Open carriers show off two major things, and neither one of them are “tough guy”.
First is fragile masculinity, they are worried that they aren’t seen as “manly” enough, so they have to show off to everyone that they are totally manly. It’s like women wearing that new handbag out and about, they want others to notice it.
Second is pure fear, fear that at any time any moment something is going to happen, and the only way they feel safe is by carrying a lethal weapon with them at all times. You know, rather than dealing with what is causing the fear in the first place.
So, we have a terrified person carrying a lethal weapon who is worried about what everyone around them think. To me, that’s the more worrying person in a room.
Fear indeed. I went to college in a very… provincial small city. Riding my bicycle around, I was regularly harassed by insecure assholes in pickup trucks, and run off the road twice. The one time I managed to get a license plate, the police claimed that without witnesses, they couldn’t do anything. ACAB.
I added my 1911 to the strap of my messenger bag, at the top of my left shoulder, where the stainless frame would be plainly visible. I was suddenly given plenty of space on the road and even got occasional compliments when waiting at stoplights. It’s disgusting that I would be a target for bullying without my pistol, but suddenly I was an okay guy with my penis extension where douchebag drivers could see it.
So yeah, I’m living proof that non-military open carry is only for scaredy cats.
I wonder if 3d printing a fake handle to stick out is worth the trouble.
Being licensed anyway would be good if you were stopped, but it would weigh less and you wouldn’t risk losing it.
Presume there’s laws about leaving it unsupervised etc while out the house.
Having a toy is just as good for that purpose.
You won’t be treated as if it’s a toy though.
I have a friend who open carries everywhere as well. We do not live in a dangerous area at all and he carries this thing to the grocery store.
I call it his “big boy gun” because it makes him feel like he’s a big boy now, like a kid who wears his “big boy” pants with no diapers.
I call it his “big boy gun”
Good! And I hope you never let him hear the end of it. What a poser.
I had the talk with a friend once who did it, told him I didn’t feel comfortable. We went to a fast food place and told him to look around, people weren’t admiring him, they were afraid of him. Luckily he saw reason and stopped wearing it shortly after.
Stupidity goes in there too for baiting any and every psycho who can now instantly become an armed psycho.
Fear? My impression is that they’re looking for trouble, not trying to avoid it.
Nah they say they are, but they’re scared boys walking around with it. The like to LARP thinking they’ll need to use it, but actually using it on someone is terrifying.
Remember folks, if your firearm is worth more than you are; showing it is like flashing your wallet.
You’re walking in an alley and encounter a man. Would you rather bear arms or not bear arms?
Honestly? Nearly a decade of working contract security, including most of that time being level 3,
I can easily say that I’d rather not be armed.
First, carrying visible weapons makes people respond differently. They see you’re armed and everyone reacts to it. Its mere presence escalates situations.
Secondly, your very question implies the trap always being armed leads to- you assume this man is aggressive or hostile. And most often that assumption is flat wrong.
When all you have is a hammer every problem looks like a nail.
Finally, situation awareness is infinitely more valuable than any weapon. You lose every fight you get into. Even if the other guy doesn’t harm you, if you draw down and shoot, you’re going to jail. You’re going to be held until they know what happened, and you’re probably getting charged.
You lose on legal fees. You probably lose your job. And now you have to live with guilt- even if the subject had it coming.
Also just a side note I was discussing open carry. Concealed is a different matter; concealed properly, no one will know until you draw. (And then things escalate fucking fast.)
“Thank god you’re here, man openly carrying! I feel so much safer around you!”
“Heh. Yeah, I’m sure. People respect me when I’m carrying.”
“Oh, no, I don’t mean it like that. I mean that if an actual gunman starts shooting, you’re a much higher priority target, giving me enough time to run away. Thank you for painting a target on yourself for us!”
I really hope this was at a competition. If this guy dresses up like this just to go out, he’s got to have a horrible personality.
How ironic would it be if this guy was killed in a knife fight.
Ok this made me chuckle out loud… thanks for that.
