Mini Rant over HB910 and Horizontal Shoulder Holsters

[Charles L. Cotton]

99% of gun safety is keeping the "booger hook" off the "bang switch" until you mean for it to go bang.

I disagree. 99% of gun safety is not letting the muzzle point at anything you are not willing to destroy. If this rule is always followed, then one could violate every other gun safety rule, yet no blood would ever be spilled.

Chas.

[Charlies.Contingency]

99% of gun safety is keeping the "booger hook" off the "bang switch" until you mean for it to go bang.

I disagree. 99% of gun safety is not letting the muzzle point at anything you are not willing to destroy. If this rule is always followed, then one could violate every other gun safety rule, yet no blood would ever be spilled.

Chas.

Of course, any you are a very strong advocate for gun safety. Being safe doesn't just mean following one safety rule. Having one type of braking function on your vehicle is not be considered safe, because of the risk of malfunction on either the operators part, or the machines part. That is why a vehicle is designed with multiple mechanisms to stop, for relying on one method entirely is foolish.

I would like to sit in on a safety class/seminar presented by Mr. Cotton, as there is always something new to learn, especially when it comes to firearm safety.

(Edited for Additions.)

[John Galt]

Like I said earlier, it is a perception problem.

When I see a young man in front of me in line at the store, I assume he is wearing underpants. But it is ill-mannered of him to wear them in such a way that everyone KNOWS he is wearing underpants.

So I will wear my horizontal holster under cover.

[Javier730]

I've seen on the news a few times where the reporter says, "the gun went off". What really happened was probably a negligent discharge or stupid people handling a firearm in a stupid manner. I've also seen the show The First 48 and alot of times when the suspect confesses to shooting the victim, he claims the gun went off. Its liars and poor choice of words from bad reporters that make people with no knowledge of firearms think that firearms can just go off. I guarantee that one of these open carriers with a horizontal shoulder holster is sooner off later going to encounter one of these people that say, "what if it just goes off?". This is going to cause businesses to lose customers and eventually get 30.07 signs posted at most stores. Argue here on the forum all you want about how the gun is safe and peoples perception of the gun being unsafe is ridiculous but in the end peoples perception of being unsafe is what if going to hurt open carry. People are just not used to having guns pointed in their direction, even if they are holstered. You are not gonna be able to argue with frightened people and if you do, its not gonna get you nowhere. Well you might get thrown out of where ever you are or have the police called on you.

[E.Marquez]

The more important question is why would a responsible gun owner want to risk alienating the general public and causing a backlash against open-carry?
Chas.

The obvious answer is, "a responsible gun owner" would not

[Greybeard]

Chas said: "It didn't take long to for some people to try to divert the discussion from civility and respect to safety."

Yep, I noticed the same thing, here and elsewhere. I suspect the same people wanting to avoid the ethics issues will be the first to scream if the next unlicensed open carry bill does not get a snowball's chance. No objection here, btw, of reposting pic.

[jmra]

The more important question is why would a responsible gun owner want to risk alienating the general public and causing a backlash against open-carry?
Chas.

The obvious answer is, "a responsible gun" would not

I showed a coworker (a non gun owner) the picture Charles posted of the horizontal shoulder holster setup and asked her if this would make her uncomfortable . She immediately said "Yes, that thing is pointed right at me". I played devils advocate and explained that the trigger was covered. It didn't matter. She stated she would immediately complain to management and let them know that either the guy pointing the gun at people was going to leave or she and her family were going to leave.
I then showed her a picture of an OCer wearing a dark holster and a semiauto pistol. I asked if this would make her nervous. She immediately said no. I asked "Why, he has a gun too". She replied, "He does? Where?"
This is why when OC is done discretely and wisely it isn't a big deal because very few people even notice. Recently I attended a training where a video was shown about people being oblivious to their surroundings. The video contained actual footage of a woman carrying a knife in New Orleans on the sidewalk. She stabs several people at various points while walking. Even with a visible blood soaked knife people don't realize she was a danger because they didn't look at her hands or around her waistline also covered in blood. The exact same thing happened with my coworker. When I showed her the picture of a man wearing a gun in a belt holster she didn't even realize he was armed because that's not where she was looking.
IMHO I think we need to step back and examine why and how we carry. I carry a firearm to protect myself and my family. The vast majority of the time the best way to accomplish that goal will be to carry concealed. There will be times that I might OC for a measure of comfort, but my reason for carrying a firearm hasn't changed. I'm not carrying a firearm in order to make some kind of statement. I'm not carrying a firearm to draw attention to myself and I'm sure not carrying a firearm to scare the sheep.
IMHO an OC shoulder holster rig (wether the intention of the user or not) screams "look at me I'm carrying a gun". I believe this alone will draw complaints by customers in a business. Add a barrel pointing directly at someone and the sheep are going to scream bloody murder.

[Javier730]

The more important question is why would a responsible gun owner want to risk alienating the general public and causing a backlash against open-carry?
Chas.

The obvious answer is, "a responsible gun" would not

IMHO I think we need to step back and examine why and how we carry. I carry a firearm to protect myself and my family. The vast majority of the time the best way to accomplish that goal will be to carry concealed. There will be times that I might OC for a measure of comfort, but my reason for carrying a firearm hasn't changed. I'm not carrying a firearm in order to make some kind of statement. I'm not carrying a firearm to draw attention to myself and I'm sure not carrying a firearm to scare the sheep.
IMHO an OC shoulder holster rig (wether the intention of the user or not) screams "look at me I'm carrying a gun". I believe this alone will draw complaints by customers in a business. Add a barrel pointing directly at someone and the sheep are going to scream bloody murder.