Is Open Carry the new White Sheet.

I'm not a fan of Open Carry. I'm no fan of concealed carry or Stand Your Ground laws.

If someone feels the need to carry a gun for self protection, Fine. Let them and their actions stand an objective test and not be enabled by NRA like lobbyists.

So, I feel no surprise when the KKK in Virginia, home to former slave owner and Confederate General, Robert E. Lee, plans a public display of weapons in 'peaceful protests.'

The KKK and Peace Protests. I have never attended a KKK rally, complete with a Fiery Cross, White Hoods, Confederate symbols, and a Grand Dragon. Those events might have been urban legends but I don't think so. I'm sure those were held, sometimes in public places, with more than a little fiery violence. For all I know, they also rallied in public parks to stage lynching and fried chicken eating contests.

Now, I know where to go for a peaceful KKK rally and protest, if protest is the right word for intimidation.

Charlotteville, Virginia.

Here's a noble quote from one of the Knights, “It’s an open-carry state, so our members will be armed,” said James Moore, a member of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan."

So what purpose to this peaceful rally if not to intimidate or incite violence? Well, let's ask.

“The liberals are taking away our heritage,” Moore said. “By taking these monuments away, that’s what they’re working on. They’re trying to erase the white culture right out of the history books.”

Or, maybe I should restate the press release type of boilerplate message. "The KKK is protesting the Charlottesville City Council’s decision this year to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a public park and rename that park."

So which should we believe? Peaceful protest or the new version of Lynching on the Square.

Tomorrow's news? Open Carry is the New White Sheet.

Is it time for a walk down Green Street with an AK47?

Ever get strange ideas? Of course you do. Bet you don't share them. Most of the time.

I drove past a McDonald's and I thought, 'We are what we eat.'

Then, my brain stretched that out to, 'We are what we eat and who we meet.'

A conjoined sentence which needs some clarity.

If the food which we eat determines how our body, like if we eat bacon we get pig fat, then does our human interactions determine our mental health in a same way.

Do you spend all day working in a retail store full of idiots speaking slang terms, asking half formed questions, and looking for custom fabrications?

Might make you rude, eh?

What if you never see a mass shooting? Never hear the dying screams of children? Never clean clotted blood with a garden hose?

Might make you indifferent to violence, eh?

So what IF ... I buy an assault rifle, a good pistol, and get a conceal carry permit? Then, show up at the Gainesville Christmas Parade openly packing iron?

I'd be just exercising my basic right to be confrontational, right? Sort of like Free Speech with a side order of terrorism?

I'm so thinking ... I love a parade.

Let's have some real conversations about guns, violence, and what's best for our communities

I've heard a lot about the community forum on racial profiling.

So, let's chat. Hypothetical, of course.

So some white guy walks through a black neighborhood with his backpack. No one flinches. He stops and ask directions. People are helpful.

He enters a Methodist church by a side door during a public meeting. There are no seats in front. The meeting is in process. He's asked to move to the back. Okay so far.

He speaks to a couple people in the back, moves further into the room.

The backpack gets heavy and he shifts his position. He studies the people in the room and the panel. It's damn boring. Most of the panel isn't watching the room. Some one is speaking from the podium. Only the audience seems to listen.

The backpack gets heavier and the guy shifts again.

Three people on the podium have looked at him. A tall man, maybe the preacher of the church, is moving towards the back.

The preacher speaks to a few people. Someone, an elderly man, asks the guy if he wants a seat. The guy replies, 'Thank you. I'm fine. Thanks.'

The preacher is standing next to the guy so the guy puts the backpack down. Slowly. Carefully. Very carefully.

He speaks to the preacher, 'Can we talk over here?'

The preacher and the guy go in another room. The guy says, 'I don't think I fit in here.'

"No. Come with me.'

They start towards the front of the room, the minister says, 'Bring your bag.'

There's only one seat up front, next to the chief of police, a very friendly guy. Very friendly. As in, Hey. How are you doing. Good to see ya here.'

The guy sits quietly, hoping things will be fine. He's asked to stand up. He does. He's asked to repeat what he said in the other room. He does.

Now, no body asks him for ID. No one follows him as he leaves. No one inspects his backpack.

So what was in the backpack?

Cool-Aid. Red Cool-Aid. It doesn't matter. The Chief of Police didn't open it.

Now what if the guy had carried a loaded AK47 into the room as allowed by Georgia law?

What if the guy had a professional quality camcorder on his left shoulder like the shooter in Virginia?

More importantly, what if the conversation on guns and violence intensifies and deepens?

Change for the better in the community and more safety for the individual?

Or should our greatest national debate tomorrow be exactly what it was yesterday, 'Donald Trump's hair ... It's real!'