That's all admirable, but he's a civilian now. I'd like him to act like one. Also, I'm not sure who he thinks he's protecting the good citizens of Oak Harbor from - according to this, there hasn't been a murder there since 2004.
http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Oak-Harbor-Washington.html
This.
Also, a lot has been made of it being his job to protect people. Maybe I missed it, but I didn't hear him say what his job is. He was a trained professional when he was in the military. What does he do now? I heard him say that he was a trained professional with weapons, and I heard him say he carries to protect people. I did not hear him say he currently works in security or law enforcement.
Except he didn't bring the gun to a discussion about gun ownership rights. He brought the gun to what he thought was going to be a discussion on city parks. Does that make it seem less excessive to you?
It makes it seem more excessive to me.
When you are a CCW holder, carrying your weapon upon you at all times is the same as wearing your contact lenses at all times. It's just something that you do because it's unthinkable that you wouldn't.
Why? What are they afraid of?
There is no intimidation factor in carrying one's weapon concealed anymore than there is in wearing one's contacts.
To them, maybe. Not to that councilman and possibly other people in the room. Not to me. I don't experience it as a neutral condition to find out that someone I don't know from Adam and who I have no reason to assume is reliable and okay, is secretly carrying a gun into a public meeting.
The only CCW people who would deliberately make the wearing of their gun into a tool of intimidation are people who are emotionally imbalanced and in need of having their permit revoked. And such CCW people will likely have that happen sooner than later.
Would that be before or after the mental or emotional breakdown, tragic accident, tragic misunderstanding, or revelation of violent anti-government sentiment complete with assassination threats, or other evidence that they should have their permit revoked?
I think it's possible to a) understand gun culture and b) not like some aspects of it. Do we need gun culture passes to discuss this? Like ghetto passes? Really?
I'm not a fan of citizens walking around with concealed weapon to protect me. Nor am I a fan of concealed weapons being carried without licenses. Or weapons being carried without licenses, period. You don't need a license to simply carry in NM. I think your handgun belongs in your house under lock and key if you're trying to protect me. And this is from growing up in Alabama with a vet father and a vet grandfather who both owned guns and going to school with kids who hunted on the weekend and brought paintballs to school and talked about the rifles they'd get when they grew up.
It's not a matter of being afraid of guns. I think fear of guns is irrational. I trust, to a certain extent, policemen to carry guns and do their job. I don't trust or need Citizen Joe, regardless of his service, to walk around town with his gun concealed to protect me.
Like it or not, guns are not contacts, and guns are not knives. They are guns. There's really no equivalent. I'd expect responsible gun owners to be more serious about the power they're carrying around on their hips to not equate it with something harmless and inane. I think that's where most people aren't seeing the "logic."
Quoted for complete agreement.
But if you found yourself in need of protection, and he was there and protected you, would you challenge his right to do so? This is an issue with many facets. It's best to consider them all.
I think this is another point on which some of us don't see the logic. What I see in this question is the proposition of an entirely fictitious and undefined scenario occurring, after the fact of which I find that this random stranger made himself useful to me in the course of said utterly fantastical "it could happen" scenario. And on the basis of that pretty cavalier speculation, am I supposed to be comfortable with the idea of Mr. Random Someone carrying a concealed firearm into a city council meeting on parks?
To me, it's far more logical to look at situations that happen often. It often happens that random strangers who should not be carrying guns for a variety of reasons, do carry guns. And when they do, there is a statistical likelihood that rather than make themselves useful, they will make themselves a problem.
I am always reminded of the Gabby Giffords shooting and of hearing a news statement from a witness who had a concealed carry permit and who was carrying when the shooting happened. He told reporters that he had been inside a nearby store. He didn't see the shooting, but he heard it, and he immediately drew his weapon and rushed to help and protect. He said he saw a man holding a gun, and he was about to take aim to shoot that man -- except that he heard others yelling at him that the man he saw with the gun was one of the bystanders who had just disarmed the real shooter.
That witness also stated that he was a military veteran, recently returned from active duty -- a trained professional with guns. But if he had not heard those shouts or those other people had not seen him coming, he would have shot an innocent man who actually was helping. He said to the reporter at the time that it was a close call and that he was shaken by it.
It is foolish in the extreme, in my opinion, to assume that most people are as cool under pressure as that man at the scene of the Giffords shooting, who came out ready to shoot but stopped himself when he heard new information. The history of gun violence in the US tells us that, for each one like him, there may be a hundred or so like George Zimmerman. I saw nothing in that video to make me assume the man with concealed weapon would be more like the former example than the latter.
ETA: I should point out, by the way, that in the scenario as outlined it is not in the least bit unlikely that his right to protect me would be challenged after the fact. People challenge the right of others to protect them all the time, especially if they are not professionals but also even if they are. There are common lawsuits about it.