What's your first thought if you see a guy walking around in public strapped with a pistol or rifle?

That he or she is a wing-nut, and to be avoided, lest one would have to hear him or her speak.

I’d wonder how I got into that part of town.

That I had gotten transported instantly to Mexico where cub scouts in blue uniforms walk around with automatic weapons on their shoulders.

If it’s not a cop? And I’m in the US? A bedwetter who is frightened and confused by the world outside his mother’s basement.

Move

Is that a pistol in ye pocket or are you just pleased to see me pilgrim.Coz if ye are well, you’re shit outta luck. I shoots with a straight barrel if ye know what I mean.My second thought would be to go clean myself in the crapper.

turn around and start walking in the other direction.

I would know I could relax and enjoy my cup of coffee and not worry about a robbery.

Fuckin cop.

Where I live, people don’t walk around with guns normally unless they are a cop or are trying to rob a bank lol.

I’d wonder if I left NY accidentally and teleported into Texas or something. Not okay here.

Have never seen that before other than on a police officer. But then again, I am from California. :)

I would find it to be a bit weird and a bit freaky. Of course I think people should be allowed to have guns, but I don’t really see the point in bringing them with you when you’re in public. I would probably think they were planning to rob whatever business I was in or go on some kind of shooting rampage that seems to be all the rage these days.

@Cruiser Lol, what if the guy is a nutso and is planning on robbing starbucks.

Are robberies normally a problem at Starbucks?

They don’t allow you to carry a gun into a bank. I think that’s a very successful policy.

lol, and if so, are the robbers caffeine addicts?

If we are in a state where that is legal I have no problem with it.
Where I live it must be concealed.

Duel!! Right after you get your half caf mochacino no foam latte. I’ll see you at high noon mr. Shaky hands. Let’s duel.

If this happened in England you’d sure as hell clear the queues at Argos.

call the police and report an impending terrorist attack

“I thought the Tea Party was next week.”

Well, if it’s a place where you’re allowed to bring firearms, I guess that’s that. But having never seen anyone openly lug around rifles and shit other than cops, I can’t help but to think I’d feel uneasy.

I mean once I saw some crazy dude with a chainsaw at the gas station, yelling that he was gonna cut everything down…he couldn’t start his chainsaw, it was probably outta gas which is why I’m guessing he was at a gas station haha. We were in the car, and called the police from there. They picked him up eventually.

So I’d just hide somewhere and contact the authorities if I saw some dude with a gun, that is, if it was somewhere where it wasn’t legal.

I’ve never seen anyone with a gun who wasn’t a soldier or cop.

Danger. Danger, Will Robinson.

It’s a whack job from Montana.

That happened to me at a McDonald’s, and the guy walked in with his hand on his holstered gun. Scared the shit out of me until I realized he was a Brinks-type guy. (He wasn’t wearing anything with a visible logo.)

He takes his gun rights way too seriously

This happened to me at a Macaroni Grill. My first thought? What an insecure, self important ass. How unsafe has the world become, when you feel you need to wear a gun while eating spaghetti and meat balls?

Maybe he lives in a state where concealed carry is not permitted and it must be in plain view. I have seen people in Arizona carry holstered guns on their belts. It doesn’t bother anyone.
I have lived in states with concealed carry laws and you would not know the person has one. If they show it, that is called brandishing and is illegal.
Don’t ask don’t tell.
I figure if the person is not hiding it they are probably ok.

Most of you would piss yourselves if you ever bumped into me.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard haha…you’re cute. :)

@DominicX, aww shucks! *blushes ;-)

Welcome to Lawrence County Tennessee. If he/she looks like a redneck and has a pistol in a holster I assume the person has a permit since Tennessee has a concealed carry law. If I saw someone toting a rifle or shotgun I would wonder whats going on or if its Sept 1st opening day of dove season.

I need to get away from here.

Can I do that now??? I am alright with it ;)

I wouldn’t care as long as he wasn’t acting suspiciously

God Bless America and the Second Amendment…

@boffin

To improve my insight, how would you describe the connection between God and guns?

@cockswain It’s an expression…
Should I have said, “Thank God for the Second Amendment”.
Or possibly made reference to The Flying Spaghetti Monster?

