Coming soon to a McDonalds near you.
Exactly. I conceal carry every day from the time I get up until the time I go to bed. But I am not a fan of open carry.
Where ever I go, with concealed carry I don’t make people feel uncomfortable. That’s a good thing. Some folks might think making people uncomfortable with open carry is ok, but they need to look at the bigger picture:
1) if you make a business owner’s customers uncomfortable and they leave or stop patronizing his business entirely, that costs that business owner money.
2) It also provides incentive for that business owner to act on the provision under the law to post his business as a no concealed or open carry establishment. That provision reads as follows:
“(C) In addition to the provisions of subsection (B), a public or private employer or the owner of a business may post a sign regarding the prohibition or allowance on those premises of concealable weapons, whether concealed or openly carried, which may be unique to that business.
Open carrying of weapons
SECTION 5. Section 23-31-235 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 23-31-235. (A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, any requirement of or allowance for the posting of signs prohibiting the carrying of a concealable weapon, whether concealed or openly carried, upon any premises shall only be satisfied by a sign expressing the prohibition in both written language interdict and universal sign language.
(B) All signs must be posted at each entrance into a building where a concealable weapon permit holder is prohibited from carrying a concealable weapon, whether concealed or openly carried, and must be:
(1) clearly visible from outside the building;
(2) eight inches wide by twelve inches tall in size;
(3) contain the words
’NO CONCEALABLE WEAPONS ALLOWED' in black one-inch tall uppercase type at the bottom of the sign and centered between the lateral edges of the sign;
(4) contain a black silhouette of a handgun inside a circle seven inches in diameter with a diagonal line that runs from the lower left to the upper right at a forty-five degree angle from the horizontal;
(5) a diameter of a circle; and
(6) placed not less than forty inches and not more than sixty inches from the bottom of the building's entrance door.
(C) If the premises where concealable weapons are prohibited does not have doors, then the signs contained in subsection (A) must be:
(1) thirty-six inches wide by forty-eight inches tall in size;
(2) contain the words 'NO CONCEALABLE WEAPONS ALLOWED' in black three-inch tall uppercase type at the bottom of the sign and centered between the lateral edges of the sign;
(3) contain a black silhouette of a handgun inside a circle thirty-four inches in diameter with a diagonal line that is two inches wide and runs from the lower left to the upper right at a forty-five degree angle from the horizontal and must be a diameter of a circle whose circumference is two inches wide;
(4) placed not less than forty inches and not more than ninety-six inches above the ground;
(5) posted in sufficient quantities to be clearly visible from any point of entry onto the premises.
(D) Nothing in this section prevents a public or private employer or owner of a business from posting a sign regarding the prohibition or allowance on those premises of concealable weapons, whether concealed or openly carried, which may be unique to that business."
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Read that twice and take all the time you need, especially the bit in bold. The law makes no distinction between open and concealed carry when posting a business. The provision not just allows but requires posting against all concealable weapons - open or concealed. This open carry law will consequently and inevitably result in fewer businesses that allow concealed carry.
3) Those folks who are uncomfortable with people carrying guns also vote and when those folks see people carrying guns openly every day in places like the grocery store, then tend to remember that at the polls and vote accordingly. In contrast those same folks are not even aware of you when you carry concealed and are not motivated to vote for anti gun issues or candidates.
4) I’m also in the camp that views open carry as bad tactics.
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Sadly there will be a small percentage that see open carry as an opportunity to “own the (insert whatever here)”, they’ll do a great deal of harm to the pro gun cause and they will be so tone deaf they’ll never even realize it.