King shit.
What happened to his SCAR-L? Did he forget it in the bathroom?
Definition of a try hard.
We only see him from the back, but two guns for him and one for Quato.
We need more public pole arms and coinbags made of worn leather sashed onto one’s great belt.
More ninja outfits. More people dressed up like Joker. I want peak Joker.
One of the things that really angers me about supposed second amendment supporters is their quiet acceptance of laws infringing on my right to bear any arm that is not a gun. In most states where it is legal to carry guns around, there are way more restrictions on carrying things like knives, swords, polearms, etc.
What about joker weddings?
The most fantastic thing about the Joker is that Gotham police haven’t just drilled his ass with six dozen rounds to the funny bone during an arrest.
Hell, this guy runs around with not one but two hyenas on the regular, and even they don’t get shot.
All I’m reading here is “How dare people do something I disagree with in public?”.
To be fair, I’m no US American, so I wouldn’t know if open carrying itself is a problem, instead of just being a political statement.
Have you ever heard of the expression “When you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail”?
If that is what this comic is about, then why specifically single out open carrying?
Because gun violence is a huge problem in the USA.
I meant open-carrying compared to concealed carrying, both have similar impacts on gun violence I imagine, while the comic only ridicules open carrying.
I reading it as have look 5000 bucks on his hip.
Bold move, given the propensity for guys like this to fly off the handle in a Gay Panic of Self Defense.
I’ve found the 2nd Amendnent Remedy is mostly about remedying use of the 1st.
I was getting into my car the other day and noticed someone getting out of their car and putting a pistol into their wasteband. Looked like they were going into a Buffalo wild wings or something. Like, are you gonna shoot someone in there or what?
My thing is, you’re usually introducing a firearm into a situation where there likely wasn’t one previously, and are putting at risk the lives of everyone around you. I own a firearm and I hope every day I never ever have to use it outside of recreation. Most gun owners are exceptionally irresponsible and don’t give weapons their due respect, this is half the reason so many people get shot for no reason in the US.
Why would you present yourself as the annoying and ridiculous one?
I live in a country where carrying weapons isn’t a thing. But being that it’s lawfull in the country where this comic is supposedly happening can you imagine walking into a bar and some random chick starts screaming at you like that?
Imagine if instead of a chick screaming about the guy it would be a guy screaming about a chick with purple hair?
Purple hair doesn’t kill at distance, not as much as people claim it does.
Imagine if instead of a chick screaming about the guy it would be a guy screaming about a chick with purple hair?
I’m going to blow your mind here, but this was a comic strip and the character was drawn to be announcing things as a representation of what’s happening inside the mind of the subject walking. It’s an artistic/comedic effect and to take it literally or even remotely as a “both sides” issue is peak… something I can’t say without getting banned most likely.
imagine walking into a bar and some random chick starts screaming at you like that?
Imagine not knowing how comic strips work.
There are actual reasons for people to open carry a gun. Main goal is to normalize it. Where I live a lot of people open carry, and it’s no big deal, no one really cares or notices.
My neighbor moved here from California though, and she was initially terrified every time she saw someone carrying a gun here. But after awhile she got used to it as well. I haven’t asked her what her current opinion is on guns, but I know she went from terrified to not caring, which would be considered a positive change from the people who are open carrying around town.
That said, I don’t get the impression that most people who open carry are doing it for that reason, usually seems like it more because they want to show off.
Why should we normalize carrying weapons around in daily life?
Armed queers don’t get bashed.
Maybe instead of arming queers to shoot bigots, we do something societally about the bigots?
Because I am not seeing how the queer person getting tried for murder or manslaughter helps matters.
I’ll check back with you in 50 years on that societal change. Meanwhile, people that want to protect themselves against violent bigots within their lifetime should probably get a gun.
A gun and some time on death row to go with it.
Because if someone lives in a place where their life is at threat just by being queer and existing to the point that they have to kill someone, they have no chance of finding a sympathetic jury.
