MikeB302000’s got some new bloggers at his place. Laci The Dog (her handle not mine) pens a post that adopts the Miss Manners—sorry “Ms” Manners format. The fictional correspondent seeking guidance wants to know how to handle a dinner guest who reveals that he’s carrying a concealed firearms and proceeds to brandish same with his finger on the trigger (because most people who pack have piss-poor trigger control, obviously). Laci’s response is most illuminating, psychologically speaking. “Even if footpads and highway robbers were active in your area, the fact that he entered armed into your house sends a seriously disturbing message about his deep down feelings toward you and your husband . . .

If anything, you may wish to either arm yourselves, or just not bother inviting this person to your house in future. The fact that he feels the need for a deadly weapon in your presence shows that he is probably not someone you should truly consider a friend.

In future, tell them to check the weapon at the door or just not come over if they value your friendship.

Fair enough?

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54 COMMENTS

    • I totally agree. However, I would offer a compromise, I would bring the gun, but just not wear it at the dinner table. If they reject that offer, then “no thanks”.

      • I would leave.
        Such a person would not have a secure place to store my gun, nor would they have a sufficiently secure home such as to allow me to feel safe there.

    • to brandish same with his finger on the trigger

      If someone came to my house and brandished his gun with his finger on the trigger, I would have to decide how to make him put his gun away and then eject him from the house with a “don’t ever come back” message. Anyone who brandishes his gun with the finger on the trigger is guilty of attempted murder in my eyes.

  4. Everyone that I meet know I value my safety and security and that the tool I use to achieve that security is a conceal firearm.

    I think that the problem here was mostly the fact the friend told another he had his gun on him. That is something only you and god should know.

  5. Perhaps some possess an inherent ability to preemptively determine when they’ll be required to defend themselves or their loved ones, so can choose when not to carry.

    I am not so fortunate.

  6. That works for me. Your property, your rules. I hope you won’t miss my company, because I won’t miss yours.

    • This.

      Some people draw the “private property, private rules” line in different places; As far as I’m concerned, if it’s open to the public, they have no business dictating how I carry; If it’s NOT open to the public (as is the hypothetical case above), then they have every right to dictate such.

  7. Toodles. Wouldn’t want to be in their company anyway. I value the company of rational, moral, mentally and emotionally strong people, which they obviously are not.

    Seems the situation says more about the hoplophobe in question than the dinner guest. What kind of friend would render a friend defenseless? Moreover, how can you call yourself a friend when you obviously do not trust said guest?

  8. Funny, but wife prefers that I be armed in her presence, except, of course, for the more, ah, quiet moments alone.

    Freudian comments in 3…2…1…

    🙂

    • Hm, my home is an arsenal and there’s no mass shootings or negligence either. You lose.

    • Negligence is not being prepared.

      Funny, this entire statement could’ve been spoken by a Norwegian on that island two months ago.

    • And my home is armed to the teeth. No mass shootings yet and no NDs.

      So, what’s your point?

  10. Don’t do it, its not worth it.

    In my neck of the woods, it’s not worth it to carry in someone’s house other than your own. By law you need permission. If you seek permission while armed you are breaking the law by brandishing a firearm. If you’re going to get permission, you better do it in advanced while unarmed, and preferably get it in writing. If any of the people in the house you’re visiting starts drinking/serving alcohol, a friend of a friend/acquaintance is a past/present/or future felon, or worse yet someone has some active illegal activity going on, the end-game is you just put yourself on the wrong side of the law.

  11. My next dinner party will certainly have a gun check at the door, and if you’re not packing heat you won’t be coming in for dinner. I’ll be sure to inform all guests on their invitations that carrying any gun is mandatory. I’ll even accept open carry and long guns.

  13. Cool! If you don’t want me to bring a gun into your home, I will respect that. I either won’t come or will come w/o the gun. Adults do this; they make their own choices and live with the results. They also respect each other, even if they disagree.
    Having said that, the semi-pro psychobabble Laci uses to justify his/her view makes me want to vomit. It’s your house, you don’t have to justify yourself. Man-up, lay down your own rules on your own property, and spare the rest of us your expertise (no doubt gained from the 15 mins you were awake in “Psych 101”) in psychology.
    I also find it interesting that the example includes some “cowboy” waving a gun around rather than a responsible person who carries. I’m sure it would be different if an off-duty cop were used in the scenario… but that tells one something about the person who dreamed this up, doesn’t it?

  14. if someone takes umbrage by the fact I can defend them in the gravest extreme I am more than happy to delete them from my speed dial and friends list….
    I think Laci is due for a one-way trip to the DVM– in the near future I would expect her to start pooping on the carpet…

  15. I think showing someone your firearm defeats the purpose of “concealed carry.”

    Occasionally I will have a friend who knows I have a permit ask if I am packing. I always respond “If I was, and I told you, then it would not be concealed”

    No idea why someone who was packing for their own safety would reveal their firearm in that situation. Sounds like an idiot.

