Open Carry => 911 Call (Virginia)

And a gun that advertises itself should be reserved for the BBQ and Pachanga.

Craig_VA said:

Yes, Virginia is still an open carry legal state. Once more have an incident where open carry, while legal, can also be scary to part of the population. I used to live in the Virginia DC suburbs; most aware gun owners knew not to open carry in Arlington County due to that population's ignorance. We did have one case where an open carrier (another motor cycle rider) had 911 called saying he had tried to rob a 7-11 store just because of the visible gun.
Open carry may be legal, but sometimes it is not wise.

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Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself.

I want to keep open carry legal in Virginia. By open carrying in northern Virginia (not a gun-friendly place, BTW), you stir up the natives and bring the day closer when open carry is outlawed.

One of the reasons that I will not open carry unless I’m hiking/ hunting unpopulated forest or field

I agree. Open carry should be legal everywhere. I choose not to in public for various reasons.
I prefer my status to be questionable and offer me the opportunity of surprise.

In today's political climate it is best to not advertise guns on t-shirts, stickers, or other, especially not open carry. The risk of being red flagged is just way too high.

Be gray

Open carry is generally prohibited in Fl. I have no desire to open carry in Fl. "on purpose", but I am in a similar situation, because I ride a motorcycle. It would be nice to wear it on my belt and not worry about the wind blowing my clothing up, exposing my gun, and putting me in a situation I don't care to be in.

I like open carry due to the fact that it makes things much easier when you CCW and you end up printing or your cover garment blows up in the wind. However, I rarely open carry, due to the number of Karens who will not only call the police, but make up outlandish stories while doing so.

People shouldn’t know you’re armed unless there’s a reason for them to know. In public. Walking through the woods is a different story

Well you're talking about the DC part of VA. Thats to be expected.

NOVA really should be relinquished to DC, just let 'em have it.

That said I don't normally OC (but have) but its pretty regular to see it outside of places like NOVA or maybe the Norfolk/beach area.

I love the attitude of so many that say "I'm for it but you really shouldn't do it" lol.

Good Ol' Boy said:

Well you're talking about the DC part of VA. Thats to be expected.

NOVA really should be relinquished to DC, just let 'em have it.

That said I don't normally OC (but have) but its pretty regular to see it outside of places like NOVA or maybe the Norfolk/beach area.

I love the attitude of so many that say "I'm for it but you really shouldn't do it" lol.

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Agreed! In the Hampton Roads and darn near everywhere else in VA other than NOVA, open carry is not a big deal. The Hampton Rd area is a mixture of liberal and conservative, and open carry still doesn't is not big deal. I see people OC on motorcycles, at Wal-Mart, Foodlion, and a few other places.

I also don't agree with us hiding the fact that we support the constitutional right to carry a firearm and to not OC where legal for fear that those who hate the 2A will want to ban guns... What's the point of having a right if you aren't going to exercise it? I don't like OC, but I support other's right to do so in a classy and professional manner. Seems the left and Bloomberg has successfully made gun owners fear them and what they will do if we dare exercise a legal right. That's what they want. They want us scared to speak up for fear of being attacked, called a racist, sexist, so on and so forth, all the while they are free to be vocal about and indoctrinate others when it comes to what they believe.

Craig_VA said:

Yes, Virginia is still an open carry legal state. Once more have an incident where open carry, while legal, can also be scary to part of the population.

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Unlike keeping and bearing arms, nobody has a right to not be scared. Hoplophobes just need to get over their irrational fear.

Its maybe just local view, but for me - open carry seems hammerfull. You allow everybody to evaluate you as hard target and striping yourself of element of supprise. Plus its just intimidating for everybody around.
And i say it as gun maniac.
Also i mean open carry in city, town and etc... not on hunting/training/shooting grounds...

Jdague12 said:

People shouldn’t know you’re armed unless there’s a reason for them to know. In public. Walking through the woods is a different story.

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I agree wholeheartedly. People who open carry just to make a point are doing more harm than good, IMO.

This unfamiliarity about gun rights reminds me of hearing about rural people in Hernando (nw) MS doing typical gun shooting on their private land, on a Saturday or Sunday.

Some idiots living nearby assumed that something was seriously wrong, called 911, and even a helicopter was dispatched for air cover etc (ok....surveillance ).

The foolish ignoramuses were from, iirc, New England, quite new in the area.

I can not imagine living in south Florida due to "that" factor.

Jdague12 said:

People shouldn’t know you’re armed unless there’s a reason for them to know. In public. Walking through the woods is a different story

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How is it different for police, uniformed or otherwise? Public perception maybe? Do we need our own badge?

