I'm a little late to this party but I did read through the whole thread before posting.
I've been on THR since right after TFL days, hang out with a few of our moderators on a regular basis, and know a lot more of our members in person than I can shake a stick at. That being said--
I've spent a fair amount of time over at
www.opencarry.org lately. I've come to call several of thier members friends, friends as close as some I have here.
I even went to an open carry meet/dinner the other night here in Utah(they finnally scheduled one I could attend). There was a reporter from the LA times there, specifically to do a story on open carry. He spent the entire evening asking different attendees questions and taking notes. To a man, all the folks he interviewed were intelligent and well spoken, even though some were in sport coats, some in boots and jeans, and some in t-shirts and levis. He's going to be hard pressed to turn any article he writes into an anti piece, that's for sure. I don't think he will, he seemed genuinely interested in the WHY? of open carry. Let me tell you all something:
From the folks I know personally from BOTH BOARDS some of us are being down right counterproductive in the big picture of things.
To our original poster: Kudos for sticking to your guns.
Those of you that dislike the idea of open carry because it "might" cause others to be a little more anti? This attitude is what is costing us death by a thousand cuts. It took me 10 years to convince my dad that EBRs are just as useful as his model 70 30-06. But now he understands.
The folks that I've met that do open carry do so in fine form. NOT ONE has fit the hillbilly redneck label that we all seem to fear. All have been cleanly dressed, well groomed, carrying with the correct gear(not just shoved in the pants), well versed in applicable law, and more than willing to take the occasional snide comment about thier choice.
Know what? I'm glad that there are people out there that WILL stand up for thier rights, and in so doing, my rights, and your rights, as well.