Open Carry Day?

[Glock Glockler]

Yesterday I went to a Free State function waaaaaayyyyyy up in northern NH where the free staters and those of us who want them here, got together and hung out for the day. Since I was going to be among comrades, I figuered I'd open carry for the day (when I carry, it's CC) and the gesture would noted, and it was, but not just by my libertarian bretheren.

In the socialist stronghold of Portsmouth I went to get a friend of mine who'd be going, and I was outside his house as his neighbor's dog greeted me wanting to be pet. As I was playing with the dog the neighbor came out and talked with me for a minute. He kept looking at me, then nervously at my hip, back again, etc, before asking if I was with the Portsmouth police dept. (I am often mistaken for a cop) and I told him,

"Nope, I'm just here to visit my friend"

and with that he politely nodded and excused himself.

I'm sure the sight of me with a gun was a bit unnerving to the old gent, but that's probably the case because he doesn't see it that much. Obviously the further north I went, the less I would raise an eyebrow, but P-town probably never has people open carrying.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to condition people so that someone carrying a pistol is no big deal, hey, they see it all the time, right? What if our kind would pick a day every month where we open carry, for the purpose of advancing RKBA?

It would be imperitave that we present a good impression of ourselves (clean cut, mannerful, ect), but if done so I think we'd at least provoke some conversations about the issue.

What do you think?

PS I was exceededingly disappointed that Ian was not present at the Free State meeting

 

[Ian]

Hey, the drive from Colorado to New Hampshire ain't exactly trivial.

 

[Sheslinger]

Once someone saw you open carry, there is not really a purpose of concealed carrying, the element of surprise is gone and if it's a criminal who saw you, you might even become a target.

We have a carry permit in TN which is not a conceal carry permit but most instructors tell you to carry concealed to avoid possible hassle from LEO's and others, but mostly, to keep the advantage on your side, should a situation arise when you would have to use your gun.

Just my two cents
Sheslinger

 

[Kinsman]

I open-carry sometimes......nobody pays much attention.

 

[AZRickD]

The antis would rather have you concealed carry than open carry. If you open carry, and you behave yourself and are a polite person, it makes it difficult for Sarah Brady to paint you as the dark figure she needs you to be.

Open carry = activism.

If you aren't comfortable with it, don't bother, but don't discourage others from doing so. You'll only help Sarah.

Rick
Open-carry Arizona

 

[Standing Wolf]

I'd rather carry openly than concealed: you can pack more gun more comfortably in a hip holster, and besides, it would do the leftist extremists good to see lots of armed law-abiding American citizens.

 

[P95Carry]

Standing Wolf makes a good point .... in as much as ..... open carry at least gives a huge choice ... size then is way less important.

That aside .. i do tend to agree that overall concealed is best ..... no BG will know ...... others around aren't phased (tho once of course they wouldn't have been) ...... and it will give IMO an ''edge''.

 

[brookstexas]

WHat we need to do is-

Have an organized day were gun owners wear a colored ribbon etc.
Love to see the NRA do it but it's not likely they would.

 

[Kcustom45]

While I personally have no problem with people carrying open, it can hurt us.

If you scare some little old lady in the grocery store, because you have a gun on your hip, the next time she hears about banning handgun carry she will more than likely agree with it even if she wouldn't have thought about it in the past.

 

[AZRickD]

If, if, if.

I've bumped into hundreds of old ladies while openly carrying and I have yet to have a negative reaction. Just the opposite, in fact.

Don't let the bad guys win because they have made you afraid to engage in the debate. As such, CCW is disengaging.

Rick

 

[BrokenPaw]

When I open carry, I make a particular point of being unfailingly polite and helpful. That way, people have an example in their minds of a guy who, even though he was carrying a gun, somehow managed to be polite and helpful and who failed to kick any puppies or swear at any old ladies or anything.

Sarah Brady and her ilk are hysterical with fear, not of actual people owning actual guns, but of (their own) loss of control over the mindshare of the public as a whole, as people discover that guns are actually what we've been saying they are all along.

Carry openly, and be a good and well-mannered citizen, and let Sarah froth and spit and spew ill-begotten rhetoric. She's wrong, she knows it, and the more she screeches, the more people figure it out.

-BP

 

[P95Carry]

wrong, she knows it, and the more she screeches, the more people figure it out.

True enough Broken paw but ...... it'd be a hell of a lot better if media bias was not there .... balanced reporting would sway the doubters better than about anything else I reckon.

It's always the ''bad news'' that seems reported .. rairly the good (except maybe in NRA mag) etc.

 

[Partisan Ranger]

"Sarah Brady and her ilk are hysterical with fear, not of actual people owning actual guns, but of (their own) loss of control over the mindshare of the public as a whole, as people discover that guns are actually what we've been saying they are all along."
------------------

Well said, and also remember that the anti-gun extremist movement is their gravy train. If this issue dies, their paychecks die with it. As long as one child dies to gunfire, these bigots will be shrieking for guns to be melted down into napkin rings.

 

[dav]

A very important fact, folks, that you may not be considering.

