We've been OC for about two years now. I get customers in the auto parts store on a weekly basis who Open Carry. I notice, but many apparently don't.
I do recognize one or two as gun store employees. They seem to be carrying their own, not displaying high end merchandise for sale. Most are not overtly using LEO grade retention holsters.
The reason you want an extra level of retention are the same reasons LE wants extra retention. You don't want a bad guy to be able to snatch your gun from your holster easily wether in struggle or in a snatch and run in a crowded public location.
Is this fearmongering? Just how many snatches are going on? Check the stats - there are more home intrusions than perps grappling with OC citizens. The streets aren't as mean as they are sometimes portrayed.
Thugs are no different than you or me - they assess the risk of an activity and then decide if it's going to work for them. Let me suggest that of two people on the street they may choose to assault, the one who conceal carries is going to appear less risky, all other things being equal.
Goes to what I said about how some people are appraised - someone of lesser build who appears to have few skills will be considered on sight to be less able to defend themselves, compared to another of slightly larger build who may be in more robust shape.
The first - who could be openly armed - may well still be evaluated as an easier target than the second. After all, the perp is considering this in terms of an ambush - as the description of a disarm and theft describes. Simply approach, pull gun in a threatening manner, and take the other one. He saw a gun that looked "cute" and took it by force. The individuals build and make up didn't impress him one bit armed as he was.
A retention holster would be a waste of money in that circumstance. Why grapple when a perp just has to get the drop on his victim? That invites a question - did OC actually escalate the attempt by another to demonstrate the thugs belief he had more power?
"I saw this dude with a little popgun and took it from him. Lame."
Accessorizing your wardrobe with a cool gun isn't going to work for everyone all the time. Fine for a barbecue in Waco, not so much in some other 'hood.
We aren't LEO's who run to the sound of gunfire, nor are we looking to grapple with thugs to put them in cuffs. A retention holster might be a good thing for some, but the idea of making it a blanket application for everyone - no.
For those who prefer pocket carry, or use an airline type shoulder holster because they are in a vehicle all day, a retention duty belt holster isn't the best recommendation.
We are still on a learning curve with this, and just like telling someone they must use a full size double stack service pistol as their carry weapon, some of it may not apply to everyone.