There’s all sorts of laws about carrying concealed weapons, but what about openly carrying a fire arm?

POST FALLS—A teenager in Post Falls is exercising his right to bare arms to the letter, which is catching the attention of the town and the local police.

Zach Doty turned 18 in early April. Since then, he has been stopped more than twice for carrying a gun out in the open.

“I was wearing a suit and tie at the time,” Doty says about the first time he was stopped, “on my way to bible study.”

The Dotys have about 10 guns in their home ranging from hunting rifles, shot guns to the 9mm glock pistol that Zach carries on his hip. He doesn’t expect crime, but wants to be prepared.

zach doty: “I also believe that it’s very essential to open carry,” he says, “not just for self-defense from criminals but to protect liberty from tyranny.”

Zach’s father supports his son completely.

“The law does give the boys the right to carry arms and we can support that,” Jude Doty says, “and we wish more people would do that. It would probably reduce things that happened in Virginia Tech last month.”

[...]

Idaho code allows people 18 and older to openly carry a firearm in public. Those aged 13-17, with parental permission, are allowed to carry a rifle.

A local police lieutenant had some interesting comments on the situation:

In a city of 20,000, violent crime isn’t exactly commonplace.

“Our crime rate for crimes against persons, major crimes, is very low in the community,” says Post Falls Lt. Scott Haug. . . .

“What if the person tripped and the gun went off?” Lt. Haug says. “What if someone took it away from them and misused it? Those are the concerns some people have. And the other side feels it’s a deterrent, and they’ll look at cases like Virginia Tech, and say had people at Virginia Tech been armed, maybe things would have changed a little bit.”

The concerns about accidental shootings, and someone stealing the gun, are rather silly I think.  We’re all allowed to own cars, after all, so what happens if we accidentally crash into someone else and hit them?  What happens if someone steals our car and uses it to rob a bank or run someone over?

Those are things that can happen, but they’re risks we accept for the convenience of having cars available to us.  Are these same risks not acceptable when it comes to carrying a gun for personal protection and as a crime deterrent?

I think they are.

Update by The Whistler

The police lieutenant said that [people are afraid] because there was a chance for the gun to go off if this person tripped.  That makes me wonder if he’s [these same fearful people are] in favor of taking the guns away from his police department because the police can trip too?  (Not to mention have their guns taken away from them.)