Showdown in Lafayette: "Open Carry" Advocates Argue for Their Right to Bear Arms

At a recent "Guns in Public" forum in Lafayette, the topsy-turvy world of California politics was dramatized when the "Open Carry" pro-gun faction chose to leave its weapons at home while the anti-gun league, led by Assemblywoman Lori Saldana, came armed.

Saldana's security detail arrived with Kevlar vests and weapons on display while the Open Carry coalition, a grassroots group of Second Amendment devotees who have taken to wearing their iron in public places to press their point, arrived in suits and ties and no conspicuous bulges.

"It must be nice to live in your wonderful fantasy land," Open Carry advocate and panel speaker Adnan Shahab jousted with Saldana as she was winding up to leave the forum, security detail leading the way. "But out here with normal people, we have to rely on ourselves and reality and having tools available to defend ourselves."

"Real professional," Saldana shot back.

Saldana has become something of a lightning rod for pro-gun groups opposed to her Assembly Bill 1934, which awaits passage in the state Senate this week and which reverses California's current Open Carry policy, making it a misdemeanor to openly carry an unloaded handgun in public anywhere in the state.

The Lafayette forum, hosted by the Commonwealth Club at the Veterans Memorial Hall, was just one skirmish in the ongoing battle of words and dogma hurled by both sides of the issue in recent months.  When it was over, the conference room was littered with spent insults, but neither side emerged the clear-cut victor.

"This is a matter of public safety and making sure law enforcement has the time to focus on crime prevention and crime response, which is more important than babysitting those who carry guns," said Saldana. "If they really want to carry a gun, have them go through the process and request a concealed carry permit."

That's the pivotal argument, Shahab responded, smiling and pointing out that concealed gun permits aren't exactly easy to come by in California.

"It (AB1934) takes away law-abiding citizens' rights to protect themselves...," he said.  "You never know when you're going to become a victim."

Open Carry lives by a policy initiated in May 1967 that enables gun owners to carry unconcealed and unloaded firearms in public areas with the exception of school zones, post offices, government buildings, state and national parks and other  "sterile" areas such as airports.

The group members were invited to come to the Lafayette forum with unloaded weapons on their hips, but chose not to after doing some research and finding that a local preschool, though closed at the time, was nearby.

Yih-Chau Chang, an Open Carry member whose posts to the group's Facebook page are accompanied by a photo of him in motorcycle jacket and sunglasses, matched Shahab's conservative suit and tie for his Lafayette appearance.

Chang, who serves as press secretary for Responsible Citizens of California, a non-profit Open Carry advocate, teamed up on the panel with Shahab, a Republican candidate for state Assembly, to argue against Saldana and Karen Arntzen, the California Chapter Services Coordinator for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. And that's exactly what they did — argue.

"I believe that ultimately the facts will win out," said Chang, who carries an unloaded handgun in his day-to-day life. "The social science is clear — it's irrefutable."

Arntzen called Open Carry "an Internet love affair" and compared the Open Carry policy to second-hand smoking. "Just like the second-hand smoke issue, if you feel that you're safer with a gun in your home, that's fine. But don't put our families at risk by bringing a gun out in public," she said, immediately followed by at least half a roomful of applause.

Arntzen went on to claim that Open Carry was actually a male-versus-female issue, a stance that didn't get much support from those in attendance.  "I think that women inherently recognize male dominating behavior, and this kind of behavior is male dominating behavior," she said, as chatter filtered through the audience.

No matter what your position is on the argument — gender, status, constitutional rights, or just a way to meet like-minded people on the Internet — the Open Carry discussion will be going on long after the state Senate's decision this week.