Phoenix, AZ—Let me begin by saying I’m a lifelong advocate of Gun rights. I believe the Second Amendment and the Bill of Rights deserves protection to the point of spilling blood and death. Politicians that advocate the abolition of any portion of our freedom belong on the gallows in my opinion. There is a proper political way to amend the Constitution we should all respect. That’s certainly not by a simple 50%+1 legislative vote in our Republic.
Nobody should disagree that when things go South and they do in a hurry, you need all of the tactical surprise you can get. If you think exposed carry is a deterrent you should talk to all the widows and orphans of the uniform police officers that were killed despite their exposed weapons.
There are a lot of Americans that want and demand the right to carry exposed and loaded firearms in public. Although I too agree that this actually and already our right despite carry bans passed by some of our pathetic politicians.
Carrying an exposed firearms lawfully even in a gun rights friendly state can earn you a permanent felony conviction, lengthy prison stretch, bankruptcy, loss of job and even family.
Preposterous you say? You are living in a fantasy world if you don’t believe that can happen. I have seen it happen with my own eyes numerous times in Arizona!
The story is always the same, someone sees you with a gun that either doesn’t like you, or they don’t like your gun and they simply call the police. They make a bogus claim that you pulled the gun and pointed at them in a menacing way. The police respond and listen to the bullshit story told by your adversary, the police ask this clown to describe the weapon that he claims you used against him.
Since you had your gun exposed, he can answer that question very easily. Of course the cop is going to ask you for your side of the story. You’re probably going to tell him that you never pulled your gun on the guy.
Then the cop simply takes you gun, places you in handcuffs and properly arrests you for Aggravated Assault with a firearm. He has all the probable cause he needs because he has a complaining witness, and you possess the gun he described.
You’re then booked into jail and brought before a judge (within 72 agonizing hours) that will set bail. You’d better hope the judge is in a good mood and you can post the amount he or she sets.
You now will need a lawyer that will demand thousands of dollars up front. Prosecutors will offer you a felony plea agreement that gets you probation, lost gun rights for life, a fine and they will confiscate your gun. Your lawyer will then suggest you take the deal because the risk for prison is far too great.
You’re innocent, and you refuse, so now it will take over a year before you’ll be put on trial. The jury will hear the evidence and will simply take a wild guess as to who is telling the truth. The jury is not told nor do they have a clue what the penalty for conviction will be. The minimum penalty in AZ is five solid years in prison with no parole possible. You could possibly win this court battle or not.
Now I’m going to give you my six reasons why you should never carry an exposed firearm.
One: Carrying concealed gives you a huge tactical advantage over your adversaries. Why in the world would you give that up?
Two: Carrying exposed makes you a target for a larger thug seeking to strong arm your gun away.
Three: An exposed gun invites confrontations from mentally unstable people that may not end well.
Four: This too often attracts unnecessary attention and gossip you don’t want or need.
Five: you may be falsely , arrested and convicted of a crime.
Six: Many people are unreasonably frighted by the sight of someone with a gun. Simple kindness suggests we don’t cause them unnecessary stress.
Let me also say for many decades Arizona only allowed exposed carry and the risk of carrying exposed outweighed the danger of being arrested for unlawfully carrying concealed, a simple misdemeanor.
Never forget your Fourth Amendment protects you from unreasonable search and seizure. Peaceable behavior and driving sober will do a lot to shield you and even your “unlawfully” carried concealed weapon.
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