open carry: worth it?

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-eaux-

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i know my feelings, i ask for yours.
why should i register with the state to ccw when i live in an open carry state?
on the other hand, why should i put up with all the garbage that comes with carrying open when carrying open is my right? should i register with the state to save myself the explaining? do i even owe anyone an explanation at all?
just how militant does it make me to exercize a right? there seems a serious descrepancy between what my rights are and reality.
do i open carry (possibly viewed as civil disobedience) to find out how my local LE feels about it?
 
I have been thinking about doing that in WI since CCW does not exist.. ever visited opencarry.org?
 
as do i, obviously.
asking for firsthand experience with the "public" as well as the "officials".
as a citizen and a former LEO, i know my take on open carry.
your mileage may vary.
and that's exactly what i want to know.
how various your mileage...
 
I open and cc. Depends on my mood. But having a cpl means i can carry in my car doing open carrt. screwy rule here. you can't pack a loaded gun on your person in our car unless you have CLP.
Beside open carry is more comfortable. If someone ask I tell tehm it is legal and I do it for theor safety as well as mine.
 
no offense taken, dude.
was asking for personal experience from THR members in regards to my question.
i try to hold them in higher esteem than just googling it, dude.
 
i'm LEO and i support OC. i wish we could get it back, in FL. what i do NOT support is detaining a person for whom you have no reasonable suspicion that they have committed, are committing, or are about to commit a crime. That's ILLEGAL. unfortunately, it happens ALOT with OC. i feel that after the first time you are detained, for doing nothing other than carrying openly, you should notify the Ofc's supervisor simply to ask them to better educate their subordinates AND you should start carrying a voice recorder because a civil suit needs to be pursued if the violations of your rights continue.

while i do support it, i'm more of a "blend in" kind of guy. most people never remember me being somewhere and those that do can't seem to describe me. i like it that way. so the fixed blade knife that i carry is concealed, even though (in FL) we are allowed to OC edged weapons. i've gotten to the point i carry my secondary knife INSIDE my pocket because i don't even like the tell tale clip showing.

i'm not saying i won't OC, when i feel the time is right, but generally i try to be less noticeable.
 
I don't think it is a good idea

I live in a state where it is legal to open carry. I have carried openly twice and doubt that I will ever do it again. On the first occasion I ended up in a confrontation with a drunk and the second time I ended up talking with several cops, 5 units to be exact.

Furthermore, I am beginning to wonder if people who insist on carrying openly are like smokers who insist that they should be able to smoke anywhere. I recently heard about the Brady groups efforts to get Starbucks to post all of their stores. This is happening because there is an open carry group in California that has been meeting there. Apparently, they have been losing some of their regular customers who don't want to be around guns. While I know it is their right, at least for now, they run the risk of turning Starbucks into a gun free zone. As for idiots who run around public parks with rifles or AK pistols because it is their right, if their is enough public outcry they will cost you your rights.
 
I do both, mostly depending on my mood, and/or how lazy I feel that day, or even at the moment. Open carry is legel here and I have a concealed handgun permit. I've never had a problem doing either. Any comments I've gotten, and they were few, were along the lines of "Can I do that too?" "What kind of gun is that?" That kind of thing. Never a "OH MY GOD! He's got a gun!" Never had a LEO ask me anything about it.

When I married my wife she had recently moved to Free America (Virginia) after escaping from the Peoples Republic of Chicago. She couldn't believe she could buy and carry a gun. She thought this was the neatest thing she'd ever heard of. Frankly I had never given much thought to getting a CHP. When I wanted to carry a gun, I did (YES! (gasp) I broke the law.) She insisted that we both get them, if for as she said, no other reason than, "A lot of people worked hard to get this law passed. If we don't take advantage of it, those who oppose it will say 'See, no one wanted this law in the first place. Let's repeal it.'" We did and I started carrying most every day. Not because I thought I "needed to" but because I could.

I figure the same thing applies to to Open Carry. A right not exercised is a right you might as well not have.

Should everybody do it? That's up to "everybody." Should you do it all the time? Probably not, there are some times and places where you might not want to let everyone know you're armed. On the other hand there are times and places where it doesn't matter.

