tulsamal
Member
I would like to see TX get open carry but I still say it's foolish to advertise that you are carrying a gun.
Well, I haven't actually taken out an ad yet...
Too many people think of open carry and exclusively think of walking around at the mall with a .44 Magnum on your belt. If I'm going to town, I use my CCW. But Oklahoma is really weird about this whole open carry thing as well. I go for walks. I live 5.5 miles from Vinita. Dirt roads. A house every 3-400 yards at best. I prefer to just wear shorts and a t-shirt along with tennis shoes.
As the deputy sheriff asked after he had me face down in the gravel with a Glock pointed at my head, "why do you need to be carrying a gun out here?" It's just easier to open carry than to go concealed. Plus I can take a more versatile and powerful gun. If I CCW in town, it is pretty much all about SD from humans. Out in the country walking rural roads, you do still have to worry about that. But now there is a much higher chance your attackers will be in a big steel truck. So you need something that can penetrate and/or disable a vehicle. (My house is only 2.5 miles from a turnpike exit so I always think of In Cold Blood.) I walk along my own fence line for a while and I might see some wily coyote off in the distance trying to get away. Then I might just have to step off the side of the road and start shooting at him. Not going to do that with a .38 Special snub!
I've had some feral dogs circle me. I've had skunks that hung around and seemed a little iffy. As you can see, I like to carry a gun for a lot of reasons. And my normal carry isn't the right choice. If I can just snap on a US Army pistol belt and put a holster on that, I can carry pretty much anything. If I have to CCW, then I have to wear more clothes or carry something like a shoulder bag. Which I've done with my G35 and .357 SIG barrel. But it's hotter and bangs around more than a regular holster would.
Here's my last point to illustrate my point. If you owned a few hundred acres and you were going to go work on fences, etc, and you had the same concerns as I do when I'm walking, what would you carry? I'm willing to bet most of you wouldn't CCW your utility ranch gun. Skeeter and Elmer sure didn't! But I can't wear that same gun when I'm out walking 5-6 miles unless I want to be eating gravel again!
Here's the link to that incident that I posted right after it happened: http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80795
Gregg