An open carry observation

[Shibadog]

I have long said that open carry is a bad idea in every direction. I've been chastised online for this view and even been kicked off a certain plastic pistol forum for my views. Sorry, still not sorry. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Among numerous other reasons, it makes you a prime target for disarm attempts. If bad guys train to disarm cops (and they do) what do you think they're going to do to a civilian if they think they need to?

This. Plus it's kind of like wearing a sign saying "Shoot Me First". 5 decades ago I was a professional firefighter in a small midwestern town. It was a quiet and peaceful place, But none of us wore uniform off duty-the thinking being that if you walk into the local stop n rob in uniform when something's going down the thug would likely shoot the uniform before he read the badge. Feel the same about open carry in public places

 

[Treeman]

Open carry is a tactical risk but a societal good. Mostly I carry concealed. Doesn't draw attention .Doesn't make me the obvious first target of a determined bad actor. However, I am pleased to see others open carrying and occasionally do so myself. Open carry dissuades bad behavior( "Don't pick a stupid fight....that guy had a gun." "Don't try to rob this place right now, those 2 guys over there are carrying." Etc.) Open carry also helps normalize the public presence of firearms. Our society got so childish and irresponsible partly because the presence of true first responders everywhere you might turn stopped being visibly obvious.

 

[biku324]

Open carry is a tactical risk but a societal good. Mostly I carry concealed. Doesn't draw attention .Doesn't make me the obvious first target of a determined bad actor. However, I am pleased to see others open carrying and occasionally do so myself. Open carry dissuades bad behavior( "Don't pick a stupid fight....that guy had a gun." "Don't try to rob this place right now, those 2 guys over there are carrying." Etc.) Open carry also helps normalize the public presence of firearms. Our society got so childish and irresponsible partly because the presence of true first responders everywhere you might turn stopped being visibly obvious.

I believe you'll get a rude awakening at some point when you find out just how little some care whether or not you have a gun. They can laugh at you with their friends; spit on you; throw drinks on you, all on video. The tough guy can walk up slowly with obviously open hands and get in your face while mocking and cursing you. Are you going to shoot them? Draw your sidearm? These folks know the rules and what YOU can't do without losing a lawsuit or going to prison.

Good luck.

 

[rockquarry]

I believe you'll get a rude awakening at some point when you find out just how little some care whether or not you have a gun. They can laugh at you with their friends; spit on you; throw drinks on you, all on video. The tough guy can walk up slowly with obviously open hands and get in your face while mocking abd cursing you. Are you going to shoot them? Draw your sidearm? These folks know the rules and what YOU can't do without losing a lawsuit or going to prison.

Good luck.

Good post.

 

[MelvinWalker]

In Florida, it's simple... We will all have to pay Personal Income Tax if open carry is ever adopted. It decays tourism, which is why we don't pay income tax. Tourists don't want to see non-LEOS carrying a hog-leg while their kids worship the Imaginary Rodent. The Leg always brings it up, and it always gets voted down. Solid planning.

I open carry every weekend here in Florida...That's because I work armed security as a side gig and open carry is required by law for armed security officers per Florida code...There are some exceptions for concealed such as PI's or PI interns, executive protection, etc.

 

[roundels]

As a retired cop, I never liked carrying exposed, unless I was on-duty and a badge was clipped-on my belt beside the weapon. Always covered it with a loose shirt, jacket etc. I see a few people carrying in the open and shake my head at it. I want to remain anonymous while armed in public. If circumstances demand I must access a weapon, I want it to be a total surprise to everyone around when I produce it.

I agree, however, if you are hunting or walking in the woods with a lot of predators present it's a good idea! Having said that, I love our freedom and our constitution, so if it's on the books in a state, "to each his own"! If would bother me more if this right was taken away!

TT

That's a different animal altogether. I've done that numerous times. I'm talking about being back in the world, where the guy who stands in front of you in store checkout is wearing a 1911 in a canted shoulder holster in light just right for you to see a chambered round pointed at your head. Happened to me.

 

[scout789]

In Florida, it's simple... We will all have to pay Personal Income Tax if open carry is ever adopted. It decays tourism, which is why we don't pay income tax. Tourists don't want to see non-LEOS carrying a hog-leg while their kids worship the Imaginary Rodent. The Leg always brings it up, and it always gets voted down. Solid planning.

Here in Texas, it was heavily debated and it took a few attempts to become law. Like others on here, I supported its passage knowing full well it was very unlikely I would ever practice open carry.
All that said, in the several years since the passage of open carry, I have seen two individuals actually open carrying. I will also point out that I live in a conservative area where the majority of people I know own firearms and many carry concealed.

 

[Brian Parrish]

We have a different culture here in NC where open carry has always been legal.
Anyway I studied all the arguments against open carry that have been repeated many times on our wonderful forum here and have not found them to hold. I would not mind either way, I just want to know the truth.
I have also looked into the arguments in favor and find some of them do not hold against reality, mostly because they fall to the equipment fallacy. I can explain but this discussion becomes so unpleasant and then the mods step in and it gets closed. Why do that again?
Loved the thread. Thanks everyone.
Kind Regards,
BrianD

 

[Smoke]

I'm talking about being back in the world, where the guy who stands in front of you in store checkout is wearing a 1911 in a canted shoulder holster in light just right for you to see a chambered round pointed at your head. Happened to me.

1. The guy must have had a spotlight pointed right at his back.

2. You would have been in the same situation if he had the gun concealed by a shirt. The only difference is you wouldn't have known it.

