Don't be an asshole

There was a bit of a kerfuffle over at Breda's about Michigan Open Carry members OC'ing in a public library. I don't want to speak too at length about that particular incident, but I do think it brings up an opportunity to talk about open carry more generally.

First off, I seems to me that many folks are quick to jump all over Breda for what she said. Could she have put it in a way to make it a bit more amenable to others? Perhaps, but ultimately we're all on the same side here and I don't consider anything she said to be all that controversial. I re-read her post and the comments and am honestly surprised by the reaction.

Nowhere did Breda suggest it should be illegal to carry in a library. Nowhere did she suggest people shouldn't be allowed to open carry. No, she suggested that perhaps it would be beneficial to the cause for OC folks to carry themselves in a particular way. As the title of her post said "Manners Matter."

Even if I didn't know Breda personally and hadn't been reading her since our respective pre-blogger days I wouldn't take her post to mean she was an anti-OC "Fudd." I can personally attest to the fact that she OC'd much of the time she was in Phoenix. Hell, she posted a pic of herself open carrying around Phoenix two years ago AND said the following,

"As a gun owner, there are few better feelings than walking down the street in a freedom-friendly town with a pistol on your hip."

She is one of us folks. If the manner in which you're presenting your position puts you at odds with her and some of the more fervent, liberty-minded gunbloggers imagine how you look to the average non-gunnie. Just something to think about.

There is a significant difference between open carry as "just a thing I do" and open carry as a form of political activism. When you're carrying specifically for political reasons you need to be even more cognizant of your actions. This true in the MOC case Breda discusses, as MOC members chose to open carry in the library specifically as a means of political activism. Like it or not, in politics perception is everything. OC'ing a long gun in suburban Michigan is legal, but it is not helpful.

In a perfect world we could walk around exercising our rights in whatever manner we wanted so long as it was legal. In the real world our rights aren't dependent upon the consent of the majority, however that majority can make the practical exercise of said rights far more difficult. I could legally OC my AR-15 into Chuck-E-Cheese or Pump It Up, but that'd be a great way to scare the shit out of people and galvanize them against my cause. The fact of the matter is that in much of this country it is not socially acceptable to OC a long gun in public, especially while acting like an asshole.

Martin Luther King and his followers understood what I said in the preceeding paragraph. King was originally a supporter of the "black power" movement, the Stokley Carmichael's and of Malcolm X's more militant approach. What he realized however was that "scaring the white people" would ultimately be fatally damaging to his cause. That didn't mean he chose to forgo the exercise of his rights or failed to stand up for his principles. No, it meant that he tempered and tailored his approach in a way that was most likely to be successful and garner support for the cause.

When you go out in public open carrying you are an ambassador for the cause whether you want to be or not. We need to remember that as OC'ers and gun rights advocates we are far outnumbered by average citizens and fencesitters. We need to consider our actions with that in mind, especially when engaging in carry as a form of activism.

If we scare the shit out of them and are rude and/or antagonistic we are screwed. We need to win hearts and minds. At a minimum we want the masses to be ambivalent to our cause. First impressions are everything in life, not just in this context. Using common sense and common decency before you act can go a long way towards furthering whatever cause you seek to promote.

You don't normalize gun ownership and carry by "scaring the white people" nor by hiding in the shadows in shame. To be sure, some folks aren't going to support your right to carry regardless of how you comport yourself while doing so. That can't be helped and I am not telling anyone not to carry because they might "offend' such people. If that were the case I'd never bother OC'ing. That's not the point. The point is that it can't hurt to abide by certain "rules," as Breda lays out in her post. ("Andrew" in her comment section had great suggestions too)

I said the following in a post about "Threepers" back in 2008 * and I think it's applicable here,

"If all we accomplish is to scare people then what we'll have done is alienated people and marginalized ourselves. It's hard to have a broad, positive impact once you've done that."

Exercise your rights folks, but keep the above quote in mind before you act.

*in fact, you may want to read my 2008 post before this one, just to get an idea of where I'm coming from.