If you do not take advantage of open carry, it is *very* easy for the anti's to say it is not necessary, no one does it, no one wants to do it, and there is no reason for it. So let's make it illegal.

I cannot open carry in California. I believe that technically it is still legal, even without a permit. But I would be arrested for disturbing the peace.

It might be thrown out at trial, it might not. But it would happen.

David Row
San Diego, KA

 

[Partisan Ranger]

I can open carry in VA just about anywhere, but I haven't yet. I am shy by nature and I really don't want people staring at me.

I have my CCW and do carry concealed quite a bit though.

 

[Devonai]

I'd open carry in NH if I had a different body type, or if I was a female. But the fact of the matter is that I'm 5'10", 220 lbs, very muscular and have a natural crease in my forehead that makes me look like Mr. Worf. Getting a positive reaction out of someone is hard enough with my weapon concealed! And believe me, I'm ultra-polite to everybody.

I do carry openly in the woods of NH, and the only other people I've run into were carrying openly, too. A pleasant hello was all that was needed for both of us to be satisfied.

 

[dav]

Just went and checked the California DOJ site, I was wrong.

It is unlawful to carry a loaded firearm on one’s person or in a vehicle while in any public place, on any public street, or in any place where it is unlawful to discharge a firearm.
(Penal Code § 12031(a)(1).)

However, from the same site, it appears that *if* I could get my CCW permit, then open carry is also allowed by that permit.

 

[Edward429451]

I think open carry is much better than CCW. If enough of us do it, the little old ladies will stop being intimidated by it within one generation.

Got escorted out of K-Mart once for open carry.

 

[BrokenPaw]

Well said, and also remember that the anti-gun extremist movement is their gravy train. If this issue dies, their paychecks die with it. As long as one child dies to gunfire, these bigots will be shrieking for guns to be melted down into napkin rings.

PR: You just made me realize something that had been lurking in the back of my mind.

Sarah Brady might very well be encouraging the real anti-gun extremists precisely because she knows that they're so patently absurd that the general public will never fully support them. She wants enough members of the public to think that the ban-all-guns-for-the-chiiiiiiiiildren crowd are out of line that true gun prohibition never actually occurs. Because if it did, she'd have to shut up. She'd lose her funding. Mission accomplished, go home, Sarah.

It's as much in Sarah Brady's interest to keep guns on the street in the hands of law-abiding citizens (so she'll have someone to rail against) as it is for employees in the Welfare Department to make sure that enough people stay on welfare so that they can keep their own jobs. It's job security.

Sarah's playing both ends against the middle, and it never occured to me. I thought she really wanted (misguided though it is) to actually get all guns removed from the street. Now I realize that she would never allow that to happen.

-BP

 

[Kcustom45]

If you do not take advantage of open carry, it is *very* easy for the anti's to say it is not necessary, no one does it, no one wants to do it, and there is no reason for it. So let's make it illegal.

That would be the other side of the argument. Like I said I have no problem, just pointing out the (possible) downside.

To all those who claim that you don't scare anyone, do you really believe that? You are telling me that no one has saw your gun and turned around and left. I don't know if I can believe that. Point is when you scare someone they go out and tell 10 people, but when you are nice to them and they see your gun they might tell 1 person.

Those that want to go ahead, but be overly nice like BrokenPaw said. Me, I will stick to concealed carry 95% of the time.

 

[AZRickD]

Do I really believe it? I'm an epidemiologist. By what event would you measure that? I have never started a stampede, nobody has ever fainted, nobody has ever told me that I frightened them or another person.

Hell, I'd bet if I were a big black guy I might scare some old bitty from Alabama. That doesn't mean I should much care about what a bigot, or a neurotic has to say on the issue.

If you had the option of banning open carry (for the good of the cause), would you do so? If not, why not?

Rick

 

[Kcustom45]

Well, putting myself in someone else's shoes if you scared me I would not come up and tell you and I would not make any sudden movements around you. That is why it is difficult for me to believe claims that people who open carry have never scared or made anyone nervous.

If I had the option to ban open carry I definitely would NOT do so. Everyone should be free to carry how they want. I want to conceal, but if you want to carry open go for it. I am only showing the one side of an argument.

BTW I like your signature.

 

[Edward429451]

Allow me to clarify. I think open carry is better than CCW, but am CCW 95% of the time or more. I dont want to scare someone and get a brandishing charge.

I used to try and do the right thing and open carry since I dont have a CCW permit, but (looong time ago) when I had just got my 45, I didnt want to get in trouble so at my NRA safety class thing that I went to in columbus, I carried it in my hand from my car up to the class in the building and they bout bit my head off for 'being stupid' when I walked into the class, they had been watching me out the window. They walked me to the front door in K-Mart for it, and a couple other times I've gotten concerned looks. So I realized that the REAL right thing to do is, keep it concealed from everyone but the po-po.

I do wish more people carried openly though, so people'd get used to it again. It would expand carry options and keep me just a little bit more legal and less likely to get in trouble.

 

[mattd]

How about making a unofficial open carry day now anyways like July 5 to celebrate Independence Day.