Orlando Sentinel: Movement under way to let Floridians openly tote their guns (+Poll)

[N6ATF]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/views/os-mike-thomas-open-carry-102110-20101020,0,7619137.column

So you are walking down Park Avenue, window shopping for all the stuff you once could afford, and suddenly coming down the sidewalk you see three gunslingers.

It's like the Wild West except they're drinking lattes, and instead of six-shooters, they have Glocks clipped to their matching Gucci belts.

Would this bother you?

Well, it could happen because the "open carry'' movement has come to Florida.

Poll at the link, left column:
The "open carry" movement advocates are pushing legislation in Florida that would let people openly tote their guns. Do you support the move?
74% # Yes. It's a right to carry weapons, so why not display them, which could deter crime.
26% # No. It's bad enough that guns are already prevalent in our society. This just increases the chances that an innocent person is going to get caught in the line of fire.

Response:

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-orlando/janet-reno-s-ban-on-open-carry-florida

Like another Orlando Sentinel writer in 1987, today Mike Thomas still uses hyperbole, distortions, and false imagery of the open carry movement to skew public opinion. Mr. Thomas asserts that your Second Amendment civil rights should not receive the same protections as the rest of the Bill of Rights by using the common false argument that "a badly written letter never killed anyone." Mr. Thomas is obviously not a student of history having forgotten about such publications as "Mein Kampf", "The Communist Manifesto", and "Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong"; three written works that were used as justification for the deaths of tens of millions of people. They also all advocate a disarmed society.

In America, open carry is now legal in 43 states and no license is required in the majority of them. Even those who once predicted blood in the streets and that people will be afraid of the sight of guns in public have changed their attacks to now just calling open carry silly and Freudian. That is fine by me. We don't ban widely utilized methods of exercising civil rights in this country just because some people think it is silly. It is time for Florida gun owners to come out of the closet and repeal the Janet Reno Open Carry Ban.

[Liberty1]

I wonder if his position would change if a Miami jury convicted him of OC for an accidental exposure or printing and he no longer had a method of exercising his taxed & permitted right?

We need constitutional carry so the OC/CC argument devolves into nothing more then a less filling/tastes great commercial.

[Gryff]

Personally, I hope it doesn't pass. Florida already has Shall Issue CCW. They don't need Open Carry since it's a major step backwards from CCW, and I can't see how OC will do anything other than energize the Anti's to step up their efforts.

[Gray Peterson]

Personally, I hope it doesn't pass. Florida already has Shall Issue CCW. They don't need Open Carry since it's a major step backwards from CCW, and I can't see how OC will do anything other than energize the Anti's to step up their efforts.

The anti-gunners have no power in Florida. I lived in Florida for 13 years, and I would have loved to open carry rather than carry concealed in nearly 110 degree heat in southern Florida.

[ocspeedracer]

We need constitutional carry so the OC/CC argument devolves into nothing more then a less filling/tastes great commercial.

Truth!

[kermit315]

The anti-gunners have no power in Florida. I lived in Florida for 13 years, and I would have loved to open carry rather than carry concealed in nearly 110 degree heat in southern Florida.

This. Between the heat and humidity most of the year, I would love to OC rather than CC.

[bsim]

Classic:

But in 43 other states you can carry handguns openly. Even California allows open carry, although it has the Barney Fife Rule. You have to keep the bullets in your pocket.

[dfletcher]

Perhaps FL is an exception in that it is progun for now, but my cynical nature tells me open carry satisfies SCOTUS and in doing so may result in concealed carry restrictions? In effect, provide people an open carry option they won't use in trade for concealed carry they would use. Again, maybe not in FL but is this not a concern in general?

[dustoff31]

Perhaps FL is an exception in that it is progun for now, but my cynical nature tells me open carry satisfies SCOTUS and in doing so may result in concealed carry restrictions? In effect, provide people an open carry option they won't use in trade for concealed carry they would use. Again, maybe not in FL but is this not a concern in general?

Perhaps in places where statutory shall issue CCW is not in place, open carry could be used as excuse not to issue CCWs.

But I don't see things going backwards. That is, "you can open carry now, so you won't need this CCW anymore."