a. It's worst than lost. It has been given away willingly. The right to bear is the perfect example. Grab your xD, OC it, and start walking around downtown Seattle and wait for the fun to begin. People shit themselves and start calling in SWAT teams specifically because it's a right not regularly exercised. If you saw armed citizens every single day in Seattle, no one would be calling 911 when they saw someone doing it. Do people freak when they see rifle in public in Israel? No. Why? Because they see it all the time.

b. I don't drink beer. Frankly, I think it's stupid... and yet I fully support you investing in that instantly depreciating asset...

the right to bear arms is still there.. you can still OC a rifle in public if you want.. more so a pistol...

it's not the right that has been taken away, it's your ability to act stupid and get away with it...

Israel is at war, constantly and having a rifle is for real defense from an external force...

but not everybody there carries rifles, only the IDF (which all citizens are part of at some point)...

so again, which right has been taken away because it was not used?

and by the way, the right to OC in california did not go away because it was not used, but because some dumbasses wanted to push the envelope...

if there is something to be won, fight for it, if all that is at stake is to lose ground, it's dumb...

so what exactly do you gain with rifle OC? we hopefully will never be like Israel... because if we are, then it means we've gone to war

What officially qualifies as "stupid"? I'm sure some OC'ers are... but that's an indictment on individuals, just as a person saying stupid things I'd an indictment of them, NOT freedom of speech. And who gets to decide what is / isn't 'stupid'? The left thinks even wanting to own a gun is stupid. Is that going to be the standard?

The fact remains, the less something like this is done, the less it CAN be done. If 500 guys are waking around downtown Seattle with rifles st any given time, it's no biggie. One guy walking around with a rifle is swat sniper bait. The difference is all about norms and perceptions. Like I said, i've always been around guns at work, so it's the most normal thing in the world. I feel weird if there aren't a bunch of armed people around!

Armed people go into private businesses all the time. People CCing, police officers, armored couriers etc. It's constant...and no one freaks out. Why fear the OC guy? Most assassin-types don't walk around OCing all day. Truth be told, it's CC guy that is more dangerous.

stupid is whatever it means at that time (context)... while one activity is perfectly fine, it can be considered stupid in a different setting...

who determines what it is, is not you or me.. it's society.. and you and I are not all that society encompasses... having a tantrum that it's a right society must respect is moot.. you are in a society, therefore you go by what society considers norms...

you want to change norms? change it systematically, not with stunts designed to polarize and make stupid look heroic...

so what exactly is to be gained by OC of a rifle... if you can explain that to me, I'd be more interested in your side of things... as it is, there is nothing to gain but "me" publicity stunts and a lot to lose as it is..

and just to make sure... we are debating rifle OC... some of us here (me included) while we don't advocate pistol OC, probably see there is reason for some to want to do it other than publicity stunts... and I've personally OC'd when convenient or necessary..

if you OC because you have to or need to, do it.. if you're doing it to be stupid and do stunts like posing in private businesses to attract attention... that is where a lot of people balk at supporting you... and last I saw even the NRA and half this board feel the same way..

Very well stated, Root. Although I have an entirely different take on those who OC long rifles into private businesses...I tend to think that they're trying to compensate for something else, but that's just me.

I agree with the original post. The point is when people deliberately OC their long guns into a private business to specifically make a political statement, that drags the business into the politics. That is not morally right for those people to do that to the business. That forces the business to make a stand. I agree with the imagery of those rifles being picket signs.

I don't see a lot a opposition (from pro-2A folks) to OC in public places.

I did only end up with one death threat over this. So thats a plus.

What people seem to miss, is that protesting and oooh mommy mommy look at me are two vastly different things.

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Lew, you can't understand why common sense is ignored? It isn't ignored.It's because common sense is not common. If it were, more people would have it! That is why the cry for "common sense gun laws" is so ridiculus, the ones calling for it cannot even define it.