In Jim Cooley’s open-carry America, even a trip to Walmart can require an AR-15

[Dane_in_LA]

Originally Posted by BentBow

If you are armed, other people with arms, do not scare you.

There's a lot of veterans who'd disagree vehemently with that assessment.

[BentBow]

Originally Posted by banjomike

I read the article.
That particular guy looked to me to be more likely to accidentally shoot himself or his wife than a bad guy.

That's my greatest worry about open carry. Too much familiarity can, over time, allow a small bad handling of a weapon to become habitual, and then the gun goes off when the carrier doesn't even know he's put himself in danger and everyone around him from his bad habits.

I live in a very loose state when it comes to gun laws. Over they years, I've know over a dozen owners who have shot themselves, mostly in the foot, ankle, legs and butt, and they go all the way back to my high school years. A couple of them died from accidental gunshots, but most recuperated.

But few ever fully recuperated. 40 year old gunshot injuries have a way of really debilitating a guy as he ages; while I've lost contact with most of them, the 3 or 4 I still see once in a while all complain about their bad leg, or how the hip they shot at age 18 is really big trouble now. Another friend accidentally shot himself in the gut with a pistol around age 30, had to have some innards removed from the damage, and has had bad digestive trouble ever since. He's now 70. A long time to live with chronic diarrhea and frequent vomiting.

One said he was fooling around with his pistol and shot his dog in the head. He never got over that, and said he gave all is guns away afterward.

We hear about the deaths due to gun accidents all the time, but most accidents are like these. They don't kill anyone, but they cripple them. Or cripple someone they love.

Ya, like running a circular saw or table saw at work.... There are all kind of idiots that run circular saws, but only a small fraction actually get hurt with it.