So here I am at my local independent coffee shop, and I notice a big fat guy with a Glock on his hip.
He’s not in uniform, and I did notice any shield hanging around his neck.
Is he one of the few folks in NJ with a carry permit? And interestingly enough, nobody is freaking out. Men aren’t crying like babies, and the women aren’t upset either.
So what’s the deal?
Then I noticed it when he got up. The badge was on his belt, hidden by his girth.
Two things:
1) Police are getting a little chubby around here.
2) When this guy was sitting down, you couldn’t see his badge, so you had no idea what the deal is, and as a result hysterics did not ensue, and no SWAT team was called in. Even here in NJ.
So I have to ask, “What are the anti gunners so paranoid about when it comes to OC or CCW?”
Simple they aren’t paranoid, they just hate guns and want to ban them all. They know they can’t ban them all Cart Blanche so they just go to ban whatever they CAN ban.
Point… Weerd has it…
Open carry always struck me as a bad idea. In the good old days, if someone had a sword strapped to their belt in an area where everyone around them was not armed with swords, it certainly served as a not so subtle reminder of the lethal force easily at hand.
You’re never going to see a US where every citizen is carrying a firearm. So you’re always going to have a large portion of the population who for whatever reasons, don’t desire to carry a gun. In the presence of others with guns, it’s unfortunately intimidating. “But the police carry openly!” And only the naive place unshakable trust in the police.
Walk softly and carry a big stick. Open carry isn’t walking softly.
Mark makes a good point. I’ll add the reasons for no hysteria.
The one thing needed for everyone to freak out, is one person to see the weapon, and respond vocally. (and immaturely, imho) Since no one did, your overweight officer was not bothered. Alas, this is more the reason that open carry will not happen. Its not “I don’t want to carry a gun, and I don’t think I would be comfortable around people that do.” types that stop it from happening. Its the “OMG GUN! HE HAS A GUN!” reactions. One person having such a reaction causes many people to have an inconvenient day.
Good points.
But I found it interesting that you could net tell that Chubsy Ubsy was a LEO until he got up from the table, but his firearm was clearly visible.
During my time there many people came and went. Some spotted the gun, others didn’t. And yet no hysterics. So makes me wonder what the big deal with OC is.
And just to clarify, there was no other items on his belt like handcuffs or anything, and he was actually dressed on the slovenly side of things.
When I worked in a Montclair pharmacy, one of our regular customers was a cop who carried his pistol openly in plain clothes, and kept his badge in his wallet. There was no sign he was a cop.
But that’s not true; there was no sign he was a cop except for his gun. In a state where the peons are forbidden arms, openly carrying a gun is a badge. A hell of a lot of Jerseyans don’t know that people can open carry outside this state, and would never think anything but “he must be a cop” when they see OC.