http://www.tandfonline.com.sci-hub.io/doi/full/10.1080/10668926.2015.1124813

Patricia P. Dahl, Gene Bonham, Jr. & Frances P. Reddington (2016):
Community college faculty: Attitudes toward guns on campus, Community College Journal of
Research and Practice, DOI: 10.1080/10668926.2015.1124813

Interesting excerpt showing slight difference between 4 year and 2 year college attitudes towards firearms on campus:

However, there are some differences found in our study of community college faculty that are
worth noting and may indicate some shifting trends in gun ownership by faculty. Our study found
that slightly more community college faculty owned a firearm, were members of a firearm organization,
and grew up with a firearm in the home than what was reported by faculty at 4-year
institutions. Similarly, fewer community college faculty reported confidence in police being able to
prevent violent crime on their campuses. Lastly, community college faculty reported more of a
concern with becoming a victim of violence on their campus and, in fact, had been a victim of crime
off campus than their 4-year university counterparts (Thompson et al., 2013). While the side-by-side
comparisons were not statistically significant, the differences may be pointing to an increase in both
fear and an interest in purchasing firearms by faculty in community college settings when compared
to the faculty surveyed at 4-year institutions. Additional research in the future may be needed to see
if the slight difference in results between the 4-year and 2-year faculty studies are representative of
changing perceptions among faculty in general or among faculty solely at community college
campuses.

So it is possible that attitudes are changing.

On the other hand, perhaps all the professors in Texas will quit and move out of state.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/02/29/10-children-stabbed-at-china-school.html

You wrote, “I find it interesting that the gun-totin crowd never seems to have a problem with restrictions on the kind of weapon that is less likely to cause damage to massive numbers of people. In many states where I can get a gun relatively easily I can be arrested on the spot for carrying a sai, which at best I could injure one person who happened to be very, very close to me.”

You are mistaken, sir. Many gun owners are very aware that the RTBA is not the Right to Bear Guns. And that as much as gun control laws are a messy hodgepodge, knife laws are even worse. That’s why this organization exists:

http://www.kniferights.org

Just as many gun control laws have their roots in racism (some early state RKBAs specifically state their limited application to ‘free white men’) so do many knife laws. Latin culture has long respected knife skills (it’s no accident that ‘stiletto’ is an Italian word) and knife laws in the U.S. Southwest reflect that. Free white men carry revolvers; it’s just those dirty Mexicans that carry knives. It’s no accident at all that I can get permit to carry a concealed gun, but I can’t get a permit to carry a concealed knife.

Bullshit. Defensive use of a gun against personal attack is so extremely rare as to be non-significant. Doing a little research and reading the studies will, if you are willing, demonstrate that.

A very brief summary of information can be found here:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/firearms-research/gun-threats-and-self-defense-gun-use-2/

More detailed information is here

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743515001188

From the latter reference: (SDGU = Self Defense Gun Use)

Of over 14,000 incidents in which the victim was present, 127 (0.9%) involved a SDGU. SDGU was more common among males, in rural areas, away from home, against male offenders and against offenders with a gun. After any protective action, 4.2% of victims were injured; after SDGU, 4.1% of victims were injured. In property crimes, 55.9% of victims who took protective action lost property, 38.5 of SDGU victims lost property, and 34.9% of victims who used a weapon other than a gun lost property.

Their conclusion:

Conclusions
Compared to other protective actions, the National Crime Victimization Surveys provide little evidence that SDGU is uniquely beneficial in reducing the likelihood of injury or property loss.

In RickA’s most recent post he is tangentially correct (a first for him: I assume exposure to the truth is to him as exposure to sunlight is to a vampire): It is each person’s choice about whether to carry. But using the “every day people successfully defend themselves against a crime” line is simply cow poo. It implies that stranger on stranger crime is much more common than it really is, and it flies directly against all the reliable evidence we have about how often some cowboy (or cowgirl) is able to stop a crime. If you want to carry a gun in public be honest about the reason.
and it is quite easy to find more information from reputable sources (if you look at blaze and other slease pits you’ll find “studies” that rival the worst the anti-vaccination people put out for their low quality).

You bring up an interesting issue: open carry vs. concealed carry.

For many centuries the carrying of a concealed weapon was considered the province of brigands and other criminals; an honest gentleman carried his arms openly. Many of the state level constitutional RKBAs contain clauses specifically stating that the RKBA should not be construed to permit concealed carry. So concealed carry becomes a matter of statutory law, not a constitutional right.

But we live in different times. I can think of a number of reasons not to open carry:

1. Hoplophobes may become agitated and even call the police.
2. Depending on where you live, the police may hassle or try to detain you, even if what you’re doing is entirely legal.
3. A criminal may try to take away an openly carried weapon.
4. A criminal may target your home for a break-in, if you advertise the fact you own a firearm by openly carrying it.

