“When I see a person with a weapon, I try to assess whether they are dangerous. I don’t want to debate the Second Amendment or discuss our nation’s heritage. I’m not interested in taking their weapon away from them. I just feel sad, sad because these people feel some inner need to make a public display of force. I’m saddened by the lack of civility and saddened by the pride taken in what most people consider an instrument of death. Weapons are tools that have their purpose and place. But after seeing them used for their intended purpose, I’d prefer to never see another one.” – Chris Tomlinson in Packing a gun at your business sends the wrong message [via chron.com]

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165 COMMENTS

      • I get mad too. I don’t let them see me mad. Instead, I display a dismissive attitude and move along.

    • …….they ask for your guns, you give them. Then they ask for your pocket knife, you give them. After they have your guns and knives………THEY DON’T NEED TO ASK ANY MORE, they’ll just take. Wake up liberals!

        • All the time – literally several times a year on average.

          Thankfully, thus far the American people (via Congress) have always responded “No”.
          Look at how many ‘assault weapon’ bills have failed in the last 5 years… and that’s just at the federal level.

  2. When I see someone in the news get raped, murdered or attacked violently because laws or philosophy hinder them from a viable form of self defense it makes me sad.

    • I feel the same way when a person can’t learn from the experience (or mistakes) of others, like those you listed, above.

      But if he wants to sacrifice himself at the altar of non-violence, then he has the “right” to do so. And then I have the option to use him, and his final experience, as ANOTHER bad example, so others can avoid his mistake.

  3. I just feel sad, sad because these people feel some inner need to make a public display of force.

    We cannot help what you (an individual like this) infers at the sight of an inanimate object being carried in a non-threatening manner.

    Me thinks thou doth project too much.

    • I do not have the time, nor would RF grant me the bandwidth, to list all the natural creatures and plants that utilize “displays of force” as defensive mechanisms, sometimes even displaying potentially lethal force. A porcupine’s quills, and a cat’s teeth and claws come to mind, as does the rattle on a diamondback.

      The very best way devised by nature to avoid attack and provide for defense, it would seem, is to display a defensive mechanism recognized to be something your predators do NOT want to fuck with. To ignore such an obvious truth makes me sad.

        • Rattles do not the butt hurt sooth.

          These whiny little libtards also told us what real men are supposed to be now. What women want, sensitive…..etc…. then come to find out they ain’t marrying the whiners. Dating yes but then the instincts kick in and they want a MAN to father the child. Like the lion, the bear, etc… it is about the strong. Mommy’s basement, snowflakes are not cutting it.

  4. I feel sad for you that you value the life of an attacker over your own life and/or the lives of your family.

  5. A self-described former war correspondent and soldier, who has seen ‘dozens’ of men killed in front of him (very unlikely, unless they were the enemy).

    PTSD, or just societal pressure to constantly be afraid of everything has turned this guy into a scared little kitty cat. The one to feel sad for is him.

    • Cats may be skittish and routinely run from adversity, but if cornered you’ll find they are equipped with claws and fangs and will use their weapons with a fury. The only weapons this guy is equipped with is ‘feelings’. He probably feels sad that cats have claws too.

      • You’re insulting cats with the comparison, 16V. I’d liken this guy more to a spineless worm.

        • Don’t insult the worms. They may be spineless, but at least they serve a useful purpose aerating the soil making it possible for vegetation to grow in my garden to feed me, as well as providing meals for moles, voles, and birds.

    • In one of my rare bouts of attempting to be ‘family friendly’, I was substituting “cat” for the “p” word.

      Sorry for the confusion. I will return to using the language that you are more familiar with from me.

    • Grammatically, I dislike referring to someone as a “pussy”. It just doesn’t fit the meaning: ask any OB/GYN what sort of punishment and abuse a typical vagina can endure and you’ll soon develop a strong respect for it. If the entire human race could be metaphorically described as a single body – the pussies would be among the toughest of us.
      Guys like this – I like to call an “appendix”, prone to bouts of inflamation, serves no useful purpose, easily susceptible to harm and should be removed as soon as is convenient for the good of the rest of the body.

      • They do take quite a pounding…
        The appendix metaphor is very clever & accurate. I’ll have to remember that!