    • He probably may not know how to hug people properly yet. Or the hoplophobe was a very short person. My cousin is 4’11” and I am a foot taller than her. I used to carry strong side and would always worry about her brushing her arms against my handgun when we hugged to say hello or goodbye. Now with appendix carry I’ve perfected the “butt-out” hug so it’s all good.

      You can only say “cellphone” so many times…

  16. Am I the only one that thinks Mike set the whole show up? “The topic turned to….” sounds set up to me.

  17. Last summer I went to a BBQ in which open carry was the subtext if not the point of the gathering. Nice enough people but it was obvious that many of them didn’t have a full set of marbles. I wouldn’t invite them to my house… or if I did, I would tell them to leave the gats at home.

    • Does “full set of marbles” mean “they say stuff you don’t agree with” or “clearly a danger to themselves or others” to you?

      Considering the fact that you attack almost everyone here on a daily basis, I’m going to suspect the former.

      For example, a lot of people I train with are hard-core Republicans that make Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry look like hippies. I personally don’t agree with any Republicans and I think their policies are misguided and dangerous for the country. These folks have arsenals you’d probably cringe at, and you’d call those items “irresponsible” even though objects don’t have any moral standing. Yet these folks conducted themselves responsibly on the range and out on the town when not training. They never got into altercations, never lost their temper, etc etc.

      So which is it going to be?

        • Predictable. That photo doesn’t tell you much of anything about their character or their mentality.

          Let’s try this again. Describe their actions and/or conversations that made you uncomfortable.

            • Well, to be honest, Chopper Reid is quite the character from Ronnie Johns…

              Although you lose – because I’m not him and you’re dancing around once again.

              Pathetic.

              Maybe you never really attended an OC event after all, when you’re pressed for information – you should have been able to describe what was going on to great detail – especially if it offended you.

            • You seem unsure of your identity. Chopper Read could spell his name, I bet. To be honest, you remind me more of Paulie or Ranger Dan. Maybe you don’t exist. Maybe you are a figment of your imagination.

              • Stilllllll dancing.

                And if I really don’t exist, why are you talking to an imaginary person anyways?

                Hallucinate much?

  18. I like to make a point that ‘concealed carry’ means it’s out of sight until needed. Brandishing a gun at the dinner table is kinda…bull.

  20. Meh, across the table distances I’d be happy to settle for the knife or fork. Bonus if wine bottles are around. Your point being?

    Funny how you trust him with a knife. IIRC that is also a ‘deadly weapon’.

    The mind is the ultimate weapon. All else is supplemental.

    Brandishing on the other hand is an entirely different manner.

  22. I have friends that I know are uncomfortable with firearms, a few that have even specifically stated “no guns in my house.” Not a problem; your house, your rules – that’s what my lockbox is for – I go there for dinner, old steel-sides gets locked up in the car. My home is my castle, and they are entitled to the same. (Though I consider my castle to look more like Burt Gummer’s basement).

    In much the same manner, they respect my wishes by not bringing the snot-nosed, likes to play with the poo in his own diapers and wipe it on walls kid into my home – I consider the kid to be a biological weapon .. far more dangerous than a gun. Call it an agreement of mutual respect.

    Poking fun aside; I’ll respect the rights and wishes of the homeowner. No where is anything ever mentioned about my rights being more important than the rights of others.

    • +1 to Ben

      It sounds like many of you have lots of friends who carry concealed. I have none. And I live in a city full of hoplophobes with a police force that leaves rifles with “assault clips” on the trunk of their patrol cars.

      So in order to respect their rights, I always ask the first time before I carry in their place. If I avoided all those who didn’t carry, or even own guns, I’d be eating alone a lot.

  23. “If anything, you may wish to just not bother responding to this person’s invitation in future. The fact that he feels so paranoid and insecure in your presence shows that he is probably not someone you should truly consider a friend.”

    Fixed that, now it actually makes sense.

  25. Guns + friends are always welcome in our house.

    Just keep them holstered and on you at all times given the number of children we have here regularly.

  26. “The fact that he feels the need for a deadly weapon in your presence shows that he is probably not someone you should truly consider a friend.”

    I have a condom in my wallet, it doesn’t mean I want to f**k everyone I have dinner with.

  27. In AK, while we may have Constitutional carry, we are required by law to inform people of our armed status before entering their home. We have close friends that we stay with in another village. Every time we arrive, I tell the owner that I am carrying and the response is always, “Good, I’d throw you out if you didn’t have the sense to protect your family. Now get in here.”

  28. I suspect the scenario in the letter was fabricated, but if it did describe actual events, I’d be pissed as well.

    Carrying on private property is a separate issue from someone brandishing a firearm.

    One can go back and forth about the former, but the later is inexcusable.

  29. The proper thing would have been for him to just not talk about the gun it was concealed nobody even knew it was there, I never tell anyone I’m carrying it none of their business

  30. The proper thing would have been for him to just not talk about the gun it was concealed nobody even knew it was there, I never tell anyone I’m carrying it none of their business

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