To Carry or Not to Carry

This news story caught my attention today and it made me think about the balance between our individual rights and those of our neighbors.

I am a big believer in individual rights and it has been proven through multiple court cases that the Second Amendment is about an individual's right to carry a weapon.  Of course the leftists continue to disagree with those court rulings but the fact remains that the U.S. Constitution gives individuals the right to carry weapons.

In the news story the police officers who question the openly carrying man mention that they received calls from people who "felt" uneasy.  That is the biggest problem in this whole situation.  The "feelings" of some people are interfering with our individual liberties.

Several years ago I worked as an armed security guard and carried a semi-automatic handgun in the course of performing my job in and around Minneapolis/St. Paul.  The state of Minnesota required me to have background checks in order to receive a permit to carry and I passed with flying colors.  I had used firearms for many years for hunting and in military training and I have no history of any kind of mental illness.  I trained monthly on the use of my firearm mostly for fun but also to remain proficient in its use.  Like many other responsible citizens I am pretty good with a handgun and even better at using common sense to know when it is appropriate to use one. Thankfully I never had to draw my weapon though there were times when I "felt" like I should have.  I put feelings aside in those instances and used common sense analysis to determine that drawing my weapon was not necessary.

One situation comes to mind when I was delivering a large sum of money to a business in the Twin Cities and a gentleman approached me with his hands in his coat pockets and asked if he could have the money.  My response was to place my hand on my sidearm and unsnap the holster.  Without drawing the weapon I simply said, "I hope you are joking" and he turned and walked away without incident.

Why is it so difficult for many people to understand that law-abiding citizens are just as capable of being responsbile with firearms (sometimes more responsible) than police officers and other officials?