  6. Of course. And if some gangbanger happens to stick a gun in your face, just tell him you’d prefer not to see it. People don’t give thugs enough credit; they’re actually very accommodating.

    • People don’t give thugs enough credit; they’re actually very accommodating.

      (snicker)

  7. In my mind, he has it backwards. It’s like when I see a policeman with a gun, I figure the business owner is carrying to protect me as well as himself. I suspect his or her actions dramatically drop the odds of a problem in the business.

  8. This is one of the few things that encourage me to open carry! I wonder which would make a progressive more sad, a cocked and locked 1911 on my hip, or a Glock?

    • Oh, I’m sure the sight of the cocked hammer on the 1911 would be more (forgive me, too good to pass up) “triggering”.

    • I’d guess a Glock, only because many 1911’s are silver, and a Glock is a black gun, which is scary, and means it’s much more deadly to a liberal.

      • I had a friend who disarmed a mugger on Hollywood Blvd. The punk had neglected to pull the hammer back on his 1911. He left in a hurry without my friend’s wallet, and without his perfectly good 1911.

        • I’m no 1911 fan. Shot one in the Army and hated it. This one looked to be either a govt model or some cheap version of it for the civilian market.

        • Hollywood teaches us that you only cock your pistol after several minutes of waving it in the other guys face, to show you realy mean it now. The mugger just didn’t get to that part yet.

  9. If some parents would raise their children right, I wouldn’t need my gun to protect mine.

  11. The issue I find here is that he believes that acts of violence are civilized and that the only way to stop a violent attack is to meet it on an equal field with violent defense. Hence why wars are not fought melee anymore.

  13. When I see weak, pathetic, poor excuses for men publicly talking about their emotions, I feel annoyed at their fathers.

  14. Wah, wah, wah.

    Since you see people with the most dangerous weapon, their brain, all of the time, you must always be sad.

    • In July. In Houston.

      Carries about the same weight and effect as a single snowflake under those conditions, too.

      • Snowflake in Houston? Are you saying he has the power to bring millions of normally intelligent people to a grinding halt of irrationality?

  17. “Seeing guns everywhere does not make me feel safer, nor does carrying one”

    Surprise chuckles, I don’t carry to make you feel safer and if you don’t want to carry, that’s your business. You don’t hear me whining about what type of house you live in, car you drive, clothes you wear, or how you live your life, so quit whining about mine.

    “”I’m within my rights,” he said pridefully, as the weapon sat within arm’s reach of both of us. He was right about that, but is that any way to run a business?”

    Squishy liberals just love claiming the moral authorities, when it fits their narrative….How is it any of your concern how someone runs THEIR business?…..This is how progressives (nice fascists as I like to call them) see the world…Scratch a liberal and find a raging fascist underneath…They claim to be about liberty, then want to control every aspect of lives…

    “Since most people do not have concealed handgun licenses, I assume most people feel the same way”

    Ahhh, assumptions, you know he’s a good “reporter/journalist” when he uses assumptions….

    “When I see a person with a weapon, I try to assess whether that person is dangerous”

    Oh good grief….

    “and I served seven years as a soldier and earned marksmanship medals for numerous weapons”

    So you, above anyone else, should have a better understanding, that is unless you were sub-par…

    “I just feel sad – sad because these people feel some inner need to make a public display of force”

    Gee Inspector Clouseau, why do you think that is?….Any investigative journalism on that?

    “I’m saddened by the lack of civility and saddened by the pride taken in what most people consider an instrument of death”

    But seemingly not saddened by the murders, rapes, assaults, etc.. that could have been prevented…

    “I told him I’d spent a lot of time around guns, and he was welcome to his. But I will never do business with him again”

    What an abject whine-screed this was….

    • “I told him I’d spent a lot of time around gu ns, and he was welcome to his. But I will never do business with him again”

      Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.

    • Yeah, I wen’t and read the article too and essentially it was the same as typical anti whining. Namely “Stop liking things I don’t like.”

      I also like how he implies that because he doesn’t like seeing guns that visible guns must be bad for business. No data, no competing views (except a bit from the lawyer quoted) just projection that things that make him feel bad are therefore bad in and of themselves. Weak reasoning that. I don’t peanut M&M’s so people shouldn’t eat them. Am I doing it right?

