Open Carry and Barney Fudd's Over-Enthusiasm
Staged Video Gets It Right About Many Cops and Ignorance on Open Carry
An excellent read from AmmoLand. Some will brand me a heretic, but I personally do not open carry except on my farm. I’ve always carried though, even when I didn’t have state ‘permission’ to observe my rights. Where I had to go on my job, if I hadn’t, I would have been just another statistic from Kommrade Klinton’s “Bangin’ in the Rock” days. I do not condemn open carry. If you want to, knock yourself out. I just don’t need one more ‘shoot me first’ sign to display when I’m out on the town - DD
“Sir! Put the gun on the ground, please,” the deputy issues a loud order to a citizen open carrying a rifle on a neighborhood street in a TikTok video now making the rounds on X.
“It’s legal,” the Maryland gun owner protests, only to be ordered in no uncertain terms to do as he’s told. A conversation after frisking for other weapons ensues in which the gun owner tries to explain that the state attorney general agrees with him, that “if you don’t have a concealed carry you’re allowed to open carry.”
“You can’t walk down the middle of the street with a rifle on your arm,” the deputy replies. “I’ve never even heard of that before.” He calls in the sheriff at the gun owner’s request, who shows up a few minutes later, agrees that “You can’t do that,” and responds to the citizen’s protest by telling him “With a gun like that on your shoulder, I don’t care what the attorney general says.”
As expected, outrage ensues, at least until a note linking to a Delaware Online article (protected by a subscription firewall) appears under the post:
“This video from 2014 shows Maryland State Delegate Mike Smigiel and was coordinated with Maryland Sheriff Mike Lewis. It was filmed to highlight the attorney general’s position that concealed carry wasn’t needed in Maryland because open carry was…