The VCDL encourages you to exercise your right to open carry in the Commonwealth in order that our fellow Virginians can become more desensitized to seeing law abiding firearm owners going about their daily business with self-defense preparedness. In fact, since the Restauarant Ban fiasco in the last few months, VCDL members and others have taken to increasingly wearing arms openly into restaurants to show their displeasure at Governor Kaine's bigotry and hypocrisy.
I wish I was hearing more about the Saslaw dinners. Adam at apocryph.org reports that the meal on April 26 was rather uneventful. I guess that's why we aren't hearing much, huh?
I'll admit, I don't open carry very often. That will probably change as I just got my holster from High Noon for my CZ P-01. It took months for them to complete (the fair and lovely Margie ordered it for me for Christmas!) and this thing is awesome. Elegant sidearm, handsome holster, hot looking Marschal grips - yeah, that's motivation!
But in the meantime, day to day, going to work with customers coming into the office, dropping off and picking up the kids at school, and generally running whatever errands I have, does not lend itself well to open carry. So I tuck in the IWB (inside waistband) and out the door I go.
There've been a number of articles on concealed carry lately - no particular reason that I know of, other than the increase in permit applications, but it's a good topic for those who practice it.
First out of the Centennial State, the Denver Post published an article on the "controversy" surrounding concealed carry. The article is fairly presented, in my opinion, and worth a read.
A church elder hoping to feel less helpless should another gunman open fire in a sanctuary; a retired woman wanting backup on long rural drives; a burly, bearded man who thinks the world is getting crazier; a disabled man and his concerned father, seeking protection from street vultures.
Shooting expert Doug Hamilton's pupils at Cherry Creek's Family Shooting Center cut a wide demographic swath, but all were eager, attentive and sincerely awed by the power and responsibility a concealed-carry permit confers on the gun owner.
For all the freaking out the antis do over gun ownership, the concealed carry laws seem to be the closest thing to what they claim they want - competency tests, extensive background checks, public records. They still go into hysterics whenever a restriction is loosened (like fingerprinting), however, with the "blood in the streets" argument, yada, yada, blah, blah, zzzzz...
Really, obtaining permission to exercise a Constitutional right is rather distasteful to many of us, but, being law-abiding people, it's what we do anyway. It's a compromise (of principles?) the VCDL would like to see rolled back and Vermont or Alaska style carry adopted. It's one of the issues about which our PAC asks prospective state level Representatives. (Go to the home page and look for the second item from the bottom if you want to see the whole questionnaire.)
Anyway, here's some of the other reports from around the web concerning CC:
Xavier at Xavier's Thoughts gives us the "Five Rules of Concealed Carry."
Squeaky at Squeaky Wheel Seeks Grease recognizes a need for quality clothing and holsters for IWB.
Breda at The Breda Fallacy got her CLP (yay, Breda!) but she ain't going for the new wardrobe thing. She's looking for alternatives.
By the way, Breda got a very admirable accolade from the Buckeye Firearms Association who asked her permission to use some of her writings on their site! You never fail to impress, Breda!
