Saw my first open carry yesterday

You should have agreed with 'em.

Then pointed at their pistols.

That "only ones" stuff annoys the heck out of me.

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Did you think about what you just said there before you posted it?




I'm a cop too and when I carry off-duty, which is nearly 100% of the time, it's concealed.


I'm not here to make judgement calls on anyone, so if they choose to open carry that's fine, I just think it's not the best plan. I'd rather a bad guy not know I'm armed, so that I may have the upper hand.
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sigpro said:

Been living in NC for a couple of years and yesterday, I saw a civillian openly carrying a handgun. First time I've ever saw that.

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Grew up in NC seeing it a lot more in the mountain counties in the '70's. I was 32, and had a CCW in KY, YEARS before NC finally got off their butt and approved the same.

One of the things I think actually pushed them to do it, was more & more folks decided to START exercising the open carry NC law had always allowed for. All the Yankee transplants - afraid of their own shadow - would rather guns be out of sight, AND out of mind... at least to THEIR eyes.

It always surprises me how many people are against open carry. I am not directing this comment at this website but many others. Exercise your freedom or lose it.

I prefer open and do so when in a OC state.

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Make sure you know the rules before you make your statement.

In PA you can open carry, but cites like Philly require you have a License to Carry Firearms (PA's permit) to do so, and you cant carry a loaded gun in the car anywhere in the state without the permit. That means you have to constantly unload and reload every time you get in and out of the car. That alone sounds like an accident waiting to happen to me.

Personally, I agree with those who say it takes away an important edge, which I think is important.

It also in general scares the sheeple. The few times Ive seen it around here in public, it did cause a commotion and drew a lot of unwanted attention. At least attention I would prefer not to have drawn to me. I know some seem to crave that though. In a way, its good to have decoys to take the heat.

usmarine0352_2005 said:

Did you think about what you just said there before you posted it?

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I thought about it long and hard.

I'd rather a bad guy not know I'm armed, so that I may have the upper hand.

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So, would you carry concealed while in uniform if given the option?

I did armed security. Always kept a jacket in the car. When not on duty, I put jacket over my "shoot me shirt". It covered up most of the SAM Browne and duty weapon. If one looked, they could tell I was semi, sorta, kinda, sometimes, official non LEO.

The uniform, fake badge, cuffs, belt, and weapon did what is was supposed to. Along with the military bearing look, it got the job done. All a big bluff.

It did impress the kids, and uniform loving women.

I have seen some of the OC folks. They looked really strange. It shouldn't be allowed. IMHO.
If you want to oc, and its legal, well have a great time. But please do it when I am not around, so I wont openly laugh at you.

BTW, I usually CCW. Gotta snake in my pocket, just in case. NOBODY KNOWS.

just saying,,,,,,,,

So, would you carry concealed while in uniform if given the option?

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If it were me, I would. In any case where I wasnt needing my duty gun "right now", Id have my off hand on another concealed gun, ready to go. Let them watch that gun on my belt, and the hand they think is going to be the start of the problem.

The art of war is deception.

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That is fine and dandy. I prefer open and do so when in a OC state.

I do respect your opinion. Is this a great country or what?

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Yep!



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They looked really strange. It shouldn't be allowed

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Because something looking strange is a great reason to bring to coercive fist of government down on those who do?

Ragnar Danneskjold said:

Because something looking strange is a great reason to bring to coercive fist of government down on those who do?

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Sometimes I have to double check to make sure I am actually on a RKBA message board....

If I go to downtown eateries near the jail and court bldg's, I commonly see un-uniformed LEO's carrying. Some have visible badges, but most don't. If people freaked out and called 911 every time they saw someone carrying, our downtown would be a mess.

I'd rather a bad guy not know I'm armed, so that I may have the upper hand.

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Exactly. Just because open carry is legal in some states doesn't mean it is the best choice for carry. My opinion is if you're carrying for protection, you want the other person to know as little about what you're capable of as possible. You don't want him/her to know where your weapon is or that you even have one.

My first encounter with open carry was when standing in line behind a lady in a local hardware store. She had a P238 in an IWB at 4 o'clock. Black pistol against a black shirt. Didn't see it until she walked out the door. Perhaps I was also distracted by "other things."

Hey, like I said, Ill take all the decoys I can get. I have no problem with you open carrying at all.

kirkosaurus said:

Chances are great that your exposed gun will cause him to not rob the place as criminals look for easy targets and don't want holes in them. Congratulations, your open carrying just kept a robbery from happening.

