Caleb hits the nail on the head over at GunNuts Media on his “How to” post about open carry.

It’s good.  Really good.

It should be mandatory reading for those considering practicing open carry for advocacy purposes.

We’re going to tease you with the first four.  Read the rest.

10 Steps for Successful Open Carry Activism

by Caleb • October 9, 2013

(GunNuts Media) – With Open Carry still making headlines, it’s time to take a look at how Open Carry can be successfully used as a tool to further gun rights. There are definitely right ways and wrong ways to Open Carry, and unfortunately too many people do it the wrong way. Here is the Gun Nuts Guide to Successful Open Carry.

1. Don’t be a dick
Honestly, if you can accomplish step 1, you’re way ahead of the power curve. We lost Starbucks specifically because people were being dicks. If you have to ask yourself “is action X being a dick?” then the answer is probably yes and you should not do it. Don’t provoke confrontations, don’t get up in people’s faces, and don’t give the cops a reason to think you’re a clown.

2. Have a goal beyond “just open carrying”
Open Carry worked in Virginia because the VCDL used it as a tool to illustrate the silliness of Virginia’s restaurant carry laws. Open carry in this case was a means to an end, not an end in itself. Open carry will probably work in Florida because Florida Carry is using OC as a tool to illustrate the silliness of Florida’s carry law. They have a goal beyond “just open carrying.” OC didn’t work in California because there was no legitimate political goal that could be achieved by the use of open carry.

3. Don’t go looking for trouble
This goes hand in hand with number 1, but is a category all by itself because of the number of people who saddle up and OC guns specifically so they can record themselves getting in confrontations with the police. Then they post on their OC message board about how they got hassled by The Man. Seriously, don’t be that guy. Just don’t.

4. Dress like a grown-up
If you are going to OC, people are going to see your gun and by default you will be considered representative of the gun culture.

 

The photo, sourced from USA Carry via a simple google search is a perfect example of everything that’s wrong with OC appearance. I don’t know this guy from Adam, and I’m sure here’s a really nice dude in real life, but if you’re going to OC, don’t wear a ratty tank-top.

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