Open carry doesn’t bother me. I see it time to time where I live. Have seen similar as described in Glacier, dudes hiking trail with chest holster. Whatever. Makes me roll my eyes more than cause fear. I don’t think they are going to shoot me.
What startles me more is concealed carry in a loon. Or the intimidation crowd. Back in summer 2020 went to a candle light vigil for Breonna Taylor at my state capital. About 1000 people. The event was surrounded by counter vigil-goers, riding around in pickups, revving their exhaust, and guys with assault style rifles. Again, I never feared I would be shot. But I feared the mindset of those people.
I’m visiting the U.S. later this year and don’t really understand the guns thing
Do regular Americans carry guns around? Like do they wear guns on their hip when they go to liquor store? Is that a stereotype like of the Australian who has a kangaroo as a pet?
what do regular Americans think about it
Just seems really hard for an Australian to comprehend
Which states will you visit? In the southern and western US, you may occasionally see someone with a pistol on their belt. But, this is not very likely. I live in a very gun loving area and I may only see this once or twice a year. Kind of weirds me out to see it too, even though I should be used to it.
The only place I’ve ever seen open carry is New Hampshire of all places - which isn’t odd if you know NH.
I do spend a lot of time at gun ranges though, and you see all kinds of people there.
Armed teachers and staff are a deterrent to violence.
If you post a sign that says “gun free zone”, you are creating an easy target for bad guys.
For god fucking sales. Columbine and Stone Douglas had armed police officers present and they didn’t deter shit. You think teachers with less training will be more effective?
Also, with your “brilliant†idea, kids won’t need to bring a gun to school. They can just take them from a teacher that has one. That won’t even be that hard, since they leave them in bathrooms.
I’m visiting the U.S. later this year and don’t really understand the guns thing
Do regular Americans carry guns around? Like do they wear guns on their hip when they go to liquor store? Is that a stereotype like of the Australian who has a kangaroo as a pet?
what do regular Americans think about it
Just seems really hard for an Australian to comprehend
Which states will you visit? In the southern and western US, you may occasionally see someone with a pistol on their belt. But, this is not very likely. I live in a very gun loving area and I may only see this once or twice a year. Kind of weirds me out to see it too, even though I should be used to it.
The only place I’ve ever seen open carry is New Hampshire of all places - which isn’t odd if you know NH.
I do spend a lot of time at gun ranges though, and you see all kinds of people there.
I’ve seen people in TN walking into a grocery store with a pistol in the holster on their belt. Also saw it in a state out west but I cannot recall which one now. Every time I’ve seen this, it’s usually an older guy wearing cowboy boots and hat. Maybe they are living out a cowboy fantasy
Where will you be traveling? Depending on that answer, you may see a person who is carrying openly or may not visibly see a firearm that they are carrying concealed.
As everyone is stating, it’s not very common. It will also depend on where you are. If you’re in a rural area, chances would be higher. I’ve seen a hiker carrying before. Within most urban areas, you’re not too likely to see open carry. But depending on state, there are people who concealed carry - a lot of states went to constitutional carry and removed the requirement to get a carry permit. After my state went that way, I saw someone in Ikea carrying - not scary or anything, but just so strange to see inside an Ikea.
I don’t really have a problem with it but I also don’t see the point of it. However, I also live in an urban area with a lot of bars around and there are not infrequently shots fired because guns and alcohol don’t mix. A few times people have died so there’s that. As a tourist though, it’s not really anything to be concerned with. It would by like an American going to Australia and constantly worrying about being bitten by a poisonous snake. Sure the chance isn’t zero but it’s not very likely to happen.
Where do you live that there are “not infrequently†shots fired at or near bars and some people have died?! And you “don’t really have a problem with that?â€
The chance of you seeing someone open carry is less likely than a man punching a kangaroo.
In the States perhaps. But clearly you’ve never been to an Aussie night club. Happens about once a fortnight.
Ol ‘Skip’ has not yet developed a tolerance for alcohol and becomes very obnoxious after a few. Frequently turns his unsolicited attention to the ladies regardless of who they’re with. This is when the fights break out. Unfortunately it’s illegal to refuse service to marsupials.
To the op. Have you made arrangements to feed your macropodidae whilst away? Satanellus can provide some good advice.
That was probably more flippant than I intended - probably more used to this than I should be. I live in Atlanta, a nice part of it but it’s somewhat of a party district.