    • Thinking of liberals as fascists is a common mistake, but it’s incorrect. The modern liberal is far worse than a fascist. They’re commies, the single most dangerous ideology the world has ever seen. They can’t be reasoned with, and they can’t be negotiated with, unless it’s your surrender that is being negotiated. At some point we will either mercilessly drive them from our lands, or be subsumed into their horrible collective.

  18. He’s obviously never been raped or personally attacked. There are millions of us, old, disabled, tiny stature, who LOOK like easy victims – unless we are carrying a gun. Carrying openly, the potential attacker can make up his mind whether or not it is worth the risk. When I conceal, I simply look like any other disabled old lady, and would much more likely have to draw the gun because he/she would not have the knowledge to assess that risk.

    As for this pathetic snowflake. He’s the only one who can control his “feelings.” He obviously doesn’t really understand the gun’s “intended purpose.” And he doesn’t want to take my gun from me? Somehow I doubt that.

    • It’s certainly your business how you carry, but if I were someone who was physically out matched by the thug (or better to say that WHEN I become someone who is physically out matched, since it happens to us all with age) I want my pistol to be a surprise to the thug. If I’m open carrying then it gives them the opportunity to modify their tactics to nullify my fire power.

      • And you can obviously carry as you wish as well. 🙂 You may enjoy projecting the image of a helpless victim until the “gotcha” moment, but I don’t EVER want to have to shoot anyone again. https://thepriceofliberty.org/the-man-i-might-have-killed/

        I will if I have to, but I don’t want to.

        I choose NOT to “surprise” anyone with my gun, however, and want to give a potential attacker the opportunity to simply go away. My ongoing situational awareness would be in full force if one of them decided to renew the attack – same as any other time, but so far have not had any problems with that. I suspect it is at least partly due to where I live, but not all of it. I’ve written about some of the encounters here: https://thepriceofliberty.org/2014/01/21/unreported-the-crime-that-didnt-happen/ But, of course, there is no way to tell how many times that attack was decided against before I even noticed anything amiss.

        I’m sure there are some places where the criminals are dumb and desperate enough to attack a clearly armed person, but that isn’t here. Good luck.

        • I find it amusing to read about a person’s plans to get the drop on somebody who just ambushed them.

          • Uh, no. Where did I say I want to “get the drop on” anyone? I want first for them to have the opportunity to go away. I have no obligation to engage unless there is an immediate, lethal threat to my life.

            Next, if they don’t leave, I want most to get away myself. I have no desire to engage in any gunfight, though I will if forced to do so. In my experience, life long, I have had exactly one violent attack on my person, and he was armed with his youth, superior strength and bare hands, no gun. He ignored the gun I pointed right at him and continued the attack. I shot him.

            It’s really not that complicated unless you are LOOKING for a fight. But then, there are no guarantees in this life except that we all die sometime. I’m 70. So far, so good.

          • No, I never said I want to “get the drop on” anyone. I don’t go looking for a fight. I want to be left alone, and not looking like a helpless victim makes that much more likely.

            • No, he didn’t hold a rally. Why? Because he had his whine about how uncomfortable firearms in a business made him published in the Houston Chronicle, where a lot more people would see it than would participate and listen to his pathetic mewling. That’s not exactly “live and let live”, is it?

    • You do realize that the man sad literally nothing against CCW?

      Shesh, Cooper rules should be enforced on commentators here.

  20. when I see morons like this, or have to listen to them or read their moronic statements I feel sad.

    Sad because they can vote and sad because they can spawn and raise replacement morons.

  22. I don’t see that many guns since Open Carry passed in Texas. But, I don’t travel much, either.

    Was in one of my favorite local restaurants a while ago. A gentleman was carrying openly at a table across from us, within my eye line. Did I stare? A little. Could make out that it was a M&P, but I liked his leather holster, and couldn’t make out the emblem embossed on the leather. Sad that I didn’t stop at the table and compliment it, but I figured he wanted to eat his meal in peace.

    I’ve been back, since.

    As for the repair shop owner, as I grow older, I can no longer out run the bastards. Sounds as if the owner had reached the same conclusion.

    • There’s always been OC in CO, and I see it about once every two years in town. Out in the sticks it’s more normal.

    • I thought I saw my first OCer here a couple weeks ago, but when he turned he was wearing a badge on the other side of his belt, so I don’t think that counts. It’s been legal in OK for 5 yrs now and I have yet to see one, and I travel all over the state for my job.

