If you are new to the argument, here it is:

Having consistently passed handgun carry permit legislation at the state level, and having watched experience and statistics disprove the opposition’s lies, advocates of freedom now turn to “constitutional carry”: legislated recognition that the right is a constitutional right, not a privilege.  In states with “constitutional carry” such as Vermont, Alaska, Montana, and Arizona, basically, the law-abiding citizen needs no permission slip from the government to carry a gun.  That permission is granted by God, and codified in our Constitution’s Bill of Rights, as well as at state level. Constitutional carry legislation is the representative body’s way of telling the rest of the government that the right to keep and bear arms is not fair game for government control.

This is not a matter of the mere inconvenience of applying for a plastic card, or paying a fee, or renewing.  Here is why constitutional carry is vital to you—even to those of you who do not “like guns” and have no plan to acquire one.

Constitutional carry sparks a mind-shift from your having to go begging to the government for limited liberties, to your exuberant exercise of the natural, expansive, full freedoms inherent as natural rights.  These freedoms are a double-gift—a part of your birthright, and then a legacy left to you by your founders.  Constitutional carry advances the right to keep and bear arms from a statutory permission slip that may be revoked by the next legislature, to a constitutional right that no person has the right to revoke.

The .gov often almost instinctively presumes to exercise control over your freedoms.  Asking your state legislator to pass constitutional carry is a statement reminding the government that it lacks the lawful authority to send out bands of uniformed officers and soldiers to confiscate guns from American citizens—as happened in New Orleans over nothing more than bad weather.  If they have the power to grant permission, they can take it away just as quickly.

I urge that we work closely with our known, strong supporters of the right to keep and bear arms, to make constitutional carry the next strategic restoration of the right.  We should express our desire, thank them for the surprising gains already won, and ask them what we can do to help take the next step—constitutional carry.  This is going to take time.

This story out of Richmond, VA, picked up by Say Uncle reports the murder of a convenience store patron who was carrying his own handgun, openly.  The killer apparently spotted him, stole his gun, and shot him in the process.  Facts sketchy.

MJM’s commentary from the story:

1) Do not sit around in your car at 2:30 a.m.  Nothing good happens out there after about 10:30 anyway.  (Has nothing to do with the murder of the open-carry armed citizen, but the killers hit these condition-white people, too.)

2) The killer picks the time and place to attack, even when you are just buying a candy bar after pumping gas at BP.

3) The gun control side is using hostility to open carry to divide and conquer.  Resist this.  Those gun owners and supporters of the RTKBA who disrespect others who carry openly jeopardize their own rights.  I may think open carry is an in-your-face expression of insanity (I do not.) but the guy shopping in Kroger’s with a gun on his hip, not shooting anyone is, well, uh, not shooting anyone.  I do not consider him any more dangerous than anyone else.  I do not “feel threatened” because I can see his gun.  Indeed, since he is carrying openly as he peruses the candy section, I can see that he is not shooting anyone and not acting in any threatening manner.  He is, however, conditioning others to accept that the mere visible presence of a gun is no cause to freak out, whether that is any component of his motive or not.

If we operate from the guiding principle, “default to freedom,” we cannot go wrong, and cannot be picked apart piecemeal.  Open carry is not evil.  Murder is evil.  I advocate the freedom to choose to bear arms openly.