My state has always had open carry. I seldom notice anyone doing so but I have never noticed anyone paying any attention to someone open carrying. Maybe in Albuquerque or Santa Fe you might get some looks but around here no one cares.

Craig_VA said:

I have a good friend from college years who thinks no one should carry, because as a teenage girl her father told her she should not carry because the bad guy would take it from her and use it against her. She has internalized that to every bad guy will disarm every good guy, so good guys should not carry. I told her she does not have to carry, but that she should not prevent me from doing so.

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The proper mental attitude is just as important as the gun, when carrying. Are you prepared to take a human life, when the time comes? And you have to do so without hesitation. Women -- and most men, actually -- are conditioned in our society not to have that mindset. All the training in the world won't overcome that conditioning.

I've open carried now for over a half century. Not always but quite often since the last half century or more has been in pretty hot southern states from California on one side and Georgia on the other.

I can count on one hand the number of times anyone has even mentioned the fact that I was open carrying and there has never been any evidence of my scaring others or even ruffling feathers.

And that seems to be increasing. If they see anything these days it's likely on their cell phone.

Second, I try to be discrete, no fancy guns with flags or eagles or snakes or bright colored orange grip panels; no big revolver in holsters unless in an area where they would be accepted and expected like wandering in the Superstitions in the 60s or SoCal pre-Mulford.

I find open carry more comfortable than concealed carry in many cases, and in most cases the same handguns and holsters are used, the difference is that in 100F+ temps even an additional Fishing shirt or Guayabera is simply too hot.

AlexanderA said:

Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself.

I want to keep open carry legal in Virginia. By open carrying in northern Virginia (not a gun-friendly place, BTW), you stir up the natives and bring the day closer when open carry is outlawed.

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Which would be completely unconstitutional.

AlexanderA said:

Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself.

I want to keep open carry legal in Virginia. By open carrying in northern Virginia (not a gun-friendly place, BTW), you stir up the natives and bring the day closer when open carry is outlawed.

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Incidentally, I don’t open carry in public. But the way I interpret what you wrote is, “I want to keep this right but we shouldn’t exercise this right for fear of losing this right…”

Craig_VA said:

However, it seems to me many open carry for the "look" and as a result select really fine looking display holsters, often highly tooled and decorated leather. I admit, a fine leather holster as seen in old FBI movies or westerns looks great, but such minimal retention devices seem ripe for my friend's father being right in his warning.

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I disagree. Yes, there are those type of folks who purposely carry to get attention, and they get just that. Those teeny tiny handful of people who purposely bring attention to themselves for political reasons or to show off are the exception and not the rule. Those are just the people who make the news or video themselves hoping for conflict and then post their interactions of the internet. What I hear and see in real life isn't what's being described over the internet.

On several occasions over the years, I seen a black couple, a few blackmen or women, a few men riding motorcycles on the highway, older and younger casually dressed white men, and on two occasions a middle aged white male shopping at Walmart with his wife and children. Seen an older black guy who owned a barbershop in a strip mall come into a pawn shop adjacent to him OCing while I was there. I am sure people noticed, but they were ignored. Never seen an issue. I didn't see anything fancy or in-your-face about their handguns or holsters. All I can recall was one handgun was a 1911, but all the others were in a plain black holster with a plain black pistol.

AlexanderA said:

Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself.

I want to keep open carry legal in Virginia. By open carrying in northern Virginia (not a gun-friendly place, BTW), you stir up the natives and bring the day closer when open carry is outlawed.

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The natives in NOVA ALREADY are stirred up, are lobbying against, and are voting against open carry, conceal carry, and firearms in general. Explain how others NOT exercising their legal right will all of a sudden change their mind on guns? Whether no one else ever open carries in VA or all gun owners start to OC, as soon as the have the votes to turn VA into NYC and CA, they will with the sole help of NOVA. If you look at the election map for the past Governor's race, the 5 blue cities in the upper right corner are running the entire state. The other blue blue areas aren't in Richmond, Norfolk, and Roanoke areas do not account for many votes in comparison. 5 cities outside of DC where liberals who don't want to live in Democrat ran DC rather live in VA because of it's legacy Conservative laws are moving to.

Maineshooter1 said:

But the way I interpret what you wrote is, “I want to keep this right but we shouldn’t exercise this right for fear of losing this right…”

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I want to keep open carry available for rare occasions. By open carrying routinely (at least in jurisdictions where the public is hostile to guns), you risk stirring the pot and making it more likely that open carry would be outlawed altogether. This is just political reality.