Speakers of the English language will all agree: “bearing a weapon inside
the home” does not exhaust this definition of “carry.” For one thing, the very risk
occasioning such carriage, “confrontation,” is “not limited to the home.” Moore v.
Madigan, 702 F.3d 933, 936 (7th Cir. 2012). One needn’t point to statistics to
recognize that the prospect of conflict—at least, the sort of conflict for which one
would wish to be “armed and ready”—is just as menacing (and likely more so)
beyond the front porch as it is in the living room. For that reason, “[t]o speak of
‘bearing’ arms within one’s home would at all times have been an awkward
usage.” Id. To be sure, the idea of carrying a gun “in the clothing or in a pocket,
for the purpose . . . of being armed and ready,” does not exactly conjure up images
of father stuffing a six-shooter in his pajama’s pocket before heading downstairs to
start the morning’s coffee, or mother concealing a handgun in her coat before
stepping outside to retrieve the mail. Instead, it brings to mind scenes such as a
woman toting a small handgun in her purse as she walks through a dangerous
neighborhood, or a night-shift worker carrying a handgun in his coat as he travels
to and from his job site.