Doesn’t make it a bad idea to reduce the chance of getting in trouble. You’re just putting them in a corner by chastising them for finding a way to protect themselves.
When did I chastise them? If they want to take that risk, on their shoulders be it.
I’d rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6.
Yes, very good, you know a famous saying.
Maybe instead of arming queers to shoot bigots, we do something societally about the bigots?
Since there’s no practical way to do something about the fact that bigots exist, the next best thing is to constantly appropriate their aesthetic.
Make open-carrying a gay fashion statement until the only folks who open-carry are the gays.~
No, they get shot instead, much better /s
Citation needed.
You first.
What claim did he make that require a citation?
Rachel fucking Maddow probably lol
It makes sense when you realize these people are abject fucking cowards that can’t leave the house without their emotional support firearm.
They yearn for the old cowboy days.
Old cowboy days often involved checking your weapon into lockup at the edge of town…
You can tell this was a good question because they didn’t answer it.
Normalize carrying a deadly weapon that can near-instantly kill several people at once everywhere you go… You realize how insane that sounds, right!? Other countries are laughing at us!
You were so concerned with the undesirability of fear that you forgot why humans naturally experience fear in the first place.
“Don’t worry, if you keep your hand on the burner long enough, you’ll feel nothing at all!”
Normalize carrying rpg’s to the grocery store to protect yourself from dad pranks like tapping your shoulder
/s
I see no reason to normalize open carry when even just owning a firearm, on its own, increases your chance to be killed by a gun for both suicide and homicide. Firearm ownership itself should not be normalized, as a matter of public health.
I get that it makes people feel safer, but it does not actually make them safer. If you don’t have an obvious reason to have a firearm, like defending livestock, living in a high-risk environment, or as protection against wild animals, then you are objectively safer not owning one.
If your purpose is to normalize it, and it’s normal where you live, then you can stop.
Main goal is to normalize it.
There is a period of US history well known for open carrying.
It’s also a period of US history well known for shootings.
Good old Lemmy, where providing a different perspective gets you downvoted to hell simply because it’s not the popular view. I’d even say we are much worse than Reddit when it comes to this, which is ironic.
Several Lemmy communities just straight up delete non-groupthink opinions, even if they don’t violate any apparent rules. That’s way worse here than reddit ever was.
Are you not familiar with how The_Donald operated or how r/Conservative still operates? There are plenty of subreddits that censor any and all dissenting viewpoints. It happens here too, but I think Reddit’s much worse.
Good old Lemmy, where providing a different perspective gets you downvoted to hell simply because it’s not the popular view.
You mean the view “let’s normalize making life more dangerous for no reason?”
He’s only offering a reason, not necessarily that he supports the reason. Are you guys so fragile in your beliefs that you can’t even handle a simple suggestion of a benefit to an opposing view?
A suggestion of a benefit to open-carrying does not equal endorsement, nor does it mean opposing the view that open-carrying can be dangerous. Try to be more open-minded.
Are you guys so fragile in your beliefs that you can’t even handle a simple suggestion of a benefit to an opposing view?
What was the benefit again? Normalizing doing it is not a benefit on its own.
“Can someone explain the benefit of wearing your underwear on the outside of your pants?”
“To normalize wearing your underwear on the outside of your pants”
So it’s just a fashion statement then?
When someone asks “seriously, what is the argument for doing this, what is the benefit?” A response that exists solely of “to get other people to do it too” does not answer the question as to why that is desirable.
If we move the theoretical out of fashion and into safety, such as someone complaining about people insisting on lying face down in the middle of the street, a response of “they do this to normalize people lying face down in the middle of the street” should not be received well. All it’s doing is advocating for making people less safe with zero justification as to why.
Normalize something that shouldn’t exist, and has no reason to?
Main reasons historically were for work or hunting … maaayybe to make sure you don’t leave the gun somewhere or forget you have it while transporting it.
Congratulations on a take just about perfectly as shitty as most of the replies you’ve got so far. Just. Wow.