@boffin I guess I’m always hoping to get some sound logic on that subject from a true believer.

“That’s an odd place to put a mirror”.

I have never seen an openly armed individual, except a police officer or a member of tge military, walking around in public. If I did I would walk away, just like I do when approached by those guys who scream randomly as they push their shopping carts and the guys wearing raincoats and no pants .

BTW—If you Wyatt Earp wannabes get your way and open carry becomes the law everywhere, what are you going to do about the “No Firearms Allowed” signs that will appear on private property. Can’t you just see it, walking around displaying your penis symbols and not welcome anywhere but the pawn shop and gunstores.

I’ll be sure to pay you a visit first.

Smugly telling others what to do, happy now?

Just apply the thinking around another controversial subject to firearm possesion:

“If you don’t believe in guns, don’t have one”.

@PacificRimjob (appropriate user name, I’m sure)

“I’ll be sure to pay you a visit first” Are you for real? LMAO!

Seriously, Mr Omniscient, what topic is comparable to carrying deadly weapons in public. Wearing white after Labor Day? Walking the dog without a pooper-scoope?

The problem with trying to deal with gun nuts and your ilk is that you are 2 dimensional beings in a 4 dimensional universe

I don’t have a weapon so come and get me, Yosemite Sam.

Places with gun laws that allow people to legally carry guns usually have less crime! Look it up.

Now, if the dude is ranting, or otherwise looks disturbed, that’s another issue.

A properly holstered firearm in the hands of an average joe citizen would make me feel like this is a good safe place to sit down and have a cup of coffee.

A gun unholstered in someones hand makes me want to run for the door.

I would wonder whether I had walked through a temporal rift and landed in 1885.

And then, upon realising that it is still 2010, I’d cast the feller a dirty look, and wonder if he knows the guy whose 6 year old just shot the baby with a loaded weapon that was carelessly left on top of the television set.

@galileogirl: You aren’t interested in a rational discussion about firearms.

Instead you relay to us your exclusively emotional impression of firearms.

You also wish to declare yourself superior to those citizens who choosee to carry.

So all things gun are beneath you, I see why you’re so proud.

Also, why should I use serious language to reply to your “ilk”, “2 dimentional” “Mr. Omniscient”, “gun nuts” and “Yosemite Sam”.

@PacificRimjob There is no rational discussion with a cartoon. While laughter does indicate humor, it is not about guns, it’s about you. Sorry if English is not you first language so you didn’t get the references.

Btw, when you finally are required to get help, ask the shrink about “p-r-o-j-e-c-t-i-o-n”

Anti-firearm attitudes are an emotional response based out of fear and/or misunderstanding mixed with sprinkles of political brainwashing.

@galileogirl , @PacificRimjob

You guys should realize neither of you will craft a response that is so clever the other will be humbled and you’ll win. Why don’t you discuss more of the specifics rationally instead of deteriorating into personal attacks?

@PacificRimjob : I’m interested in a rational discussion about firearms. Why do you think it is necessary to carry one around when the probability of attack is so remote?

I’m guessing most of you don’t mess with rattle snakes, sharks or grizzly bears but would not think twice about swatting a fly or stepping on a roach right?

Got it??

@galileogirl:

Believing in the second amendent is grounds to seek mental health support?

I see an NRA member.

VIRGIN, Utah – This tiny southern Utah town has enacted an ordinance requiring a gun and ammunition in every home for residents’ self-defense.

KENNESAW, Ga – Several Kennesaw officials attribute a drop in crime in the city over the past two decades to a law that requires residents to have a gun.

Now where can I get one of those?

@ChazMaz Kennesaw and Virgins must be hotbeds of liberalism. You know how those progressives want to pass laws telling us how to live our lives. And think about the bureaucracy needed to make sure the people obey the law. Sounds like another Obama jobs bill. Argghh!

Both are towns I would not mind living in. And they have been that way for a long time.

The population of these towns are all for it. That is why it works. Or you move somewhere else.

@galileogirl and Chazmaz

Not having lived too far from Kennesaw, I know that before the law was enacted, it was an unsafe place to live. The people there are happy about the law, it isn’t forced upon them. Knowing that it exists causes criminals to think twice about doing something to one of Kennesaw’s citizens.

