One of the favorite memes of the anti-rights advocates of America (and, probably, the world) is that firearms, in and of themselves, frighten people, and their presence will chill conversation, and cause other people to give you a very wide berth.
Obviously, this is true for certain particularly-irrational individuals, but this is far from the universal constant the anti-rights advocates would have you to believe.
Today, while headed down to Atlanta, we stopped off at the Steak and Shake in Cleveland, Tennessee. I was openly carrying, as I have taken to always doing when not at work and not in the house, and stepped inside the restroom to wash my hands and such before perusing the menu. The facilities at this particular establishment are not terribly well laid out, and while I was washing my hands at one sink, I was blocking the paper towel dispenser for the other gentleman who had just finished using the other sink. I apologized, and did my best to scoot out of the way, and while he was drying his hands, he asked, “Is that real?” while gesturing at my side.
Now, I will freely admit that question in particular tends to set me a little on edge – asking what it is, or if Tennessee allows that kind of thing, or any of a host of other questions does not bother me quite as much, but that specific question tends to be asked from people who stand a very good chance of ruining my day.
In this particular case, I was lucky – I responded in the affirmative, and he came back with, “Wow, in Canada, right now, you would be arrested!”
Through the rest of the short conversation, it came to light that he was visiting down from Canada, had never seen a non-law-enforcement individual openly carrying a firearm before, and that no matter the kind of permit you got up in the Frozen North, doing what I was doing would result in immediate police attention.
Reciprocally, I explained that firearms here in the states do not require permits for ownership, but most states do require permits for carrying, and that as long as you have some kind of carry permit, Tennessee does not really care if you carry your firearm under your shirt or over it.
He thanked me for the information, I thanked him for visiting our great state, and we each went back to our various meals.
Throughout the experience, it was quite obvious that he was surprised at an average citizen carrying a firearm openly in public, but he hardly appeared frightened, especially given that he had hte nerve to ask me about it, and talk about the differences between Canada and the States. By the end of the conversation, we were both laughing at the cultural and legal differences, and we parted amicably.
Did the presence of my firearm “chill conversations”? Hardly. It inspired a conversation I would not have had otherwise, and it facilitated an exchange of information that likewise would not have otherwise occurred – one party came out of the conversation with the knowledge of the rights we can enjoy, freely and peaceably, here in the States, and the other came out with the understanding of how oppressed our neighbors to the north really are. Did my firearm strike fear into the hearts of observers? Hardly. This man had obviously never been around firearms in public, and yet his body language and vocal qualities did not indicate the slightest iota of fear – surprise, curiosity, and interest, but no fear.
Yes, it is true that some people will involuntarily wet themselves at the sight of inanimate, finely-crafted metal-and-plastic objects, but that is hardly a convincing or compelling reason to pointlessly abridge their rights, and the rights of every other American citizen. Find some other strawman to burn, hoplophobes.
Oh, and the only thing I wish I had done differently? Ask him why Eastern Tennessee seems to be such a destination for Ontarians – I swear, every day, I see a crown-bedecked license plate, and just last week, I saw an Ontarian farm plate on a truck. *blink*
Great job Linoge,
Thanks for being such a great ambassador and example of gun owners in America.
Really appreciate the work you are doing in destroying the Anti-Rights advocates memes, one person, one meme at a time.
I also notice that you didn’t mention any law enforcement officers being called by any of the other patrons or the staff.
Could it be that people are smart enough not to be afraid of an inanimate object despite what the Brady Campaign says?
Quite right, Bob – Better Half and I were at that restaurant for about 15-20 minutes as our order was cooked up (they were a little backlogged), and unless the police response time in Cleveland, TN is particularly slow, there were no calls to the LEOs about a man with a gun (or, even better, the police might have asked the right kinds of questions about the man with the gun).
