Open carry in Virginia

Back in the day, gentlemen openly wore their swords at their sides when they went out. Today, in Virginia, some people are openly wearing their pistols at their sides. This according to this article in the Washington Post. The link comes via the GeekWithA.45 who sums it up thusly:

Summary:
-------------
State level pre-emption laws kicked in July 1, over riding local ordinances concerning purchase, registration, and open carry of firearms in public.

Some folks excercise said right, some sheeple bleat, some ill informed cops confiscate, and later on realize they were wrong and apologize, other folks get in on the act, Gun Bigots suggest we siddown and STFU.

Virginia, like most other states, provides for the carrying of concealed weapons if you have a permit. Some states do not allow concealed carry under any circumstances and a couple, namely Vermont and Alaska, allow concealed carry with no permit required. Open carry in Virginia (as in Arizona if I recall correctly) does not require a permit. Some people are now taking advantage of that law. The results are predictable, however the police seem to be treating the situation rather reasonably:

"Crime is at 20-year lows in the county," Lt. Col. Charles K. Peters pointed out, even though the population is soaring. The county's homicide rate was the lowest in the nation last year among the 30 largest jurisdictions. "Hopefully no one feels the need to carry a gun, lawfully or unlawfully," Peters said. "But there's no question it is lawful to carry a gun on the street. So we've had to ensure that all of our officers are updated on the nuances of Virginia law that allow citizens to carry firearms in public places."

Others, on the other hand, do not:

"This just shows you the extreme nature of what they're trying to do," said Bob Ricker, head of Virginians for Public Safety. "You don't want to go to Starbucks or Reston Town Center and see somebody with a firearm strapped on," he added, referring to two locations where armed patrons were found. "It's just something that I think is completely unreasonable. We all understand the concept of self-defense. . . . But when you're talking about Fairfax County, you have to look at what is reasonable."

Actually, if I walked into a Starbucks and saw a citizen packing heat, I'd feel reassured. Think about it for a minute. If he were going to commit a crime with the gun, he wouldn't be standing around with it in plain view. He'd have it concealed until he was ready to use it. However, to someone who intended to rob the place, an openly armed citizen would prove a powerful and immediate deterrent.

Yet more FUD from the anti-gun rights crowd:

Openly carrying weapons is "not a good idea," said Kristen Rand of the Violence Policy Center in Washington. "This is the gun lobby's vision of how America should be. Everybody's packing heat and ready to engage in a shootout at the slightest provocation."

Okay, here you see a classic case of playing on people's fears. Look at the charged words, "packing heat." Look at the generalization, "ready to engage in a shootout at the slightest provocation." The fact that no such shootouts have happened is irrefutable proof that she is wrong. She sees as armed citizens as psychopaths when she herself is the one frothing at the mouth and looking like a total fool. The last paragraph of the article sums it up nicely:

Van Cleave said most gun owners, particularly defense league members or concealed weapon permit owners, are law-abiding. Anti-gun forces "have come to think guns themselves are evil. You've got to worry about the person, not the gun."