Why I don't Open Carry

[Leatherman-Cowboy]

Open carry only draws attention when you are the only one doing it. In a crowd where 25% etc are open carry, it all blends and it's normal. I worked in a dealership where people would open carry, and even more concealed. I always felt happy that people would exercise their right. We all know the media is NOT on that platform.
Open-concealed....your choice---don't that feel better.

Thank you,
Henry

 

[BAM-BAM]

I got my concealed Carry permit about 35 years ago so I could keep a low profile while hiking or bumming around "Penn' Woods"......back then didn't feel the need or have the desire to carry "in town".

Concealed Carry is still the exception. I think the stats are that CC permit holders range from about zero to no more than about 7-8% of a state's population in just a handful of states.

That's "permits"; not the number that actually carry all the time or on a daily basis.

 

[Damn Yankee]

Here in Mississippi "Open Carry" means open carry. People have to get over it seeing guns on people's hip or long guns being carried.

We have a lots of pardes and social events here in the south which involves drinking and partying and at briefing before we go on patrol the staff officers tell us you CAN NOT stop someone for just walking down the street with a side arm on their hip. The laws have been passed up in Jackson allowing open carry. Some stores have signs on the door saying no firearms allowed in their store, so you don't carry.

Just like everywhere where open carry is now legal we were told that their would be blood in the streets, didn't happen. I don't run up to everyone I seeing getting in to drive a car and ask for their license.

 

[Smoke]

Given a choice, I will always carry concealed for self defense. The reason is purely tactical. If I am in a life-or-death situation, I want every possible advantage, and the element of surprise is a huge one. Yes, a visible gun may deter an attack, but it also may get you a preemptive bullet in the head before you are even aware of the danger.

Surprise is an offensive tactic not a defensive one. If you’re ever in a situation where you have to draw your weapon you’ve already lost the “element of surprise”

 

[RobzGuns]

About a year or two ago, Florida addressed the concealed carry concern.
Used to be if your shirt was blown by the wind and exposed your gun, or if you bent over to tie your shoe, you'd be in trouble with the police. The newly revised version says that an "accidental" view of your gun is no longer something you can be cited for.

TX just amended it's current carry laws to eliminate that as well.
Even before that though, if your pistol happened to 'woops', someone would simply quietly let you know that it was showing (even local LEOs) and go about their business.

Given this, if TX's local licensed carry Bill passes, going OC might not be that big of a deal at all. (We can hope).

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

If I can't see the gun it can't hurt me, right?

 

[Moe Mentum]

I prefer the stealth image, low profile and invisible method of carry. I'm the guy you wouldn't expect to be carrying, old, grey, bent over and wrinkled, but pull a knife on me, and your in for a big surprise !

 

[Pef]

I don't Open Carry because I'm too Gooood Lookin'.

Top that. I dare you.

 

[BC38]

I OC in more rural places and CC in town...

Same here. Anytime I'm out in the woods I OC - hunting, 4 wheeling, riding the quads, fishing, etc.

The only time I have exercised my right to OC in town is when I've gone to Pro-2nd Amendment rallies or when coming back home from one of the outdoor activities listed above. It's good to live in a place where it's legal to do so if I choose...

 

[tops]

I saw a guy last Sat. open carrying a black auto (probably plastic) in a cloth holster. I thought that if he had any pride at all he would keep that outfit concealed. Larry

 

[GaryS]

One of the benefits (for me) would be that I could start using OWB holsters. Which are a bit more comfortable than IWB holsters.

 

[oldylocks]

While fly fishing on an Eastern Oregon river, I open carry... in town it's all about concealment.

 

[Ogandydancer]

People get paranoid when they see a person with a gun <<<Quoted from JJEH

Which is why I don't do it. It is not to unusual to see open carry in and around places near game lands during hunting season but in the larger towns it is really unusual and like the above states paranoia rules.

 

[keith44spl]

Open carry with a carry permit is legal where I live. Aside from the risks involved with some thug seeing an opportunity I don't want to end up with an article like this in the paper. This is from a small town newspaper near my town that publishes a weekly Police Blotter . This is in a county that has a reputation for being very pro self defense. It worked out OK but I don't want the hassle.

