Bikenut.
You make several good points especially the second point, but I do take issue with your first. How do you come to the conclusion "that both open carry and concealed carry have the same... bad guy sees his victim has a gun... "element of surprise". I don't mean to take this out of context or start a flame war. But I typically carry concealed, I typically do so for the exact reason you mentioned. I don't think there's anything magical or mystical about it. I just figure if the gun is hidden I'm less likely to be the first one shot when some douche decides to knock over the convenience store while I am buying a pack of Twinkies.
First of all folks asking questions should never result in a flame war... but should always result in having the question answered.
So please think about the following...
About that "element of surprise" thing..........
CC and OC have the very same "element of surprise" because the "element of surprise" is really nothing more than the bad guy being "surprised" to discover his intended victim ..... has a gun.
With CC the bad guy is "surprised" to see his intended victim has a gun to defend himself with after the bad guy has already chosen his victim and the attack is already in progress and at that point seeing the gun can make the bad guy decide to stop the attack.
With OC the bad guy is "surprised" to see his intended victim has a gun to defend himself with during the bad guy's choosing a victim process before the attack and at that point seeing the gun can make the bad guy decide not to attack at all.
But either way... it was the bad guy being "surprised" to see a gun that was the actual "element of surprise".
Quite frankly... I'd prefer the bad guy be "surprised" to see my openly carried gun and decide not to attack me so I can go home and watch the 6 o'clock news coverage .... from the comfort of my easy chair..... about the CC'er who had to pull his gun and "surprise" the bad guy who attacked him.
Does OC's "element of surprise" really work? Well.... there have been thousands of folks open carrying in many States (Like Arizona) for decades! and yet accounts of folks OC'ing being attacked are rare. And you know with the anti gun media any incident involving an open carrier being attacked would be covered over and over and over yet such has not been the case in the past nor is it now.
And, in my not so humble opinion, because CC's use of the "element of surprise" is only effective after the attack has begun but OC's use of the "element of surprise" can prevent an attack from happening............. OC's use of the "element of surprise" is far superior to CC's because....
I'd much rather watch the 6 o'clock news than to BE the news.
Now... about an OC'er being "targeted" or "shot first" by the bad guys...
OC has been practiced for DECADES in Arizona (just one State out of all the States where open carry is/has been done)... yet the incidents where an OC'er was "targeted" or "shot first" are so rare it is difficult to find any reputable incidents that can be backed up with cites and/or links to put any validity to those claims. If there were any truth to those claims shouldn't it be easy to find actual incidents especially considering there are DECADES!! of open carry to choose from?
