The last thing I want to see when I go to a park, restaurant, bar or Starbucks is a gun.

Open carry laws make it perfectly legal to bring an unloaded firearm into a public place. Recently, gun advocacy groups have been trumpeting their right, and encouraging gun owners to bring their deadly weapons out onto the street. This needs to stop.

Open carrying a lethal firearm not only causes undue fear and promotes the world's most dangerous gun culture, it distracts police from doing their jobs. Instead of protecting society, cops are inspecting guns to make sure they are unloaded. Our police force cannot afford to be confused and concerned by a militia of gun carriers.

Only seven states and the District of Columbia have banned open carry--Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Illinois, South Carolina, New York, Florida. And even these states may soon allow guns to be openly carried in public. Gun advocacy groups like opencarry.org are trying to get open carry legalized again in these states. If you are from these states you can alter the text of the petition to tell your state officials to keep the ban on open carry.

For all of those living in states permitting open carry, it is time to tell your state legislatures to get guns off the streets.

Photo Credit: JoshuaShearn