Why Aren't More People In South Carolina Open Carrying?

We have had open carry here in Tx for several years now and I have seen exactly 3 people open carry. I have had a couple flash me with their concealed carry but I haven't seen open carry in well over a year now. I did see one "kid" in Home Depot that had his Tacticle Holster and belt on with a big knife on his belt but no gun in the tied down leg holster. I thought he looked stupid.

 

To each their own. No law against it, I carry still. Concealed is concealed they don't know I am carrying. In the situation that I reveled that I was carrying aka their and their customers lives are on the line, I guarantee they will be glad I ignored their sign. Been doing this for well over a decade now with no issue.

 

The state TN Handgun Carry Permit is simply handgun carry. VA (six miles from me) was always open carry allowed, concealed required a permit.
Practically, TN HCP is open carry legal, but concealed carry recommended to avoid flutters from the gun sensitive.

 

Your pop psychology is misplaced, because I said nothing about what I do and did not imply one way or the other. Another poster did actually admit not feeling restricted by signs.

 

PA is OC, but I rarely see an OCer. I do not OC. No need to draw that attention to myself on purpose.

 

Michigan is open carry. I was at a political rally on the state capitol lawn a couple years ago and a guy was open carrying a shot gun and a pistol. I only recall one other instance of open carry, at another political rally, this guy just a pistol on his hip.

So I assume each state's open carry may be different. Do any require a permit for open carry? Do all open carry states require the gun be unloaded and stored in the trunk when you get in your car? Michigan considers it concealed carry if an open carry person gets in their car with the loaded gun still on their hip. Makes it kind of difficult to actually open carry.

 

When I was a young adult I would OC my S&W model 10 going into the hardware store in downtown Shelby NC. No one gave you a second look. These days, I am more apt to CC so as to not draw attention. Working on the property though, I'll sling something on my hip all day.

 

In SC open carry is limited to those with a CCW permit. North Carolina has been an open carry state as long as I remember. I’ve only seen a handful of people do it for the 22 years I lived there. It was maybe 2 or 3 times.

 

Open carry was legal in NC and still is now. When I lived there, it was fairly common in the Fayetteville area. Fayetteville is where Ft Bragg is located- the home of airborne and Special Operations forces, so there's some pretty "hardcore" and well-trained locals. Its also got a very high crime rate and a whole bunch of gun shops. OC among gun shop employees was as common as shoes. I also saw people in small businesses carrying, tow truck drivers, locksmiths who pop locks for lockouts, and the like open carrying. Lots of people who rode motorcycles of all types open carried. Though this may be stereotyping, lots of people who looked like they shouldn't be allowed to own a gun did it too. Not unusual at all to see people shopping at places like Wal mart or Lowes doing the OC thing. I saw one jackass with a serbu 12 gauge in some type of road warrior looking holster strapped to his thigh. On the other hand, you wouldn't see a whole lot of OC going on in a small town, I suppose because those people didn't feel as though they would be likely to need a handgun. Same with larger cities like Charlotte or Raleigh. Just my observations, as for accurate conclusions for why, I couldn't say.

 

Yea I was in Asheville or Raleigh. Not a lot of people doing it in those cities.

 

Being a Hoosier who can carry open or not. I prefer to not walk around brandishing a sidearm. I'll keep mine concealed until needed. Just my 2 cents worth but showing what you are carrying, while your right, doesn't make it tactically a good choice.

 

Exactly, which is why one does not want a huge black gun while wearing light color clothes. Want to be as inconspicuous as possible. Nonetheless, the perps will know and try to get the gun, so yeah, generally a bad idea.

 

I chimed in a few pages back. I don’t want to call attention to myself. I would never open carry. My opinion is an old guy with a gun showing is a target in some settings. I don’t want to be a target for a gun grab. A couple young guys could plan an attack and distract and overpower me I would think. I like the element of surprise on my side.

 

Open Carry is not "brandishing" a firearm.

I know what you mean, but in the legal world of firearms, "brandishing" has a very specific meaning, and it isn't a positive one.

 

Well, maybe in some states.

Though we are an open carry state, in NC we have a law called "Going Armed to the Terror of the People." Included:

My DA friend explained that brandishing was the spirit of the law, but unfortunately discretion is in the hands of the LEO. Did the fact you open carried in Walmart terrorize other shoppers? He said it was a loose law with lots of latitude. "Conceal it," was his advice.

An offshoot of open carry is the trail of "Firearms Prohibited" signs in its wake. I was at a popular beach access facility several years ago when a kid brought his girlfriend to the gazebo.. a Glock proudly displayed on his hip. He got plenty of stares. Yep... a month later the facility was posted.

Folks, I get it. Tons of people didn't grow up with dad's that took them shooting and most of their exposure to guns are colored by TV's negative display of who has a gun and how they use it. Open carry doesn't ring the same with such folks... it's just a nut showing his "stuff."

I don't want to perpetuate that perspective and I look for opportunities to introduce the benefits of guns for self defense. I'm grateful for laws beneficial to open carry so I don't get nailed when my shirt rides up, but I'd rather wait for an opportunity over lunch to say, "Yeah I'm carrying a gun, let me tell you all bout it."

 

Or nonexistent, as in Florida, where it’s illegal.

 

Why draw that unnecessary attention to your cell phone purpose? I wouldn't & I don't.

 

We've had open carry in Louisiana for a long time, it's nothing to get excited about. People don't walk around town like it's Dodge City, 99% of the time. I do see someone every so often, as often as not it's been a fairly young man with a child with him, at a grocery store. Every so often= maybe once a year.
I've seen more open carry when I went to gun shows, but it's still quite rare there. Maybe one or two walking around with a pistol on their belt.

The times it does increase in frequency, are when the world gets flipped. After hurricanes etc, when most lights are on because of generators. And it's still people just going about their business.

edit to add- someone mentioned seeing employees at gun shops doing that. I didn't include that. I do see that almost every time I go into a gun shop, pawn shop, range etc. It doesn't even register to me. It's not like the guy working at Home Depot in the lumbar aisle has a 1911 on his hip.

 

I kinda thought the gun shop thing was a requirement I see it so often.

 

We need concealed carry so if your shirt tail inadvertently covers your gun, you're still legal. We need open carry so if your shirt rises up and exposes your gun, you're still legal.

 

In my opinion, this scenario could have been and should have been addressed by inserting language into the existing CWP laws that covers "momentary and unintentional exposure". I'm always suspicious when a small but well funded group employs a PR campaign that convinces lawmakers to pass legislation no one outside a small group is really pushing for.

 

I don't understand you. What is this "small but well funded group employing a PR campaign?"

I suggest they are no different from people who defend the Right to Free Speech, or the Right to a Jury Trial.

 

Then you have to insert into the law what constitutes momentary and unintentional exposure. How do you separate unintentional from downright improper/negligent exposure? How many times do you get to momentarily disclose because of a bad choice of cover garment and gun position? Do you want to do court time arguing your opinion on momentary and unintentional with that of the cop's/prosecutor's view of what it means?

It really is best just to have open carry laws.

 

We went through that entire process in Oklahoma several years ago. We had “shall issue” concealed carry laws for years. The only problem with the way the laws were written is that if you accidentally exposed your weapon, or it printed in your pocket, you were in violation of the law. That’s all some police agencies needed to give law abiding citizens a hard time and a citation. Our current Constitutional Carry Laws corrected the problem with one small exception. Business owners, and buildings that are publicly owned, can post the “No Firearms” placard on their door and that carries the full weight of the law behind it. IMO those placards make us all targets for those bent on committing a mass shooting. I do not support, enter, or spend any money at such business establishments.