With that caveat here is my thought process on the topic.

My model is interracial couples from 50 years ago. It inflamed race relations in the deep south. It desensitized people in the north. By increasing the exposure in accepted areas of the country it became less inflammatory in the bigoted areas.

I believe we have places in this country where OC is no big deal. Increase the exposure there and expand into neighboring areas.

If OC is legal (true in most places) and there are no higher priority issues (somewhat rare) then by all means OC (without being a dick) and let the bigots whine.

If there are higher priority issues then do the focus group thing and see if OC is going to help or hurt your issue.

Play smart and don’t try to brute force it in all circumstances.

Remember the definition of insanity?

…i.e. make fun of the “Wild West” stereotype?

Actually that issue is sort of addressed in a history paper Clayton Cramer wrote which I linked to in my post. But I’m sure it will be lost in the noise of the other 85 (if I counted correctly) links.

Back when OC was completely normal people were of the opinion that only people with criminal intent would carry concealed.

“And if you can tell 100% who’s an honest person and who’s up to no good then you’re golden, aren’t you?”

That aint hard to do. How ofton do you see crooks openly carrying?

Sort of. I enumerated what I think are the conditions and actions that will at least minimize harm.

See also the comment I left at SIH for something that little more directly addresses your concern.

I think it also depends on what the immediate goal is. If the most pressing gun rights goal is preventing or over turning an “assault weapon” ban then OC probably is counter productive in that context. If the current goal is some sort of shall issue concealed carry then OC probably helps (see Wisconsin). If the goal is public acceptance of OC and it’s just a matter of getting the police to stop harassing people that OC then properly structured OC is probably productive.

My main point is that OC is viewed differently by non-gun people and that using it as a means to an end may be counter productive. It’s been great for the people of Virgina but it may backfire in other locations. Let’s play the game smart and adapt to the conditions rather than assume the same brute force (so to speak) solution will work in every case.

*empty holsters
*carrying of cardboard pictures of guns in holsters
*”accidental” OC (wearing a sweatshirt that tends to ride up when CC’ing)
*taking people to gun shows/shops/ranges where the staff (and often patrons) are OC’ing
*letting it be known you have a CC permit (be subtle)

That’s five off the top of my head. Surely at least one of them has merit?

I’ve not been seeing it. I admit I might not have looked in the right places, though whenever I read the folks talking down open carry, I just don’t see positive suggestions.

I can’t read the linked post due to the firewall at work though, so who knows, maybe Joe is offering suggestions.

And if you can tell 100% who’s an honest person and who’s up to no good then you’re golden, aren’t you?

I just ask how we change that without actively Openly Carrying to counter that perception.

As for me, if I was house hunting finding out that one of the neighbors is a LEO is what would cause me to lose interest.