Seeing this pop up again, I decided to revisit the links, including AlienGear's website, as well as the blog by Hoober.
So let's begin with Hoober: "Born in southeastern Washington State, Sam Hoober graduated in 2011 from Eastern Washington University. He resides in the great Inland Northwest, with his wife and child. His varied interests and hobbies include camping, fishing, hunting, and spending time at the gun range as often as possible."
I attended EWU. Began my masters there in 1992. I was about half way through when our unit was deactivated and our planes distributed to Minot and Barksdale. Many of us continued in B-52s. A number of us cross-trained to other aircraft.
EWU was a good school. Sharp instructors. I can only assume Hoober received a decent education. Based on the comments in his blog, however, his powers of reasoning are flawed. Given the fact he graduated only recently, in 2011, I'll chalk that up to a lack of opportunity to hone those skills over a lifetime, combined with his lack of lifetime learning and experience.
He does admit, "That said, it is up to you to determine which method you prefer."
However, he makes the typical mistakes of the pro-CC crowd, including the following:
1. CC makes you less of an obvious target -- fails to consider the deterrent value of OC
2. CC gives you the element of surprise -- valid only if you're on the offensive
3. CC is an insurance policy against the worst possibilities -- fails to acknowledge that OC is, too, and is actually a deterrent whereas CC is not
4. CC is discrete -- No, it's hidden. Quite different than merely discrete.
5. Assumes criminals are out to waylay OCers. Wrong. As criminals have admitted (poll of prisoners), they tend to avoid potential adversaries who're armed.
While he's right that OC does concern and even scare some people, he makes it out to be worse than it is, especially for someone who lives in OC-friendly Eastern Washington i.e. "The Inland Empire," which, by the way, is its proper title, not "the great inland northwest," although they may be calling it that these days. We didn't back when I lived there, around the time he was in diapers.