      • LOL! Why is that different? Does the badge make him somehow “special” and free from all the problems you see with OC? How does that work? You mean he doesn’t want to “surprise” any attackers? Why not?

        • If you don’t know how to let it go when someone on the interwebs disagrees with you you’re not going to have time for just about anything else in life.

    • I travel all over the DFW area for work, it’d be frequent to see an OC’er once a week.

      I took the kids to watch the 11:30 cattle drive at the FTW Stockyards earlier this week and we grabbed some lunch downtown, I saw three OC’ers. That’s the most I’ve seen in any one day.

      I was CC’ing the G19, as usual.

      • Ah, yes the area around Clinton Ave, North Main, NE 28’th Street…Fort Worth’s gang infested barrio.

  25. Ya’ know me and my family went to see the new Planet of the Apes opus(it was GREAT and weapon filled). Just prior to the end an old f##ked up couple started cursing at each other-LOUDLY. And my hand was on my weapon.Wasn’t sure WHAT would occur.Old azz was removed from the theater. Being UNARMED makes ME SAD…?

  26. I agree with the guy. It’s always a little saddening to be reminded that we live in a society where carrying a gun is a necessity. If people were better to each other, a gun in Houston (or any other city) might less necessary. Then, when I saw a gun, I’d think, “oh, I wonder which park are they going to? I didn’t know they still have a hog problem.”

    I mean, I think I can comortably say that all of us fall into the reality-is-violent group, but I admit I’m not a fan of the few that wish we were more violent.

    • Katy, I’m not sure what you are getting at here. Yes, I think most of us would love to live in a world where there was never any need for self defense. We don’t, and not being prepared for self defense will never get us there. An armed society is a polite society exactly because anyone may be called strictly to task for any aggression! The more people who practice that and do not give signals indicating they are or may be helpless victims, the less the risk of actual attack.

      Of course that will require a lot more than guns. It requires each individual to be personally responsible for themselves and their actions/choices, and the understanding that these qualities are shared by most of their neighbors. You may be surprised to learn that this is very close to what happens in a lot of places now… not perfect, of course, but light years away from where the poor widdle snowflakes live with their feewwings all hurt.

      • It’s a tough nut, but the ideal world would be one where carrying a weapon was unnecessary – one where we had no need for police because crimes were not committed. Where we all took care of each other and worked towards the common good. One can’t help be a little sad that such a world doesn’t exist. Every man has been given the free will to make choices and all of us are naturally prone towards some level of self-interest. The world isn’t the utopian ideal and thus, yes, a weapon becomes practical. In some areas, it goes further and becomes necessary.

        I guess a better term than “sad” would be “godly sorrow”.

    • “It’s always a little saddening to be reminded that we live in a society where carrying a gun is a necessity.”

      Katy, every society in the history of the human race had had its share of evil and violence. We’ve been attacking one another since Kane took a rock and smashed his brother’s skull.

      So don’t be sad. Be glad you live in a nation where you are allowed to defend yourself.*

      * Offer not valid in several states run by liberals.

  28. Little Chrissy is one morally superior intolerant anti-civil rights bigot. Binge watching Disney films must leave him inconsolable.
    If reality makes you sad, then you are about as sad as it gets.

  29. I has a sad too when constitutional carry isn’t nationwide yet or that NICS is processing appeals from 2015.

  30. I know how he feels. Recently stood in the security line at a major metropolitan airport and seeing the two armed LEO’s made me sad, too. It really made me remember that I was in a very soft and target rich environment, and very much made me miss my piece in that moment.

  31. I would like to live in a society where nobody has to lock their doors, or where they never have to worry about leaving valuables unattended. However, as a rational adult I understand that is not the world we live in, and that I cannot bring this world about by whining about and seeking to ostracize honest people for having locks on their doors.

  32. When I see and read someone like you I feel sad…because I know this once great country has been poisoned by the clueless metrosexual manbun wearing wimps who have pushed the agenda of the SJW’s down our children’s throats.

    You willingly give up you and your families personal freedom and safety because you feel “sad” seeing a gun.

    And you sir whatever you may claim, you are a liar! You do want to take away guns. Because “your feelings”…..no, because of your own perceived “moral superiority”.

