Open carry advocates can put police in tough situations [View all]
There was a day before Bluetooth and hands-free cellular phone communication when if you saw someone talking to themselves walking down the street, you might think that person was emotionally disturbed. I must admit that sometimes when I see someone, in public, walking and talking to themselves, I still do a double take to see if that person is talking on a phone or trying to beam themselves up to the mothership.
Now let’s consider that same person talking to themselves walking down the street with a holstered handgun. Would you think this was odd or suspicious? What if that person was walking toward a school, mall, place of worship, through a neighborhood, on a beach, in a park or parking lot? Would you call the police?
In times like these, many of you would call the police, because you would not want to have it on your conscience that something terrible was about to happen and you did nothing. Bravo! You should call and have the police check it out, if you believe that anyone appears out of sorts, armed and potentially dangerous.
Now put yourself in the shoes of the police officer who just received the “man or woman with a gun” call. “Officer” you will no doubt be thinking of Columbine, Aurora, Sandy Hook, Fort Hood or any other school, theater, mall, fast food restaurant or parking lot where some deranged pathetic loser has opened fire and killed or wounded innocent citizens or children for whatever reason their twisted mind concocted.
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/04/rich_kinsey_column_open_carry.html