imported post
My purpose of the post was to cause folks who OC to give thought to their actions and words out "on the street" and here in the forum world.
A question was asked about examples. Here's some to consider:
1) You are out in the city park, peacefully carrying and a soccer mom cries to 911. Natural response is to send a cop to investigate. Cop sees you, hopefully observes you and if he/she contacts you, it's on a positive, non-confrontational manner. However, YOUR attitude, regardless of what cop projects or articulates in manner and gestures, will win the fight. Who do you think gets more respect and attracts respect? Cop with a bad day and an attitude to match or the OC'er who is polite, firm but doesn't reciprocate the investigating cop's issues of the moment?
2) You OC in a store, say, like a hardware store. You are confronted by an employee or manager who wants you to leave. Customers are milling around but you can bet your sweet Aunt Fannies' rump they are observing. Who get's the upper hand in positive thoughts? The polite and calm OC'er or the OC'er who raises a voice and acts a bit silly, saying viable but unfortunate things like, "We'll never shop here again!"
Point is, you who OC are the missionaries to this "faith." Due to increased media coverage, folks of all stripes are coming here and other places to see what the big idea is all about. They need to know both the positive and negative interactions that can and will occur. That needs to be discussed calmly. But do you turn off someone because of your big attitude here or an attitude on the street?
(In full discolsure, Marty and I have professionally known each other for some time and I've trained under him and his lovely wife. We also attend training together as well as belong to the same professional organizations and so on. But he's the better looking one . . . ) Marty makes some great points that should be remembered. Folks,despite what the anti-gun crowd crows about, cops are generally supportiveof gun rights and folks owning and carrying guns. In Washington state, the largest LE Firearms Instructor organization was vocally against I-676. In 2007, POLICE Magazine, a top tier trade journal, took a poll in which cops who responded were overwhelmingly supportive of gun rights (true to form, however, top administrators from urban areaswere for more restrictions versus street cops). These attitudes in LE do changebased upon region within a state or region within the Union. A deputy inKlik county will likely view OC in amore supportive light that a cop in liberal Seattle. A cop in a rural farming town in Wyoming will be more positive or not care about OC unlike a cop in say, upstate New York (as an example). Contrary to popular opinion, guns and gun laws DO NOT make up the majority ofbasic cop training in the Basic Law Enforcement Training Academy (BLEA). Some topics, like OC, are briefly mentioned because the time isn't there. Gun training beyond the academy is limited and instructors like Marty or me complain that we wish we could get more into their hands (alas, not so - in downturn economic times, training usually gets to the chopping block first, even with the state mandatory minimums). If you want to educate or get involved with your local agencies and help make policy or attitude changes, start serving on Public Safety Commissions or Committees. Nearly every city has one. Orhave a friendly, non-confrontational meeting with the city attorney,manager or mayor. Small cities have the most approachable of these folks. Again, be the positive missionary to those who may not be aware or forgetful of the laws.
We can deflect our involvement in the process by saying we'll cut taxes and bloated agencies. But the reality is that unless YOU, as an OC'er, are willing to get involved in grassroots efforts like Lonnie and others have done, you are not helping the cause. When you act in a negative manner or boast of your confrontations here, you don't help. When you get into pissing matches with cops or deputies on the street, you don't help. When you do not want to understand that social attitudes differ from yours (urban versus surburban versus rural, as an example), you don't help things. Should you be abused for your maker given rights? No! But the time to fight the improper or wrong action is in the courts or with administration or the corporate heads of the company, not in the face of the employee or poorly informed street cop.
Again, how you project yourself on the street and here in the electronic world goes a long way as to whether someone on the fence over the issue falls. That is the point of my post.