Sidearms aren’t just for police officers or cowboys. More and more people are openly carrying firearms in public.

More on that in a moment on the Face The State Radio Minute.

Six-shooters at Starbucks? Glocks in the grocery store? It’s legal to carry a concealed weapon in public if you have a permit to do so, but there’s no prohibition against anyone carrying a handgun on your hip. And I’m here to say that’s a very good thing.

Increasing numbers of civic-minded people are choosing to openly carry in an effort to educate fellow citizens. Research tells us that guns used in self-defense many times never need to be fired. Likewise, a firearm never needs to leave its holster to be a tool of education. Police officers aren’t the only ones entitled to carry.

Just like your body’s muscles, if we don’t exercise our rights, we’ll lose them. The sight of a sidearm should be as common as a Blackberry. That would go a long way toward breaking down the stigma engendered by an anti-gun activists hell-bent on demonizing gun owners.

For FaceTheState.com, I’m Brad Jones.