44Brent
Regular Member
imported post
I have had a couple of encounters and discussions with other citizens the last few days that led me to conclude that open carry is the single most effective way for people to kill multi-million dollar advertisement campaigns designed to marginalize and demonize gun owners.
There are several versions of a story about an elephant that go something like this:
ELEPHANT AND THE CHAIN: An elephant owner trains a young elephant to not run away by chaining it to a large tree. The elephant pulled against the chain but could not get away. Later on, as the elephant grows larger, the master replaces the chain with a string, and the tree with a wooden stake. The elephant could have easily broken this string, but remembering the chain it doesn't even try. The elephant has a belief that it cannot get away. Because the string feels like the chain, the elephant still thinks it is chained.
How does this relate to gun owners? Well, a small number of wealthy individuals have conspired with politicians to marginalize and demonize gun owners by running negative advertising campaigns against gun owners, disguised as "health studies". The result is that gun owners seem to think that they are a small minority of the population and that their ownership of guns should be kept a hidden secret, and that if other people knew that they owned and like guns, that they would be reviled by others. As a result, people carry concealed, and hide their gun ownership from others.
Here's where the elephant story is related. What would happen if there were a bunch of elephants tied up by strings, and they saw another elephant walking around and telling them that their strings are easily broken? Why, the other elephants might just decide to break their strings and start roaming around freely. That's exactly what happens when people openly carry. The open carrier is like a single free-roaming elephant that inspires other gun owners to "break their strings". Other gun owners realize that they aren't the only gun owner in the world and that they don't have to hide their gun ownership.
I have had two conversations with individuals in the last few days. One was with an individual in a supermarket who came up to me and asked "is that legal". I explained that open carry in WA is perfectly legal without a license. He was quite surprised and asked me a blizzard of questions which I happily answered. He then told me that he was pro-gun and had no idea that there is no requirement to conceal. He then announced to a woman that was accompanying him that open carry is LEGAL. I would not be surprised to see this individual carrying openly in the future.
Today I had a discussion with an insurance agent while getting my renter's insurance finalized. The discussion of firearms came up and the agent indicated that she carried concealed. I asked her if she was aware that open carry is legal, and she said that she had been informed (directly or indirectly, I do not know)by police officers that it is ILLEGAL. The fact that she had received misiformation tells me that she was at least interested in the subject.
How many gun owners carry concealed, simply because they think that they "must", and that gun ownership is taboo? I don't know the answer, but I suspect that the numbers are higher than we know.
This is a whole area that I never thought about when I started carrying openly. I simply engaged in the practice because it is a more comfortable alternative to concealed carry. It wasn't until recently that I relized that open carry is an inexpensive and effective solution to the propaganda wars waged against gun owners.
Mike Stollenwerk, Lonnie Wilson, VCDL, and all the other propents of open carry should be given an award for promoting open carry.
I have had a couple of encounters and discussions with other citizens the last few days that led me to conclude that open carry is the single most effective way for people to kill multi-million dollar advertisement campaigns designed to marginalize and demonize gun owners.
There are several versions of a story about an elephant that go something like this:
ELEPHANT AND THE CHAIN: An elephant owner trains a young elephant to not run away by chaining it to a large tree. The elephant pulled against the chain but could not get away. Later on, as the elephant grows larger, the master replaces the chain with a string, and the tree with a wooden stake. The elephant could have easily broken this string, but remembering the chain it doesn't even try. The elephant has a belief that it cannot get away. Because the string feels like the chain, the elephant still thinks it is chained.
Here's where the elephant story is related. What would happen if there were a bunch of elephants tied up by strings, and they saw another elephant walking around and telling them that their strings are easily broken? Why, the other elephants might just decide to break their strings and start roaming around freely. That's exactly what happens when people openly carry. The open carrier is like a single free-roaming elephant that inspires other gun owners to "break their strings". Other gun owners realize that they aren't the only gun owner in the world and that they don't have to hide their gun ownership.
I have had two conversations with individuals in the last few days. One was with an individual in a supermarket who came up to me and asked "is that legal". I explained that open carry in WA is perfectly legal without a license. He was quite surprised and asked me a blizzard of questions which I happily answered. He then told me that he was pro-gun and had no idea that there is no requirement to conceal. He then announced to a woman that was accompanying him that open carry is LEGAL. I would not be surprised to see this individual carrying openly in the future.
Today I had a discussion with an insurance agent while getting my renter's insurance finalized. The discussion of firearms came up and the agent indicated that she carried concealed. I asked her if she was aware that open carry is legal, and she said that she had been informed (directly or indirectly, I do not know)by police officers that it is ILLEGAL. The fact that she had received misiformation tells me that she was at least interested in the subject.
How many gun owners carry concealed, simply because they think that they "must", and that gun ownership is taboo? I don't know the answer, but I suspect that the numbers are higher than we know.
This is a whole area that I never thought about when I started carrying openly. I simply engaged in the practice because it is a more comfortable alternative to concealed carry. It wasn't until recently that I relized that open carry is an inexpensive and effective solution to the propaganda wars waged against gun owners.
Mike Stollenwerk, Lonnie Wilson, VCDL, and all the other propents of open carry should be given an award for promoting open carry.