Text from the Open Carry flier that we handed out at the Expo Boise gun show

DOES THE THOUGHT OF CARRYING OPENLY IN PUBLIC
MAKE YOU NERVOUS, UNCOMFORTABLE OR FEARFUL?
If so, then learning these few facts may help to settle your nerves and alleviate your fears.
• Anthropologist Charles Springwood defined it well when he said that Open Carriers are trying to “naturalize the presence of guns, which means that guns become ordinary, omnipresent, and expected. Over time, the gun becomes a symbol of ordinary personhood.”
• Open Carry is the first line of defense against the anti-gun groups and its first casualty in states where it is not practiced. If you don’t use it, you lose it. 95% of Idaho residents do not know you can Open Carry without a permit and we will lose our rights when we remain ignorant of them.
• Finally, but equally important, we Open Carry for our defense – and - it allows criminals to make well informed decisions, which are unavailable to them when they are around those who Conceal Carry.
The projected crime rate this year for the city of Boise will be:
408 Aggravated assaults
938 Burglaries
109 Forcible Rapes
8 Murders or Manslaughter
74 Robberies
It is unlikely that Open Carriers will experience the rapes, robberies, murders or assaults.
“Open Carry is the beautiful bold face of the 2nd Amendment
and the ultimate symbol of American freedom”

I would appreciate your suggestions for improvement.

Tony@idahoopencarry.org

It ruined us in CA! Could have had better judgment by the self serving OC people on this issue here! We all got s@rewed! Royally! Thanks a bunch!

Granted the 'elected officials' are a collective bunch of morons = have you seen the body count in Oakland or LA lately?

Know what battles to fight, and when to fight them!

I prefer any criminal I happen to encounter to continue to make uninformed decisions.

Commiefornia ruined itself when the citizens didn't do their homework on who they were voting for. I mean to sum it up Nancy Pelosi came from Commiefornia so there is the problem as far as your anti-gun laws.

OP it looks good. OC is going mainstream and if everyone is noticing Pistol sales are up and so are firearm sales in general. Concealed Permit classes are selling like hot cakes around here in the "D" and people don't just CC when they get their permits... Our CPL's here make OC alot easier

Does the thought of open carry in public make you feel confident, assertive and cocky? If so, then learning these few facts may deflate your ego and rain on your parade:
With Freudian mindset, a gun represents an extension of one's manhood; accordingly a public display of one's gun is the societal equivalent of exposing oneself.
Open carry is the anti-gun crowd's ace in the hole against 2nd Amendment rights, allowing them to play upon the public's fear of something they otherwise wouldn't think about. If you frighten and intimidate the public badly enough, the backlash can act against everyone's rights, as recently demonstrated in California.
95% of Americans have no interest whatsoever in participating in open carry, regardless of legality or lack of permit requirements.
Open carry, unlike concealed carry, forewarns criminals of their victim's ability to resist and allows them to to plan their strategies accordingly.

Open carry is the in-your-face application of the controversial, fragile and much-maligned Second Amendment, providing much-needed publicity to all who oppose it.

I don't know... I've talked to some of my older friends back in the PRK (I've said that many times... for those uninitiated, I'm talking about the People's Republic of Kalifornia) and they said that the Open Carriers GOT WHAT WAS COMING TO THEM. I thought these were people that were for gun rights?? I don't understand... what did the open carriers do to deserve the attack on their rights except for exercising them?

I couldn't disagree more, Mike. Division in the gun community is what did England in. When you can get firearms enthusiasts of any sort to attack one another, assuming that the fundamental right was not what was under attack, you have won far more support and credibility than any anti-gunner could ever give you.

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Originally Posted by MisterAvis

I couldn't disagree more, Mike. Division in the gun community is what did England in. When you can get firearms enthusiasts of any sort to attack one another, assuming that the fundamental right was not what was under attack, you have won far more support and credibility than any anti-gunner could ever give you.

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My point-by-point response to the original post was no more an attack on it than that original post was on anyone not in agreement with it.

Words like "cocky", "deflated egos", and "extensions of manhood" are hard to interpret any other way. They don't have to do with the value or detriment of open carry. That is a damn good lookin' dog, btw :) .. On the other hand "naturalize the presence of guns" is compelling and addresses the efficacy of ideas, rather than ridiculing the motives.

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Originally Posted by MisterAvis

Words like "cocky", "deflated egos", and "extensions of manhood" are hard to interpret any other way. They don't have to do with the value or detriment of open carry. That is a damn good lookin' dog, btw :) .. On the other hand "naturalize the presence of guns" is compelling and addresses the efficacy of ideas, rather than ridiculing the motives.