    So my feelings….FLAME DELETED, oh and have a nice day!

  33. I saw a person with a weapon at Walmart the other day., I assessed it was a nice looking 1911 and he had good taste!

    Then his wife remarked (they were in the DVD section) that she used to like Dolph Lundgren, but his movies just kept getting worse as he got older. Seems to be a true remark about a lot of B movie action stars! I had to laugh and admit to her that was the best thing I had heard in months.

    {!-{>

  36. The people who see a gun as an “instrument of death” are the ones who should not be carrying one. As was said, it is a tool. Someone who sees it as a tool of death will use it for that purpose. On the other hand, someone who sees it as a tool of self defense, a tool to help protect innocent lives, will use it for that purpose.

  37. Two civil rights collide: right to self-defense; right to shop elsewhere.

    Either way….

    “A man’s got to know his limitations”.

  38. After OC’ing for 9 years here in NM, (I can do so without a license) I feel sad that so many people decide that presenting oneself as nature looks are such beings; as helpless and defenseless prey animals, or historically as human beings have seen themselves to be culturally or societally; as peasants, peons or slaves, as being acceptable, even admirable.

  39. “When I see a person with a weapon, I try to assess whether they are dangerous.”

    I assess everybody to see if they are dangerous, whether I see a weapon or not.

    There’s the old saying – There are no dangerous weapons; Only dangerous Men.

    • Yeah, but the guy who typed it just needs to unclinch. There’s nothing he can do about it and for every person he knows is armed there are probably 20 self-contained metallically-armed people he passed and never knew about.

    • “Only dangerous Men… ” And women, of course.

      To paraphrase: Greet everyone with courtesy and a smile… and have a plan to shoot any of them if necessary.

  40. I have a buddy who insists all guns are primarily meant to kill. I’m like “Lol, mine are all expensive failures then.” Then I think for a few minutes and realize I’m not 100% sure about my 1910-ish military gun, but I don’t mention it, no need to cloud the water.

    I mean, shit, is a golf club meant to kill? It is a club, clubs are weapons, that Kennedy cousin apparently killed with one. Is a driving range an orgy of pretend interpersonal violence?

  41. 80M+ legal gun owners in the US, buddy. If we were the problem, you wouldn’t be around to be scared of us. When the spit hits the fan, you’re going to be glad that I’m trained, ready, and carrying.

    • “Cops probably make him “SAD” too…”

      Well….no. He is most likely certain cops are the most highly-trained gun carriers on the planet. Unlike the average gun owner, cops can plug the eye of a squirrel, in the middle of a sand storm, while doing back flips.

  44. I remember some people that put some tickets in our ticket office to sell. We told them we had no tickets in compitetion with them, but they weren’t great seats for the Rolling Stones and they paid top dollar – the section across the arena was1/2 of his purchase price. We tried to sell them and had him reduce price, but it wasn’t enough.

    He threatened to drive his truck through our window(on the second floor), because we mislead him and now he is going to go broke.

    We shopped for a handgun, our first. That was 13 years ago.

    I am sad, too. That a small business with great ratings, we were always honest, would need to carry a firearm or 2, because of violent people. We had a great alarm system, we were never robbed in 20 years and were in a “good” area.

    I didn’t sell drugs, make book, or deal with fake tickets, but now, my wife and myself feel that we had to do this. At one time, I thought that in polite society, you don’t need a firearm. But, even in a “good” area, members of society aren’t always very “polite”.

    I was reading local news about a man who lives on a private road in our foothills, where some big politicans live, some rock stars and families, quite a few major league baseball players and other successful people live.
    This man was on parole for drug sales, and was just arrested for attempted murder and a couple of home takeover robberies. The neighbors saw him as an upstanding family man who had a successful? business in town.

    I was shocked that someone who had that much to lose would even attempt to do dangerous felonies. So, remember, even the rich and famous can be violent. I will just stay on my cul-de-sac with the 4 known LEOs on the street and stay armed.

    It is sad alright, but I will not be a victim of violent crime if I can stop it myself.

  45. “… and saddened by the pride taken in what most people consider an instrument of death”

    How fantastically arrogant to think he speaks for ‘most people.’ Even more so to think his feelings are the basis for what others should or shouldn’t do. I wonder what else he would like us to check-in with him before we do or don’t do that thing. Should we see if the clothes we were going to wear today meet his standards? Should we ask him his feelings about our cars before we leave the house? Should we check with him before going to the grocery for some eggs and milk?

