As much as I have railed and ranted over many years about gun violence and the nutty notion that says that “more guns make us safer,” I want to acknowledge one positive element concerning laws that allow people to carry concealed handguns.
It’s really about the only positive thing I can say about this, so here goes.
I am a more polite driver, more circumspect at others who cut me off, or who nearly back into me in parking lots, or who otherwise drive recklessly, putting me and others at risk of serious physical harm.
Why? It’s simple. I do not want to antagonize a motorist who might be packing a pistol in his glove compartment, or under his seat, or who might be wearing a holster containing a six-shooter.
The problem with that niceness, though, is that I am reluctant to tell the driver in some fashion that he or she is putting me in danger. I am unaware of a way to do so while sitting in a motor vehicle yelling at someone else without pi**ing the other person off enough to do something foolish … such as shoot me!
OK, so I called this a “positive” aspect of gun ownership. On reflection of what I have just written, perhaps I should walk some of that back just a little. It’s not entirely positive, but it does create possibly a slightly more polite driving public.
To be clear, I am still frightened by the prospect of more guns on the streets, with more people being allowed to carry guns openly without having to take a rudimentary class to prove they know how to handle them.
I also accept that concealed-carry laws in Texas haven’t resulted in commonplace shootouts in the streets.
If these firearms make us a bit more reticent and polite, then that’s not a bad thing.