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> If our shared understanding was that the outcome of these laws would be vast numbers of swarthy men carrying AR-15s in all public places, an armed minority te
by khedoros 10y ago
> If our shared understanding was that the outcome of these laws would be vast numbers of swarthy men carrying AR-15s in all public places, an armed minority teenager behind us at every ATM, our public debate around guns would be very different.
I'd argue that this statement would stand, even without the racial qualifiers. I don't think I've seen an AR-15 outside of a shooting range or gun show. If "vast numbers" of people felt the need to carry them in all public places, I think I'd look for somewhere else to be, where I could feel safe without being armed.
- ethbro 10y ago> ... I think I'd look for somewhere else to be, where I could feel safe without being armed. That's the beauty of open-carry, you don't have to be armed because everyone around you is! /half-ironicly, half-pointedly
- khedoros 10y agoAs I've seen them exercised in my area and in others I've visited or lived in, I don't have problem with gun rights. I've been raised to see them as tools, though. I wouldn't want to stay somewhere where people carry around kitchen knives, large mallets, or tire irons, either. In my mind, you carry a tool when you intend to use it, or suspect that it may be necessary. In a large group of people, there's also a good chance that a percentage of them wouldn't know what they're doing and just kill whatever kind of safety benefit everyone else imagines they've got.