Originally Posted by Riverpigusmc (Post 49539)

here in Dixie we don't have to carry unloaded guns funny

And I've had a license to carry concealed since 1977 in three different states. Just be nice to run up to the local Stop N Rob without throwing on a cover shirt over your pistol..sometimes I get halfway into town and have to go back and get one

Originally Posted by skosh69 (Post 49540)

Keep an extra shirt in your truck!

Originally Posted by skosh69 (Post 49536)

Sorry, but I never understood the concept of OC.

Originally Posted by DrHenley (Post 49546)

Maybe I can shed some light on that.

There haven't always been "shall issue" laws in most places. Once upon a time, in many jurisdictions, open carry was the only way you could legally carry a pistol. It was assumed that concealed carry was for nefarious purposes. Open carry was the "honest" way to carry a pistol.

Let's take Mississippi....Here is what the Mississippi State Constitution says:



On face value, it would seem that open carry is protected by the state constitution. And that is how people took it! Why would you hide the fact that you are armed, unless you had some nefarious purpose in mind?

This was the thinking, and I grew up with that mindset. So that profoundly affects my attitudes about open carry. I carried openly many times back when. People did not freak out at the sight of a gun, and as far as I know, I never even raised any eyebrows.

Then the courts started to rule that a "partially concealed" gun was concealed, meaning wearing it openly on your hip in a holster was carrying concealed! This was to get around the Mississippi State Constitution that only allowed the legislature to regulate concealed weapons!

I haven't lived in Mississippi in over two decades, but i do visit several time a year and hunt there. So I don't know if people are getting to where they freak out over guns. I know a lot of people here in Georgia do.

When the public is not used to seeing guns as much, I think it's only a matter of time before some people start freaking out.

One goal of open carry is to get people used to seeing citizens carry guns. To desensitize them to guns and make the presence of guns normal.

Originally Posted by skosh69 (Post 49536)

Sorry, but I never understood the concept of OC. Up until a year ago, it was legal here in California, then it was banned.

I really never got into why you would want to walk around with an unloaded gun on your hip other than to say to everyone, "look at me, I'm a modern day John Wayne"!

If I'm a bad guy, the first person I'm gonna go after or smack down is the guy with the unloaded gun!

On another note, it never failed to amaze me the amount of azzhats that would OC just to get the public riled up and then get into a big confrontation with the cops about rights and such regarding OC. See youtube.com for a large amount of videos that people took of themselves arguing with the cops over their "right" to OC.

Sorry folks, if you want to carry a gun, get a permit and do it the right way.

Just my .02!

Originally Posted by Riverpigusmc (Post 49539)

here in Dixie we don't have to carry unloaded guns funny

Originally Posted by skosh69 (Post 49572)

You took me too literally....I fully understand the concept! I was, as one might say, being sarcastic.

Your explanation, while valid for most of you southerner's, but out here in the liberal west...IT FREAKS PEOPLE OUT!!!! :eek: