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Originally Posted by skosh69
Sorry, but I never understood the concept of OC.
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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:
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The right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall not be called in question, but the legislature may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons.
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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.