a criminal were to know she were armed, chances are he'd pick a different target. You don't see too many police officers getting jumped and mugged / raped now do you? The reason is because criminals see them as a threat - a threat that could kill them. Why take that chance? It'd be better to find an old lady or a young, frail woman that couldn't hurt you.

What if that old lady or young woman carried openly? Now they are on the same level as the police officer. An attacker is going to look for another, easier target.

So in essence, if you have a hot ass, you might want to be able to do something to deter thugs from bothering you because of it. Open carrying might just do the trick.

This isn't to say Open Carry is a talisman that would prevent you from ever being attacked, but it sure as hell lowers the chance considerably. Sure, some thug could get a rush off of attacking someone with a gun, but that thug shouldn't be walking the streets in the first place as it's doubtful someone with no criminal record is going to go for aggravated assault and attempted (or not) murder in their first outing.

Yes, as Uncle says, we shouldn't try to "scare the white people". But since most states that have Open Carry do not see a lot of it, I don't think that's something we need to worry about right off the bat (it's going to scare plenty of white people). By not doing so, we constantly put our rights in a light of "something to be ashamed of" and that's a shame. I'm proud to be able to defend myself and loved ones, it's not something to be embarrassed of and yet we treat it like so.

Now, I have nothing against concealing. Most of the time I think it's just more prudent for me to do. But there are plenty of times and plenty of cases where it would be much easier and safer for my firearm to be completely visible. And in cases like my little, frail mother, I'd prefer the criminals see what they'd have to deal with and move on to some other target.