If I was in a Starbucks or somewhere and a group of men entered with guns in holsters on their wastebands, I would leave immediately and then tell Starbucks later why.

A gun is also a target and an unloaded weapon on display makes the wearer a potential victim for someone who wants it.

I will not spend my free time in the vicinity of a gun.

Shoot 'em up!

Is guns on the street your vision for the future of America? If you answer yes, then vote Republican!

Yes, I would like every one capable of getting a "license to carry" to get one and do so.

Something tells me a lot fewer innocent folks would get hurt if the "bad guys" wondered if they would go down, too!

Starbucks has to follow the laws of the State in which it operates.

Does the law require private businesses to let all people with guns into their buildings?

Private entities can decide whether or not to allow guns. Starbucks doesn't have to allow guns if it doesn't want to.

If I see someone walking around with a gun displayed, I'm calling 911 and saying I feel threatened by this person because I don't know whether the gun is loaded. Lack of a visible magazine in the weapon doesn't mean that there isn't a round in the chamber.

BTW, regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, this issue will be litigated for decades, as municipalities struggle to keep their populations safe from the depredations of a gun culture.

Are banks required to allow customers with guns inside the building? Just curious.

Vox Pop...i believe the "gun culture depredations" to which you refer do not arise from those licensed to carry...

check out the stats..the States with the most legal gun permits have the lowest death rate by guns...

hmmmmm...

I have several different types of hammers, all but the smallest potentially a lifetaking weapon, but, like my gun, perfectly safe when used as intended - safe for all but the aggressor against my family or neighbors. Unlike Fort Hood, there were armed guards at the Pentagon so a potential massacre cost just one life - the life of the perpetrator. In open carry states, there have been no shootouts or statistically significant increase in gun misuse.
Whenever I read of a politician pushing more gun control laws, I ask them to give up all security except calling 911, as they would have us do. As a matter of concern for my own safety I would avoid ny establishment that invited criminals by declaring law abiding folk unwelcome.

I was raised in a gun culture, here in California. I never gave it much thought that ranchers carried loaded rifles in their pickups. I used to hunt, and I have never feared guns. I gave up hunting, because there came a point where I wanted to stop killing innocent wildlife. However, I would feel quite safe among the open carry crowd...they are probably the most law-abiding group you could find.

Maybe most of them are "law abiding", but it only takes one to gun shot to ruin your whole day.

Besides, what is the point of carrying a gun into Starbucks except to intimidate the other customers?

"Maybe most of them are "law abiding", but it only takes one to gun shot to ruin your whole day."

Having been among them gun toters, I can assure you that you are much more at risk by pretending that a gun-free zone is safe from gunshots. It is just the opposite. If the bad guys need to worry about the gun-toting good guys, there won't be many gunshots.

Perhaps the simplest way to make EPA safe is to issue concealed gun permits to those who have no felony convictions.

The street thugs will need to think twice before they do their drive-bys. This is the basis of the guy in Chicago who is bringing the most recent case before the Supreme Court. I hope he wins, so that the thugs will be driven out of his neighborhoods.

Banning guns to law-abiding citizens only empowers the thugs, who could give a s--t.

If you issue guns to every non-felon in East Palo Alto, then the felons will know they can break into any house and steal one. Then how safe will you really be? How many guns that were originally bought for "law abiding" purposes wind up killing people? Way too many.

"If you issue guns to every non-felon in East Palo Alto, then the felons will know they can break into any house and steal one. "

The thugs have had a free run for many years in EPA. If they have to think twice, before terrorizng the innocent, because they might get their asses shot, they will begin to stop being thugs. Will some guns be stolen...of course, but there will be a lot of dead thugs in the process. Then what?...hmmm, maybe a lot less thugs.

The open carry crowd is harmless...they are just making a constitutional point. If you meet them, offer to buy them a coffee, before they offer to buy you a coffee.

Gun control started when Blacks started to face down KKK mobs with shotguns. Remember, the first gun laws were against "Saturday Night Specials". They were intended to disarm the poor. The assault weapon ban was to keep people from discussing why Purdey was in custody 7 times for violent crimes, and yet was still wandering loose.

Seems to me the EPA "gun thugs" haven't been much deterred by the guns carried by other "gun thugs." Nor by the guns carried by cops, for that matter. And they can always neutralize the gun couterthreat using surprise, like in a drive-by shooting (BTW, when's the last time you heard of a drive-by hammering?).

A criminal always has the element of surprise, and is the one who has done the planning. A smart one will quickly neutralize a carried gun. So much for the middle-aged Rambo fantasies.

The proximate impetus for the current gun carry movement has been Obama's inauguration. That should tell us a lot about it.

"Seems to me the EPA "gun thugs" haven't been much deterred by the guns carried by other "gun thugs." "

Turf battles depend on turf gained. If the innocents are allowed to be armed, the turf will not be gained. EPA needs to have armed, non-felon citizens. The cops cannot protect them, because they are too few, and outgunned. Arm the innocents in EPA, and the problem will fade away. Then we can all celebrate a big parade in EPA with open-carry citizens leading the way.

This is a no-brainer.

