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I've spent a few years in this forum discussing ways of carrying firearms. I've read the term, "Mexican Carry," which means a person carrying a handgun in their waist, near the front, without a holster. I never thought anything of it.
Last night I was at a dinner party and somehow Plaxico Burress came up. Somebody told the basic story and added that he was carrying without a holster. I said, "Yeah, that's called Mexican carry." Well, across from me is a woman who I know grew up in Mexico.
I'd never actually spoken the phrase, but when I did I was really struck by how it must have sounded to her. I turned to the woman and innocently asked, "Do you think that phrase is racist?" We discussed it for a bit and agreed that it sure sounded racist.
I read this quote once:
I don't know that I buy it, though. It sounds racist and so respectful firearms owners should consider another term.
What do y'all think?
Last night I was at a dinner party and somehow Plaxico Burress came up. Somebody told the basic story and added that he was carrying without a holster. I said, "Yeah, that's called Mexican carry." Well, across from me is a woman who I know grew up in Mexico.
I'd never actually spoken the phrase, but when I did I was really struck by how it must have sounded to her. I turned to the woman and innocently asked, "Do you think that phrase is racist?" We discussed it for a bit and agreed that it sure sounded racist.
I read this quote once:
Massad Ayoob says:
The [Mexican Carry] term is not perjorative. It arose long ago among gun people. In homage to proud Mexican men of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Beset by trants who stripped them of liberties, including the right to carry guns if they were not part of the political elite, these defiant citizens.... needed to be able to ditch the gun to be retrieved later if they were about to have contact with Federales, and since a holster could not be so quickly ditched and would be prima facie evidence of resistance to tyrants' law, the holster was dispensed with.
- The Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry
I don't know that I buy it, though. It sounds racist and so respectful firearms owners should consider another term.
What do y'all think?