    • All he want’s is for everyone and everything to conform to him and his views, what is so bad about that?

  46. That’s cool Chris T., you are free to feel however you want, just as I am free to laugh at how much you sound like a hippy. Tell me, if the sight of a firearm saddens you so much, what pray tell will you feel if you are in close proximity to a terrorist? Will you feel even more sadness, or will fear finally wash ashore on your emotional landscape?

    You might not want to ever visit the Middle East, I hear they got a lotta guns there. You might drop into a pit of despair at all the sad sad guns you will see.

    p.s. You might not want to visit a gun show, that might make your sadness deepen to terminal depression.

  47. I wonder when this seemingly increasing trend of ‘journalist’ writing articles about how they “feel” about life will burn out. I would think that at some point they would start to realize that virtually nobody cares, at all, about how they feel. This is not just true of journalists, it is true of everyone. For most people, unless one is talking to family, friend or possibly someone with a financial stake in the conversation then one is talking to someone who does not care how you feel.

  48. When I see human hands I am saddened. Why? The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report shows approximately twice as many people were killed with hands and fists than were killed with rifles of any kind. Ban hands…. think of the children.

  49. But, muh feelz!!!

    We need to split the nation. The left coast and the New England states can for the People’s Republic of America. The vast majority of lib-progs in the major cities can be exported to them. Include Hawaii. The rest would continue as the United States of America. In 20 years, compare quality of life. My bet is on the U.S.A., not the commie P.R.A.

  50. When I see ANY person I continually assess how dangerous they may be. How rational (of even possible) would it be not too?

  51. Most people, though, don’t want to take their kids for pizza only to see customers at the next table with six-shooters or military-style pistols on their belts. More importantly, they don’t want their children to see guns everywhere they go. But average people don’t organize boycotts or letter-writing campaigns. They just walk away and don’t come back.

    I would love it if that’s the environment my kids were exposed to. I’d be like, “See kids? This is what a free society looks like. Everyone taking responsibility for their own defense.”

    Open carry is legal in Ohio, but it’s pretty rare to see.

  52. In the whole section where he’s whining about the auto mechanic with the .44 magnum on his desk in the back room, I’m trying to imagine what he’d think was a preferable situation? Would he like it better if the mechanic were more vulnerable to gangs of thugs bursting into his shop and robbing him? A lot of cash changes hands in most small auto repair shops and a lot of the parts are extremely valuable.

  53. “One cries because one is sad. For example, I cry because others are stupid, and that makes me sad.” – Dr Sheldon Cooper

  54. When I see a person, I assess whether he is dangerous.

    Weapon or no weapon, and there is no “try.”

  55. Well personally I feel bad every time I don’t see a Helicopter not being used for it’s intended purpose of communists disposal.

    We all get sad sometimes son.

  56. I doubt that he has actual data to support this bit:

    Most people, though, don’t want to take their kids for pizza only to see customers at the next table with six-shooters or military-style pistols on their belts. More importantly, they don’t want their children to see guns everywhere they go. But average people don’t organize boycotts or letter-writing campaigns. They just walk away and don’t come back.

    He also said:
    Weapons are tools that have their purpose and place. But after seeing them used for their intended purpose, I’d prefer to never see another one.

    I have a similar aversion to fascist rules and regulations cooked up by his weenie ilk . . .

    • My grandsons think guns are cool and enjoy seeing them carried. Dad and Gradpa carry, it’s pretty normal. To each his own.

  57. Obviously another Liberaltard who left his “safe space” to peek at the real world, then got scared.

  58. When I think of his loved ones who are counting upon his ability and will to defend them from harm…I feel sad.

    • “When I think of his loved ones who are counting upon his ability and will to defend them from harm…I feel sad.”

      Hold on ! Save your “feelz”. Did you stop to consider that no one depends on him to defend them from harm? People who know him would accept or agree with him that seeing bad things is worse than anything that could be imagined.

      I do applaud his opening statement. Whenever I see a person with a gun (LEOs included), I evaluate the potential threat. Always a good thing to do.

