Concealed or Open Carry

1942bull said:

Personally I do not think open carry makes anyone more receptive to guns.

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I completely agree!

If you are mingling with a bunch of liberal anit-gunners while wearing a gun on your belt I highly doubt they are going to look at you and think to themselves "maybe guns are OK after all". I think the reaction is going to be the exact opposite. BUT if you live in a state where open carry is legal it is your right to shove it in their face if that is the type of person you are. Don't try to make yourself believe you are doing the rest of us gun owners a favor though.

Unless I'm "in the woods", concealed.
1- open carry is generally illegal in Fl, with rare exceptions (like being in the woods)
2- I don't like to call attention to myself ever, and having hidden surprises is always a good tactic
All that having been said, I wish Fl would adopt legal open carry. Not because I want to do this as a practice, only because I want to not have to worry about accidental exposure of my pistol on my belt while riding a motorcycle and ending up having to explain myself to a police officer, and/or possibly catching a charge over it.

Concealed.

No matter the "why," there's a populace of people who are genuinely frightened by guns. I'd just as soon wait until they can be properly indoctrinated instead of putting guns in their face.

I conceal because it's convenient for me. I don't make an effort to conceal, it's just under my shirt unless I wear iwb. If I have to go places that have a sign which I can legally disregard, I will iwb specifically to conceal. Mostly though you can see my holster bottom sticking below my shirt. Ky is real lax about it and I'm thankful. Wearing a gun is as common to me as pants. And I don't give it a second thought most days.

Concealed. I want to pick the time and place that gun comes into play. Or not, if I decide to just fade.

Concealed. Don’t want some jerk to try to grab it.

There are pros and cons for either, but under most circumstances, I choose concealed.

1) Element of surprise is with you

2) Some people will never get used to seeing open carry. You won't calm fears or make any converts. Most likely have the cops called on you

3) LEOs spend a lot of time training in handgun retention, and still about 10% of LEOs who are shot in the line of duty are shot with their own guns after it's taken away from them (his statistic goes back to the 1980s and has not changed)

The exceptions in which I might open carry is if I'm in a community where folks don't think anything of it, or at gun shows that allow it, and jamborees, and such where open carry is the norm.

In general...

1. I live my life to be left alone and to leave other people alone.
2. I don’t look like a victim.
3. I don’t look like a villain.
4. Open carry invites a different kind of crazy I don't want to put up with (see 1, above).

There was a lady shopper at Walmart open carrying. For whatever reason I simply did not expect to see this. Yes, it is perfectly legal to do so but why draw attention to yourself. I surmised that this individual did not have a NC-CHP thus open carry which is legal. For myself I am more discrete with a NC-CHP.

Concealed.

I have only seen one person open carry ever. It was in a barbecue joint when I was driving across the country. Maybe it was in Tennessee? I wondered why everyone was staring at this one guy in line like he was some kind of (rude word). Then he turned and I saw he had a full-sized 9mm pistol on his belt. Apparently, if you want to embarrass yourself in public, open carry is worth a try. It made me cringe.

I live in Texas, in a small town, with rural areas nearby. I have never seen anyone open carry around here, even though it's legal to do so.

People are armed, though. I see shirts with a bit of pistol grip showing through, and weighted pants pockets, and purses with a cylinder-shaped lump against the side.. That's okay. No one says anything. If you are polite enough to do a decent job of concealing your firearm, other folks will be polite enough not to notice if it shows a little bit by accident. That's how it works around here, anyway.

On the other hand, our local custom is that when hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, etc. out in the boonies, it's perfectly normal for people to have a handgun on their belt or a long gun in their hands. There's no particular reason to take note of it, unless perhaps you are acquainted with them and wish to compliment their good taste in firearms. ("Hey there Lefty. Long time no see. That's a nice Colt you got there. Catchin' anything?")

I carry concealed everywhere but off-trail wilderness (where I myself am concealed by forest and hills).

The one instance where open carry may have prevented violence was right on my front porch. Angry drunken neighbor became threatening and belligerent....until he realized that even though I was in my "PJs", I had a pistol in a holster on a belt around my waist. It didn't de-escalate as rapidly as you might think, but he backed off, got of my porch and then property, and told me I should call the police. I did. Prior to the point he saw the gun, he wanted to fight me, for no tangible reason at all.

