The Bushmaster
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Gunny...My favorite is the guy [in Wally-World] dressed in camo and carrying in a low slung [military] holster. Most of the ones I see in Wall Mart look like they just barely graduated (sorry buck460XVR) 8th grade.
Open Carry
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AlexanderA
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People notice, but they are conditioned not to show any obvious reaction. It's the same as when they encounter someone with a severe physical handicap. We are trained from an early age not to stare.
Agree. However, there are some folks now who go crazy at the sight of any gun. Just how it is.
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FL-NC
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I wish I still had the photo I took of the idiot in Fayetteville, NC carrying a serbu shorty in a thigh rig.
Fine Figure of a Man
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The same guy squeals the tires on the way out of the lot, thinking people are impressed. Just an idiot, accessorized with a gun and a car.
I take slight issue with this having spent my first years in a trailer park and having several decent, civil, hardworking family members who didn’t excel academically. One need not graduate from middle school to know common norms around civility or the logic that links retention to open carry.
Good point. On another concealed carry forum I frequent, there are a few posts each year from people who got caught carrying against policy and are fired for it. “No one notices” is a crock.
scaatylobo
Member
I did not mention this in my opening missive.
But I was a defensive tactics instructor for 22 years of my 26 as an LEO.
I took all the courses [ and a few on my own ] and I was one of the instructors that taught " firearms retention".
I had my martial arts instructor [ Wing Chun & Jeet Kune Do Concepts ] ask me if I could retain my duty pistol in a level III [ 3 ] duty holster on my duty belt from an attempt from him = my answer was a VERY fast " HELL YEA ".
He then asked " would you like it back,to try again ".
If I could not stop him,I am pretty sure I never met any who could.
That is my point about OC that scares the hell out of me.
That's sobering.
rpenmanparker
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Sorry, but I don’t think there is any room for commentary regarding legal carry options. If OC is legal, it is legal. There isn’t a dress code. There isn’t a “but not at Walmart” stipulation or in a crowd. That is the problem with open carry. It is generally unattractive, but folks demand to have their rights. Well, friends, now you got ‘em but still aren’t happy. Folks carrying don’t dress well enough? Don’t get their hair cut often enough? Don’t spend enough on their holsters? That just isn’t how it works. See “unintended conequences” if you need more explanation.
Officers'Wife
Member
To start, everyone has a God giving right to screw up their lives as they see fit. Open carry falls into that category. In my mind there is a time and a place for everything. Stopping off at the coffee shop after a hunting foray or a visit to the public range for a competition is one of those times. Visiting the big city for sight seeing is not. Sister Beatrice once made the point that the good Christian did not purposely provoke strong reaction from others without Godly cause. And whether for good or ill the sight of someone with a weapon is going to invoke strong reaction to city people.
rpenmanparker
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When I mention how many towns in the post-Civil War West hired lawmen to confiscate guns (carried openly of course), I get a load of derision. No it wasn’t just Dodge City and Tombstone. It wasn’t just the Earps. Point is most civilized folks don’t like open carry for a variety of good reasons. Never did. But if belief in the 2A means open carry, well there you have it. You are not going to teach everyone how to do it in a way least offensive to you. Personally I don’t get offended by it. But you guys know I am weird, right?
I grew up in a rural state where pickups outnumbered sedans and open carry was relatively common outside of cities. As far as retention issues, in the rural area (this was pre meth days btw), there was relatively little crime and what crime there was centered on things like drunk driving, property crimes, illegal hunting and trespass, the occasional moonshiner and dope grower, and the like. In a society like that, if someone wanted to see your firearm, they would just have to ask--it would be virtually unheard of to grab a person's firearm from an open holster.
There were several reasons for this--in a rural area, guns were generally associated with hunting--not crime. Firearms were part of the culture including students bringing all sorts of shotguns in gun racks in the mud spattered pickup trucks in the high school parking lot during duck and goose seasons. Students would often get up in oh dark thirty to sit in freezing duck blinds waiting for daylight, then go to class. One could bring a firearm to school during those days and have it worked on in the high school shop--the JROTC folks were crack shots, and so forth. One local shop owner got held up one time and as a result, he opened carried at his store until he retired--no more holdups. It was frequent for wrecker truck drivers, farmers, etc. to carry weapons overtly to deal with wildlife issues--to put a deer out of its misery after a car wreck, to deal with coyotes, etc.