Living in Los Angeles, where you couldn’t get a concealed carry permit if you PAID for it (and LA is all about getting paid), I wonder why we don’t have better laws about gun rights here.

The crime is SO high, and criminals are going to carry weapons whether anyone says it’s ok or not. So here, the only people hurt by it are the normal citizens who are not given the right to protect themselves. And if there is a liberal place in this nation, it’s Los Angeles.

Oh, and those laws were enacted WAAAAY before Obama.

Fact from fiction, truth from diction. I would say than man or woman is enjoying full benefit of the right to bare arms as guaranteed by the Constitution. And I know chances are no punk will try to come rob the place if there are several people there exercising their open carry law policy.

Sorry to jump in with this, but I think this thread could use some humor.

I keep my under my jacket (concealed carry),

I would feel safer. The bad guys don’t show their weapons unless the crime is in process, so it must be a good guy who is carrying.

I’d assume he was American.

initial reaction? “do me”.

I would think they are a hunter, but I have no idea were to find a starbucks. They sell coffee right? Were I live you see alot of guns. Most people here hunt.

When I see a gun it makes me nervous.

Around here, it depends on the uniform the person is wearing.

If I see some wingnut packing heat at a political rally in one of the open-carry states, I wonder what the guy must be thinking, knowing a dozen Secret Service snipers have got a bead drawn on his skull every moment.

I’d l leave.

That the person is prepared to be responsible for a life-or-death situation and is in a position to make sure that people around him are not harmed. And he’s willing to do it without being paid.

Such people are rare indeed.

Not rare enough

I kind of get the idea they are hoping for a chance to shoot someone. Like if a guy tries to rob the liquor store the gun-toter is standing in, or he sees someone grab a purse, that dude will proudly start firing away.

I just remembered a related story. A guy, I think in Texas, definitely the south, saw a couple guys breaking into his neighbors house and stealing stuff. I heard the 911 call of the “righteous citizen” telling the dispatcher how the burglars were leaving now and he was going to shoot him. The dispatcher repeatedly told him NOT to shoot the burglars, but he felt it was his duty. He went outside and started firing. Both burglars dropped what they had and started running away. He was able to shoot one in the back.

Was this justified?

@cockswain No idea if it was justified. That is up to the State of Texas. Personally I don’t like the idea of shooting people in the back but it happens with cops as well as civilians. Real rules of engagement aren’t derived from Hollywood westerns.

As for the rest of the story, I would point out that his neighbor got to keep his stuff. Had the burglars gotten away he almost certainly would never have seen it again.

More than that he would have been afraid of being burglarized for years. It is a violation and people take a certain amount of psychic damage when their home is broken into. They no longer feel safe.

And a note about the guy who got shot: the shitbird in question broke into another person’s house of his own free will.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Horn_shooting_controversy btw, is this is the case you are referring to?

@Factotum Yes, that’s the story. Thanks for doing the legwork, I was lazy. So anyways, yes, he didn’t just shoot one, he killed both. I’m opposed to what he did because of the impact it would have if everyone were legally within their rights to do what Joe Horn did. I see your logic, and I empathize with victims of burglary, as well as agree burglars are total dirtbags. Dirtbags that deserve justice equitable with their crimes, not being murdered by some crazed vigilante being advised by authorities not to shoot fleeing men. Our society would be plagued with vigilante murderers if we allowed citizens to choose the on-the-spot punishments for crimes. Whether the burglars had a few CDs or a Picasso, they shouldn’t have been murdered.

The real problem lies with the conditions that create burglars.

I prefer the term ‘shot in the commission of a crime’ to ‘murder’. There were numerous extenuating circumstances.

I agree with you that the criminals didn’t deserve to die over this but I am hesitant to assume that Horn did anything that a reasonable person in the same situation would not have done – I wasn’t there. And the only cop who was there stayed in his car (probably a good idea since he was plain clothes and Horn might quite reasonable have assumed that he was a getaway driver no matter how much badge he flashed in the dark).

he’s just strapped, he’s not got it in his hand in a threatening manner. so what’s the big deal.

I would check to see which hunting season is open.