imported post
Well that certainly is one way.
I personally think that when approached by one that is shocked to see your gun it is best if you read the person and then adjust your reply to the perceived receptiveness of that person.
By this I mean that not all people who are afraid of guns are rabid anti-gun. I would bet that most are just un-accustomed to seeing people who are armed.
I would give you two examples from my own life.
1. Last year at my family reunion I was carrying my SA 1911 A1 on my right hip. As I sat in a group of adults one of my grandnephews came up to me and point to my gun said, "Guns kill people." He was about 15 and his father had been killed in an accident about 14 years ago. He had not been raised around guns and only knew what he was told.
I got up from the table where I was sitting and asked him to come with me. We went a little way off and sat on the grass. A couple of his cousin tagged along with us.
As we sat there I removed my gun from its holster and un-loaded it. I then showed him the various parts and explained its functions. Then I told him that the reason that I carried it was because there were bad people in this world that some times hurt people. and I carried the gun so that I could protect the ones that I loved from those bad people. I explained that a gun was a tool just like a car. I asked if it would be safe to take their family car and drive it down the street.
They all thought about it and said no it would be dangerous. I asked if they would feel different if they were old enough to drive a car and had been trained. They all felt that they could do it safely then. I explained how a gun is like a car that can be used for good or evil, and that many more people were killed by cars in the US than by guns, and they all knew that this was true.
In the right hands a car is a good thing, but in the wrong hands it can be a bad thing. The same is true with a gun. They all understood. I let each one handle my empty gun and then I re-loaded it and put it again in my holster. In this case this was the right way to handle the apparent anti statement of my Grandnephew that " Guns kill people."
2. This story happened a few months back. I had taken my wife, andmy daughter and her husband out for lunch. We sat down in the restaurant and I took of my coat and put it on the back of my chair. We had all finished and the waiter was standing by our table as we got up to leave.
He was at my left and as I stood and turned to get my coat, he saw my gun on my hip and gasped, "You have a gun!".
My immediate response was, "Sure, do you want to see it?" This took him totally of guard and he didn't know what to say for a moment, and then he said, "So do you have training?" and I replied that I did I had a permit. It was about then that my lovely wife chimed in with a big smile and a little humor in her voice, "Yea you don't have to worry when my husband is around, because he has got your back."
The waiter was greatly relieved, and I think a little more informed when we left and a potentially strained situation was changed in to a light and informative one.
Neither of these individuals were hard boiled anti gun people. I personally don't think they listen to reason, but as the first poster showed so will with his example, they do understand strength and resolve.
1 Timothy 4:8