Middle aged? My kids are middle aged. As for Rambo, I was 135 pounds packing half my weight in weapons and radio in my salad days.

An unloaded gun is not a deterrent, it is an invitation to any low life with a knife or any type of weapon to ambush the wearer who will most definitely lose his gun, his ammo, and possibly his life. There is no time to load the weapon when faced by a villain with another gun who is intent on taking possession for his own purpose.

Who is kidding who here?

Correction. That last sentence should read ...


There is no time to load the gun when faced by a villain with another weapon who is intent on taking possession of said gun for his own purpose.

Resident: Again..read the stats about the States with the highest percent of legal gun ownere...and how many gun deaths there are per capita, compared to States with the lowest percent of legal gun owners.

Let me put it another way...should we ban 2 carat diamond rings from being open carry in certain enviroments because it incites thugs to crime?

Those who have 2 carat diamond rings are not stupid, and know when to "open carry" and when not to. But they have the RIGHT to open carry wherever they please.

The same is true for an unloaded gun and its owner.

"Arm the innocents in EPA, and the problem will fade away...This is a no-brainer."

OK, I see it now. The Bad Guys and the Dirty Birds have declared a turf war. The Bad Guys commence a driveby to eliminate the Dirty Birds leader on his front stoop. Meanwhile innocent citizens watch their TVs and eat their dinners, trusty guns at the ready.

The first Bad Guys shots have barely cleared muzzle before the valiant innocents emerge, weapons in hand, and launch a withering fusillade that precisely picks off the Bad Guys gunmen as they sight their next shots. Not a bullet is wasted.

Blowing the smoke out of their weapons, the innocents bask in girlfriends' and wives' worshipful adulations. Chastised and shaking in their shoes, the Bad Guys and the Dirty Birds kiss, make up, and pack off to college.

It's a no-brainer all right - for all ages.

If the guy ahead of me in line in Starbucks has a gun, how do I know if it is loaded or not? He could be a disgruntled employee getting ready to shoot up the place.

"The Bad Guys and the Dirty Birds have declared a turf war"

If there is no turf, there can be no turf war. The Bad Guys and the Dirty Birds can only gain power when the innocents are fearful of them. If the thugs are scared of the innocents, there will be no turf to fight over.

"If the guy ahead of me in line in Starbucks has a gun, how do I know if it is loaded or not?"

How do you know that the guy ahead of you doesn't currently have a conceled loaded weapon? The bad guys do not follow the law, in case you have any doubts. Think about it this way: The bad guy, seeing all those 'empty' guns openly displayed, has to think, "Am I going to take a chance...maybe one of those guys actually has bullets in his gun, or is carrying clip that can quickly be loaded". I mean, if I was a potential bank robber, and the bank was full of open carry guys, I would choose a different bank.

The bottom line is: If you want to be supremely safe, surround yourself with open carry guys.

You can't have it both ways.

Either it is the 2 carat diamond ring, don't wear it where it might get stolen.

Or, bad guys won't want to be anywhere near me so you are safer if I wear an unloaded gun.

The idea that some people are carrying unloaded weapons makes me feel safer, but only in a safe environment in the first place, is not a good reason for anything.

I do my best to stay away from where I consider to be unsafe neighborhoods, particularly at what I consider to be unsafe times. If I happened accidentally to be in one of these areas I wouldn't feel any safer being in the vicinity of an unloaded gun. If I saw someone with one, I would stay even further away because that unloaded gun in that area in that time is a beacon for trouble.

Those that open carry whereby they are within their rights, do nothing to make society any safer, therefore all they are doing is posing.

If these individuals really wanted to make places like EPA a safer place, they would be better off being role models to younger kids in something like a Big Brother/Big Sister program or volunteering at a youth club. That is what could really make a difference.

"You can't have it both ways.

Either it is the 2 carat diamond ring, don't wear it where it might get stolen.

Or, bad guys won't want to be anywhere near me so you are safer if I wear an unloaded gun."

That is not having it both ways. In fact, it is an intrinsically logical notion. Wearing splashy diamonds is bait for thugs; carrying heavy weapons is a deterrent.

There seems to be a real fear of law-abiding people, expressing their consitutional perogative, yet some blind denial about the thugs who carry hidden loaded weapons...the ones who might be in front of you at Starbucks or at the bank. It could be worse...they might be behind you.

If society put the same stigma and consequences on gang bangers as they do on sex offenders, we could come a long way toward making a safer society in a very short time.

In a rural area it makes sense for people to open carry guns.

Not so much in urban areas,it distracts police from real thugs, how are they to know, a priori that the weapon is clear and the holder clear?

The best alternative--

In urban areas all people who pass background checks should be permitted to carry concealed loaded weapons in public at any time as long as they are drug free and sober to the same standards as driving.

Armed robbers, rapists, and assorted thugs will stay away from communities where citizens are armed and in the vast majority of cases much better shots, with much more accurate and reliable weapons.

Off duty police and military can provide the training for qualified gun owners.

The key rule is--

Never draw and point your weapon unless you are prepared to shoot, if you shoot, shoot to kill.

Other wise never draw your weapon.