It's the 2% that worry me.

RGVshooter

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Mod's I hope this is the appropriate section for this post..

Yes.

In my opinion 98% of those who are licensed to carry are very responsible & knowledgeable gun owners. A good percentage of those, especially the ones I know are by far better shots than most LEO's. But it's the other 2% that scare me. Those are the ones that can potentially ruin our already fragile image of good responsible gun owners.

Example. Just recently at a grocery store in Texas, I've seen a young guy come walking in the store shopping at the produce section with a fully exposed s&w sd9ve dangling on a blackhawk holster that was just shoved into his pants. No belt.

Now Texas is a open carry state, yet this particular chain of unnamed but statewide grocery store has a 30.07 sign posted on both entries. (30.07 sign is the legal sign prohibiting open carry, concealed is fine)

I carefully observed the fella and his actions were those of the average casual shopper. I approached him and gently reminded him of the 30.07 sign, which he said he failed to have seen. In his defense, the sign was blocked by some store products, that were quickly moved after I pointed it out to a supervisor. he quickly ran out to his car and came back in wearing a zipped up sweat jacket, concealing the firearm, which I nodded in approval. he and I then proceeded to talk about our carry guns. At that point I said "hey, so you carry a SD9VE? how do you like it, any problems? etc... He then proceeds to excitedly reach for the pistol and draws it out of his holster to show me...:eek:

I immediately put my hand out & stop his arm and I told him, 'dude, you're in a public store, you don't do that". "Are you even licensed? he says "yah, I just got it'. And I have to shake my head because I'm thinking, who was his instructor? Shouldn't he already know these things? I then proceeded to do my best to educate this young man, on many do's & don't's... What to watch out for as far as entering a place of business to get in the habit of looking for signage. That what he does represents all gun owners etc...

This isn't the first time I've seen stupidity in public, last time a guy got kicked out of Bass pro shop for unholstering his loaded pistol and trying out new holsters in the isle! For crying out loud people, YOU DON"T DO THAT..
I take the new holster & go to the gun counter & ask the guy's behind the counter to take a pistol from under the glass & try it out for fitment, my gun stays holstered at all times.

Rant over, I need a coffee.
 
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A good percentage of those, especially the ones I know are by far better shots than most LEO's.

I see such statements made on a regular basis but I wonder if those who make such assertions have statistics to provide the foundation.

Just because something is accepted as a truism on the internet does not make it true simply by repeating it.

It may be true...but I haven't qualified alongside the majority of LEOs in this country and would find it hard to generalize on a national level despite many years qualifying with other LEOs from the early 80's to the 2000's in multiple cities and states in the U.S .

Personally, I don't take anyone's skill level with a firearm for granted, (good or bad).
 
One night, I was in a hotel lobby. No one there but an older gentleman, the desk clerk and I. I was in uniform on duty. He asked me what I was carrying and I told him. The then stated that he had a Ruger LC 9 for concealed carry. He reached under his jacket and started to pull it out to show it to me. I explained to him that we don't remove our guns from the holsters in public unless it is to use it, not to examine each others guns. I also advised him that not all law enforcement officers were "gun people" and definitely not all were comfortable enough around licensed carriers for him to even touch his weapon unexpectedly in their presence. If you reach for yours, he might just reach for his! He said he never thought of it that way. He wasn't really a "gun person". He was recently retired and got his carry license because he and his wife were beginning to tour the USA on their new Goldwing.
 
Do you remind other drivers of the posted speed limit signs on the road?

Not a fair analogy. now is it? One can not easily remind other drivers about the speed limit. But, one CAN easily remind another carrier, of the carry laws.

Additionally, there aren't organized groups of any credible size or impact, trying to take away people's ability to drive, that would use someone speeding to further their goals. But, there ARE way to many trying to do so for concealed carry, open carry, just owning guns, that WOULD use examples of people breaking the carry laws already on the books..
 
ONE CAN ONLY HOPE.