As for being an ambassador, I think I prefer “example” – after all, the pay sucks, and everyone is taking note whether I want them to or not
. And if I can help to spread the idea of individual rights and private, responsible portage of firearms while simply going about my daily life… well, that is just damned shiny.
Linoge,
The example portion is your every day behavior; the ambassador portion is when you take those few minutes to engage a total stranger in conversation.
You could have made a non-committal reply and scrammed, instead you spent a little time and effort in educating another.
Most people with whom I talk about guns are reasonable regardless of their personal opinions. It’s sad that the Brady Bunch thinks of Americans as a massive group of hand-wringing pantywaists because, so many times, that just isn’t true.
Bob S.: Eh, fair enough – the pay still sucks. Still, I would imagine that most “real” ambassadors’ jobs consist of little more than bullshitting in the bathroom, so I guess that works out.
Sarah: Unfortunately, I cannot comment as to this gentleman’s opinions regarding firearms in general, but he was positively fascinated at the idea of average citizens carrying them. Still, you are absolutely correct – I have yet to be publicly accosted for carrying a firearm, which tends to show the lie of the Brady Bunch’s propaganda.
I’ve had the same conversation with some of my Canadian buddies who come down every year for the Honda Hoot.
The wiseass in me hoped you responded “Yeah that’s real stingray, doesn’t it look great?”
The Brady-types operate in a different reality than us, they always mumble about how all these open carry protesters MIGHT just start killing everybody in sight, despite the fact it simply NEVER happens, and these zealots do all they can to egg them on by branding them murderers, thugs, troglodytes, and tossing lewd references to genitalia. Rational people often wait to see some examples before jumping to conclusions (maybe not statistically significant examples, but examples)
Also speaking from personal experience I once stepped from the urinal at a public bathroom in Boston (The Boston Garden/North Station Bathroom for anybody who might want to avoid certain behaviors) only to find what looked an awful lot like drug deal going on by the sinks. My hand discreetly went to the butt of my gun, and I omitted the hand-wash part of my activity to get the hell out of there.
I suspect that no matter how Mr. Canada *eh?* felt about guns and right-to-carry, if he felt in any way uneasy on being in proximity to a non-cop with a heater, he might have just decided a paper towel wasn’t as good as the front of his trousers that day.
He certainly wouldn’t have spoken to you. I certainly didn’t feel the need to ask if that was a real drug-dealer to Ice Dogg and Ray-Ray….
Tennessee Budd: The more people we reach, the better the world will be… bathrooms might not be the best angle, and motorcycles definitely have them beat.
Weer’d: Is “crossing my mind” enough for partial credit?
Outstanding point – he literally had to reach past my firearm to get to the paper towels, and if he felt, in any way, uncomfortable about being in suc close proximity to icky firearms, he certainly would not have done that.
And, now, that firearm-insulated, oppressed-without-knowing it Canuk has a positive, reinforcing example of a private citizen openly wielding a firearm in a responsible, safe, reasonable manner. I cannot exactly hope for him to take up the cause of championing such an idea in his home country, but I can hope, however irrationally, for him keeping that experience in the back of his mind in the future.
Hell of a place for political dialogue, though
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Yep, as cultured people we understand that washing hands is a very good thing. But knowing that the vast majority of us keep our penises vastly cleaner than our hands, so long as all is being done is stand-up operations, anybody logical will know that hand-washing is optional. Heck often I wash my hands BEFORE I use the urinal because of this.
You did well.
Also you do get partial credit for thinking it, but damn-it man next time say it, it’ll likely will put the asking party at more ease than the more subtle friendly affirmation. Talking about your nifty holster simply points that its no big deal carrying a gun. And it isn’t! Go figure!
True enough – I would just have to be a little careful with just how flippant I come across as, though. Humor is good, sarcasm probably will not help, and my cynicism runs deep enough for the latter to be reflexive these days
.
Speaking of, I should photograph the holster sometime soon. For future reference, dyed stingray does interesting things as it wears. Not bad things, just interesting.
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