Open Carry And Monsters In the Closet
BY Herschel Smith
12 years, 5 months ago
As regular readers know, I am an advocate of open carry. I openly carry a firearm for several reasons, none of which is to “make a point.” I hate the feel of so-called “inside the waistband” carry, I hate sweating my weapon (especially in the summer), and my weapon simply hangs better if I use a good tactical holster and carry it on my side. My home state of North Carolina is an open carry state, and has no stop and identify statute. I have observed before that no one screams and runs for cover, and all of the boogeymen under the bed that people imagine when they think of open carry simply do not obtain. They aren’t real.
So as you can imagine, I couldn’t resist a chuckle when I read this paragraph in a commentary somewhat friendly to open carry.
If you do carry in an exposed manner, have you considered what would happen if someone snatched your pistol while you were distracted? Don’t give me that line about always being in condition yellow, or how you are never distracted. Everyone can be, and everyone is at various points throughout the day. You do your best, but your best ain’t perfect.
Sometimes, spotting a criminal is obvious. Many times it is not. Sometimes the person grabbing your gun isn’t a criminal at all, but that nice lady in the grocery store line behind you who just lost her job, found out her husband is cheating on her and thinks life is not worth living. She smiles at you, but she is thinking about death. If someone grabs that exposed gun, can you defend it?
Here in my home state, nice ladies don’t snatch guns out of holsters and go on rampages. Nonetheless, thinking about weapon retention is usually in order. What kind of holster do you have, how difficult would it be to unholster your weapon, and so forth.
But the notion about people going berserk and freaking out and spuriously going on killing sprees and rampages is just the monster in the closet. Give it some thought. If you suspect a monster of being in your closet, have your weapon ready, open the door, and if he’s not there, relax. Be prepared, but don’t be paranoid about it. Fearing monsters and boogeymen after you’ve already looked under the bed and in the closet is just being paranoid.
On July 13, 2012 at 6:59 am, TS Alfabet said:
Good points, Herschel.
But let’s take a second to point out the not-so-farcical monsters that are roaming our streets every day that outweigh any hand-wringing about guns being “snatched away.”
The guy who goes on a shooting rampage in the local mall, fast-food place or local college. The guy who decides he wants to hijack your family car and have some “fun” with your loved ones. These are Monsters that are all too real and having people walking around with pistols in open view will either deter them or at least help bring their predations to a quick and final ending.
So, I’ll take the insignificant chance that some granny at the Wal Mart may snatch Herschel’s gun from his holster in exchange for having him around and ready to slay the REAL Monsters that walk around us everyday.
On July 13, 2012 at 8:09 am, Herschel Smith said:
Good points. I wish I had made them.