The Pros And Cons Of Open Carry

Many Americans today openly carry their guns with them in public. There are different reasons why some people do open-carry, but one of the main reasons is for self protection. America has had many gun laws passed in the past years, making it more strict. With all of the shootings going on, and terroristic threats, more people have been buying guns for their own protection. People never know when a shooting could happen, and that is a scary thought to many Americans across the nation.
Twenty-nine states can openly carry a firearm without a permit or license, 15 states require a permit or license to open carry depending on the firearm, and four states prohibit open carry completely. So many gun laws have been passed, that congress felt would
protect its citizens better. Even though this is a good thing, it just makes it more difficult for some people to obtain guns. The need for carrying a gun for self protection is sadly really high these days. Although, there was still violence even 20 years ago, media has made violence a bigger issue now a days. The citizens should protect themselves better on the streets, and even though they shouldn’t have to, that is the world today. January 1, 2016, Texas legalized open carry in the state. Some establishments have already prohibited open carry, due to customers who feel uncomfortable with this passed law. “Critics say that the law was meant as more of a political statement by the gun lobby…”(Madigan) A lot of Texans are mad about this law, thinking it is unnecessary, and it has put a lot of business owners in a weird position, with customers threatening to never come back if they do not ban open carry within the establishment, even if the owner is for it. “Most police largely expects license holders to be law- abiding citizens…”(NA) Hopefully this is the case within Texas, and other states that allow open carry. It is hard for an officer to tell if someone has a license or not, so they have to go off of their gut instinct pretty much. But this doesn’t mean open carry is a bad thing.
Being able to open carry does have its advantages, but there are also some precautions to it too.
Even if someone doesn’t have a bad record, that doesn’t mean that they are not bad people. It is very hard to tell if someone can be trusted while having a gun out in public. People should open carry, due to the fact that there is a lot of violence in this nation. According to the statistic in the article, Careful with the Panic: Violent Crime and Gun Crime Are Both Dropping, Gun crime was at its highest percentage in 1993, and has been declining since then. This decline in homicides is probably due to the fact that people got smart and started buying guns for protection. More Americans should own guns, not only because it is good protection, but if everyone knew how to at least shoot a gun, then some people would not be so afraid of them. “The first rule of not being a victim is not looking like a victim… The best way to avoid a fight is to look like you can win one”(Zimmerman). Most criminals will not mess with someone that they feel as if they could put up a fight. They want to pick out the weakest looking victim. A person carrying a gun in the open is not someone that a criminal would want to mess with most of the time. So that right there is another reason more people should openly carry a
gun.