07 July 2011

Letting It All Hang Out

UPDATE to add this WARNING: Some of the links have nekkid boobehs.

Apparently it is completely legal in New York City for the fairer sex to go around sans upper body clothing.

A couple of women have tried it out, and aside from some low-level nagging from officious personas, nothing happened.

I particularly liked this statement from the second linked story: "Because we live in a fascist police state, it wasn’t long before two of New York’s finest stopped and questioned her..."

(She apparently was not ticketed in this episode, so the fascist police state has some ground to make up in order to become the sort of fascist police state that we can all be proud of. But I digress.)

The longer third linked story (all four pages of it) told the story of how a young woman wandered around Central Park unencumbered by the weight of top-hamper sails, so to speak, and no one raised much of a fuss.

I tell you all of this so that I can get to the point that in Virginia the members of the national OpenCarry.org internet group regularly carry openly, much to the dismay of some of the second amendment supporters and concern trolls. It happens other places as well, but since I live close to VA I hear more about it from there.

There is much discussion whenever open carry is brought up as to whether it is better to carry openly to get the public used to seeing it or to carry concealed so as not to upset the soccer-mommies and alert the criminals.

I carry concealed mostly because I am a bit self-conscious about carrying openly, but now that I have been carrying for a while I'm not so much anymore. I have a friend who regularly carries openly even though he has a concealed permit, both because there are places you can actually carry openly where concealed carry would be illegal in NC (financial institutions being the most common) and to get the public used to it.

And just because I don't think I have strayed far enough afield yet, here is an article that explains the issues involved in a self-defense case. USCCA has a new program called Self Defense Shield that seems like it would be a good idea to have. I'm planning on upgrading when I have the coin to do so.

UPDATE: I have just been informed via email that there is a quarterly payment plan in the works for USCCA's Self Defense Shield, so getting the coin is going to be getting easier very soon.

What say you?

8 comments:

Sean D Sorrentino said...

Don't get me wrong, here, I really love open carry. I'm even going to an open carry dinner in Durham tomorrow. But open carry is so rarely noticed that it doesn't really get the people used to the idea.

It does, however, have one very powerful effect. It teaches you, the open carrier, how little people actually care about guns. Few notice, and the ones that do are almost uniformly positive about it. It teaches you that the old "gun owners need to be careful to avoid causing trouble" thing is false.

If you want to go to dinner in Durham tomorrow, send me an email for details.

Larry said...

I actually think that the whole "avoid causing trouble" issue being false is a good thing.
I'd love to make that dinner and actually found it while doing a bit of research for my post (and joined the organization hosting it), unfortunately I've already made plans with the Mustang club. Maybe next time.
Thanks for dropping by!

Sean D Sorrentino said...

Oh, then it was you that posted the comment. If you look, you will see that I have RSVPd to it.

It's amazing what you think is possible with gun laws when you learn that so very few people are actually afraid of guns. The Media pumped up the Anti's, making them seem more numerous than they are, but the reality is there are so very few of them.

Larry said...

And that, too, is a good thing!

Quizikle said...

We can't discriminate now, can we? If men can go topless, so should women be able to. But given the nanny state, I would expect the laws to be changed to keep men from being topless.

"skin" you know. Sexual predators won't be able to restrain themselves. The children...

"Carry" of any kind shouldn't be an issue...but I would expect the police to use it as an excuse to become even more forthright about the use of SWAT teams for everyday duties.

Armed druggies you know. Crazed libertarians. TJIC. The children...

:)
Q

Larry said...

Oh yes! The Chillllldren!!!
Thanks for dropping by Q!

James said...

Thanks for the USCCA link. I heard that someone was considering this, but was never able to find who/if. I'll be ponying up the cash shortly and I recommend that anyone and everyone who carries do the same. It is really a small price to pay for what it provides.

Larry said...

I certainly plan on upgrading my membership.
Thanks for dropping by James!