open carry.

I open carry daily (Glock 26 or Glock 17) and the only time I've heard anything negative about it was last September at my son's elementary school. (And that was a peaceful discussion.) Other than that, I've had no problems and I've been doing it for about four years.

 

I personally don't care what folks think at this point. as long as the place ain't posted, and I ain't in a govt bldg or school or at my job that isn't posted but will terminate employees for having one on site, it's chill. My kids don't mess with it, and I don't get asked about it much. My gun is loaded and I feel safe

 

I usually don't open carry. Why? Because it scares the Hell out of all the tourists.

One night while we were sitting eating in a restaurant, it got hot; I took off my jacket and exposed my large G-21 for some of the people to see. One poor father of three sitting across from me became so upset that he kept looking at his kids and seemed unable to eat his meal. I looked over at him, smiled and winked, and put my jacket back on.

East of the Mississippi you've got to keep in mind what other people think. Open carry's fine; the Second Amendment is great; but if your behavior as an armed citizen frightens other people then you're not doing either yourself or other gun owners any sort of favor.

 

[/QUOTE]Open carry's fine; the Second Amendment is great; but if your behavior as an armed citizen frightens other people then you're not doing either yourself or other gun owners any sort of favor.[/QUOTE]

I open carry cause I cant CC. If you are going scare other people, don't. Personally I don't care what other people think, but if I can keep people from calling the cops on me, I will.

 

If I couldn't CC, I would open carry if it was allowed. It is not legal in FL.
One thing about open carry is that the bad guy knows who to take out first should you happen to get in a situation. I prefer the element of surprise if I was in a situation that I needed to draw my weapon.
That being said, open carry allows you to carry the biggest weapon without worry of printing.

 

I second, except here in AZ I can strap a canon to my back and walk around town if I want. Not recommended, but legal. I carry my G22 when I can, eg. Not at work, school, or going places that don't allow guns, such as certain stores, restaurants, or government buildings. I also don't carry if the activities I am going to be participating in make it unpractical. I always have a knife or other potential self defense device(improvised weapon).

 

Here in Texas open carry is not legal unless you are on 'property under your control'. If we had open carry I would still have a covering garment, but it would be nice not to worry about it printing.

 

It's my opinion you open carry you stand a greater chance of the thug taking you down with less chances to defend your self first. They see your gun and they will be aware you will defend your self and shoot you for sure. And then it may also keep the punk kid thief away. I prefer conceal carry I don't want a crack head shooting me for his next fix befor I get a chance to try and stop the threat.

 

I work security so I am used to being the target. Not that scared of it cause those questionable places are places I don't go to.

 

You stand a greater chance of being taken down if you walk around condition white. CC, OC, don't matter. If you walk about counting butterflies you will become a victim if you got a gun or not, CC or OC.

99% of every possible victim situation you can get in will be avoided with situational awareness, not the possession of a gun.

 

99% of every possible victim situation you can get in will be avoided with situational awareness, not the possession of a gun.[/QUOTE]

I agree, but I still feel if I show my gun a crack head that's out to get his next fix from the first person he sees to rob will be apt to shoot me if he sees a gun. If I have it hidden under a cover vest, shirt or what ever I stand a greater chance of seeing that threat. I'll conceal thanks for your thoughts though.

 

As long as you ain't counting butterflies you will see that threat. When they see you see them, they will change their mind 99% of the time, gun hiden or not.

 

In a perfect world of "honest" criminals, yes this would happen. Every crime isn't a surprise attack, and some criminals are very brazen.

 

CC if you can, OC if you must. Either/and/or, as long as you stay within the limits of the law then you are legally "in the right".

The Silver State is open-carry but also has a CC permit program. It is not stated anywhere, but it is common sense, that if you have a CCW permit, then your gun should never be seen unless you are a about to start putting pressure on the trigger.

