An excellent article from (surprisingly) The LA Times:
Packing in public: Gun owners tired of hiding their weapons embrace ‘open carry’
Those who wear their guns in full sight are part of a fledgling movement to make a firearm a common accessory.
By Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 7, 2008(… continued …)
Nearby, Scott Thompson picked over the remains of a salad, his Springfield Armory XD-35 sitting snugly in his hip holster.
The gangly graphics designer grew up in a home without guns and didn’t think of owning one until he started dating a woman — now his wife — who lived in a rough neighborhood. One night last year, a youth had his head beaten in with a pipe outside her bedroom window. The next day, Thompson got a concealed-weapons permit.
Thompson found out about open carry last month while reading gun sites. He’s become a convert. He likes the statement it makes.
Glancing around the restaurant, as armed families like the Jensens dined with men in cowboy hats and professionals like himself, Thompson smiled.
“I love this,” he said. “I want people to be aware that crazy people are not the only ones with guns. Normal people carry them.”
The Jensens’ daughter, Sierra, and newborn son, Tyler, began to get restless, so the couple bundled up the children and pulled the manager of the restaurant aside to thank her for hosting them.
A patron appeared at Jensen’s side and began to berate him. “What you guys are doing here is completely unacceptable,” he said. “There are children here.”
Jensen said that everyone in the restaurant had a legal right to carry. The man didn’t back down and the Jensens left.
Days later, Jensen was still thinking about the reaction and the man’s belief that guns are unsafe.
“People can feel that way and it doesn’t bother me,” he said. “If they have irrational fears, that’s fine.”
1 response so far ↓
1 Your Jewish Master // Jun 22, 2008 at 5:05 pm
This is the kind of bottom up change that has to occur. We won’t change the politicians until WE change.