Why I don't Open Carry

[7shooter]

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

 

[TNDave]

I am not against open carry and I see people doing it. Our permits are "carry" not "concealed carry" so open carry is legal. I was once told by a prosecutor that the reason our state law was written as it was was so that gun carriers would not have to worry if their gun printed or became inadvertently exposed. He said in some states with concealed carry, if your gun is visible at all it is a violation and you can lose your permit. They are sticklers for "concealed". That would be a problem. He claimed gun carriers in those states live in fear of someone spotting their gun and calling the police. Therefore, our law was written so that if your gun is visible it was OK. It wasn't really the intent of the law for everyone to "open carry". That makes sense to me.

 

[Mainsail]

It worked out OK but I don't want the hassle.

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.

Mere open carry here is a lawful activity and the police cannot detain you for doing so. Several police agencies paid some pretty big settlements for the rouge officers who believed they could. Hassle? Sure, hassle me; I can use the money.

Open carry here is lawful without a permit or license- concealed carry requires following the many laws written about concealed carry. In other words, open carry is legal because there is no law prohibiting it. That's the way it should be.

 

[Pisgah]

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.

 

[JJEH]

OK changed the law as well, allowing open carry if you have a CCW license.

People get paranoid when they see a person with a gun b/c the (Bloomberg) media does its job; demonize firearms.

 

[Rick_A]

In FL open carry is legal only under certain circumstances.

The problem these days is that the popular media and even the educational system suggests that anyone with a gun, and that guns in general, are something to be feared.

In rural areas seeing folks with shotguns, long guns, and perhaps a sidearm during season is not out of the ordinary. With urban sprawl and suburbs popping up everywhere there's a different class of folks along with it.

There's a huge difference between an average joe carrying around his favorite sidearm, and a thug with a ghetto blaster under a hoodie looking to do wrong. While I rarely if ever open carry, people need to get over it.

I certainly believe in "constitutional carry" as it's what was envisioned, not what is currently encroached as law by liberal freedom hating jerks. We are falling farther from the intent of founding this great nation was all about every day.

Folks have had guns drawn on them by police while out fishing with a sidearm here due to ignorance by bystanders and officers alike. I would not take such abuse lightly.

Look at the AR-15. It was once the gun of fringe lunatics according to the media. Now everyone has one.

Hand guns themselves were the hot topic in the 80's with attempts to ban their sale and manufacture, now concealed carry pistols are best sellers and most states allow some form of carry.

It'll eventually get that way with open carry, I believe. Whether you believe in it or not, the more commonplace open carry becomes, the less a gun on a guys hip is shock to the psyche of those with a sensitive disposition. Folks will eventually learn that a gun on the hip won't cause OK Coral shootouts at the Wally World parking lot, or flood the street with blood like the antis like to spout.

Someday we may be back to asking the neighbor the story of the gun on their hip, instead of all the drama.

It's a bit sad that those in our own gun culture are against freedoms that should have stayed ours. "Gun Control" is a modern solution to a problem there never was.

 

[Old cop]

I don't open carry (OC) because: (1) I don't want to draw unwanted attention to myself, especially from law enforcement; (2) there is, I believe, a tactical advantage to concealed carry; and (3) it tends to make people where I live uncomfortable and that leads to #1 above. Others can do as they please, OC has been legal in my state for a very long time.

 

[Waywatcher]

Some folks get ideological about open carry, which I understand but don't always agree.

I don't open carry out of simple pragmatism.

 

[Absalom]

Some folks get ideological about open carry, which I understand but don't always agree.

I don't open carry out of simple pragmatism.

Same here.

As someone has already said, you give up your biggest self-defense asset, tactical surprise. Just to make a point.
And anyone who is overly confident that his open-carry deters criminals should look at the numbers of physical assaults on police officers, and those guys are trained (in marked contrast to most open-carry civilians) and open-carry not just guns, but tasers, pepper spray, batons, and they still get attacked by frequently unarmed bad guys. I think we as "gun guys" are often more impressed by our guns than a lot of bad guys are.

 

[hard nose street cop]

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.

I agree with you 100% it is having the tactical edge with the element of surprise. That is why when out in public I never set with my back to any door.

 

[GaryS]

Some folks get ideological about open carry, which I understand but don't always agree.

I don't open carry out of simple pragmatism.

Those people see this as a civil rights battle. I can't disagree with that, although sometimes their tactics are counter productive.