And nobody in their right mind should carry a weapon they could not draw and use competently and accurately. My tip: if you need to look at your holster when you draw your pistol, you need to practice more and shouldn't be out in public until you do....it takes your eyes off your target, and distracts your brain. Muscle Memory rules! You go from condition yellow to orange when you identify a POTENTIAL threat, and jump to condition red: fight or flight. You brain thinks THREAT and your muscles do the rest.

And any unintentional display of the firearm (i.e., your hands are not on it, like when your black trenchcoat happens to blow open in the wind) is not considered brandishing, and we have no laws addressing printing. I love this state!

Unfortunately, we have been experiencing a huge influx of "refugees" from "further west", and public perception leans against open carry. It is legal (within limits), but more often than not results in a "man-with-a-gun" call. And if it happens near a school, day care facility, or recreational park, the police response will be massive.

I carry a tiny little G26. I am competent enough with it that I can honestly and confidently say I will trust my life and the lives of my family to it and my ability to use it. I feel no need to carry a hand cannon (but I wouldn't mind owning one, or two, or ten ) and I always CC. I do not feel the need to inadvertently advertise that I am armed or that I carry a Glock. In doing so, I have never been hassled by anyone anyplace about it. They should never know I have a gun, until the first shot.

Oh, and Clark County (Greater Las Vegas and Henderson) are different than the rest of the state. They had gun control laws in place before the State laws were codified to specifically address all issues on deadly force. I guess this may be so due to the proximity to Los Angeles? I don't know, that's my hypothesis (apologies to Las Vegans, Hendersonians, and Agelinos). Among other things, residents of Clark County must register their handguns with the PD.

At the risk of someone trying to flame me, I say the above, and say it is my opinion. Have a nice day

 

The best way I've seen this put is "the more confident you are/present yourself to be, the less likely you are to be a victim, because the criminals won't see a victim."

If you check out some interviews with criminals in prison, 99% of them say the same thing: if they know, or even suspect, that someone is armed, they will move on to the next person. Same is true of burglars when it comes to alarm systems and dogs. Most criminals look for the easy target and bypass the hard ones.

If you appear confident, they'll walk on by. I always, armed or not, make sure that I present myself as an imposing, confident figure; I've been told that I'm intimidating. I always found that kind of amusing, since I'm only 5'8". I'm 99% certain that I've prevented attacks simply because of how I carry myself. I've seen them coming, seen it in their eyes, and had them walk on by.

I had two guys standing behind me in the men's room of a convenience store, literally talking about jumping me (they were whispering, but not quietly enough) and once one of them realized I knew they were there and what they were planning, they walked away. All from a change in my stance as I was...finishing up. I'm glad they left, because I was standing there trying to figure out how I was going to survive it. I did appreciate that they seemed to intend on waiting until I'd zipped up.

There are a small percentage that just don't care and are going to do what they are going to do. I would put this heavily on gang bangers who are more concerned with "respect" than they are with life. The kind that will kill you for looking at them funny. But these aren't people that are looking to rob you; they're coming after you for some perceived slight or because of some need to kill.

Now, when it comes to drug addicts, whether strung out and needing money for their next fix, or already high, you're talking about a different beast entirely. Those who are strung out are oblivious to the danger and may be desperate enough that even if they see it, they won't care. Or they will care and run away screaming.

Those who are already high aren't going to see it and don't care. Some of them may even see it has more of a challenge, depending on what they're on. Of course, this is a smaller percentage, because most highs make them chill out/have fun, not go looking for trouble.


You can pretty well count someone who is high and looking for trouble, or a gang banger, as a "determined" threat who is not going to stop unless they're dead. They don't care if it's jail or the grave.

Drug addicts who are strung out, while obviously still a threat are, generally less determined than those above and more likely to bolt from a brandished gun or to stop an attack before they're dead. They want money and to live. For them it's about the high.

 

I generally conceal carry in the winter and open carry during the summer because of clothing considerations, I really don't care if I scare anti-gunners. I live in Georgia and anti-gunners have never made a voting difference one way or the other here.

 

I love this thread and all the input that has been provided in it. Thanks for some great "conversation".