Open carry was legal in NC and still is now. When I lived there, it was fairly common in the Fayetteville area. Fayetteville is where Ft Bragg is located- the home of airborne and Special Operations forces, so there's some pretty "hardcore" and well-trained locals. Its also got a very high crime rate and a whole bunch of gun shops. OC among gun shop employees was as common as shoes. I also saw people in small businesses carrying, tow truck drivers, locksmiths who pop locks for lockouts, and the like open carrying. Lots of people who rode motorcycles of all types open carried. Though this may be stereotyping, lots of people who looked like they shouldn't be allowed to own a gun did it too. Not unusual at all to see people shopping at places like Wal mart or Lowes doing the OC thing. I saw one jackass with a serbu 12 gauge in some type of road warrior looking holster strapped to his thigh. On the other hand, you wouldn't see a whole lot of OC going on in a small town, I suppose because those people didn't feel as though they would be likely to need a handgun. Same with larger cities like Charlotte or Raleigh. Just my observations, as for accurate conclusions for why, I couldn't say.