stories/political-carry-tle-submission.html
In TLE 139, William Stone III wrote (http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/libe139-20010917-05.html), "It's time to _IGNORE_ the gun laws. It's time to intentionally _VIOLATE_ the gun laws. It's time to say to yourself, 'Starting today, I am a freeman, and that's how I'm going to live.'" I like his idea, but, like him, I don't have the cojones to do it. Besides, the result would be a bunch of freemen arrested or dead. I have a similar idea that I believe is legal, and that could have close to the same political power.
L. Neil Smith wrote an essay entitled "When They Came for the Smokers ..." (http://www.webleyweb.com/lneil/niccers.html), in which he recommends what he calls "political smoking": "Go to the nearest drugstore and pick out an inexpensive pipe, a pipe that's never had tobacco in it, a pipe that likely never will, a pipe that strikes you as attractive or expresses some aspect of your personality... Display it in your favorite restaurant, on the bus, at the theater, at a children's daycare center."
I call my idea "political carry". Go to the nearest gun store and pick out an inexpensive holster, a holster that you may or may not own a gun for, a holster that would hold the handgun you would most like to carry. Wear it, empty, on your hip in your favorite restaurant, on the bus, in your car, on the airplane, at the theatre, in your child's "gun-free school". When people ask you about it, tell them that in the light of Black Tuesday, and because it's your natural right, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, you want to be prepared to defend yourself. The legal and political climate makes this impossible, legally, in large parts of America. You believe that there should be a loaded gun in that holster, and that the person who asked you should have a holster on his/her hip, or hidden from view, also containing a loaded gun.
Now is a very good time to change America's victim mentality. Go to it.
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Bill St. Clair pontificates on the issues of the day (mostly drugs and guns) from his crypto-anarcho-libertarian perspective at his weblog: End the War on Freedom (http://billstclair.com/blog/).