meanwhile aren't there a bunch of states now authorizing open carry. seems we have zero traction on anything so far.
Of course we know why certain people and government agents oppose bearing arms, especially without government permission, as they have 223 years of evidence from Vermont of the rampant "gun crime", bloodbath in the streets, killings over fender benders, "accidental" discharges in public, etc. The only problem is that Vermont has one of the lowest overall crime rates in the United States, including homicides (lower than Hawaii). The (bearing) arms rights deniers have no evidence, but in some states and regions (Ninth Circuit) they do have political/judicial power to infringe our rights. And they do precisely that. Because they can. Meanwhile, in most of the rest of the United States:
Constitutional Carry States as of March 10, 2016
Vermont: July 9, 1793 (Affirmed in State v. Rosenthal - 1903)
Alaska: September 9, 2003
Arizona: July 29, 2010
Wyoming: July 1, 2011 (Legal Wyoming Residents Only!)
Arkansas: August 16, 2013
Kansas: July 1, 2015
Maine: October 15, 2015
West Virginia: May 24, 2016 (Legislative override of governor's veto on March 5, 2016)
Constitutional Carry Bill Statuses 2016
Dead
-Virginia
-Utah
-Colorado
Pending
-Michigan
-Tennesse
-New Hampshire
-Mississippi
-Idaho
-Indiana
-Missouri
-Kentucky
-Louisiana (constitutional amendment and legislative bill)
-Pennsylvania
Hybrid
-South Carolina [permitless concealed carry]
Passed [2016]
-West Virginia
Not that it necessarily means anything, but just compare the Hawaii state motto to that of West Virginia, which is "Montani Semper Liberi" (mountaineers (are) always free). Just sayin'...