A couple of times a year, a fight breaks out and shots get fired in bars or parking lots outside. Rarely but sadly not never, someone gets hit and injured or dies. A friend who lives near a club actually had a few strays hit his apartment windows. A couple of years back I finished a run to see 10 police officers and dogs on my street in afternoon. Later saw on news someone riding an electric scooter started firing at a car for some reason in front of my building. Luckily police were very close and no one was hurt.
Most of this happened during pandemic when we had a surge in crimes. A lot of people from out of state came to party since GA didn’t have very strict or really any COVID restrictions so all of our bars/clubs were open. They’ve stepped up police presence a lot and it’s since calmed down quite a bit.
Where do you live that there are “not infrequently†shots fired at or near bars and some people have died?! And you “don’t really have a problem with that?â€
Where do you live that there are “not infrequently†shots fired at or near bars and some people have died?!
This is actually pretty damn common in the usa. We live in very low crime area well west of chicago. Just recently, two middle-aged knuckleheads at a nearby bar got into some idiotic conflict about leftover pizza (no kidding) and the conflict spilled into the bar parking lot. Then, not in at night, but in the morning, in broad daylight, one pulled out a gun and killed the other one.
Maybe this is the NRA version of population control?
Open carry doesn’t bother me. I see it time to time where I live. Have seen similar as described in Glacier, dudes hiking trail with chest holster. Whatever. Makes me roll my eyes more than cause fear. I don’t think they are going to shoot me.
What startles me more is concealed carry in a loon. Or the intimidation crowd. Back in summer 2020 went to a candle light vigil for Breonna Taylor at my state capital. About 1000 people. The event was surrounded by counter vigil-goers, riding around in pickups, revving their exhaust, and guys with assault style rifles. Again, I never feared I would be shot. But I feared the mindset of those people.
I saw those people hanging around Black Lives Matter protests in San Diego. My parents sent pictures of the intimidation guys at BLM protests in Montana, which really upset me because my parents are so sweet. I hate to see gun-toting people intimidate my parents.
I live within a few blocks of a synagogue that was shot up, and we have had threats to our schools. When I hear emergency responder sirens along Espola during school hours, I always pause a little to listen if they are going to the high school.
Given the number of gun deaths in America each year, we have to face the reality that gun violence happens in a lot of places. Americans use guns to solve their problems, so we will have shootings wherever people are. People take their problems and deficient problem-solving skills with them, wherever they go.
Where do you live that there are “not infrequently†shots fired at or near bars and some people have died?! And you “don’t really have a problem with that?â€
Where I live: “not infrequently” means daily or greater frequency (weekends).
So the big places we are going will by NY, New Orleans, Nashville and then driving up from New Orleans to Phoenix and San Fran.
Its the part where we are driving, particularly through Texas, that got me wondering about this.
Friends who have visited the lone star state say that almost every single person they met was welcoming and friendly, and wanted to show off their little part of paradise. But I didn’t ask them about the topic of this thread.
As a general rule I am not going to discuss politics with anyone I meet lol!
We have been warned about some parts of the US having greater poverty than we are used to seeing where we are from, and that there are people roughing it in the cities. We have that here too.
Thanks for the posts - to me it does seem difficult to fathom there are metal detectors at schools and teachers carry guns, not being judgemental as I don’t really understand the issues fully, but that is pretty wild as an aussie looking in…
Thanks for the posts - to me it does seem difficult to fathom there are metal detectors at schools and teachers carry guns, not being judgemental as I don’t really understand the issues fully, but that is pretty wild as an aussie looking in…
You should be judgmental, because US gun policy is essentially insane.
So the big places we are going will by NY, New Orleans, Nashville and then driving up from New Orleans to Phoenix and San Fran.
Its the part where we are driving, particularly through Texas, that got me wondering about this.
Friends who have visited the lone star state say that almost every single person they met was welcoming and friendly, and wanted to show off their little part of paradise. But I didn’t ask them about the topic of this thread.
As a general rule I am not going to discuss politics with anyone I meet lol!
We have been warned about some parts of the US having greater poverty than we are used to seeing where we are from, and that there are people roughing it in the cities. We have that here too.
Thanks for the posts - to me it does seem difficult to fathom there are metal detectors at schools and teachers carry guns, not being judgemental as I don’t really understand the issues fully, but that is pretty wild as an aussie looking in…
You realize how fucking long a drive from New Orleans to San Francisco is via Phoenix?
