Hamilton Felix
New member
I have been carrying concealed in Washington for uhh.... 36 years now (yeah, I'm that old). Seeing a such a stupid, poorly written law as RCW 9.41.270 just reminds me that where you are makes a lot of difference in how you are treated. When you see wording like "in a manner" and "warrants alarm," you know it's open to very broad (mis)interpretation. We're basically an open carry state, but have a law that says if a gun-hating citizen claims to be intimidated or threatened, then the open carrier is a criminal. Yeah, I know, it makes no sense.
In my rural area, wearing a gun is hardly noteworthy, and a rifle in the rack in one's pickup is common. But try it in an urban area and you may end up just as dead as that half-deaf woodcarver in Seattle who didn't even know the cop (who disliked him from past encounters) was there before he was shot full of holes. My hat is off to the brave and dedicated open carriers in such areas. They are taking a risk for our freedom. Remember, there are good cops and bad cops, trigger-happy cops and calm cops, ignorant cops and educated cops.
My life is busy and already has sufficient risk. I'll stick with deep concealment until the coming societal changes dictate that I make changes.
I do recall being told, long before the silly law mentioned above was passed, that if one gets into an argument or heated discussion, then one's coat flops open and shows one's weapon, that can constitute a threat to the other party. Exercise caution. You may be innocent until proven guilty, but in real life it takes a lot of time and money to prove your innocence.
In my rural area, wearing a gun is hardly noteworthy, and a rifle in the rack in one's pickup is common. But try it in an urban area and you may end up just as dead as that half-deaf woodcarver in Seattle who didn't even know the cop (who disliked him from past encounters) was there before he was shot full of holes. My hat is off to the brave and dedicated open carriers in such areas. They are taking a risk for our freedom. Remember, there are good cops and bad cops, trigger-happy cops and calm cops, ignorant cops and educated cops.
My life is busy and already has sufficient risk. I'll stick with deep concealment until the coming societal changes dictate that I make changes.
I do recall being told, long before the silly law mentioned above was passed, that if one gets into an argument or heated discussion, then one's coat flops open and shows one's weapon, that can constitute a threat to the other party. Exercise caution. You may be innocent until proven guilty, but in real life it takes a lot of time and money to prove your innocence.