Arthur Frommer has recently boycotted AZ tourism because of their liberal gun laws. This is in response to the cadre of armed people who showed up at a public civic function in Tempe for the president of the united states, some with assault rifles. The OP is from Tempe.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...12156827&ft=1&
I'm from Tucson AZ originally, and grew up seeing people carry in the supermarket, on the streets, in stores, and outside school... I also grew up hunting elk in the mountains. My grandfather was a deputy when he was a younger man, and I still have his police model S&W .38 in storage in AZ.
Now I live in the UK, where guns are more or less illegal. Most police officers here don't have them. If you're interested in the effect that has on the safety of society, please look into the rates of gun crime and murder from guns and compare it to the US numbers. Suffice to say that when I lived in the nation's capitol, Washington DC, many more people were murdered in one month alone from handguns than in the entire united kingdom in a whole year. Gun crime in the UK is so low, that in order to feel as tough as the yanks they boost their numbers by including crimes committed using
BB guns.
Im not anti-gun, but if you choose to carry, please understand that this choice serves to create a certain environment for all around you. You may feel safer, but everyone nearby will feel less so. Simply put: I do not fully trust
anyone who has a gun, because they could murder me so capriciously. If you're a bike tourer with a gun, I will not get to know you, I will not talk to you, and I will fear you. If you have no gun, I'll probably ask you over to the campsite to share a meal, a smoke or a whiskey.
Depends on what sort of experience you want to have I guess.