RGVshooter; In my opinion 98% of those who are licensed to carry are very responsible & knowledgeable gun owners. A good percentage of those said:
Being a better shot OR NOT, LEOS do receive a much more extensive training than "most" CCL owners. In FL where a GUESTIMATED very large # of CCL'S are issued daily with zero training required, ( * back when I got mine anyway * ) it makes me think of safety a great deal. A hunter safety class is REQUIRED for a hunting license, but no required education/training for a CCL??? :eek: IDK the exact #'s, but I think your estimate of 98% is generous. Thanks for starting a new thread. Obviously I feel safety is something that can't be stressed enough & sorry if my hijacks & soapbox antics bother you. Your example is a good one, being that many/most AD's are "probably" not malicious.
 
RGVshooter,

I worry about people who stick their noses in other people's business.

If you want to keep your privilege to own and carry guns, you had better defend all gun owners who are within law. Because you don't like a way that a person is legally carrying a gun, you shouldn't infringe on his privilege to do so. You ought to defend it while quietly offering him advice.

Progressives, neocons, liberals, lefties, commies, etc love to enforce their Utopian ideals upon others; e.g., democratize the world, tell other countries how they should function, etc. I'm an authentic conservative. I will defend even what I might not like, because we've slid down the very slippery slope of totalitarianism by allowing wolves to consume sheep who have different ways of doing stuff. What that did was open the rest of us to predation by wolves.

The Second Amendment hasn't been a right since 1934. The National Firearms Act opened to door to infringement. Uninformed Americans who lacked ability to predict put us on the path of incremental gun control with the end game being complete confiscation. Then we'll be malleable for the New World Order, which is code for one-world-government, which means the patrimony of our Founding Fathers will officially be destroyed.

There are no conditions within the Second Amendment. Everything foisted upon us that compromises the Second Amendment was done so by politicians and illegitimate actions of our court system, for no court, not even the US Supreme Court, has authority to create law.

"I Disapprove of What You Say, But I Will Defend to the Death Your Right to Say It."
---Voltaire

Two pieces of advice: don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong, and don't help neocons & liberals take our guns.

Sometimes the best way to convey points is to say it plainly.
 
Not a fair analogy. now is it? One can not easily remind other drivers about the speed limit. But, one CAN easily remind another carrier, of the carry laws.

Additionally, there aren't organized groups of any credible size or impact, trying to take away people's ability to drive, that would use someone speeding to further their goals. But, there ARE way to many trying to do so for concealed carry, open carry, just owning guns, that WOULD use examples of people breaking the carry laws already on the books..
Excellent points, and very on point as well.
 
I don't like long range hunting. I call it big game sniping. I'll defend game snipers because I know that reasoning to outlaw game sniping could be contorted and applied to what most hunters would call orthodox hunting.

Divide and conquer, or is it: we've been divided and conquered by America's Fifth Column???
 
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To be fair, the guy described by OP was possibly in jeopardy of a getting charged with trespass and I don't know TX law on this, but perhaps facing a gun seizure or loss of permit as well.

What one person may perceive as a failure by the OP to mind his own business, another person might see as trying to help someone. Kind of like letting someone know their brake lights aren't working or their fly is unzipped.

Beyond that, careless and reckless behavior by a gun carrier does affect us all, as there are a lot of folks out there that would be more than happy to for any excuse to impose restrictions and limitations on gun carry. I would not have wanted someone to post a Utube video of the guy with the gun and the 30.07 sign as an example of how gun owners are irresponsible.

Then there is the argument that maybe that particular guy should not have a permit and he should have been left to his own fate...
 
Do you remind other drivers of the posted speed limit signs on the road?

No, but I might remind a tailgater that he's/she's "number one". :D


To make it clear. I'm an supervisor at the store. I felt it was necessary and within my right to remind the guy of the posted sign that he failed to miss. I'm also licensed to carry & felt a sense of comradery among a fellow gun owner and merely wished to mentor him a bit.
 
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In any sub-group of people a modest percentage of them will be completely clueless. That is not to say deliberately acting like a jerk, they simply don't know or don't understand. You did good trying to clue him in without being unduly aggressive or judgmental.
 
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Seems to me there's a difference between MYOB and "looking out for the other guy." I have been in social situations where the carrier has unintentionally had his weapon exposed for all to see. It did not engender "carry gun options" chatter but did elicit gratitude. Joe
 
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