Well at least where I have lived on the East Coast
Open carried yesterday with observations
- Thread starter Ogandydancer
- Start date
- Status
Well at least where I have lived on the East Coast
pmosley
Member
In 1989, when cell phones were still very expensive and most often viewed as a status symbol, my company installed one in the sedan that I drove for business.
I remember feeling very self conscious about being seen in public with this uncommon tool and attempted at all times to be discreet in it's use to minimize the perception of others that I might be acting pretentious and flashy.
I suppose that I feel the same way about open carry.
I remember feeling very self conscious about being seen in public with this uncommon tool and attempted at all times to be discreet in it's use to minimize the perception of others that I might be acting pretentious and flashy.
I suppose that I feel the same way about open carry.
My first time.
Currently reside in a small Southwest desert community where open carry is the more prevalent rule "du jour". Going openly "heeled" will barely get you noticed and a law abiding citizen can carry anything he wants, any way she wants, as long as the caliber begins with a "4". But seriously it did require a bit of adjustment on my part when we settled here ten years ago after 27 years as a LEO in the most repressive gun rights State in the Union. It was like taking a breath of fresh air for the first time in a long time when we unpacked the gun collection in our new home. We never leave the house without strapping on our gun belts, concealed or not, but we choose.
Currently reside in a small Southwest desert community where open carry is the more prevalent rule "du jour". Going openly "heeled" will barely get you noticed and a law abiding citizen can carry anything he wants, any way she wants, as long as the caliber begins with a "4". But seriously it did require a bit of adjustment on my part when we settled here ten years ago after 27 years as a LEO in the most repressive gun rights State in the Union. It was like taking a breath of fresh air for the first time in a long time when we unpacked the gun collection in our new home. We never leave the house without strapping on our gun belts, concealed or not, but we choose.
I grew up in the 60s, the older generation was notorious for making fun of those who didn't look "right" to them. It was always "Get your gollydarn hair cut.", or "You look like a sissy." Cops would give a guy a haircut, just because. That day is way done. It's a better day now! I'm not going to make any judgement about someone OC. I don't know what their life is, or what they've been through, or who may be looking for them. What if the person is big, black, wearing a NWA t-shirt? Does he have the same rights as you? What about a woman wearing a burk ha? I know if I were a Muslim I would be armed all the time, there's just too many hate monger idiots who blame them every thing since the Crucifixion. I couldn't care less about someone being upset that they saw a gun. Up theirs. They'd really get upset if they said something to me about it, if I were OC.
Just my thoughts, but those that want to/do open carry probably feel comfortable in public places where there are many folks around. If your car failed on you and you were by yourself and you had to walk down a dimly lit street in a bad part of town with people on the corners, would you open carry there?
Mainsail
Member
Ten years ago OC was not something you’d see very often in western WA. People did make panicked calls to the police, and the police responded. Sometimes the OCer wore handcuffs until it got sorted out. Here’s the hitch though- OC was just as lawful then as now. So what changed and how did that change come about?
Well, first of all we just kept right on carrying openly, politely reminded any responding officers of its lawfulness, and before long the word got out that it was legal. Within the first few months police departments began issuing training bulletins to inform their officers of the law regarding OC (or in our case the lack of a law that prohibits it). The ‘slower’ departments paid settlements for civil rights violations; some of them substantial. Today, you will only very rarely hear about a confrontation between OCers and police.
Your ‘right’ to choose your religion is useless if you’re too afraid to attend your church. Your right to assemble is pointless if you have to meet secretly in your basement, complete with a secret knock so you don’t inadvertently open the door to a government agent. Your free speech rights are without effect if the best you can do is grumble under your breath. So how can you claim there is a ‘right’ to carry a firearm if you are too intimidated to do it, or only willing to do it surreptitiously?
You cannot make a legitimate complaint that OC will bring negative response from the police if you are unwilling to stand up against it. So how come you don’t stand up against it? Is it because CC is “good enough” for you? We have no-hassle OC in WA now, and it has benefited all of us regardless of our method of carry. Back when OC was so bold as to compel an officer to violate your civil rights for doing it, they would do likewise for the inadvertently exposed CC.
Last edited:
I think all you fat, old guys are too sensitive!
I R 1 2 @ 65
I R 1 2 @ 65
gdnagle
US Veteran
So I guess this means the only ones that should OC are Jehovah Wittiness.
Open Carry is legal here and I don't do it unless I forget my wallet or wind blows open my outer covering, but have nothing against those that do but I see no reason why someone has to make a statement by OC'ing a long gun just to make a point, now this is very noticeable and for some reason scares a lot of people. I have never noticed anyone looking like above around here OCíng and we all know what lots of WV people look like including me. Might just be me but I feel I notice those that do OC here as part of my awareness I guess but have never seen anyone do anything bad nor other persons around them making a fuss. I did hear on the scanner once where someone call LE about a person carrying a firearm and response back to dispatcher was "Was the person brandishing if not did you tell the caller this is WV and open carrying is legal". As far as others noticing if I carry I don't know as like I stated I don't OC as I don't advertise and make myself a target like the old fellow in Florida that was attacked by a person because he was open carrying. OBTW the guy was found guilty of assault on the OC person, a 62yo black fellow legally carrying. There are also lots of accounts where persons OC'ing have been assaulted some for possession of their weapon. Why make yourself a target especially me in my poor health and old age. .
