Why OC; Where Did Conceal Carry Come From?

[wa3ra]

Long before OC was called open carry, it was known as gentleman's carry or polite carry; it was considered polite to 'inform' others that you were armed by the visual presence of your revolver in its holster.

Conversely, it was considered in very bad form, or even illegal or unlawful to carry your firearm concealed; it was something only criminals or lowlifes did.

This started to change in the late 19-teens, not coincidentally at the same time that prohibition was being crammed down the throats of the public, and using methods similar to those of the recent Obamacare debacle.

Around that time, especially with the advent of small, easily pocketable autos, many people started to conceal. The police couldn't really tell who was carrying anymore, and many cities and towns began to pass laws requiring a permit for carrying a concealed weapon. Open carry was generally not mentioned, since it was assumed to be a constitutional right, and it was easy to determine that you were carrying if your gun was out in the open.

After WWII, with the movement of the populations from the cities into the suburbs, the ethnic makeup of the cities changed, and the coming of the interstate system, especially in cities, where it carved up whole swaths of middle-class black homes (and generally , the houses that were taken were taken by eminent domain and for much less that they were worth). This displaced many (black) families; they no longer had their homes, and did not get enough money for them to move to the suburbs, like they'd really have been 'allowed to' at that time...so they ended up in the ubiquitous 'projects', at the same time that the manufacturing businesses were packing up and heading out to the open environs along the interstates.

Now, we have a large city, with a less wealthy white population,and a displaced black population, and the inevitable civic types who want to control both of them. Many cities ban concealed weapons.

Kennedy is assassinated in 1963, LBJ gives us 'Guns and Butter' and his (not so) Great Society in '65 and '66. Riots and unrest start in northern cities in '66, and get worse in '67. (Not coincidentally, take a look at the locations of the largest riots, and see where the second big batch of Interstates was being built.) The powers that be realize that they have -- GASP--armed people in the streets, and God help us, they're Negroes...can't have them uppity colored types being armed on us now, can we? More anti-gun laws.


In '68, both MLK and RFK are murdered, and the GCA, which had been sputtering and looking like it was doomed to failure passes within a few days.

Now, there is a method to truly limit the flow of legal weapons into the cities; no more mail order, no interstate purchases, and Federal help to enforce gun laws. In a few cities, with CC being illegal, groups of people take to OCing. The powers that be can't have this, so they ban ALL sidearms, and require licensing and registration of all weapons owned by individuals.

Guns are still coming in, and some small eastern states, who depend on NYC for their economic lifeblood, feel the squeeze from the city...and happily ban all carry and make it so difficult to buy a gun that most people don't even try.

Here we are, two generations later, and those states are liberal bastions; generations of residents and politicos depend on money from Uncle Sam, guns have been effectively banned for 40 years, and some twenty-odd years ago, the Brady people have started breathing down our necks, telling us how evil guns are, and in an Orwellian twist, redefining statistics, and words, and fabricating entire classes of weapons and ammunition that sound REALLY dangerous up from thin air. (The head of this organization names it for her husband, severely injured in an assassination attempt against President Reagan. Perversely, Jim Brady was a staunch defender of gun rights before his .25 caliber lobotomy)

In much of the country, throughout this time, Open Carry was never eliminated, except in a few heavily liberal states and cities where people are beholden to (as we were warned by Franklin and Jefferson) government largess; freedom cannot stand long when one can reward oneself from the public till.

Luckily, there are more people in this country who still believe in the American Ideal; people who will stand against the folks who would take away our rights, and our guns.

The Constitution does not inform us that we have been given this right by God to 'serve' the government. Indeed, having just fought a bloody war against the most powerful nation and king in the world, the framers wished that we should ever have the ability to preserve and protect our freedoms should the politicians of the age ever forget that they are elected to serve US, and such a government need to be replaced at the barrel of a gun.

I applaud the people who carry in the open, reminding us (and the powers of the government) WHY we are able to carry our arms out in the open.

[chauncey]

nicely put

[headcase]

Rep Whore .......

[YosemiteSam]

Nice Cliff Note version.
+1 to you.

[thanker92]

"whole swaths of middle-class black homes "

Great post....with the exception of the above.....From 1945-1960 the "black middle class" was virtually non existant, home ownership even lower and (according to the U.S gov't) less than 3% of the land taken over was from minorities.

[XD40coyote]

I'll add a historical tidbit. Now I don't have a solid reference to back it up, but I trust MSI and others involved in the fight here in MD are using true info. Unlisc'd open carry was legal in MD until 1972. The backstory is that the '68 riots started the march towards this. I am assuming that the new laws were put in to "control those uppity negros". Baltimore was a racist bastion back then. Example from first hand- my parents were young and looked like hippies when they moved to a small rented rowhouse in Canton. But there was a "rule". They were not to have any negros come over to visit. This was about 1970.

The new laws of 1972 took the CC liscencing from the county sheriffs and handed it to the state police, and OC was only lawful if you had a CC lisc, or while hunting/trapping, training hunting dogs, on your own property, and when target shooting. Even with the CC lisc, OCing ended up being frowned upon and one could lose the hard to get lisc for doing so ( unless you were armed security or someone special). By removing the sheriffs from the lisc'ing process, the entire state became may issue. I have reason to believe that the sheriffs in many counties would issue in a shall-issue manner ( unless you were a negro perhaps). I guess the state gov't couldn't bear this, so the power went to the state police who "lord" over the whole state in this matter. Unlisc'd open carry going by the wayside probably happened due to the Black Panthers or something or another.

In other states you had Jim Crow laws on gun control, that when Jim Crow became illegal, they just took the words " negro" and/or "colored" out of the statutes, and thus they now applied to everyone. A good example is the state of emergency law in NC.

CA banned loaded OC in incorporated places due to Black Panthers having protest marches. The odd thing though is it applies only to handguns, yet I have seen the old news footage and the Panthers are clearly mostly walking with long guns.

NYC's gun control got big headway with the Sullivan Law. Sullivan was a gangster who rose up in politics. The law was passed to allow his gangster buddies to be the only ones other than the [corrupt at the time] cops, to be allowed to have guns. This makes the law extremely criminal and unconstitutional, but you see Bloomy clinging to it for dear life ( he must be a gangster huh?).

Chicago- I'm not sure how/why this city became as anti gun as it did. It seemed to happen when Dailey I was mayor. I see a pattern emerging though- the mid 60's. Chicago was always a very racist city, with it's own versions of Jim Crow laws. I imagine the gun control was a response to the Civil Rights Act. Couldn't have all those blacks being allowed to be armed now could we?

[KJ3030]

(according to the U.S gov't)[/B] less than 3% of the land taken over was from minorities.

hahaha...this funny! even if it is true, "according to the US government" is NOT a sole valid reason to believe any historical statistic!