Wall Street Journal editorial board member Nancy deWolf Smith wrote an opinion editorial for today's issue, discussing the problems inherent in the open carry movement. One of her stronger points is that:

Most of the time, citizens who carry weapons in public places are doing it for protection, and that means concealment. They don't want their handgun easily grabbed by some idiot in a checkout line, and they don't want a potential aggressor to know what they have on them or where it is.

I think in most cases we can rely on people's sense of etiquette to govern when and where they carry openly. I'm glad the right is protected in Virginia, but I'm also glad that most people decline to exercise it when in populated areas.

[Have Gun, Must Flaunt It? - Wall Street Journal]