http://www.timesheraldonline.com/opinion/ci_14487136 Posted: 02/28/2010 12:00:49 AM PST
It appears some Bay Area residents feel that simply having a right to bear arms is not enough. They also feel they must exercise that right in a public display that conjures visions of a modern-day Wild West.
The term is known as open carry or open display, which is allowed by a provision of the California Penal Code. Open carry is a shorthand term for openly carrying a firearm in public view as opposed to concealing it, which is illegal in California in most circumstances.
Recently a group called Open Carry orchestrated a number of displays during which gun owners showed up at suburban coffee shops and a restaurant toting their unloaded handguns in belt holsters. Ammunition for the weapons also was conveniently situated on the belts.
More than anything else, we surmise, this display is meant as a not-so-subtle political statement. But we hope those carrying the weapons are more judicious with their firearms than they are with fashioning political statements. This one misses the target. Instead of some grand public lesson, this action is seen by many Bay Area residents as childish machismo.
Needless to say, many customers of the coffee shops and restaurant -- who had chosen not to exercise their right to bear arms -- were taken aback by such displays.
Police have been pulled off the streets to check Open Carry members to make sure their weapons are, indeed, unloaded.
We certainly acknowledge and accept that the U.S. Constitution gives law-abiding Advertisement citizens the right to bear arms. We also understand that the California Penal Code states "guns carried openly in belt holsters are not concealed."
But the open carry of weapons could prompt all sorts of consequences never intended or considered by the person exercising his or her constitutional right.
Members of law enforcement are not enamored with this open carry trend either. It doesn't help them; it makes their job tougher.
We can envision a circumstance where a teen comes into a coffee shop and runs out with the tip jar and the good citizen carrying a weapon decides to load up and pursue the youth. That has bad ending written all over it.
Or, even more dramatically, an armed robber enters a store brandishing a loaded weapon and sees a patron with a gun on his belt. Either the perpetrator knows it is unloaded or he doesn't, but either scenario is rife with disastrous prospects.
We could go on with the "what ifs," but you get the drift.
We will grant that members of groups such as Open Carry likely are well-trained with a weapon. But it is unlikely that they are well-trained in police work.
Besides, how are average, coffee-buying suburbanites expected to know who is trained and who is not. Many merchants are instituting policies that refuse service to gun-toting patrons. We applaud them for doing so.
Yes, the right exists. We get it. Statement made. Now, how about everyone take a deep breath and put the guns away.
I know we have smart people in this organization that could do the interview very well, with out the Extremist stuff :uhoh:
