I liked everything about this piece except this part:
Somehow that part didn't sit well with me. Not because I'm a type 3 (I'm certainly not), but because types 1 and 2 are about as extreme and undesirable to Fudds as type 3 is to us. "You give the rest of us a bad name" is the EXACT same argument that Fudds use against those of us who legitimately open carry, and it's the same thing people here say about LGOC. It's a very bad argument to make to someone who understands that their liberty is theirs as an individual, not because they belong to a group. When I hear that argument, my libertarian rebelliousness starts showing- "I'll do whatever the hell I want to do, your name is of no concern to me and my rights!", even though I reject type 3.
Telling someone to not open carry is not our place. Telling someone their individual actions somehow gives us a bad name--- to me, it implies group rights, something I think we should all get into the habit of abandoning. We should be clear in affirming that what someone else does DOESN'T impact our good name, since they are acting as individuals. We shouldn't be acknowledging that what they do impacts our name! In fact, all open carry should be an act of individuals. Some of us choose to band together for strength and support, not for our rights to be acknowledged as a group right. Still, those people open carry as an individual act of their liberty.
Instead, our place should be to tell people what we do and what we don't do. For example, I don't open carry to seek attention from police. I don't open carry to invoke fear or discomfort in the public. I do open carry to positively desensitize the public about my right to carry. I do carry for self-defense. I do open carry as a public political statement expressing my love for my liberty.
That's a very positive message that encourages even the most defiant libertarian amongst us, without any demands for disarmament or any implications of group rights.
But again, that was just a small part of this piece that I didn't like. Everything else was spot on.