March 14

4:42 p.m. Suspicious person. 7th Street N. A report was made regarding a male carrying a gun into a residential building. Officers found the male had a carrying license and no action was needed

I certainly applaud your decision to carry a self defense firearm...Wither you carry concealed
or otherwise, it's a good thing.

Cause a feller ought to be able to cover the ground he stands on.

If more sane people carried firearms....The insane would get off few shots!!!


.

 

[ChiefStealth]

That only happens because open carry is unusual. When we started to carry openly here in WA, the same thing happened. After a while it stopped happening.

Well... almost. Last week, I visited a business in Pierce Co. Even though I was wearing a thick sweatshirt, and carrying IWB, the proprietor somehow detected that I was carrying. He freaked! Screamed at me to leave, and he picked up his cell, presumably to call LE. I left the establishment. That was it. Some people are just reeeeeeeeealy sensitive about this carrying stuff.

 

[The Big D]

Not for me.

I see no reason for OC thus I have no interest whatsoever in doing it.

For those who suggest it mitigates unintentional display, may I offer that most of my LEO service was in DC, NYC, and Boston, and I was usually in mufti. I always carried then...on- and off-duty...and always managed to keep my gun concealed. I carried both OWB and IWB...and still do...with nary a concealment issue.

Be safe.

 

[Mainsail]

Well... almost. Last week, I visited a business in Pierce Co. Even though I was wearing a thick sweatshirt, and carrying IWB, the proprietor somehow detected that I was carrying. He freaked! Screamed at me to leave, and he picked up his cell, presumably to call LE. I left the establishment. That was it. Some people are just reeeeeeeeealy sensitive about this carrying stuff.

Wow, very unusual!

I walked into Jared jewelery on 38th once open carry- son needed a size check for a class ring. I totally missed the HUGE sign on the door that prohibits carry (of any kind) in their store. The armed guard was indifferent, just told us we had to leave the gun in the car to shop. We went down towards the mall to another jeweler who had no problem with it.

Jared has lost a lot of business from me.

Anyway, I was speaking to police 'hassle' mentioned in the OP. The police will only hassle you as much as you allow them to. It's difficult to contend that one doesn't want a hassle if that hassle is completely voluntary.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Criminals are attracted to armed citizens? To the contrary, criminals fear armed citizens.

There's plenty of information out there. Start with Googling James Wright and Peter Rossi.

There's been a lot of OC demonstrations in Texas the last year or two. Have any of them been victims of rape and robbery during their demonstrations or afterward walking back to their cars in Target parking lots and elsewhere that thugs like to prey on innocent people?

 

[keith44spl]

March 14

4:42 p.m. Suspicious person. 7th Street N. A report was made regarding a male carrying a gun into a residential building. Officers found the male had a carrying license and no action was needed

One of our dispatchers related this to me one time;

Caller; There was a man carrying a gun here at the 7-11!!!
Dispatch; What's the man doing with the gun?

Caller; He's got it in a holster on his belt!
Dispatch; Is the man flourishing the gun, waving it around?

Caller; No, he came in and bought a bottle of Pepto-Bismol and got in his truck and drove away!
Dispatch; So, the man didn't try to rob the store or threaten anyone?

Caller; No, he just paid for the Pepto-Bismol and left....
Dispatch; Madam, you do know this is a 911 line and for emergences'.......

.

Commonsense comes at a premium now'n'days it seems.



.

 

[Mainsail]

Commonsense comes at a premium now'n'days it seems. .

Listening to my scanner one afternoon and heard (with my own ears) something similar in Tacoma. They dispatched two officers for a man-with-a-gun call. First arrives on scene, radios in that it's just open carry, and cancels the other car. He determined that from merely driving past.

At one time you could expect the full shake-down and a free handcuff fitting for open carry. The law never forbid open carry, so what changed if the law didn't? We carried openly! We made the police departments and the general public aware that a holstered gun wasn't illegal and wasn't a threat. Some departments had to be threatened with lawsuits, and some paid settlements for doing what they knew they shouldn't be doing (hassling OCers). Now we have very few, if any, law enforcement stops for open carry or inadvertent exposure of concealed carry.

So if you're against open carry because you don't want a "hassle" with the police, carry openly enough to affect change. The change will benefit your concealed carry too.