General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Armed Pro-Gun Protesters Occupy Oregon State Capitol [View all]Recursion
(56,582 posts)They're clearly trying to make a point, though they're taking the jackass route to do it. My thought is that if someone is deliberately letting me see their firearm, it's a sign they aren't a threat to me. But, then again, I grew up in a small town where you would sometimes see people walking around with a rifle (going to or coming from hunting, coming off the back 40, what have you), though I think because they were so everyday to us we didn't fetishize them nearly as much.
The comparison I keep coming back to is a chainsaw. I react to a gun about the way I react to a chainsaw. It's something that can be dangerous but mostly I associate it with manual labor in hot weather, rather than the kind of emblem it seems to be to these guys. I'd probably take a second or third look if I ran in to this, but if a group of chainsawing enthusiasts* were demonstrating their right to carry chainsaws as the legislature debated their continuing legality, I don't think it would unnerve me.
* Yes, chainsawing enthusiasts is a silly idea, but so is "gun enthusiasts" for that matter. I think of guns as things you have to carry because there are rattlesnakes down by the river and then have to spend your entire afternoon cleaning.