Well, absent any other data — the sound of a hornet, for example, or someone saying “you’ve got something on your chin,” I admit I’d have trouble assuming good intent when someone swings a fist near my face. Etiquette generally works as a good double yellow line. And I know some guys whose reflexes would take over before they could stop to think about intent. I almost got my head taken off waking up a buddy of mine one time, and this is a guy I know well.

But, once more out of the rathole I’m digging with the fist/face stuff.

I have no problem with a guy whose shoulder holster comes into view when he takes his jacket off. Is he a cop? An enthusiast? A bodyguard? A hobbyist? I have to admit that “wacko” or “criminal” wouldn’t even enter my mind in your scenario. His demeanor would tell me a lot. I have friends who carry. I don’t happen to.

This article is specifically about people who use “liberty” in, well, the way I describe. People who don’t think we should cooperate.

I mean, really, man, if we met, would you go around swinging your fist near my face just to prove a point? I don’t think you would. I think you understand that while technically you haven’t infringed on my freedom by swinging your fist in airspace I wasn’t using, that cooperation includes comfort — such as my comfort that there aren’t fists in places I wasn’t expecting.

I don’t actually think our opinions are that far apart from each other.