Posted by Vector: If you are standing in line and the bad guys sees a firearm on your side, he is not going to ignore it/you and go about his business, he is going to shoot or disarm you then proceed.
Or...turn around and leave, and either go somewhere else or come back later.
I suggest that most armed robbers or armed muggers don't really want to shoot anyone. Their weapon serves as a means of making a credible threat.
I believe that there are only a few kinds of circumstances in which a person carrying openly is less safe than someone else: (1) when the robbery or other armed criminal action has already been initiated and the presence of the armed citizen puts the safety of the perps at risk; (2) when the perps are too desperate to be deterred (e. g., if the need for immediate money or other booty is dire, or the perps are under drug influence); or (3) if the perps really want the gun and sense a good possibility of getting it.
Otherwise,
if they see the gun, I should think they would be dissuaded from attmpting anything at that time and place.
On the other hand, if they don't notice the gun until
after they announce their intentions, the poor guy with the gun on his hip just
might end up wishing that he had been carrying concealed.
In the large city near where I live, (3) above would probably pose the highest risk of the three mentioned. I think, but cannot prove, that it might even outweigh the deterrent value. I'm told that autos parked on the street
will be broken into just to get a few visible coins or a charger with no device attached. No risk, but no real gain, either. Raise the ante to a high capacity handgun--something that not only could be fenced, but also useful as a tool for further wrong-doing--and the threshold for an acceptable risk level goes up quite a bit.
Move the scene out of an inner city with one of the worst violent crime rates in the country and the balance should shift markedly.
Now, none of my neighbors would agree with me on this, but go somewhere where open carry is very common, and I suggest that
everyone would be a lot safer--a polite society, if you will. I don't know about others, but if I were considering a violent crime or even a minor theft, I would choose somewhere else entirely. But even though we
have had shall issue CCW permits here for some years, a lot of people around here still say that concealed carry
will make things like "the wild west", and they believe it.
