"Yet I've heard exactly one case of an openly armed private citizen being robbed on the street (and I have a few doubts about the veracity of that account)."---JesseL
Yes, and Mainsail has always "heard" and believed that virtually everybody openly packing a gun has no fear of being robbed. However, I've proven with documented evidence that his PERCEPTION was faulty. As is yours.
Since you haven't been in (nor possibly can be in) every county, city and town in the country, and have no access to their law enforcement records, you really have no idea what you're talking about.
I live in one of the larger cities in the country (within the top 30), where it is perfectly legal to carry openly. My job for years took me out into the public on a daily basis. I live near a major regional shopping mall, major hospital, numerous strip malls etc. I've traveled to places like Dallas, Indianapolis, Memphis, Jackson, Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta, Birmingham and a host of other cities.
Having been in all those places and many more---since 1984 I've seen a grand total of ONE person open carrying. It's completely safe to say that not even one tenth of one percent of Americans open carry handguns. Since so incredibly few people actually open carry, it's not surprising why you don't often hear of an OCer being robbed. Gee, ya reckon it could be because there aren't too many to begin with?!
"What do the first group have in common that Regular Joes with unconcealed sidearms don't? Lots of cash and/or valuables. The risk/reward ratio is completely different from a guy on the street with a pistol."---JesseL
Anybody so loose in the head that they'll perpetrate an armed robbery of a heavily armed drug house, gun shop, bank etc.---darn sure isn't going to be giving any thought to "risk/reward ratios".
There are two things that your typical gangbangers value more than anything---drugs and guns. Drugs can make them a whole lot of money, and they know they can easily get four figures on the street for that gun they see on your side.
It's true that gangbangers aren't going to try and rob anybody and everybody they see, especially if those people are smart enough not to be flashing their wallet, cash, expensive watches, jewelry etc.
Any person with common sense wouldn't flash even a single hundred dollar bill around the wrong people in the wrong neighborhood---people have been robbed and killed for less. So why on earth would they go into a bad neighborhood advertising the fact that they've got a handgun, that a criminal could sell on the street for four figures---which is a heckuva lot more than a hundred dollars.