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Did you see the video of the interaction? He said something along the lines of "I want you to be able to defend yourself", then a student asks "Do you mean by carrying a gun?" and he says, "Yes, I'm carrying right now." If you did watch that video and came away saying it must have been a threat, you're not have a good faith discussion.
I still don't see a reason for it. What he said should be enough, rather than flashing his gun. Also, since it's supposedly for defence, what is he doing flashing it at them. That's somewhat implying 'I'm going to "defend" myself.' The most generous interpretation is he flashed his firearm to make a point, which is still wrong.
The argument is likely not made in good faith to start with. Statistically a firearm doesn't protect you. Frequently it just gets you killed instead, especially if you're flashing it and making yourself a target and threat (there's that word again). It almost certainly was a veiled threat (likely fake, but to make them feel uncomfortable), although it can be more than one thing at once.
It's also likely an appeal to his base, because it's seen as a virtue to carry, and also likely to confront and threaten those in favor of any form of gun control. It's an implicit endorsement to his constituents to do the same thing.
I'm entirely failing to see the "wrong" in demonstrating that he himself carries a weapon when asked about carrying a weapon. There are no doubt plenty of reasons to dislike this guy, but this example is little more than people like you trying really, really hard to make something out of nothing.
And you probably never will.
Do you know the trope of a mob boss placing his gun on his desk? What's wrong with that? It's definitely not a threat, right? (sarcasm)
If he's CC he should want it concealed I would assume. What's the point of flashing it? It's to show the people (who he doesn't like and disagrees with, as well as those other people who hear about his actions later) what he's got. Why? What does it do to further his argument? What does he gain? Consider the reasons why someone would choose to unconceal their firearm. It shouldn't be a fashion piece to just show off.
For any number of reasons, the most obvious and likely of which is that he was simply emphasizing his point about carrying a weapon for self-defense. The least likely and most ridiculous reason, the one you seem stuck on, is that he was threatening a group of kids.
Why don't you spend some time applying some of that critical thinking to why he would threaten a group of kids?