BearBio
Member
It was only a couple of years ago that the Seattle PI had articles about Seattle attempting to curb open carry. Police were harassing people who OC'd. It took "action" by the state AG to call them off.
Old TexMex
Member
Mainsail, stop makin' sense, willya?
keith44spl
Member
Yes.....Yes we are.
I open carry and conceal carry at the same time....Got it all goin' on.
.
Nah, I'll just wear my summer loin cloth.
ChattanoogaPhil
Member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2009
- Messages
- 14,601
- Reaction score
- 20,622
Characterizing in a negative manner those who carry guns and saying the public objects to them is nothing new.
"The gun toter and the tough man – I don’t want his vote,” “There are a lot of good, law-abiding people in the Lower East Side. They do not like to have the red badge of shame waved over that part of the city. They have no sympathy with the tough men, the men who tote guns and use them far too frequently.”
Tim Sullivan 1910.
The name would become notorious as the Sullivan Act. It was the Sullivan Act that helped usher in an era of banning concealed carry and for the use of the select few elite.
Conceal carry low-lifes... gives a bad name to gun owners!
"The gun toter and the tough man – I don’t want his vote,” “There are a lot of good, law-abiding people in the Lower East Side. They do not like to have the red badge of shame waved over that part of the city. They have no sympathy with the tough men, the men who tote guns and use them far too frequently.”
Tim Sullivan 1910.
The name would become notorious as the Sullivan Act. It was the Sullivan Act that helped usher in an era of banning concealed carry and for the use of the select few elite.
Conceal carry low-lifes... gives a bad name to gun owners!
Last edited:
Here in the Peoples' Democratic Republic of Illinois, we are just getting used to concealed carry, and are a long way from open carry when not on private property. Doesn't prevent lasting impressions bordering on unconscious profiling. Anecdotal example: while on my day job about 20 years ago, my car was heavily rear-ended in a town where I had previously lived for years; we're talking shovel and flatbed, not tow truck. Anyhoo, I had been to the range the day before and the car trunk was full of ammunition, range gear, and more than one firearm. The responding officer was kind enough to get me a crowbar to pry open the trunk lid, and to take custody of the arms and ammo for me to pick up later.
My wife drove me down to the PD after I got out of the ER; my gear had been taken to the office of one of the detectives. When I walked in, he looked me in the eye and said, "If anybody hadda said they was you and didn't have a car full of guns, we'd'a knowed they was a imposter."
My wife drove me down to the PD after I got out of the ER; my gear had been taken to the office of one of the detectives. When I walked in, he looked me in the eye and said, "If anybody hadda said they was you and didn't have a car full of guns, we'd'a knowed they was a imposter."
keith44spl
Member
I've told this story before.....
Three other cops and I were having lunch at a Cracker Barrel restaurant,
All of us were in plain clothes, like jeans and polo's or button downs.
Holstered sidearms, sans badges, etc...We had been to an in-service training.
We got up from the table to leave and as I was the last to get up and leave the waitress a tip,
a collage age young lady gestured toward one of the guys, "That man's wearing a pistol."
I turned toward her and sed, "Miss, he thinks he's the Chief of Police!"
The girls jest giggled a bit and went on with their lunch.
Non-event.
.
Three other cops and I were having lunch at a Cracker Barrel restaurant,
All of us were in plain clothes, like jeans and polo's or button downs.
Holstered sidearms, sans badges, etc...We had been to an in-service training.
We got up from the table to leave and as I was the last to get up and leave the waitress a tip,
a collage age young lady gestured toward one of the guys, "That man's wearing a pistol."
I turned toward her and sed, "Miss, he thinks he's the Chief of Police!"
The girls jest giggled a bit and went on with their lunch.
Non-event.
.
Last edited:
Faulkner
Member
Characterizing in a negative manner those who carry guns and saying the public objects to them is nothing new.
"The gun toter and the tough man – I don’t want his vote,” “There are a lot of good, law-abiding people in the Lower East Side. They do not like to have the red badge of shame waved over that part of the city. They have no sympathy with the tough men, the men who tote guns and use them far too frequently.”
Tim Sullivan 1910.
The name would become notorious as the Sullivan Act. It was the Sullivan Act that helped usher in an era of banning concealed carry and for the use of the select few elite.
Conceal carry low-lifes... gives a bad name to gun owners!
You can't use or compare morals and culture from a hundred years ago in a modern context . . . we are so much more enlighted in the 21st century.
- Status
Similar threads
