From TPM Reader ZC ...

It's a truism that people in the west are accustomed to seeing firearms carried around. Having spent all of my life in the west and the majority in rural Arizona, I can say that yes, it's a common site to see trucks and ATVs with gun racks. However, the fact that most of the people I knew growing up owned and used hunting rifles is a very different thing to walking around the downtown area of a major city carrying a sidearm or an assault rifle. An AR-15 is a symbol, for gun advocates as well as opponents. I remember during the 2006 election there were people in Tucson hanging out at polling places in hispanic communities carrying visible sidearms and asking voters about their immigration status. Make no mistake, this isn't about "gun culture" or being comfortable with firearms. This is about intimidation - visibly carrying a firearm - especially one designed specifically for killing human beings is a not-at-all veiled threat, and is meant to silence opposition. Yes, Arizona's outdated laws technically allow them to do it, but laws on the books also prohibit unmarried couples from cohabiting and define a group of women living together as a brothel.

It's important point. There's a big difference between gun enthusiasts who use them for hunting, target practice or just self-defense and these kooks who think it's a good idea to show up at political rallies or protests with firearms.

We're getting a lot of follow up messages like this one from TPM Reader DS ...

Have to agree with ZC. I spent the first 35 years in Oklahoma and the last ten in Montana and I have *NEVER* seen anyone walking down the street in town with either a handgun or a rifle prominently displayed on their person (in gun racks in trucks, yes) and I am 57. When I was in college in Oklahoma, it was legal in most places to carry a handgun in the city as long as it was not concealed. This is entirely about intent to intimidate the opposition.