And Now, About That 'Right To Carry' . . .

 From an attorney friend of ours, as posted on facebook:

You have a right to carry a gun to a protest. If you are struggling with a police officer, or officers, and you are armed, legally or not, you have created a potentially dangerous situation for yourself and the officers. You do NOT have the right to carry a weapon and resist arrest, or otherwise obstruct law enforcement, and expect that law enforcement can read your mind during the struggle, as you're flailing about. Even if you are licensed to carry, carrying can be illegal if your purpose for carrying is illegal. That's not "unlawful possession of a weapon," true, but it is "possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose."

This is why, by the way, those of us who are licensed to carry are required to alert law enforcement that we are carrying if we interact with them. That's the first thing we do if we are pulled over: "Good afternoon officer. I need to make you aware that I am licensed to carry and I am carrying a firearm." How hard is that?

I had a situation the other day where an officer was approaching a driver on a routine motor vehicle stop, and like an idiot the driver unholstered his pistol to place it in the glove box just as the cop was approaching the window, and the officer had to make a split second decision whether or not to defend himself. Thankfully, in that split second the driver relented, but that was seriously very close to a bad situation.

The point of me telling that is to reiterate that a gun is a responsibility. Even when you legally own and carry it, you do not have the right to do so in a way that creates a dangerous situation for those around you.