Sun News - Open carry gaining speed in North Carolina

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http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/06/21/1544247/open-carry-gun-activists-laud.html

SNIP

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Unlike concealed weapons, plain-sight guns are almost totally unregulated in North Carolina, where only a misdemeanor "going armed to the terror of the public" speaks to the issue. In contrast, gun-friendly states such as Texas and South Carolina are rated as relatively hostile to carrying unconcealed handguns in public even though they, like North Carolina, are among at least 48 states that have concealed handgun carry permit laws.

In the Triangle, more than 100 people have joined an Internet "meetup" group dedicated to open-carry firearms, getting together at a Raleigh Five Guys and a Cary Chik-Fil-A, encouraging even the skittish to attend. A similar group has formed in the Triad, and backers, including Dye, will hold a rally in Greensboro in August.

"It's gaining momentum," said Paul Valone, president of nonprofit firearms group Grass Roots North Carolina. "These are perfectly normal people. These are not gun nuts."

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Its nice to see some positive news about the subject. Lets keep it up!

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I love it when a bed wetter says " its gonna be the wild west!" BS!!! bla bla bla. If they did a little research. The so called wild west wasnt anything like the movies portrayed. Go back to bed.

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I also want to point out. Why would a retired detective need a ccp? Or does it apply now since he is retired? Just a question.

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If the Cities of Greenville, Raleigh, and Fayetteville had the same homicide rate as Dodge City did during the "wild west" era, it would be a HUGE improvement.

And a retired detective most likely IS covered under LEOSA and would NOT need a CHP, as long as he maintained his range certification per NC law, and as long as he was not retired for certain medical or psychological reasons.

Calling SC and TX "gun friendly" is a HUGE bit of double-speak. Neither states have OC. Both only adopted CC grudgingly after massive political action and Constitutional lawsuits. Both states have massive problems with drug crime, immigration issues, and police corruption. To call TX and SC "gun friendly" is a bit of a misnomer...

The overall snarky tone of this article against OC is really pretty rude, though. They don't come right out and say it's bad, but the use of words like "out for every one to see" shows their hand. This is not "journalism". It is outright propaganda, and should not be tolerated. A massive letter-writing campaign should ensue against this newspaper.

And something that nobody has addressed yet is the "Sun News" is based out of Myrtle Beach SC, where Open Carry is ILLEGAL...

The Sun News
P.O. Box 406
Myrtle Beach, SC 29578
843-626-8555 or 1-800-568-1800

How do they get off telling us how to do things in NC anyway?

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I could have done without the ridiculous, self-serving anecdote related by Mr. Dye in the first paragraphs.

One time, Dye explains, he was standing in line for a money order when the guy behind him asked, "Are you a police officer?" Dye said no, and the guy kept staring, so Dye stared back. "We good?" Dye asked, and the conversation stopped. "I wasn't trying to intimidate," says Dye, a retired trauma nurse in Chatham County. "He approached me. If you don't understand your constitutional rights, you need to go read them."

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He could have been a lot more helpful to the cause if the story went something like this:

One time, Dye explains, he was standing in line for a money order when the guy behind him asked, 'Are you a police officer?' Dye replied that he was just a 'citizen exercising his rights.' The man kept staring, so Dye reached in his pocket and handed him a brochure explaining the North Carolina Constitution as it relates to firearms, state gun laws, and rights. A few minutes later, the man approached Dye again and asked him some more questions about open carry. After a brief, but friendly, exchange, the two men parted ways and Dye felt like he had helped to change a mind

Click to expand...

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+ 1,000,000!!!

I NEVER miss an opportunity to turn one of those "are you a cop" questions into an "educational opportunity". I usually have a handful of NC Gun Rights brochures in my car, and sometimes I carry a few in my back pocket too.

Actually, I've got copies of those brochures for every state I regularly travel through (NC, VA, WV, PA), so I can give those people the correct info for their state. The only exception is MD...

When I'm in MD, I obviously don't OC, but I sometimes wear an empty holster. When I do that I carry one of each of the brochures I have and a blank sheet of paper folded in the same "brochure" format. When asked about gun rights, I'll pull out all five brochures (VA, NC, PA, WV, blank) and spread them out, and then hand them the blank one (with a grin), and tell them that is a list of their gun rights in MD. I then tell them that if they want to change that, they need to get active, and start contacting their representatives and vote for people who are pro-2A...

It's a little snarky, but I think it gets the point across...