I can't believe the anti- open carry rhetoric I have seen sprout up in the online "gun communities" lately. Maybe it's because I grew up in a Wild West state with open carry, but I have always been of the opinion that if everyone open carried a simple handgun, crime would decrease dramatically. I was always taught as a kid that a man with a gun on his hip was there to protect you, the man with it hidden was suspect. Now I constantly see this rhetoric online that "you're just making yourself the first target" "it looks tacky" "what if someone whacks you with a rock and takes it?" They sound like valid concerns in a vacuum, but they all assume it's just you. If other men are also exercising their right openly in the area, these points are moot.