AR OC guy gets tasered

[whomever]

"Also, outside of specific use cases, I don't recall open carry being a thing in America of the 1700s-early-1900s. It seems people were more discrete even when guns were not a political issue."

Well, not 'early 1900s', but I got a 22 rifle for Xmas in 1971 or so, at age 14 or thereabouts. A friend's Dad was willing to drive us to the Rod-n-Gun the day after Xmas. I didn't have a case for it, so I stuck it in the crook of my arm, put a couple of boxes of shells in my pocket, and started hoofing it a couple of miles across town to their house, through suburbia. About halfway there I was just approaching a large school grounds - maybe 1/2 mile by 1/4 mile. My route took me diagonally across the school grounds. As it happened, right as I got there a police car pulled up. I crossed the street in front of him as I entered the school grounds. I gave him a big grin, and he grinned back. It was a regular Norman Rockwell moment.

I mention this not just to tell old man stories, but because my sense is that we were a lot better off when guns were viewed as having all the mystique of a hatchet, chainsaw, of gas can. They were something you wanted to be careful with, but weren't Mystical Talismans of Power. The constant focus on them as Objects from the Dark Side over the last couple of decades tends to plant unhealthy thoughts in the rare disaffected whacko.

(FWIW, I agree that the folks open carrying long guns into Starbucks or whatever are odd and counterproductive. But I don't remember anyone being discreet. If you had a reason to be carrying a gun, you did, and if you didn't, you didn't. No one cared one way or the other. This may have varied by locale.)

[mtnbkr]

"Also, outside of specific use cases, I don't recall open carry being a thing in America of the 1700s-early-1900s. It seems people were more discrete even when guns were not a political issue."

Well, not 'early 1900s', but I got a 22 rifle for Xmas in 1971 or so, at age 14 or thereabouts. A friend's Dad was willing to drive us to the Rod-n-Gun the day after Xmas. I didn't have a case for it, so I stuck it in the crook of my arm, put a couple of boxes of shells in my pocket, and started hoofing it a couple of miles across town to their house, through suburbia. About halfway there I was just approaching a large school grounds - maybe 1/2 mile by 1/4 mile. My route took me diagonally across the school grounds. As it happened, right as I got there a police car pulled up. I crossed the street in front of him as I entered the school grounds. I gave him a big grin, and he grinned back. It was a regular Norman Rockwell moment.

I mention this not just to tell old man stories, but because my sense is that we were a lot better off when guns were viewed as having all the mystique of a hatchet, chainsaw, of gas can. They were something you wanted to be careful with, but weren't Mystical Talismans of Power. The constant focus on them as Objects from the Dark Side over the last couple of decades tends to plant unhealthy thoughts in the rare disaffected whacko.

(FWIW, I agree that the folks open carrying long guns into Starbucks or whatever are odd and counterproductive. But I don't remember anyone being discreet. If you had a reason to be carrying a gun, you did, and if you didn't, you didn't. No one cared one way or the other. This may have varied by locale.)

I was speaking more about tactical carry (ie for self defense or offensive use). I'm younger, but when I was an early teen in TN in the late 80s, we walked around our 'hood with 22lr rifles or shotguns like it was nothing.

Chris