imported post
Alaskan Shooter wrote:
We have no permit needed for either concealed or open carry here. It is not a problem. The tradition of carrying a firearm is taught and handed down from parents to children, not from the government
I know Alaska isn't all snow, tundra, and moose, but to be honest, there aren't a whole lot of people up there - a touch under 700,000 according to Wikipedia, and just under half of those (~300,000) living in the Anchorage metro area.
Just the Portland, Oregon city limits contain approximately 575,000 people, not counting the considerable outlying metro area. We probably have closer to two million people living within a 30 miles radius of Portland.
Alaskans, living in a more... frontier-like state than many others in the lower 48 have a much more healthy respect for firearms - they are a necessary tool for living up there. My wife lived up there for many years and has told many stories about the bears and other hazardous wildlife found out in the wild and the absolute necessity for always carrying a powerful, loaded firearm.
Your typical Metro Portlander has most likely never seen a firearm in real life unless it was attached to the hip of the cop that has stopped him for driving too slow, or for failure to yield to a bicyclist. Seriously.
I know a few of them, and they are absolutely gobsmacked about this recent "craze" of wearing guns openly, especially TO A RALLY WHERE THE PRESIDENT MIGHT BE!!!1!!ONE!!
I'm doing my part, Open Carrying when I can (and where I can). There will need to be a major shift in political winds before anything major is done here. Many of the more rural Oregonians wouldn't mind these changes, but sadly we're heavily outnumbered by the urban anti-gun pacifists.
Sadly, these aren't the 'pass your firearm skills on to your children' type of people. And unfortunately, they are exceptionally "votey" - and love to vote on things that make them
feel safer (whether they actually provide protection or not).
I'm currently working on Sherwood, where they have a ordinance related to firearms and fireworks in parks that's confusing - the title says one thing while the text says another, and frankly the ordinance should just have the firearms part removed. I have a petition in with the city council that once I make some headway on, I'll do a post about.
Overall, I'd say we have pretty good laws in Oregon as it stands right now - infinitely better than California. I suppose they could be better, but I'm concerned that too much of the wrong kind of attention could shift our laws closer to California than Alaska.