3. That seems like a problem that could be easily solved by taking a half a step to your right or left

 

[Smith391]

We have a different culture here in NC where open carry has always been legal.
Anyway I studied all the arguments against open carry that have been repeated many times on our wonderful forum here and have not found them to hold. I would not mind either way, I just want to know the truth.
I have also looked into the arguments in favor and find some of them do not hold against reality, mostly because they fall to the equipment fallacy. I can explain but this discussion becomes so unpleasant and then the mods step in and it gets closed. Why do that again?
Loved the thread. Thanks everyone.
Kind Regards,
BrianD

If the NC General Assembly would just get their act together (& pass the veto override for SB50), "Constitutional Carry" would become the law of the land here, making NC the 30th state to enact it ... That would also help put the open carry vs. concealed carry debate to rest in the Tarheel State.

 

[Smoke]

TL/DR it has been my direct personal experience that open carry causes far more problems than it solves. I don't care what you do but I choose not to participate.

I'm going to say the same thing I say every time this topic comes up. Both at work and not at work Open Carry has caused me far more problems than it's ever solved.

I remember very distinctly the last time I Opened Carried off the clock. I was in a park with my wife and my grandkids and maybe their mom. I was carrying a gun. It got hot. I took off my jacket and as soon as I did my grandson yelled as loudly as he could "GRAMMPA WHY ARE YOU CARRYING A GUN!!!!"

Every head within a hundred yards of us turned. I took it as a sign from the universe and I never open carried outside of work again.

At work open carry has always caused me more problems than it solved.

IDK maybe I'm That Guy but I took crap from customers about my gun. I took crap from client employees about my gun. I took crap from client supervisors about my gun.

Without being too political, the management of Colorado Springs Utilities when I was on that contract was very anti Second Amendment.

In 2003 then mayor Steve Bach signed an executive order that all employees of the City of Colorado Springs who were licensed to carry a concealed firearm could do so on the clock.

As soon as he did the CEO of Colorado Springs Utilities which is nominally a privately owned company, signed an executive order reminding CSU employees if they did not work for the City of Colorado Springs and he would fire any employee who was caught with a firearm on the clock on the spot.

Anyway,

I had one CSU employee he wasn't even involved with security but he would constantly try to get into the building without his ID card or otherwise violate security protocol and when I caught him tell me that he was just doing a "security audit".

At least a couple of times a week he would come by my desk and question me about why I felt need to carry a gun or what made me feel that I was qualified to carry a gun.

Every time he did I gave him the standard answer. The decision was made by the utilities board of directors. If you have any questions regarding this policy please direct them to the utilities board of directors.

Then there was a guy who was the general electric contractor for CSU who managed to find me every time he came on the site I was working on and yell something like "You better look out. That security guard has a gun. He might shoot somebody."

He did a million plus dollars worth of business with CSU every year I was a minimum wage plus two bucks security guard. I kept my mouth shut and found something to do on the other side of the site.

Then there were the people who felt the need to let me know that they knew that my gun wasn't real, wasn't loaded or that they were just going to beat my ass and take it. A couple tried none succeeded.

Long story short, not even out here at the Goat Ranch, do I open carry a firearm

 

[ladder13]

PSA
Your Hawaiin shirts dont fool anyone either.

 

[sw dan]

hey folks, I'm running out of pop corn

 

[Brian Parrish]

If the NC General Assembly would just get their act together (& pass the veto override for SB50), "Constitutional Carry" would become the law of the land here, making NC the 30th state to enact it ... That would also help put the open carry vs. concealed carry debate to rest in the Tarheel State.

I don't like that law as written. It is high on symbolism though.
Anyway the governor's veto of Christian School and Church carry was achieved with the help of one Black Democrat who was persecuted for his vote. Even that law was laden with an onerous burden to essentially render it moot.
NC Open Carry. No permit required ever.

 

[Shrek Of The Arctic]

Here's an Alaskan open carry hero! Making friends for the firearms community! Cocked and Locked 1911 in an Anchorage Costco. Friend sent this pic to me a couple years ago.

 

[biku324]

Here's an Alaskan open carry hero! Making friends for the firearms community! Cocked and Locked 1911 in an Anchorage Costco. Friend sent this pic to me a couple years ago.View attachment 793911

We have an old guy (and I'm 70!) who can barely open the Post Office door without assistance in our small mountain town. He can't hear much, either. He routinely carries a small nickeled revolver in a holster that looks like he made it out of a shoe.

We saw him back into a car and leave last week.

 

[Tabby Lynn]

That's a different animal altogether. I've done that numerous times. I'm talking about being back in the world, where the guy who stands in front of you in store checkout is wearing a 1911 in a canted shoulder holster in light just right for you to see a chambered round pointed at your head. Happened to me.

A chambered round, in a holster and not in a hand is benign. It won't hurt you unless you cause the person with said weapon to have to pull it. Guns don't hurt people, PEOPLE DO!!!

 

[Tabby Lynn]

Good post.

Perhaps, but what happens when one of those spitting pulls a knife or firearm?

 

[rockquarry]

Perhaps, but what happens when one of those spitting pulls a knife or firearm?

Another "what if"; something many of you folks will never run out of. You may just have to use good judgement.

 

[Tabby Lynn]

Another "what if"; something many of you folks will never run out of. You may just have to use good judgement.

There ya go!! Good judgement since one never knows what any situation will bring. Practice all you want on the range, in real life the situation will most likely never be the same as anything you practiced. Practice at 50 feet or 25 yards. If you can hit your target accurately at that range 5, 7, 10 or 20 is a piece of cake. Unfortunately, most of the handguns you carry are not all that accurate at those ranges.