In addition, it is easier to take the firearm off with open carry in many cases inside the holster compared with other carry inside the waist, comfort, and so forth. There is a reason that OWB is generally more popular than IWB even in concealed carry. If one is driving long ways, most concealed carry weapons hurt, do not allow ready access, etc. In a rural state, it could be miles to get to a gas station or convenience store and it is either carry it on you or in the generally crowded glove box.
BTW, I find the snobbishness in some of the posts above offputting. There is an old saying about judging a book by its cover. It is superficial to use the health, outward appearance, and hygiene of individuals deals with their outside appearance to make judgments on their souls. In my case, I have found many of those Bubbas willing to help someone with a blowout on the side of the road, help shoo livestock back into confinement, open up their mechanic's shop to fix a transmission leak at 11 PM for a stranger ruining a couple's night out at Waffle House, bringing their neighbors fresh produce from their gardens, being able to quote scriptures verbatim on issues, and giving helpful hints to strangers as to the good places to get bbq, giving directions to lost souls, toting some gas or even siphoning from their own tank to someone who has ran out, and helping out wherever they can.
In contrast, some of the right villains that I have met wear three piece suits, have excellent dental insurance, never have dirt under their fingernails, would never wear a t shirt except under a dress shirt, nor ever be in a Wal Mart, and I am sure this sort of person would never commit the faux pas of carrying a firearm openly.
Often, the obsession with SES and climbing the social hierarchy can outweigh the impulse to be a kind, caring individual in this world and I see that demonstrated to ill effect in cities and suburbs far more than rural areas. In a rural area, everyone knows who are the big dogs and those big dogs don't have to demonstrate it overtly. In suburbs and cities, they do by using intricate class distinctions to elevate their status versus someone else's. In one instance, a learned friend who grew up in rural east Tennessee, was accomplished as far as having a JD and PhD, was put down at a faculty party for not knowing the difference between brie and cheesecake at a faculty soiree. He soon left that university to go elsewhere to that university's great loss. There is a lesson in that I suppose.
There were several reasons for this--in a rural area, guns were generally associated with hunting--not crime. Firearms were part of the culture including students bringing all sorts of shotguns in gun racks in the mud spattered pickup trucks in the high school parking lot during duck and goose seasons. Students would often get up in oh dark thirty to sit in freezing duck blinds waiting for daylight, then go to class. One could bring a firearm to school during those days and have it worked on in the high school shop--the JROTC folks were crack shots, and so forth. One local shop owner got held up one time and as a result, he opened carried at his store until he retired--no more holdups. It was frequent for wrecker truck drivers, farmers, etc. to carry weapons overtly to deal with wildlife issues--to put a deer out of its misery after a car wreck, to deal with coyotes, etc.
In addition, it is easier to take the firearm off with open carry in many cases inside the holster compared with other carry inside the waist, comfort, and so forth. There is a reason that OWB is generally more popular than IWB even in concealed carry. If one is driving long ways, most concealed carry weapons hurt, do not allow ready access, etc. In a rural state, it could be miles to get to a gas station or convenience store and it is either carry it on you or in the generally crowded glove box.
BTW, I find the snobbishness in some of the posts above offputting. There is an old saying about judging a book by its cover. It is superficial to use the health, outward appearance, and hygiene of individuals deals with their outside appearance to make judgments on their souls. In my case, I have found many of those Bubbas willing to help someone with a blowout on the side of the road, help shoo livestock back into confinement, open up their mechanic's shop to fix a transmission leak at 11 PM for a stranger ruining a couple's night out at Waffle House, bringing their neighbors fresh produce from their gardens, being able to quote scriptures verbatim on issues, and giving helpful hints to strangers as to the good places to get bbq, giving directions to lost souls, toting some gas or even siphoning from their own tank to someone who has ran out, and helping out wherever they can.
In contrast, some of the right villains that I have met wear three piece suits, have excellent dental insurance, never have dirt under their fingernails, would never wear a t shirt except under a dress shirt, nor ever be in a Wal Mart, and I am sure this sort of person would never commit the faux pas of carrying a firearm openly.
