Its called open carry, there is a reason why the so called 'wild west' actually had a much lower per capita murder rate than many modern cities.
True. But there are places where open carry is a hassle. There's a town here where if you're carrying openly, you WILL be stopped for something even if they have to make it up.
Twenty years ago I could pedal along major streets between my residence at college and a gunsmith shop run by a friend or firearms supply store run by his business partner, and cops just waved. And at an security equipment firm, I worked next to a gal from Vermont where kids would take their .22 rifles to school either for shooting club or so they wouldn't have to go home before going shooting after classes -- and the kids would stop by Dairy Queen after shooting, park their rifles in the back corner of a booth, and grab ice cream.
That's civilization.
I'm curious about gun laws. I'm familiar that it is illegal to keep a concealed weapon at all times. So could you explain how you're able to carry it outside then legally?
Securely. When I was at some hot spring in California and noticed cat tracks about four ties too large to be a "Here, kitty, kitty!" indicator, I retreated to my truck and strapped on my Ruger. It took an extra adjustment, because other than sandals, cap, and towel over my shoulder, the gunbelt was all I was wearing; since that left me without the ordinary secondary stabilizing methods, I had to rig something different.
I know that's not what you meant, but it's the first consideration: you want your sidearm to be an remain
your sidearm. If the holster flops around, if the gun isn't snug in it, if you can't block and cover if someone tries to reach for it, you're doing it wrong, and just inviting someone who wants to misuse your firearm to make use of yours -- making you a contributor to the crime, should that happen.
People talk a lot about concealed, which in forty-plus states is just a matter of telling the authorities "give me my permit", if you're a law-abiding citizen. There's training for that, but carrying openly requires at least as much training. No matter how you carry, you're responsible for your firearm; when it's in plain sight, that means you have to be constantly alert; while it's concealed, the alert level is much lower since something close to 100% of the people around won't even know you have the thing (there are people trained to see concealed firearms , so there's no perfection; "concealed" tends to mean "not evident to a casual observer"). I've worn openly in a large mall a couple of times, and while seven-eighths of the people didn't even notice, the reactions of some who did left me with a high enough alert level it was a definite exercise in discipline (the only bother I got from anyone official was a discussion with a security gal about the usefulness of different firearms in such a situation; I got one question about what I'd doing if I heard screams from a nearby store, which led then to tactical considerations).
Anyway, any law saying you can't carry openly is immoral and without foundation, on the face of it. The right to carry with your your chosen means for defense of self and others is inherent; to tell citizens they can't exercise it without penalty is to reclassify them from citizen to property. Two states I'm aware of actually understand this; there, you carry as you please -- that's just a beginning to honoring the Second Amendment, though.
That brings to mind an interesting item: back at the mall, I wasn't "awake" yet. Not, with hate attacks part of the possible repertoire of what I might have to respond to, I have to acknowledge that my tactical skills need some updating -- just some; responding as though someone had just tried to take my weapon ought to be close enough.
It's nice that haters are, as someone noted, for the most part cowardly pussies. That means they're not likely to attack where there are back-drop issues (meaning not lots of bystanders to worry about, primarily). If you're going to carry, that's a constant, high-priority consideration: unless your life is in direct danger, making sure you don't hit innocent bystanders is an absolute (always hope, if you get bashed in a crowd, that there's a ceiling above you that's the bottom side of a roof -- then you can drop and shoot straight up through the bastards).
Anyway... you can carry openly because it's your right as a human being. Some places they won't even hassle you for it.
