On Gun laws and Open Carry

When I was 19, I discovered that my long held belief of open carry being legal in Utah, was correct. I had recently inherited a Smith and Wesson Model 10 I .38 spcl, and a few holsters for it from my father.

Being under 21, open carry was my only legal method of carrying a firearm, and I had a wife and a baby daughter that I was responsible for, so I immediately studied up on the law, put my gun on my hip, and began carrying it everywhere legal.

At first, I was nervous. I thought that somebody would call the police. I thought I would get kicked out of stores, I thought I would be harassed. And yet, I continued on my course.

Because of the research I had done, and thanks to the help of the guys over on www.opencarry.org I knew that what I was doing was perfectly legal, and in fact a God given right.

Over time, I became much more comfortable with it. People didn't freak out, nobody called the police, and the few times anyone said anything about it, the outcome was positive.

To date, nobody has ever asked me to leave a store, and only once was I detained by the police. This resulted in a disorderly conduct charge that was promptly defeated in court.



All the while I have had the reassurance that I would at least have a fighting chance should the unthinkable happen. This is worth all of the very limited hassle I have received.

While living here in Texas, I have gotten my concealed carry permit, and have learned how much I hate concealing my firearm. It's dishonest, it's uncomfortable, it just plain sucks.

I feel that I need the permission of the government to exercise a God given right. This of course is not acceptable if you ask me.

Why exactly is it that I have to prove that I can legally own a firearm when I buy one? The Brady Law may appear reasonable on it's face, but when we I looked even deeper, I realized that it is completely useless.

From the Merriam Webster online dictionary:

Criminal:

1 : relating to, involving, or being a crime (criminal neglect)
2 : relating to crime or to the prosecution of suspects in a crime (criminal statistics) (brought criminal action)
3 : guilty of crime; also : of or befitting a criminal (a criminal mind)
4 : disgraceful

Take particular note to number 3. The individual by definition is guilty of crime. If one is already guilty of crime, then what is to stop the criminal from committing another crime? Trust me, it would be far too easy for a criminal to purchase a firearm illegally. And how traceable are they? They really aren't.

So what exactly does the Brady Law do?

It inconveniences the law abiding.

And how about banning fully automatic firearms? Lemme ask you, have you ever fired one? I have, plenty of them, kinda part of being a soldier.

And what I have found is that they are NOT good at killing many people quickly. As a matter of fact, they are hard to keep on target, you run out of ammo quickly, and overall are just inconvenient.

I submit that given the horrible inaccuracy of most mass shooters, combined with the difficulty involved with staying on target with a full auto, I would expect the mass shootings would actually end up less deadly were the shooter to elect to use a full auto.

So again, what does this law do? Keeps fun weapons out of the hands of the law abiding.

Prior to all of the gun control in this country, how was it? I can only guess as I am nowhere near old enough to know.

Though I hear stories from those old enough to remember. And the overwhelming theme of the stories has always been, peaceful existence.

I have found that while carrying a pistol, I tend to avoid altercations at all costs, knowing that any fight I cause could end up in a deadly altercation. This of course would usually end up with me at least being dragged through a long process of trying to prove my innocence, and at best leaving me broke and missing some time I can never retrieve, and at worst I may spend a life in prison.

Thus I firmly believe that an armed society IS a polite society.

I do acknowledge that there will always be the criminal element. For whatever reason, some individuals feel that the laws do not apply to them.

The way to deal with these kinds is clear, if they commit crime, they will be swiftly and severely punished. Of course, I am not speaking of the death penalty liberally applied for minor offenses, I submit that with harsh punishments that inflict not only pain, but public humiliation would be highly effective at reducing crime.

Now, again, I am not speaking of shooting somebody for shoplifting, though a public whipping may do wonders.

We really do need to pull our society back from this backwards “progress” We need to understand that the life of a repeat criminal is not worth what society pays to feed and house them.

Prison is an ineffective punishment. It is almost as much a reward as anything.

America needs to be taken back from the brink of socialism and returned to it's former glory.