I will admit, if I lived down in some of the areas of the country you guys live in I too might be concerned. But you have to realize up here we are in a whole differant world. Most people go armed all the time when away from the cities. But some of us still go armed even down town. Yes we wear shoulder holsters, hip holsters, jackets with big pockets, anything to hold our firearm. Many of us are not really concerned with keeping it hid, just keeping it comfortable.
There are hugh Brown Bears living in down town Anchorage, our largest city. Anchorage has many Green Belts running through the city. These green belts follow streams that run from the mountains to Cook Inlet. These streams have Salmon runs going upstream to spawn. At night when people are not around the Brown Bears come out to feed on the fish. Then in early morning the Bears go into hiding. During the day people walk, ride bikes, or fish, within a few yards to a few feet of these bears and never know it. A few times a year some Bears for one reason or another decides not to keep a low profile. They have runins with people and that is a bad thing for the people and for the bears. It's a bad thing when a Brown Bear runs down a bicyclist of jogger and eats them right there in the city. At this point the offending Bear is hunted down and killed. Sometimes a few others are taken out in the process, but these few bears don't make a dent in the overall Brown Bear population in down town Anchorage.
Here in my yard while I occasionally do have a Grizzly back there, I am more concerned with Mama Moose. When they drop their calves they get rather aggressive. A couple of years ago I had a Moose Cow chase me down the power line cut behind my house. I was on my motorcycle (dirt bike) and was able to get away. I notified the neighbors, and put a notice up at the entrance of our subdivision. A few days later the little girl living three houses down the street was chased by the same Cow Moose after getting off the school bus. She had the smarts not to try and get to the house, she dove under her Mom's car. The bus driver called the Troopers. At first the Troopers refused to come, but the bus dispatcher finally convenced them they were really needed. When the responding Trooper arrived he got out of his car and started walking towards the house. Meantime the little girl is still hiding under the car. Half way to the house the Cow charged from behind the willows beside the drive. Trooper pulled his Glock and emptied it point blank into the Cow, as she charged. She hit him and knocked him down as she fell, dead.
So you can understand why we don't get upset or think anything about it when we see someone walking down the street carrying a gun in their hands.
