California's ‘Open Carry' Gun Advocates Set Sights On Court

Arguing for the right to openly carry weapons, California gun advocates are preparing to bring their fight to state court. Allowing citizens to openly display an unloaded weapon is “the next logical step in the evolution of gun rights in California," Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of…

Huffington Post

California's ‘Open Carry' Gun Advocates Set Sights On Court

The Huffington Post  | by  Lydia O'Connor

Posted: 04/14/2014 7:05 pm EDT Updated: 04/15/2014 3:59 pm EDT

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Arguing for the right to openly carry weapons, California gun advocates are preparing to bring their fight to state court.
Allowing citizens to openly display an unloaded weapon is “the next logical step in the evolution of gun rights in California," Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, told the San Francisco Chronicle. California banned open carry in 2011 after gun enthusiasts gathered with guns on their hips at several San Francisco Bay Area Starbucks locations and provoked public outrage over perceived intimidation tactics.
Though the gatherings have fizzled, Paredes told the Chronicle “that doesn't mean we're not preparing for the next round, which is the courts," he said.
But gun control advocates say efforts to bring open carry laws before a judge are attempts to bypass the democratic process.
“It should up to the people to decide for their own communities whether to allow [open carry],” attorney Cody Jacobs of the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence told The Huffington Post. “It’s not up to a judge… that’s really the bottom line.”
Paredes told the Chronicle that arguments in court will be based on recent wins allowing for concealed weapons, namely the ruling in Peruta v. San Diego that declared it is unconstitutional to require that gun owners demonstrate “good cause” to obtain a concealed weapons permit.
But Jacobs told HuffPost that case was an “outlier” because of its conservative three-judge panel -- two of the judges are Republicans -- and pointed to three cases over similar laws in New York, New Jersey and Maryland that upheld carrying restrictions.
California is one of at least six states that does not permit open carry, WBIR reports, along with Florida, Illinois, New York, South Carolina, and Texas. It is also banned in Washington, D.C.

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California's ‘Open Carry' Gun Advocates Set Sights On Court

I don't think Open Carry is a good idea except for police. I think people who are licensed to carry guns should conceal them (for a woman maybe in her purse) for a man under his jacket or in his glove compartment of his car.

It just upsets too many people when someone other than a policemen in a uniform is carrying a gun out in the open on the street. If someone is hunting or target practicing in a legal area to do that everyone knows what is going on and can leave that area if they wish. However, when you are walking down the street or in a market or shopping area I think only uniformed police or uniformed soldiers should open carry weapons.

For example, I remember walking in an underground mall in New Delhi in India in the 1980s and walking by a guy carrying a loaded Kalashnikov sub machine gun in plain clothes. This wasn't a fun experience. Another time when I was a part of a mining company someone in a cowboy hat wore a gun trying to scare us off our own mining claim. We just at the time thought he was an idiot and still do. But, it was a little unnerving in  the middle of the desert for a guy to walk up to you wearing a loaded sidearm who isn't a policeman telling you something other than what actually was the truth.

So, because many people are complete idiots they shouldn't be allowed to open carry on the street or in bars. In some states people can open carry a weapon into bars legally now. I think that is ridiculous. Alcohol and guns is never a good idea for people who actually want to stay alive for very long.