Open carry advocates display their cause

TAMPA - Imagine a place where everyone walks around wearing a side-arm. It's not the old west, it's modern day America, if one group gets its way.

They believe it's their constitutional right to openly carry a gun. They're bucking the system all across the nation -- a system they say robs them of their 2nd amendment, constitutional right to openly carry a gun, like Raul DeJesus does.

DeJesus says they might not agree with it, but the law is on his side.

"And these are the statutes. If I get stopped by a police officer, I can show him this," he says.

By Florida statute, you're allowed to carry a loaded gun while you're legally engaged in, or going to or from, certain outdoor activities.

"So am I right to assume that the only way you're legally carrying your open weapon is that you're fishing?" we asked him.

"Correct. Fishing, hunting or camping, in the state of Florida," he responds.

Is it a loophole?

"Some people call it a loophole. We call it the law," he says.

A very restrictive law, according to DeJesus, that flies in the face of the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of the right to bear arms.

Now, open carry advocates meet up, here and across the country. Staging get-togethers carrying their guns, hoping people will notice, so they can push their cause.

DeJesus says, a concealed weapons permit amounts to a tax on his freedoms, and says that openly carrying a gun is a better deterrent for criminals.

"They'll notice that, that weapon on your side, and they'll think twice before they do anything."

And the time is right, he says, for people to reclaim their rights.

"I think everybody should be able to open carry," he said.

The open carry movement has grown from grass-roots to a full-on lobbying group. Right now, 43 states have some form of law allowing gun owners to openly carry their fire arms.