As this hits the news...

                They lived about 20 miles away from us so it’s a bit hard to judge if her story hit the rest of the country…so here’s some background. A bunch of soccer moms threw a fit when Meleanie Hain showed up at her kids soccer game with a Glock strapped to her hip. The sheriff threw a fit and withdrew her permit to carry a concealed firearm (even though you don’t really need a permit to “openly” carry in Pennsylvania.)  She took it to court and won, got her permit back, and then sued the sheriff for a million bucks. 

Well, her husband  got her, murder suicide possibly in front of their children. Digging through my list of contacts, I hear that her gun was locked up, and he shot her with his gun before blowing his head off(without hesitation, sounds planned to me, no crime of passion/opportunity here). And the original reason she open carried was to defend herself FROM HIM (seems like a legitimate excuse NOW doesn’t it)

Now why am I torn? Because I love that openly carrying a firearm in PA is LEGAL and a right for all citizens (who have not been convicted of a crime)….but I also feel that 90% of the time it’s a very BAD idea… I have a permit to carry concealed in PA (and the 15 or so other states that accept the PA permit) but do I? no. Why? Because by policy, I can’t carry at work, where I park I can’t leave it in my car, and rarely leave the house to go anywhere else unless I’m on my way to or from work.  So unless I want to get fired, I only care to and from the shooting range. 

            So should people open carry? Leaving it right there for all to see? I see that leading to more problems than it could solve….pissed off fanatic at the grocery store finally has enough, and sees your gun as a way of getting his point across…someone sees it and blind sides you from behind to score themselves a free gun for their next crime spree ….and if you even get into an argument with someone and you have a visable firearm, you can go to jail on felony gun charges if the other person feels threatened by it.  I just see it as a bad idea….I don’t freak out when I see someone open carry, but I often ask myself why would they do that besides the reason “because they can”…and if you ask the PAFOA (they make the NRA look anti-gun) EVERYONE should ALWAYS open carry all the time, if you get fired for it, sue them for a $100million dollars for infringing on your rights. If a cop gives you a hard time, give it back to him X2…if he arrests you, sue them for a $100million dollars for infringing on your rights (catching on to a pattern?)…sorry I am loyal to the cause, but I’m not going to jump on a landmine no matter how much we feel it shouldn't go off when we do. 

             Another issue I had with the situation has to do more with the initial lawsuit. She got her permit back, I would understand suing for legal fees, even for lost wages….but once she got to the “mental anguish” crap, she lost me. grand total the suit should have been for about 25,000 and that’s it….but she had to push for the million….that’s just greedy. 

but the negative publicity she generated toward the 2nd ammendment has just become a potential magic bullet (or a non firearm related magic thing) for the anti-gun people to use.

 

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