That instance aside, I don't think open carry is productive or terribly safe. When I see people open carrying I always play a little mental game, and think about how I could get the jump on them and get their gun. Most seem fairly oblivious that I'm watching them.

Concealed.

Concealed 99% of the time. I don't care about "converting" people and I don't care if people get offended. I want the element of surprise and to not advertise to potential snatches.

If I'm in the woods, and I mean in the woods, not hiking on some public trail or park, I'll open carry.

Only other scenario would be a situation where one might wear a BBQ set up. But in my case that would be rural, on someone's private property and where there are a lot of other people doing the same that are well known.

NC is, like, 30ish as a gun friendly state. Open carry isn't as common as more gun friendly states. Getting hit with our "Going Armed to the Terror of the People" law, according to my DA buddy, is pretty much an LEO call. Not that many convictions, but who wants the expense of fighting that charge.

Plenty of surveillance videos on YouTube showing open carriers being robbed of their pistols by brazen criminals that simply snatch it out of the holster.

I chose not to limit myself to either/or but prefer the both/and approach.
Most of time I carry concealed, but I do occasionally carry open, depending on multiple factors.

Both have advantages and drawbacks, so ultimately do what you want so long as it legal.

I will say (imo) you should do due diligence to understand the advantages and drawbacks.

Concealed.
It's not show and tell.

Frank Ettin said:

This is a common belief, but I've never seen any verifiable, credible evidence to support it.

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With all due respect Frank, you're in California. And a citizen in one of the most liberal hot-beds in one of the most liberal states in the Union.

Also, note that we don't typically see any sort of surveys or polls in the national mainstream media about the concept of concealed vs. open carry either -- so how would we come up with evidence to support that oft-mentioned notion about open carry?

I live in Washington, where open carry is.not only legal, it's... not uncommon. Even in Western Washington. Yeah, we've got the usual a$$hats in cammies or tactical clothing with thigh-drop holsters or cheap Uncle Mike's nylon rigs, the usual assortment of Wal-Mart denizens excercising their 2nd Amendment rights without a thought as to how they're really coming across to those fence-sitters who don't normally even think about people carrying firearms in public.

I will open carry while hiking in the Cascades, even in the national parks (Olympic, Mt Rainier), always when hunting and fishing, and especially east of the mountains in Central and Eastern Washington where folks don't stress about seeing firearms carried in public. In Seattle? Nope. T-town (Tacoma)? Nope. On the job? Yep.

But, given the preference, concealed is the way to go. Note to the OP: we discuss OC vs. CC a few times a year. You'll quickly deduce that most here are ardent believers in concealed carry. And no, seeing folks open-carrying is never gonna desensitize the soccer moms and skinny-jean-wearing man-bun dudes to the point where they won't freak out when they spot a gun on the guy in line at Starbucks.

As far as social norms, open carry may have been the norm in the 1870s and 1880s in the Western states, but I'd suggest it won't ever be the norm again anywhere in the USA (at least until after the zombie apocalypse begins).

Concealed carry might have prevented having gun taken away and being shot at with it:
https://www.cbs42.com/news/crime/20...uspect-in-homewood-walmart-shooting-incident/

Concealed, unless at the range, hunting camp, or otherwise in the woods. I prefer to be the gray man when I’m in civilization.

I was totally against open carry whe GA was voting on it until a deputy friend and I were discussing it one day and he commented that he trains for hours trying to shave 10ths of a second on his draw times and if there was an open carry person present if anything was going south, open carriers would be the bad guys first target and I would gain seconds.
That said, I conceal carry when in the public and open carry in the woods.

I live in a National Forest in NE Michigan, and generally carry openly. Of course when wearing a coat or cover of any kind, that makes it concealed. In this area, open carry gets you not even a second look. Where I used to live, even though state legal, it would get you a lot of worried looks, and even a few women shrieking man with a gun! Eventually, you get tired of it and retort back something like, moron with kids! Also, I visit my local FOE far too often to carry all the time, but usually downstate I was never without.