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That may be the case if the crook walks in and checks the place out first but (and this is just my own experience/opinion here) is a non factor if the guy rushes in with gun in hand and mask on face. The guy standing in line with the exsposed firearm will be the first one shot and no you are not fast enough to draw and fire on someone who already has a gun in hand.

To the TS where in NC do you live? I live in liberal northern transplant Charlotte and I see people OCing all the time. Well ok not all the time but it's not incredibly uncommon.

i dont see how OC is something to laugh about. OCing makes a strong statement, and I think it's a very positive thing. Afterall, the more the public is educated about firearms, and their rights, the more safe and aware we will all be. Don't you think it would be nice to be able to open carry in public without being seen as a nut job? And I dont really think you are giving up much of an advantage by carrying open. I think it can be thought of in this simple way, if more people carried openly and responsibly, we would be living in a safer environment. Anyway, where I live, I never really see non LEO open carry... it would be nice to see.

usmarine0352_2005 said:

Did you think about what you just said there before you posted it?




I'm a cop too and when I carry off-duty, which is nearly 100% of the time, it's concealed.


I'm not here to make judgement calls on anyone, so if they choose to open carry that's fine, I just think it's not the best plan. I'd rather a bad guy not know I'm armed, so that I may have the upper hand.
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So, in other words, it's perfectly fine for a police officer to call Joe Citizen an idiot for carrying a gun in they way he has decided is most effective at preventing a crime from happening to him, but you take exception when the mirror is held up in front of that officer?

I think police officers should take full advantage of the "element of surprise." Let's give only the same percentage of police officers firearms that the citizenry carries. So in NYC, that would be like 1/2 of 1%. Let's say in California, 1%. We'll go with 20% in Texas. Then those police officers have to carry concealed.

That way the BGs won't know which police officers are carrying and which ones aren't. That should really reduce the number of police officers that are shot with their own guns every year, right? That should reduce the number of officers that are shot on sight by the bad guys, right, because there would be no need to shoot the seemingly unarmed officers.

That way, the officers that ARE carrying that particular day will have the fullest advantage of the "element of surprise" in their favor, right? The bad guy gets belligerent and the police officer yells "SURPRISE! I've got the gun today, buddy! You picked the wrong cop today!"

I dont think its fear on our part (there does seem to be fear amoungst the general populace though, and these days for obvious reasons), but to me its just common sense, and nothing to do with fear.

If you want to open carry, no ones telling you not to, it is your choice if its permitted where you live, and its what you want to do. Personally, I just dont see anything to be gained from it. The less they know, the more ahead of the curve I am.

One other reason I wouldnt do it, has nothing to do with most of whats been discussed here, and even more practical. I work outdoors in a very harsh environment most of the time. The deeper my gun is concealed, the more protected it is, it gets less abuse and requires less attention. The closer to the surface, the worst it gets. Even in a good holster and some protection, it still gets beat up. Out in the open, it would require constant attention and be subject to all manner of things, and really the only practcal holster, would be f the full coverage type, and have a flap.

Here in VA I see it probably 3-4 times a week (well, I did when I was a counter jockey anyway).

Really though, you hear all the stuff about OCing being a "shoot me first" sign, but I've never heard any evidence (even anecdotal) of that ever happening. Any criminal worth his salt is smart enough to go for easy marks. The kind of idiot who just bursts through the door yelling "this is a stick up" isn't going to notice if you have a gun on your hip.

I'm going to be open carrying more this summer.

But it isn't going to be a handgun (at least as a primary OC) my AR-15 or the Mossberg 500E (it's good to switch up from time to time)

Really hot days will see the lighter pumpgun cooler days the AR-15 (which I am going to lighten up by making it into a midlength carbine)

phil dirt said:

I don't like the idea of open carry. It intimidates people, and in my opinion, it does more harm to gun rights than it does good. If I, personally, saw a guy walk into my bank openly carrying a pistol and a bayonet from an AK74 on his side, my blood pressure would definitely rise. You can be sure that I would watch this guy like a hawk!

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Is this really the way you perceive OC'ers? I respect your right to your opinion, it just gives me pause.
I'm troubled by a lot of the comments I read on this forum reguarding "open carry".

sigpro said:

I think this is a pretty silly argument, since everyone knows that 99.9% of uniformed Officers carry a weapon.

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Right. Bear with me.

Uniformed officers carry openly, always.


Why?

There are good reasons for it, so let's list them.

I CC. If you guys want to do it more power to you. I agree that an unpracticed right can easily be taken away, I'm just not comfortable doing it.