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Re-read the original post, where those who don't OC are asked if they are fearful, nervous, or uncomfortable. I merely went to the opposite extreme. If you can't sell it to a vet who carries full-time, is a lifetime NRA member and instructor, and has had a life-long love affair with all things firearms, it probably won't to sell to a public which is much more skeptical. Dakota the wonder wolf thanks you, as well. I trained him for a friend of mine, and he is one gorgeous critter.

Thanks for hashing it out with me for a sec. I'm a big supporter. I believe in breaking the paradigm. Not forcing it down their throats by acting like morons, but demonstrating what responsible carry looks like. We will have to eat around the edges (its probably not for every city).. But I believe, and we may disagree, that OC has a place and a value in the modern day society. Is that a recent pic of Dakota?

Open carry is one good way to desensitize the anti gun folks. I am sure what went on in California was not the sole fault of open carrying.

I do understand reasons for concealed carry however concealed carry can also be likened to the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy the military had. Now that 49 states have some type of carry laws and 20 some states have open carry laws maybe it is time carry advocates "came out".

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Originally Posted by Mike1956

If you can't sell it to a vet who carries full-time, is a lifetime NRA member and instructor, and has had a life-long love affair with all things firearms, it probably won't to sell to a public which is much more skeptical.

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No one said it would be an easy sell but to say don't attempt to sell defeats the purpose of defending our 2nd amendment rights. I am sure there are vets who carry full time, are lifetime NRA members, etc., etc., that can/are convinced. By not attempting something it presents only one outcome, failure. However if attempted it it presents two outcomes, success or failure.

"Some goals are so worthy, it's glorious even to fail."
-Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey

I thought these were people that were for gun rights?? I don't understand... what did the open carriers do to deserve the attack on their rights except for exercising them?

California OC'ers had a plan and that plan was to use in your face tactics of OC'ing, egging on confrontations with LE, videotaping the encounters and crying how they were harrassed and rights violated. They did it for the sake of getting attention even to the point they would carry some cheap piece of junk handgun knowing they were going to get stopped and their firearm confiscated, many stated this right here on this forum.

They demanded action from the state, well they got it. It was to the point no one had sympathy or empathy for them anymore. Many acted like total morons on camera and expected everyone to rally around their cause, it did not happen.

In regards to the OP and the text. Your statement that OC is superior to CC will do more harm than good you are pitting the carriers against each other. OC is not the great deterent that you have made it out to be. OC'ers without proper mindset and training are simply a victim with a gun. OC'ing a weapon does not ward off evil and make the bad guys run for their lives in many cases it draws their attention and when they decide that they want that shiny thing on your belt they simply wait for the right time and take it.

Just has been stated in another post when you quote scientific facts or someones theory you open yourself up to someones else's fact or theories to refute your own.

I was long gone when it all came to a head.. do I believe that any political assertion justifies the usurpation of an innate right? NO! Morons have a natural right. Felons have a natural right... Monkeys have a natural right if they can exercise it. This is all starting to sound like infighting and justification. I'm beginning to feel like I am being targeted... the last domino to fall is... "I am an evil person"... I really doubt anyone is ready to entertain that conversation.

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Originally Posted by Mike1956

Does the thought of open carry in public make you feel confident, assertive and cocky? If so, then learning these few facts may deflate your ego and rain on your parade:
~~snip~~ Open carry is the in-your-face application of the controversial, fragile and much-maligned Second Amendment, providing much-needed publicity to all who oppose it.

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I had to do a double take on your State of residence. If I am not mistaken, Ohio just recently passed Open Carry ability even over the Veto of Governor Taft, so to read your making statements that could be considered as Anti-Carry/Anti-Gun rhetoric, even after reading your comment to MisterAvis saying you were taking the opposite of the OP's approach was NOT an attack, leaves me wondering if you even understand what can be perceived as an attack.

Here is something simple that maybe you can appreciate. If it looks like crap and smells like crap.. don't expect me to reach in and find out how if feels just because you are calling it a rose.

The biggest problem with many Gun Laws today is that the Politicians have Brainwashed those weak enough to be.. to the concept that Guns are intimidating. Well guns should be intimidating, to the Criminals and if it is a Politician that is intimidated by the sight of a Gun.. then maybe he is also a criminal.

Whether you carry concealed or carry openly should be your choice.. not a choice made for you by others! Hiding the exercise of your Rights to appease even a small percentage of the Population, is a prime indication of living in a Socialistic Society.