An open carry observation

[rgmc2009]

Your statement shows a true lack of understanding of the current criminal activity in too many areas. When a group of teen agers will beat a man to death in a city park in the middle of the day and most crime is committed in groups, to think that you're not making yourself a target for someone who wants a firearm or just would like to deprive you of yours.

Statistically a police office is several times more likely to be shot or killed in an active shooter incident than a someone carrying concealed, Why, because a uniformed police office is perceived as the biggest threat which makes them a bigger target.

In such a situation I don't want anyone to know I'm carrying until I'm ready for them to know. To think you are going to intimidate someone from not targeting you because they "see" you carrying is like a kid playing cowboy. There is a reason the military uses stealth rather than marching out in huge numbers in bright red uniforms like they did 250 years ago.

Personally I don't want to get ganged up on by surprise or knocked in the back of the head (I'm sure you think you have eyes in the back of your head but at 60 I know I don't) by someone who just wants to gain a firearm. For many in the criminal community it's worth it's weight in gold.

Totally agree! Open carry is like having firearms related stickers plastered on your car. Both make you a target of criminal actions except the "Glock" sticker on your car will only get it broken into when you're not present...open carry can get you knocked in the back of the head and your firearm stolen with a high degree of likelihood it will be used against you. The key is NOT to be a target!

 

[Brian Parrish]

Totally agree! Open carry is like having firearms related stickers plastered on your car. Both make you a target of criminal actions except the "Glock" sticker on your car will only get it broken into when you're not present...open carry can get you knocked in the back of the head and your firearm stolen with a high degree of likelihood it will be used against you. The key is NOT to be a target!

Having a car makes you a target. We call it carjacking.
You do recognize that this argument is not convincing people?
There seems to be an effort to make our forum here hostile to open-carry advocates. If your comparison is valid should we also make people with those stickers just as unwelcome?
Kind Regards!
BrianD

 

[rockquarry]

I'm going to go home and put on an Aloha just to piss you off

Having a car makes you a target. We call it carjacking.
You do recognize that this argument is not convincing people?
There seems to be an effort to make our forum here hostile to open-carry advocates. If your comparison is valid should we also make people with those stickers just as unwelcome?
Kind Regards!
BrianD

I see no effort to make the forum hostile toward open carry disciples. I do see an effort, but not a hostile one, to speak out against those who use poor judgement and have an incessant need to draw attention to themselves. There are only so many ways of saying this. Other valid points have already been mentioned in other posts. Seems a waste of time to continue with this. Hard heads won't be swayed in the right direction.

 

[rgmc2009]

Having a car makes you a target. We call it carjacking.
You do recognize that this argument is not convincing people?
There seems to be an effort to make our forum here hostile to open-carry advocates. If your comparison is valid should we also make people with those stickers just as unwelcome?
Kind Regards!
BrianD

Point well taken regarding having a car making one a target which is one of the many reasons I carry.

My post was in no way intended to be hostile nor in any way an attempt to convince anyone one way or another. It's strictly my personal opinion. To open carry or conceal carry is an individual choice and I choose to carry concealed. The same applies to firearms related stickers on vehicles.

I have always assumed the core purpose of a forum was to foster the open, honest exchange of observations and opinions along with sharing knowledge, ideas and experiences. This was the intent of my post.

 

[Doriangray6]

Many years ago after a hunting trip on a blizzard day my stepson and I stopped for a bite to eat in Douglas Wyoming. My son was 14 but 6 foot 3. He wanted to carry while hunting and I allowed him to carry my model 19 from my local police officer days.

We walked into the cafe and not thinking he had the model 19 on his hip. we say down and two state troopers were in the table next to us. My son in a panic stated that he had the gun still on, both troopers looked. I told him to take it out to the jeep and put it under the seat. Both troopers smiled and nodded their approval.

It is Wyoming, who cares?

Hunting in Colorado for decades same deal. Except elk season sees half of Texas, and many show up in their finest gun gear, armed not for elk, but maybe zombies. So, the local cafe I frequented for decades, only 15 miles from camp, but up a sign, "gentlemen do not wear their hats or guns indoors".

That said, we still had lots of elk hunters with shoulder rigs showing of their biggest 44s and such. When you have 40 hunters in a room eating burgers and fries, i am not sure everyone needs an open carry 44. It is not too much to leave them outside. That said, I cherish the right to do so, and in that I do not condemn anyone for open carry, I just do not consider it smart in most urban areas.


Reaction time is what often wins gun battles, the 1/ 2 second extra time you have concealed gives you time to get off 2 or more shots before that reaction time is gone. On the other hand math and physics works both ways. If the other guy starts first, and he sees you are armed, he can shoot you 2 or more times before that reaction time gets away. Just saying, sometimes it is better to shoot the other guy twice before he shoots you twice, that's all I am saying..


And if I am in a place where some gun battle is going to occur, I always want a decoy in there, someone else doing open carry, so when they start shooting, maybe they will run out of ammo before they see me going out the back.....

As you mentioned reaction time can be a deciding factor and in my case, due to the arthritis in my hands, it's quicker and easier for me to react and access a handgun on my side rather than from a concealed carry position.
But just as with many other firearm related matters there is no "one size fits all" answer to carrying concealed or openly so all a person can do is decide on what works best for them and practice, practice, practice.

 

[Smoke]

Gentlemen do not wear their hats or guns indoors".

Their house, their rules but it's kind of a dumb way to put it.

I walked into a CSU facility with my supervisor one morning and he got on me about wearing my (uniform) hat indoors.

I reminded him that I was under arms and he dropped it.

 

[ladder13]

Having a car makes you a target. We call it carjacking.
You do recognize that this argument is not convincing people?
There seems to be an effort to make our forum here hostile to open-carry advocates. If your comparison is valid should we also make people with those stickers just as unwelcome?
Kind Regards!
BrianD

I am not hostile OC at all. Seen it here in this state. Never reared back in horror or made a comment either way. I see a lot of control freaks posting in every thread on OC.
They can't budge the needle at all.

 

[RebCop]

Nope.

This guy has never seen the video of the young man that had his gun taken and used to kill him.

 

[biku324]

If you've been a cop, you know the numbers - about 4%-5% of police officers shot to death are shot with their issued sidearm. Another 8% or more are disarmed and killed. That's less than half the numbers of 30 years ago. https://ucr.fbi.gov/leoka/2018/tables/table-19.xls

Police agencies spend enormous amounts of effort and money training officers in weapon retention and in purchasing/issuing high security holsters. Agencies analyze every shooting eith the goal of preventing recurrence.

How about Joe Average open carriers?

NMSP Officers David Coker and Sherman Toler, RIP.