I live in one of those states where the accidental or incidental exposure of a concealed firearm can lead to revocation of a license. In my states, the license is not just for concealed carry, it is also for mere possession. So, if I lose my license I either have to sell off all of my firearms or transfer them to someone else.

That alone makes the stakes high and is why I am in favor of open carry. As someone else stated, I want to be able to carry without concern that if I print or somehow accidentally expose my self defense weapon, my license could be forfeit.

At the least, I'd have to retain a lawyer to try to fight that.

I don't so much have interest in openly carrying a firearm.

Except in Texas, in which case if that law passes, I'd buy a BBQ rig.

 

[Mainsail]

I agree with you 100% it is having the tactical edge with the element of surprise. That is why when out in public I never set with my back to any door.

- There is no such thing as 'defensive surprise'. The guy attacking you is fully prepared and even expecting you to resist in some manner.

- Concealed carry is no longer the surprise it used to be, back when the laws were 'may issue' and few had a permit.

- Relying on surprise is to believe it's better to wait until the attack has already begun, and then try to fight your way out.

Open carry is not for everyone, every situation, or every environment; but to pretend it's somehow tactically inferior is intellectually dishonest at best. You cannot make an argument for that statement based on anything other than emotion. There is no empirical data to support the contention that CC is 'better'. The very best anyone has ever been able to come up with is the scenarios they design in their thoughts; scenarios that don't happen in real life.

As for me, I carry indifferently. Sometimes concealed, sometime open, sometimes sorta concealed. I have personally experienced open carry deter a crime against me, one that happened so fast I wasn't aware had started until it was over. Two 'youths' decided my Oakley sunglasses might look better on them, so made a bee-line towards me. One spotted the 1911 on my belt, threw up his hands and said, "Hey, no problem". It was only then that I put the two and two together. But here's the hitch- a concealed carry gun would have been useless in that situation. I couldn't draw on them after they knocked me down and were walking away, and I certainly couldn't draw on every person that turned in my direction or I'd be arrested and never be allowed to own a gun much less carry one.

If I were in a bank openly carrying when an organized robbery went down, I might wish I had concealed. How often am I in a bank at all? How often do such robberies occur? What are the chances that during the one or two times a year I'm even in a bank that a planned robbery would occur? I suppose if I were worried about it, I can conceal carry then. You see, that's the fallacy; that it's either one OR the other. Here in WA, and most other states, we do not have to choose one and be limited to that decision. It's called liberty, and it's a concept that makes some people, even other gun owners, nervous.

 

[Rick_A]

Criminals like easy targets.

That's usually not a guy with a gun...or law enforcement.

Most attacks on LE appear to be when they are caught engaging in criminal activity or in the process of being apprehended.

I used to use public transportation in some unsavory areas. Due to my ethnicity and poor choice of dress some of these fellows would get a bit chatty.

 

[ladder13]

CC is no longer a surprise to me, I assume everyone has a gun, legal or not.

 

[Watchdog]

Oh, boy. Another open carry thread.

 

[Florida Guy]

I was once told by a prosecutor that the reason our state law was written as it was was so that gun carriers would not have to worry if their gun printed or became inadvertently exposed. He said in some states with concealed carry, if your gun is visible at all it is a violation and you can lose your permit. They are sticklers for "concealed". That would be a problem. He claimed gun carriers in those states live in fear of someone spotting their gun and calling the police. Therefore, our law was written so that if your gun is visible it was OK. It wasn't really the intent of the law for everyone to "open carry". That makes sense to me.

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.

 

[STCM(SW)]

I OC in more rural places and CC in town.
Then again, I OC around my house.....
You never know what's up anywhere now it seems.....

 

[Tom_R]

If you are hunting or trail walking and need a magnum strapped to your hip, I have no issue with that at all.

Open carry out in the general public is just not for me, and I don't think it helps our cause in any single way. In fact, I think it makes the general public look at our entire group as a bunch of wannabe cops who are trying to look cool or tough.

That's just my opinion, but I personally think that it takes something that is great, and just takes it too far, and then it may ruin it for everyone else.

Just my opinion though.

 

[shell627]

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.

My question is who decides that it is accidentally exposed.If you have to go in front of a judge.It becomes expensive and the officer still gets overtime to go to court.

 

[ladder13]

I'd be much more at ease with 2 guys OCing in Big City USA than running into a couple guys toting weapons out in the woods 50-100 miles from nowhere, not during game season, but that's just me.
I've seen Deliverance.