  61. Not only his reaction is perfectly normal, but he does single honest thing a person can do (all right, he pretends to do it, but since everyone took the article at face value…): he feels uncomfortable about business and won’t come again.

    Not rally a bunch of idiots who never shot a weapon but know all about them. Not call for universal ban of BB guns. He just leaves the business be, just like pro-gun people left “gun free” shops etc.

    Yet what do we see in comments?

    Tsk, interwebz egostrokers. Far from extinct.

    • But he also wrote an article about it so he didn’t just walk away muttering “live and let live”. Unless he honestly believes that there is a marketplace for his little opinion then he has some kind of motive for writing the article. My read on that motive is that he is saying “I don’t like guns, and neither should you.” It’s not the “I don’t like guns,” part I object to it is the “neither should you” part.

      • Yes, he did. And a mediocre journalism it is, if I may say so. His central passage (“Seeing guns everywhere does not make me feel safer, nor does carrying one. Since most people do not have concealed handgun licenses, I assume most people feel the same way.”) is particularly weak. And if one takes time to read the piece carefully, it is so full of “I, I, I, I, I” that a reader is left with peculiar and slightly uncomfortable feeling of having peeked into someone’s diary. If that was calculated to bring “neither should you” message across, then I pity those who try to advance their cause that way.

        Note, however, the amount of commentators who skipped this aspect entirely. Calling him wimp is easy, while we don’t even know if he is not rather inventive troll-faced writer who pulls stories about “interacting with real people” out of his ass.

        • Agree, mediocre and a poor attempt at activism (if indeed that was the point). It is certainly possible that my inference of “neither should you” is overly touchy on my part but I see this article as an attempt at, to use the current term of art, “shaming”. I recognize that he never says “neither should you” literally but the piece seems to me to be constructed to get that message across. He states what he does not like, assumes that most others agree with him and then leaves the rhetorical question of whether the reader wants to be in the in group or out group hanging. It comes off a lot like “bitter clingers to their guns and religion” to me.

          I do note that there are a lot of knee jerk “wimp” comments but I think that is just the nature of the beast. In this setting, (meaning TTAG) a guy saying he doesn’t like guns because of how he feels around them and, in my view, intimating that others should feel similarly, is likely to get mocked.

    • Kahan – No, he didn’t hold a rally. Why? Because he had his whine about how uncomfortable firearms in a business made him published in the Houston Chronicle, where a lot more people would see it than would participate and listen to his pathetic mewling. That’s not exactly “live and let live”, is it?

      • Of course he did. Because he could. Or because he had a deadline.

        Just so I understand correctly: the general consensus is that he is a wimp. Does him publishing the piece makes him more/less of a wimp?

  62. Playing jackwagon’s advocate, I can see his part of his point. It is somewhat saddening that the world is such a place where projection of force is necessary in prevention of violence. However, that’s not exactly his point.

    He intimates that the risks out there are exaggerated by those who arm themselves. Unfortunately, while danger doesn’t necessarily lurk in every shadow and around every corner, there is enough of it out there to warrant preparation. A.E. Housman may have said it best:

    “Therefore, since the world has still
    Much good, but much less good than ill,
    And while the sun and moon endure
    Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure,
    I’d face it as a wise man would,
    And train for ill and not for good.”

  63. We have not yet reached Peak Feels in (ha ha) journalism until the Demo potty is finally shut out in 2018 and 2020 as this faux journalism is non-objective partisan screeching.

  65. Double WOW I have not seen any writer gets his guts stomp on as much as this idiot. Why was this published at all, what waste of time. Must like abuse. Off to the range

  67. Have a nice day snowflake baby boy. Now, run into your safe space put on the safety pin and color in your damn book. When you get into trouble, ask another snowflake to save your life. Oh, good luck with that.

  68. The author/writer did two things we should be happy with: he identifies and evaluates persons with a gun as a possible threat (“Be nice to everyone you meet, but have a plan to kill them. ??). And the author/writer made his free choice of which business he will frequent. Both actions are the act of a free person. Both are actions quite similar to what we would expect of POTG. When have we seen any other person wary of guns take two actions POTG should recognize, and applaud?

  70. I feel sad when I hear/see people in this country that do not understand just how lucky they are to live in a country who’s Founders were wise enough to know that Liberty and Freedoms have to be fought for constantly in order to keep them. Our Founding Fathers understood that the system they were setting up would eventually be challenged by the likes of the people that are running this country today.

