Open carry paranoia?

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Evil Dog

Evil Dog

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Where I live on the Left Coast open carry is no longer legal so for me it is a rather moot point. Seems to me though that open carry runs the inherent risk of someone sneaking up from behind to break a 2x4 over my head to steal my firearm. Maybe that's just being paranoid but I still consider it a very real possibility.
 
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Evil Dog said:
Where I live on the Left Coast open carry is no longer legal so for me it is a rather moot point. Seems to me though that open carry runs the inherent risk of someone sneaking up from behind to break a 2x4 over my head to steal my firearm. Maybe that's just being paranoid but I still consider it a very real possibility.
Click to expand...

Duly noted . . .
 
Open carry has always been legal here. So hardly anyone does, since there isn't any need to make a point.

Last year some clown who open-carried his handgun actually was robbed of his gun..... by a guy with a gun. I got a good laugh out of that one; so of course did every anti-gunner in the state. Great job.
 
Absalom said:
Open carry has always been legal here. So hardly anyone does, since there isn't any need to make a point.

Last year some clown who open-carried his handgun actually was robbed of his gun..... by a guy with a gun. I got a good laugh out of that one; so of course did every anti-gunner in the state. Great job.
Click to expand...

I have heard conflicting reports that the guy was either carrying someplace where the gun had to be unloaded or still had it in the case when he was robbed.

I haven't seen any statistically significant evidence that open carriers are getting robbed all that frequently
 
Evil Dog said:
Where I live on the Left Coast open carry is no longer legal so for me it is a rather moot point. Seems to me though that open carry runs the inherent risk of someone sneaking up from behind to break a 2x4 over my head to steal my firearm. Maybe that's just being paranoid but I still consider it a very real possibility.
Click to expand...

While I don't see this as a huge problem, no doubt seeing someone with a gun has some downside. It can be similar to flashing a big wad of cash. Worse any attacker will be well armed and fully informed as to the risks. This would be especially unintelligent in a crowded area.

There is also the few individuals that will feel threatened and it may well provoke aggression in some circumstances. Go walking with a cowboy rig down through the Ghetto or a similar area would be an extreme example.

Also walking into a bank wearing a couple of pistols on your hips would certain increase the tension.

Certainly where law allows it, you have the right to open carry as you see fit. But like a beautiful young woman walking down a dark street in a known bad side of town, it may not be the smartest thing to do. She has that right of course, but being right and dead is a fools game.

So please if you do open carry use some common sense while doing so.
 
Smoke said:
I have heard conflicting reports that the guy was either carrying someplace where the gun had to be unloaded or still had it in the case when he was robbed.
Click to expand...

No, he was open-carrying, although what possessed him to practice open-carry with a Walther P22, at 2:10 in the morning, a day after he had bought the gun, in a less than savory area of town, remains his mystery. I suspect he fell victim to the not infrequent delusion that bad guys would be as impressed by the fact that he carried A GUN as he himself was. He might as well have carried a neon sign saying "Free gun! First come, first served!"

And you're right, statistically, it doesn't prove anything. It should serve as a cautionary tale not to abandon common sense. An AR-15 slung over your back while you carry two bags of heavy shopping (yes, I saw that once) is not going to be of help when someone sticks a cheap .25 in your face.
 
I lived in the ghetto for a good number of years. I remember walking down the sidewalk once with an AK over my shoulder, Elmer Fudd style. When the neighbors stared I just waived. No one ever bothered me.

Takes a lot of cojones to walk up to a visibly armed man and try to rob him or even ambush him. I was always the ornery sort who would be prone to still drawing against a drawn gun. My theory was that if I was going to die anyway, might as well take someone with me. Not bluster just how my mind worked.

A risk inherent in deliberately attacking a visibly armed man really. And one not worth taking for most when softer prey abounds.
 
Evil Dog said:
Where I live on the Left Coast open carry is no longer legal so for me it is a rather moot point. Seems to me though that open carry runs the inherent risk of someone sneaking up from behind to break a 2x4 over my head to steal my firearm. Maybe that's just being paranoid but I still consider it a very real possibility.
Click to expand...

It's not paranoia. It comes down to the area you are in and are familiar with. For me, I know I have no desire to open carry. Not only is it not comfortable. ..for me....but where I live it's soccer mom's in Porsche SUVs. You'll have people freaking out because of "gun". On the other hand if/when I'm in the ghetto open carry is not a detourent, it's an invitation. We've had criminals rob stores and hide till the cops showed up to shoot them. Open carry in the ghettos here may deter an amateur looking for a quick buck but not someone who may see you as an opportunity to have a gun
 
Last week surveillance video was on the Net of a guy who was jumped
for his gun. He was at a store counter. Gun was concealed but printing.
Bad guy grabbed the guy and the gun. Quite a struggle ensued and a shot was fired--after the attacker got control of the gun.
No one hit but things could have been worse.

Jeff Cooper did say awareness was important. The guy at the counter
may never have heard that, eh?
 
We were in Walmart looking at the empty shelves in the ammo case when some mall ninja all in camo came along. OC-ing a Glock of some sort in a no retainer bucket type holster, complete with extra mags and a big cheap knife. Walking away my son said dad, what would keep somebody from coming up behind that guy and taking his pistol? I said sanity. He said yeah but there are crazies all over. I said mmm hmmm.
 
Don't see open carry much here although it's been legal for years. Maybe as someone else said that might be why few want to make a point of it as nothing to prove.
The closest I came to open carry was when we had to register handguns at the county jail in downtown Flint. I'd have to park normally a ways from the jail and walk to it carrying a gun case that screamed steal me. Fortunately I could carry concealed there so always had one with me.
Now if someone were to have a BBQ inviting BBQ guns I'd go providing I had the right gun and holster.
I only open carry on my own property and if I were to leave after I put on a cover garment. I once did that after deer hunting with a 8 3/8 inch 657 in a Bianchi shoulder holster but under a parka. I did feel pretty safe other than the slow draw of it.
 
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