The open carry movement has been gaining speed all across America, and has garnished heated opinions from both sides, begging the question: why so afraid? The simple answer is simply that we fear the unknown or what we don't understand, and people on both sides of the debate have reasonable fears about the topic. Those against open carry are afraid of the person with the gun and are afraid of the gun in general, while open carry advocates are afraid of being a victim and of losing their right to carry a weapon to defend themselves and others. Both sides of the controversy have legitimate concerns that need to be understood for the benefit of all.
Those against the open carry of firearms have legitimate reasons to be afraid, but many of those concerns simply arise from a lack of knowledge and understanding. I have found that most people who are against firearms usually have little to no experience with them outside of movies, television, and the news, which all tend to portray guns as something evil that should be feared. It is completely logical that people who have no positive experiences with firearms would be scared and would question the intentions of someone who is carrying openly. One of the arguments that arises surrounding open carry is that the intentions of the gun owner are unknown and that the person could be dangerous and intend on committing a crime or hurting someone using that firearm, and this is a completely legitimate concern. While it is an unfortunate fact of life that there are many “bad” people in the world who commit crimes and hurt people, there are far more law abiding citizens who are carrying a firearm openly in an attempt to deter crime and to protect themselves and others around them. California law provides that it is legal to use lethal force, or exercise what is known as legal homicide, in self defense or in the defense of another where serious threat or bodily injury may arise, and that is exactly why many people want to carry a firearm ("Homicide", 2011).
In California and most other states it is legal for a citizen, who is not restricted from owning or possessing a firearm, to carry a firearm without a permit as long as it is carried openly or in plain sight in a holster and no ammunition is attached to the weapon (“California Open Carry”, 2010; O'Connel & Jargon, 2010). Under California law a weapon is only considered loaded if ammunition or an unfired casing is within the gun and is in a position to be fired, which includes a loaded magazine in a pistol whether or not there is a round in the chamber. Those individuals who are carrying firearms openly are generally trying to accomplish two things: the first is to help to create a safer society by deterring crime and the second, which is arguably most important, is to get rid of the negative stigma attached to guns and to provide a walking example of the sheer number of law abiding gun owners that exist. The intentions of these law abiding gun owners are pure enough, but the problem is that openly carrying a firearm has become so shocking that is has almost had the opposite effect from what was wanted. Open carry advocates wanted to raise awareness about guns and how many law abiding gun owners there are, but unfortunately there are so many negative stigmas attached to firearms that their plan has almost backfired. People have become so afraid of firearms that the do not want to see them in public, and have tried to pass legislation that would make it illegal to open carry a firearm altogether.
The problem remains: what are you afraid of? Open carry advocates feel that they are making society safer from the evil criminals despite the fact that crime has been steadily decreasing for the past few decades, and those opposed to open carry are afraid of the evil law abiding gun owners who are going to commit heinous crimes; despite the fact that crime has been steadily decreasing for the past few decades. One of the problems in this and most issues surrounding gun control is a simple lack of understanding by both parties involved. The biggest problem is that the media often skews facts in one way or another and helps to create a massive dichotomy in which there are only two sides to every story and there is no middle ground. Open carry in itself is not evil and has not lead to a massive increase in crime, but open carry enthusiasts need to realize that simply carrying a gun is not necessarily going to stop crime and that not everyone gains comfort in seeing their pistol. It has often been stated by open carry enthusiasts that “An armed society is a polite society” but do we really want to live in a society of forced politeness? Why so afraid?
References
“California Open Carry” (2010). California Open Carry.org. Retrieved on April 18, 2011 from <http://www.californiaopencarry.org/CaliforniaOpenCarry.pdf>.
"Homicide" (2011). The Free Dictionary by Farlex - Legal Dictionary. Retrieved April 18, 2011 from <http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/homicide>.
O'Connel, V. & Jargon, J. (2010). "Stores land in gun-control crossfire". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on April 18, 2011 from <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704541304575099433593489048.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop>.
"Homicide" (2011). The Free Dictionary by Farlex - Legal Dictionary. Retrieved April 18, 2011 from <http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/homicide>.
O'Connel, V. & Jargon, J. (2010). "Stores land in gun-control crossfire". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on April 18, 2011 from <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704541304575099433593489048.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop>.
