Agsalaska said:
It's silly to me to be so dedicated, or paranoid, about personal safety that you would not disarm for certain things in life.
Well another way to look at it is that having to disarm on a regular basis is actually more dangerous than just being able to carry.
So while you may be perfectly content not having a firearm, having more places with such restrictions means you have to change where the gun is when you otherwise would not have had to.
Dangerous when it comes to the firearm being manipulated or removed (and by law unloaded some places when left behind) instead of just sitting there in its holster on you.
Dangerous when it requires removal of the firearm unexpectedly which then gets placed somewhere less secure, more likely to be stolen, or with unexpected access to children or others. That gun you stuffed someplace in the car because you couldn't just wear it? What about if forgotten there, or the wife or family member having problems with the kid takes them back to the car ahead of you, or that person that shouldn't have access ends up back in the vehicle. And that is with a car/truck. Try dealing with such crap on a motorcycle.
Dangerous when being removed because of random people that can see the gun. Make a call or complaint. Or learn you are carrying when you would rather have not let them know. Or have someone that may choose to try and break in or steal that firearm see you remove or store it.
Having to remove a firearm in public has a lot of extra risks associated with other people seeing it.
When you decide to go out to dinner you shouldn't have to suddenly expose yourself to such things.
As for alcohol itself. I know some people with little change in decision making. I also have seen many with very altered decision making. Those with altered decision making also are not suitable for making that determination of themselves as they are biased.
Everyone has changes to fine motor skills and reaction time.
I think nobody should drive and drink, that is an action that requires constant adjusted input that is severely impacted by reduced motor control and slowed reaction time.
But some can carry and drink, have an argument or be presented with a bad situation and make perfectly sound decisions. Carry is less related, it does not require constant adjustments like driving. The gun sits there and decision making on whether it stays there is more important.
Unfortunately we base our perceptions on that large number that with slightly reduced inhibitions are barely in control, while others have such strong inhibitions alcohol has less impact.
So all I can say is there is definately people I don't think should have a gun around if they have had a drink.
While at the same time others would be fine.
Some in between.
I have drank with a gun plenty of times, but knowing how immature others can become after a drink and think they are just fine, I don't know.
Certainly one should not make a habit of it. But what sounds like a good idea on paper turns into impractical reality for some. Have to disarm to go out to eat. Have to disarm while camping and sitting around the fire?
I mean many of us have a drink at home where we have immediate or nearly immediate access to a firearm. Is one safely secured on your body that much different?
Also when combined with other places one may not be able to carry like say the child's school they pick them up at, the post office they visit regularly, place of employment for some, etc it adds to the complication of carrying, making it less likely someone will carry most of the time.
It just becomes too much hassle.
So suddenly it becomes less about be paranoid about disarming some of the time, and contributing to whether one carries most of the time or almost never. For the large number even with a permit that rarely carry, it no longer really provides much protection because it is just too much of a pain.