“If you are hiding a gun, you are taking an aggressor’s stance. You want to shoot.”

No Sir, you are projecting onto me the only reason you can think of for concealed carry. I am taking an entirely defensive stance. I am simply leaving open the option of force if necessary and justified.

I do everything I can to avoid situations where defensive gun use might be necessary. I am opposed to ‘stand your ground’ laws which fly in the face of centuries of common law tradition that if you can avoid a violent confrontation by fleeing you should.

Being a crime victim made me understand that I was operating in what Jeff Cooper called ‘condition white’, being oblivious to my immediate environment.

I understand that it is highly unlikely that I will ever need to use my revolver in any way other than at the range. However, it is much more likely that I may need to do so than the chance of my winning the lottery. Bad things do happen to good people.

Something I heard Jeff Cooper say in a training film struck a chord with me (this is a paraphrase):

I wonder how many millions of people have died thinking, ‘This must be a dream, this can’t be happening to me!’

I don’t wander around the city in a constant state of fear. But I do now try to be aware of what’s going on around me; if I had done so previously I probably could have preemptively avoided being a victim.

I don’t want to shoot anybody. Once I held a junkie who had broken into my home at gunpoint until the police arrived. Since I live in a jurisdiction where a home intruder is prima facie considered a threat, I could have shot him and gotten away with it legally. But he was just some decrepit junkie looking to steal and a cozy place to shoot up. A feather could have knocked him over. So I did not actually feel I was under threat of grave bodily injury or death to justify pulling the trigger.

In the same comment you bring up some other interesting issues concerning edged weapons, and alcohol and guns. I’ll get to them when time permits.

And it may be.

However, in America each person gets to make their own decision.

So if you think carrying is a bad idea than you don’t have to carry.

If you think carrying is a good idea than you can get a permit and carry.

What you cannot do is decide what another person can do or cannot do.

So a lot of this is just railing at what is and wishful thinking.

To change what is – you have to amend the constitution.

So it doesn’t really matter if someone carrying makes you uncomfortable. You have no say in that decision.

. . . you’re starting to sound somewhat paranoid, with deep-rooted suspicions and distrust of civil authority.

I happen to live where the police are being reformed, against great resistance, under the supervision of a DOJ monitor. That’s because the police here have a long, sad history of being quick on the trigger. If you summon the police here, you stand a strong chance they will escalate rather than de-escalate. They will come and shoot your dog; they will come and shoot your crazy cousin that you were worried would hurt himself. They will come and shoot or tase you. I have had my property searched sans warrant or exigent circumstance and been threatened with violence when I objected. All these things have actually happened. Repeatedly.

So I would say it’s entirely rational, not paranoid at all, to have deep-rooted suspicions and distrust of civil authority, considering the history of civil authority here. And I’m not even black or hispanic, which opens a whole ‘nother can of worms concerning the civil authorities.

I actually posted #77 before you posted #75 and #76, but it got stuck in the moderation queue because of the number of links.

So it’s entirely coincidental that I included two incidents in which a gun owner successfully fought off an assailant armed with a gun; one was a home intruder and the other an armed robber on the street. So it’s certainly possible to do.

I don’t fumble with my gun because I practice with it regularly. (Muscle memory is important.) I know semi-auto pistols are all the rage these days, but I belong to that subset of gun owners who prefer the simplicity and reliability of a revolver. I carry a double-action only revolver; no safety to release and nothing to cock. I pull the trigger and it goes bang.

Store clerk shoots knife-wielding robber
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/2016/01/11/store-clerk-shots-suspect-tampa/78645166/

Father defends son and dog against pit bull
http://www.whav.net/cms/man-shoots-pit-bull-downtown-after-poodle-bit/

Homeowner kills armed home invader
http://www.newson6.com/story/31262423/tulsa-resident-shoots-kills-home-invasion-suspect

Permittee kills armed robber
http://www.startribune.com/brooklyn-park-police-permit-carrying-citizen-halts-armed-robbery-with-fatal-gunfire/369832761/

It’s well understood among gun owners that almost all defensive gun use involves displaying or brandishing a gun, not actually shooting. As many of these incidents are never reported and never make the news, much of the information is perforce anecdotal. I personally know a nurse who foiled a carjacking by displaying a handgun.

This one did make the news (I particularly like the fact that the burglar did not pause long enough to ascertain that it was only a BB gun pointed at him; he instead fled):

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s4003834.shtml

The answer was “No, and no”. But you did not ask me if I’ve ever had a loaded gun pointed at me with the possibility of me being shot.

I have been on that end of a loaded gun, once before. Have you?

Speaking from first-hand experience of one who is not easily cowed, I would NOT have attempted to draw a concealed carry and tried to “shoot my way out of that situation”.

I doubt you would, either. (Or would have lived to write about it.) Your concealed carry is of limited use. Listen to Jesse…