Don't scare the Soccermoms

The open carriers are scaring the soccermoms and this is hurting the rest of our guns rights. Antigun mothers usually don't care enough about guns to make it an election issue, which is a good thing, because women are generally not in favor of gun ownership, but they are usually ambivalent to it. However, when women see this as a threat to themselves or their kids, they start to care. Seeing people open carrying guns right after a bunch of high profile mass shootings is doing just that. As an example: here is a recent exchange online that was about the MSNBC poll on guns:

Soccermom

See, I'm not actually anti-2a, even though it seems a lot of people assume so (not you). Do I like guns? No. Do I realize that there are way too many guns to ever make plausible restrictions or controls on them? Yup. Do I have to explain my my tendency to feel anxious or threatened when I see someone I don't know with a gun? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have that right too. It's pretty much a moot point though, there will never be sensible gun laws in this country because we're well beyond putting a cap on anything. I realize that. But where are my rights and protections? Everyone can wave around a gun in public, but I shouldn't feel a certain way about it because it's an amendment? 🤣🤣🤣 Yeah. Once again, not directed at you. I don't want my kids around people open carrying either. And no, I'm not a liberal who's like, "Confiscate all the guns!" From who? The people that are way better armed than the liberals?

Divemedic:

Flow So you aren't opposed to people being armed, you are opposed to people doing things that make you nervous? Doesn't that make it your problem, not theirs? After all, your position isn't about what the open carrier is doing or not doing, but is about the way you feel.

Soccermom

 No, I'm opposed to seeing guns. It's not just that they make me anxious; I don't want my children around them either. And it is about what the open carrier is doing. Why does an open carry person's rights supersede my own?

Divemedic

So if a person said that "I'm opposed to seeing women's legs and collar bones. It's not just that they make me anxious; I don't want my children seeing that either. And it is about what the woman is doing. Why does an woman's rights supersede my own?" Does that mean that you would be willing to cover up? If not, why does your opinion change when it is YOUR ox being gored?

Soccermom

 On that same token, I don't really want to see people walking around with open knives or bottles of acid or anything like that. People are basically stupid and I don't trust people I don't know to not do stupid things like accidentally shooting someone.
"Doesn't it make it your problem, not theirs?" Well, yeah, that's why I said that it was a moot point. I literally just wanted to say why I don't exactly relish the idea of seeing a bunch of idiots in Target waving their guns around.
And you're basically saying that I don't have a right to be opposed to something. I'm not changing laws, not marching on Washington DC, I will literally never do anything about gun control laws. Ever. But I am absolutely fucking protected by the Constitution to say that I feel uncomfortable around guns.

Attorneyguy

Why does open carry bother you more than concealed? The number of guns isn't affected by whether they are inside or outside the clothing.

Soccermom

Why do I have to have a reason? Obviously, if I don't see them, I'm not aware of them. It doesn't make me feel better to be near someone armed or safer, quite the opposite actually.

Divemedic

 I am not saying that you don't have a right. After all, people have a right to not vaccinate their children. If you get enough people who share an opinion, their votes can effect policy, no matter how misguided that policy may be. That is how we got slavery, prohibition, and segregation.
Therefore, it behooves us to show people when their position is based upon emotion instead of logic. That means that people will hopefully vote from a logical position instead of an emotional one.
The Constitution protects arms the same as your speech.

Soccermom#2

 I get what Soccermom is saying. I don't want to see people brandishing weapons in public. I prefer the illusion of Disneyland to the street wars of Chicago.
However, to me, people with cars are a bigger threat and probably kill more people than guns. I also don't like to walk past large dogs barking crazy behind short fences.

Divemedic

I don't like tattoos. There are people who don't like sitting at the same lunch counter with African Americans. That doesn't mean that tattoos should be outlawed, nor does it mean that we should return to "whites only" lunch counters.
The way that one feels about other people and their actions doesn't supersede the rights of those other people.

Soccermom

 I truthfully give not one iota of fuck about the second amendment. It doesn't apply to me. I mean, cops get killed when someone wrestles their gun away from them and they're trained to not let that happen. So what if some idiot doesn't have their gun fully secured on their person and someone snatches it and opens up on a Walmart?