sigrscu
Regular Member
How does the whole open carry at a gun show work out? I would like to go later this month but not sure if it's open carry friendly and if so in what condition should I carry it in?
How does the whole open carry at a gun show work out? I would like to go later this month but not sure if it's open carry friendly and if so in what condition should I carry it in?
NC it's banned simply because we can't carry anywhere admission is charged.
Yes, this includes movie theaters.
That Utah does not have such laws.
Actually...I used to work at a movie theater, and we didn't allow firearms inside our theaters either. I know, it sucked, but I've seen a few fights in there that could easily have turned nasty...well, nastier.
...I have personally visited with one of the guys who owns/runs these shows. I can assure everyone that this policy has nothing to do with any kind of anti-gun or anti-OC sentiment. It is a legitimate safety concern and is also a requirement of their liability insurance carrier. And before you say find another carrier, I'm told that there is literally only about 1 carrier left who will even touch gun shows. Given today's litigious climate, no liability insurance, no show. ...
Bear in mind that gun shows and gun stores present a very unique environment for firearms safety. I know of no other public place where it is legally and socially acceptable to be handling firearms. And due to the physical layout of the events it is all but impossible not to routinely violate basic gun safety rules about not pointing a gun at anything you don't intend to shoot. So some kind of additional safety precautions are warranted.
...as I've pointed out, there is solid logic behind banning loaded guns from gun shows. At a gun show, people are actually handling and even sighting firearms in a situation where there is no safe direction, no safe backstop, etc.
Carry firearms are not being handled and pointed. It is not logical to limit those for 'safety.' It is logical to ensure that the firearms which are being handled are not loaded, but denying self-protection firearms due to that simply does not follow as a logical response. It does follow as a "fear" response.Bear in mind that gun shows and gun stores present a very unique environment for firearms safety. I know of no other public place where it is legally and socially acceptable to be handling firearms. And due to the physical layout of the events it is all but impossible not to routinely violate basic gun safety rules about not pointing a gun at anything you don't intend to shoot. So some kind of additional safety precautions are warranted.
Charles
While it may be an "interesting" point, it isn't a logical point.Very interesting point about the inherently unavoidable violation of one of the major gun safety rules. I'd not thought of it quite that way.
While it may be an "interesting" point, it isn't a logical point.
The firearms that are being handled are NOT loaded. Limiting others doesn't change that, nor does it add more inherent safety.
Carry firearms are not being handled and pointed. It is not logical to limit those for 'safety.' It is logical to ensure that the firearms which are being handled are not loaded, but denying self-protection firearms due to that simply does not follow as a logical response. It does follow as a "fear" response.
wrightme said:The firearms that are being handled are NOT loaded. Limiting others doesn't change that, nor does it add more inherent safety.
How does the whole open carry at a gun show work out? I would like to go later this month but not sure if it's open carry friendly and if so in what condition should I carry it in?
What 'risk' is there in an unloaded gun?More unloaded guns . . . more risk.
What 'risk' is there in a loaded gun? The loaded guns aren't being handled at a gun show.HankT said:More loaded guns . . . significantly more risk.
In AZ we unload... they (at the gate) put a zip tie thru the barrel and close the action. No big deal... not much reason to be armed in that situation. All the dealers are heeled tho. I think some of y'all are much more self concious of carrying than people who've done it 'forever'.
I view this exactly as I view the discussions where Scheel's or other sports store "requires" customers to only bring unloaded firearms into the store. It is for those firearms that are being brought into the store to either return them, have them looked at for trade or sale, or to specifically try in a holster. It should NOT be a restriction upon a carry weapon. A carry weapon should only be unholstered to either use it, or to comply with laws regarding transportation; not to unload for some "need" of a venue such as a gun show.
What 'risk' is there in an unloaded gun?
What 'risk' is there in a loaded gun? The loaded guns aren't being handled at a gun show.
Yes, a carry weapon should remain holstered. But too often they do not. You can search the archives of this very site to find eye-witnesses to people clearly unholstering a carry gun inside a gun store so as to check the fit of one accessory or another. And once a carry gun is unholstered, it looks exactly like a non-carry gun being brought in to buy, sell, trade, return, check for accessories, etc. That is the problem.
In most public settings, any unholstered gun rightly raises major concern. Indeed, one reason many of us carry is to be prepared to properly respond when we see someone else with an unholstered gun.
How can you fail to see the marked difference between this usual situation and the unique environment inside a gun show or gun store where we expect to see unholstered guns, expect to see those guns being handled, pointed/sighted, perhaps even dry fired?
Again, the rules of gun safety are designed such that multiple rules must be violated simultaneously in order for injury or death to occur. With such a layering, we can live (literally) with less than perfect compliance with any one rule. However, inside a gun show or gun store, it is common and acceptable for most of those rules to be broken. The only rule remaining is that guns must be unloaded. And so we must have 100% compliance with that rule, including compliance from the lazy, ignorant, macho, self-important, etc, etc, etc.
I welcome a cogent, rational rebuttal to this simple, straightforward observation.
Charles