Quote:
Originally Posted by Husqvarna
No it doesn't creep me out. In Britain they videotape everything and it hasn't turned into a evil dictatorship. The EU has tamed both Fritz and Ivan I reckon
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Some would say (me included) that 100 cameras on every street IS evil.
The bigger issue: it hasn't turned into a dictatorship YET. What if tomorrow the British government very tightly but very slowly started cracking down on liberties? Slow enough to avoid international attention. Under a pretense of democracy. In ten years it could be a quasi dictatorship, and if people are conditioned to accept government intrusion without objecting, there wouldn't even be a fight. In hundreds of small ways this is already happening. People in England have much fewer rights (to guns, to their money, to privacy) than their grandfathers.
A well-behaved, well intentioned open carrier should not have to show ID to exercise a right. Innocent until proven guilty.
That said, I think the open carriers who seek out police confrontations are complete *expletive deleted* that hurt the gun rights cause far more than they help it.
Edit:
Reading up a bit, I see you've mentioned fireworks and driving as analogous. Your issue might be with understanding how powerful Constitutional rights are. They are afforded far stricter protection than ordinary laws or rights passed by Congress. Fireworks and cars aren't in our founding document. Speech, security from search and seizure, and guns are.