Wyatt Earp

“The great object is, that every man be armed.” —Patrick Henry

“The citizenry shall disoblige themselves of the right to carry arms if they do nothing to avail themselves of the right.” —Tyler Cazier

Yes, I just shamelessly quoted myself. I started doing that when those quotes websites came out in the mid nineties. I used to sign up and deposit all these grains of wisdom and attribute them to “Tyler Cazier.” It was quite enjoyable.

But quoting one's self is not the object of this post: it is merely an exquisite introduction thereof. You may surmise by the tenor of the two famous quotes above that I am what liberals term, “an NRA-card-carrying-gun-toting hawk.” But I'm not just ANY NRA-card-carrying-gun-toting hawk—no! I'm a LOUD NRA-card-carrying-gun-toting hawk!

A while back I chose to obtain a conceal-and-carry firearm permit. The permit is often referred to as CFP (Concealed Firearm Permit) and CCP (Conceal Carry Permit); but I reference it simply as my license to kill in self-defense. I should note here that such a permit affords you only two additional rights: 1) to carry a firearm loaded; and 2) to carry a firearm without others' knowledge—concealed. You can already carry a firearm in the open—you just can't carry it loaded. To anyone interested, I'd be happy to explain anything you'd like to know about any aspect of the firearm permit, or indeed, any issue regarding firearms. Actually, I'll tell you my opinion on just about everything whether you ask or not.

The fact that most people are re-reading the previous paragraph to make sure they read it correctly—that you can carry a gun without any special permit—is precisely why I carry my gun the way I do. I'm not one of the people that carry a firearm concealed everywhere I go. No, I'm one of the people that carry a loaded firearm in plain view just to remind people that we have rights that disappear when we forget about them (see quote at the top of this post).



As you can see from my picture (Maleen helped me with this—it was an amazingly fun photo shoot), I carry my weapon on my thigh. I used to have a hip holster, but this is so much cooler! (I know: boys and their toys...) I've used a myriad of reasons to rationalize such a holster: it's more ergonomic than hip carry; it's more comfortable than hip carry; it doesn't disrupt a seatbelt in a car as hip carry does; it's more secure than hip carry; I have more mobility than hip carry. But it boils down to two real reasons: 1) the GQ factor is way higher; and 2) I WANT people to see it and react to it.

Higher GQ—who doesn't love it? Wanting people to react to things I do—that's just my personality. I wore my new tactical leg holster to Target for its maiden voyage. I thought it was a fitting location because it's open, low-profile, relatively few nut jobs, and the store name is perfectly appropriate. I found that my leg holster acts like an amplifier: people react more strongly in their normal direction. If they don't like guns they snub me and roll their eyes much more noticeably. If they like it, they are more vocal about it and point it out more. I also notice that more people (who are normally quiet and neither say or do anything) are making reactions one way or another.

I estimate that approximately ten percent of persons reacted to my hip-holstered weapon. However, I'd say that roughly one in three react to the leg holster! I get a lot more comments, and what I really love: more conversations. They usually start out with something like this: “Is that a gun? Are you an undercover officer? How do you get the permit to carry that?” or “Wow, why do you carry a gun?”

These questions are great segues into conversations that more Americans need to have about our Bill of Rights.

So if you see somebody who's brave enough to carry their weapon in the open, ask them about it! More likely than not, you won't be talking to a Neo-Nazi, but a proud American who is willing to not only claim their rights, but help others do the same.

When was the last time you asked somebody about their gun? If it was more than a few days ago, you haven't been getting your daily allowance of patriotism. Come on over—I'll hook ya up.

To sum up:

1. Guns are good.
2. Concealing guns is better.
3. Responsibly carrying guns in the open is a wickedly cool way to be a patriot.