Last night, the Dallas Police Department released a photo of an open carrier at the Black Lives Matter protest, calling him a “person of interest.” Mr. Hughes had nothing to do with the incident. He turned in his weapon to police the moment the shooting started. So open carry advocates dodged a bullet, both literally and figuratively. And politically.
Saying that, the antis are bound to point out that Mr. Hughes didn’t/couldn’t do anything to stop the slaughter, hence open carry is a joke. And that open carrying is dangerous because it confuses police. Oh look! qz.com is already on it:
The widespread open carry of firearms in America, whether they are long guns or not, interferes with police work, and makes it hard to tell whether someone carrying a gun is about to use it to kill someone or is just exercising their rights. As Areva Martin, commented live on CNN about the Dallas events, “we’re telling people see something, say something…but what do we do in an open carry state?”
Use common sense? Avoid stupid people in stupid places doing stupid things? Arm-up? To paraphrase Devo, freedom from choice, is what they want.