This Open Carry Texas story amazes me. A bunch of men armed with AR-15s and shotguns go into a restaurant to eat, claiming it’s their Constitutional right to devour a Big Mac with an automatic weapon at their side. Frightened employees of one Jack-in-the-Box, seeing a bunch of armed men enter, locked themselves in a freezer. Open Carry Texas supporters have done this at various restaurants, plus other retailers like Target.

How would you react if you’re eating with your spouse and kids in an Applebees, and in walk a bunch of men carrying rifles?

It would scare the crap out of me. I would immediately grab Pam’s arm, and we’d leave. I don’t know who these guys are. The fact that they are making a public statement with loaded weapons, in the presence of children, tells me they are NOT responsible gun owners. I’d head for the door pronto.

I’m fine with concealed carry, the key word being “concealed”–nobody knows you’re armed, and you don’t publicly announce it. But this Open Carry Texas stuff is just lunacy, and I’m happy to see many gun owners criticizing such tactics online. Responsible gun owners know this stuff is irresponsible.

Besides, do any of the guys in these photos look like the type of person you would want carrying around an AR-15 in public?

Here’s a real good article on the issue. I read it a few weeks ago. Makes the point that while the open carry people say it’s all about “freedom,” the freedom is only for them–because what restaurant employee is average citizen is going to argue with a stranger carrying an automatic weapon?

“In the real world, sane people do not confront armed men and women. They don’t argue with them over politics. They certainly do not put their kids in harm’s way in order to make a point….The rest of us just have to be very polite, keep our voices down and back away very slowly, saying, ‘Yes sir, whatever you say, sir,’ and let them have their way.”

It also tells about a guy in Georgia who showed up at a Little League park waving his gun around and saying, “Look at my gun! There’s nothing you can do about it.” Police were called, but the man wasn’t doing anything illegal. So the parents did what any sensible parent would do in that situation–they took their kids and went home.

I hope open carry never comes to Indiana…but I fear it will.