Often, the obsession with SES and climbing the social hierarchy can outweigh the impulse to be a kind, caring individual in this world and I see that demonstrated to ill effect in cities and suburbs far more than rural areas. In a rural area, everyone knows who are the big dogs and those big dogs don't have to demonstrate it overtly. In suburbs and cities, they do by using intricate class distinctions to elevate their status versus someone else's. In one instance, a learned friend who grew up in rural east Tennessee, was accomplished as far as having a JD and PhD, was put down at a faculty party for not knowing the difference between brie and cheesecake at a faculty soiree. He soon left that university to go elsewhere to that university's great loss. There is a lesson in that I suppose.
I totally support the right to open carry or concealed carry. I'm not a fan of Open Carry for tactical reasons:
1. Advertising you are a potential adversary.
2. Retention.
I do OWB but when I do it is with a level 2 holster and a concealment overgarment. When I IWB, I have a level-2 retention waistline
1. Advertising you are a potential adversary.
2. Retention.
I do OWB but when I do it is with a level 2 holster and a concealment overgarment. When I IWB, I have a level-2 retention waistline
rpenmanparker
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How about Brie cheesecake? Yum.
Seriously, good post.
Seriously, good post.
Officers'Wife
Member
I remember one winter when I was helping my uncle there was a city people that had thought the roads were better than they were. As was my uncle's habit he got on the tractor and we went down the lane to the highway. He had just back up to the car when the guy gets out and in one of the most condescending tones that has been my misfortune to hear told my uncle to be careful as his car was worth over 60 thousand dollars.
My uncle just stared at him a long moment then nodded. He told the guy he was right and it wouldn't be fitting for him to attach a quarter million dollar tractor to a 60k piece of junk. He put the chain back in the tool box and we drove off. It took the tow truck guy 7 hours to get to him. The moral is, class distinctions lose their meaning when you are the one dumb enough to be in the snowdrift and the redneck with dirty clothes has the equipment to pull you out.
Proceeds to make commentary.
No one in this thread has said that OC should be illegal.
You don't specify who you're responding to, but making a straw man argument with a nebulous counterargument based on a 1,000 page work of fiction is so dilute as to not be any sort of point in and of itself. People are free to OC; I'm free to think that it's idiotic to set oneself up to be killed with their own gun. And yet, both of us can go on living our lives. The wonderful nature of this experiment.
Wisco
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I firmly believe open carry is generally impolite unless part of employment or in pursuit of another activity that requires it such as hunting.
I do a fair amount of open carry when I’m around my home or on my land, but when I go to town, the gun is concealed.
Some places, open carry is a natural way of life and probably necessary - Western states, Alaska. Most other places, when I see people open carry, it’s for a “look at me” kind of thing. I’m not going to argue the psychology of those I haven’t actually talked to at length, but about 90% of the time open carriers I see present themselves as jackasses in appearance and then when they speak.
“Are you just being really polite to me because I have a gun?” asked one guy a few years ago.
Nah dude, I’m just really nice to everyone until they say something like that.
I do a fair amount of open carry when I’m around my home or on my land, but when I go to town, the gun is concealed.
Some places, open carry is a natural way of life and probably necessary - Western states, Alaska. Most other places, when I see people open carry, it’s for a “look at me” kind of thing. I’m not going to argue the psychology of those I haven’t actually talked to at length, but about 90% of the time open carriers I see present themselves as jackasses in appearance and then when they speak.
“Are you just being really polite to me because I have a gun?” asked one guy a few years ago.
Nah dude, I’m just really nice to everyone until they say something like that.
rpenmanparker
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And yet I’m right. Doncha just hate when that happens? Not only that, but I haven’t the slightest idea what you are talking about. I suspect you don’t either.
rpenmanparker
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What does polite have to do with it? You crusade for the right (I assume, please correct me if I’m wrong) but don’t approve of the activity. Now that is truly cocked up.
rpenmanparker
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Not the book “Unintended Consequences”! The concept. You can tell by the lack of capitalization.
Elkins45
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I’m happy if someone else carries openly because that means the first round of bullets will most likely be directed at them.
It’s always been legal here and I strongly feel it should always remain so. Having said that, it’s not for me if for no other reason than reducing unpleasant interactions with idiots who feel the need to share their opinions on guns.
It’s always been legal here and I strongly feel it should always remain so. Having said that, it’s not for me if for no other reason than reducing unpleasant interactions with idiots who feel the need to share their opinions on guns.
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