Plenty of you will hate my position on this when I say: we brought this on ourselves. Open carrying shotguns and AR's serves no benefit to our open carry cause. It is a shock factor that will cause more people to move against us. People who didn't care one way or another are against open carry, now that they see it applies to long guns as well.
This is a point I've been making for quite a while, and people just say "it's our right." Sure, it IS our right, but it's not necessary to make our point. Open carrying a pistol is largely invisible to public. It says, "I'm just like you." Yet open carrying an AR says, "I'm ready for war." You guys can pick this apart, but this is what the public sees.
In this case, it's what Starbucks sees. While CSGV, MAIG, and MDA, were fighting Starbucks on their policy to follow local law, all we had to do was sit back and shutup. For years Starbucks stuck to their policy, or lack there of in ths case. The only thing that changed between then and now is a bunch of people showing up for Starbucks appreciation day. I was first upset that the left couldn't leave Starbucks alone, they had to politicize everything. When the gun-rights crowd decided to get in on the action and force Starbucks to make a decision, we all lost.
This is what the left does. They hound on a subject until they're blue in the face, the. They do it some more. They make us our own worst enemies through division, indecision, and "optics." The left tends to grab the people on the fence because they pretend to be more inviting.
We can expect to see a big push to stop open carry very soon. I can assure you that open carrying a rifle to church in Easter will not help us.
Basic Gun Safety by Jeff Cooper:
1) All guns are always loaded
2) Never let the muzzle cover anything you aren't willing to destroy
3) Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target
4) Be sure of your target and what is beyond it