    They knew that the roots of the Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. They knew that the citizens of this country would eventually need to defend the freedoms and liberties that our Constitution affords us. That is why they knew that it was so important to guarantee that the citizens of this country would “always” have the right to bear arms. Our Founding Fathers were wise, and they knew that our Government would eventually be corrupted, bloated, and be subverted by Globalists seeking ultimate power and money. It makes me sad that there are so many pansy Snowflakes that would trade their liberties for a little temporary safety. It makes me sad that with all the world’s information at their fingertips, there are so many that have yet to figure out that there has never been a successful Socialist/Communist/Marxist society in all of recorded history.

    It makes me sad that someday, possibly sooner than most would possibly think, people will be forced to see what our Founders had to give up in order to secure the freedoms and liberties that they were born into. It makes me sad that we may once again have to fight for something that we’ve already had for hundreds of years.

  72. Yeah, well, I don’t like seeing places of business get robbed or shot up by some nut, especially if it’s my place of business, so suck it.

  73. Aww, don’t be sad, little guy. Here’s a cookie. Later today we’ll go to Chuck E. Cheese. Will that make you feel better?

  74. “Packing a gun at your business sends the wrong message”

    Apparently, “I’m not going to let anybody rob or murder me.” is the “wrong message”…

  75. I’m saddened by the lack of civility and saddened by the pride taken in what most people consider an instrument of death.

    The vast majority are very civil and amiable. Concealed carriers are also more law abiding than cops (google it).

    Carrying an “instrument of death” keeps everyone civil.

  76. When I see a person with a weapon, I feel sad that his or her parents did not teach good manners to their children. It’s fine to carry a weapon, but please be discreet about it. I don’t want to see your weapon any more than I want to see your genitalia.

    • Um, no. I’m not going to be discreet about it. If that bothers you, too bad.

      Ask me why I should give a rodent’s posterior what you don’t want to see. (Hint: I don’t.)

      I’m not going to be discreet about it, because being discreet makes it appear as if I’m a helpless sheep ready for slaughter. I prefer to display my defensive hardware so that any would-be aggressors know what they’re getting into beforehand – which nearly always dissuades any aggression.

      Carrying openly is certainly not a lack of good manners – except possibly in your imagination. If you don’t want to see my weapon, I have a suggestion for you: simply turn away. Then you won’t see it… wasn’t that easy? Now why don’t you run along back to your safe space, before something else offends you.

      • I can’t understand this type of thinking if he lives in Houston. I lived there in 1969 and would go to welding school at night. My trip to welding school would take me thru part of downtown, then east. Once I got downtown I would have to display my pistol to the drug pushers, thieves and pimps to keep them away from my vehicle when the traffic signal would stop me. I hear it’s even worse now. Glad I am in rural / small town south Tex. now. This scenario did not make me sad, but the bad guys passed on the chance to experience sad big time. This proves the deterrent of a gun in the right hands.

    • Um, no. I’m not going to be discreet about it. If that bothers you, too bad. Ask me why I should give a rodent’s posterior what you don’t want to see. (Hint: I don’t.)

      I’m not going to be discreet about it, because being discreet makes it appear as if I’m a helpless sheep ready for slaughter. I prefer to display my defensive hardware so that any would-be aggressors know what they’re getting into beforehand – which nearly always dissuades any aggression.

      Carrying openly is certainly not a lack of good manners – except possibly in your imagination. If you don’t want to see my weapon, I have a suggestion for you: simply turn away. Then you won’t see it… wasn’t that easy? Now why don’t you run along back to your safe space, before something else offends you.

  78. Whenever someone plays “crystal ball” and judges my “inner need”, I feel sad.

    My buddy has a beer cozy fitting for them:

    “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings when I called you stupid. I thought you already knew.”

  79. this guy would be a collaborator with a foreign enemy that invaded us

    he would rat out his fellow firearm owning americans to the enemy

    unfortunately people like him put people like us in a tough position

    people like him put people like us in the situation where we have to make a decision we dont want to make

    call it the marcus luttrell dilemma or whatever you want

    we all know its true

    he fancies himself a moral champion when in fact he is a mental midget and an outright coward

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