Personally I'd like to see no debate. I don't think you should have to have a CHP. I don't think there should be a law making open carry legal. I think laws should say what you can't do, not what you can. But facts is facts. For now, those laws are toeholds on the beach to regaining rights that should never have been taken in the first place. Keep up the offensive.
 
The pros and cons, along with documented experiences, have been well covered on MANY forums. Stop beating this horse, its spirit left long ago.
 
I wear jeans and a tucked in T-shirt and an OWB holster, and when it's too warm for a coat or overshirt, guess what? I'm OCing!

I've never had any real problems. Once in a while an old lady will give me the hairy eyeball, but cops here are learning to leave OCers alone. Heck, it's always been legal here, it's just that until state preemption made local ordinances against it moot, nobody wanted to try it except in the hunting woods. A gun group put together enough scratch to hire a good lawyer and went to court and got a precident-setting decision. I feel I as a gun owner owe them my thanks, and my support. At least by exercising the 'rights' they worked to restore to me...
 
OP, I tried open carry exactly once, while I was walking through my neighborhood looking for my missing puppy. This old lady I approached was terrified of me, which kind of made feel bad because I was only carrying a .22 to put the dog down if he had been injured by a vehicle. I knew there was no reason to get into an RKBA discussion with her, because emotional people don't listen.

If you like getting the cops called on you, go for it. I'll conceal.
 
You need to lay your hand on the Freedom Bike. It's the Harley with the plate that reads "THX GPD" GPD = Gonzales Police Department.

LA cops have been taught a lesson by Mark Edward Marchiafava. Go ahead an open carry, and remind them of who's boss. If they harass you for exercising a right, you might get a bike of your own.
 
CZ223 said:
Furthermore, I am beginning to wonder if people who insist on carrying openly are like smokers who insist that they should be able to smoke anywhere. As for idiots who run around public parks with rifles or AK pistols because it is their right, if their is enough public outcry they will cost you your rights.
Click to expand...

Then it's not much of a right if it can be taken from you for exercising it. Sure, you have this right - just don't be so silly to practice it.

There's a little anti in you somewhere.
 
The pros and cons, along with documented experiences, have been well covered on MANY forums. Stop beating this horse, its spirit left long ago
Click to expand...


You and one other guy are the only ones complaining. Is somebody holding a gun to your head forcing you to click on this tired worn-out thread?
 
Is open carry worth it? I dunno, is free speech worth it? ;)

I would get the concealed permit too, because it often expands what you can do.

For example, in Mi it is illegal for someone without a CPL to carry in any business that has a liquor license. That means most restaurants and grocery stores too. However, with a CPL one can carry concealed or in the open in a grocery store or restaurant and carry open (but not concealed) in a bar. The concealed license also means that you have the option of covering up if a business owner asks you to (as is their right) instead of having to go put the firearm in your car or just leaving the store.

Check here: http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/ to find others in your state who OC and can help you out with what your local laws are.
 
My feelings about open carry?

If you can carry concealed, by all means carry concealed. If you're forced to open carry by law, then beware of the unexpected. Your gun is not a piece of jewelry with magical powers to repel trouble. Open carry relinquishes the element of surprise to any adversary you may encounter.

The gun may attract trouble (people who are "not right in their minds") instead of deterring it.
* Drunks
* Tweakers
* Psychotics/mentally disturbed
* Brazen street thugs who menance and taunt (knowing you'll follow "the rules")
* Malicious anti-gunners who might be willing to lie to have you arrested

And the potential for many other unexpected, inconceivable situations you're not prepared to handle.
 
Oh I almost forgot, OP - damn you to hell for bringing up a topic that these guys - who took the trouble to post here anyway - do NOT want to discuss further. How dare you begin a casual conversation in a public forum without undertaking hours of painstaking research to divine the pearls of wisdom that they have so graciously Blessed us all with in Previous Discussions - towering works of intellect which have already solved the world's problems to the Nth detail.
Click to expand...

good post.............thanx for the laugh. Gets old coming to these forums looking for something to read only to see the "search" Gods throwing lightning bolts at the poor individuals that start a thread about a subject brought up before. These folks need to go to the reloading forum and see all the "can I use magnum primers instead of standard primers?" threads.

I agree, if you have nuttin more to say than "do a search first dummy!"....don't say nuttin' at all.
 
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