Concealed Carry or Open Carry? Where do you stand?

[Treo]

I do have one objection to open carry or at least a reason I choose not to.

If I open carry I choose to give up a portion of control over my life. I say this because I can’t stop some anti from MWAGing me to the police. I don’t really care to expose myself to that hassle.

Having said that I remain a supporter of your right to carry as you wish

 

[Treo]

She is a helper, from stopping to help terrapins cross the road,

I've stopped to help Turtles across the road and I'll drop you (in the generic sense) like a bad habit.

 

[seo124]

My question: is it OK (in TX) to carry outside the waist? How much bigger should your pants be if you're carrying inside?

 

[Treo]

My question: is it OK (in TX) to carry outside the waist?

Yes, as long as the gun remains concealed

How much bigger should your pants be if you're carrying inside?

Depends on how you normally wear your pants. Skin tight Wranglers? a size bigger, Levi's 550s your normal size

 

[gejoslin]

Whodat, my wife is one of your examples who does not have the mindset to shoot someone to save her life. She picked-out her own personal defense wheel gun, as she cannot rack any slides due to a crushed arm in an accident. I've taken her to the range countless times, had an instructor talk to her, and stayed out of any pushing and impatient badgering.

She is a helper, from stopping to help terrapins cross the road, to giving money to her coworkers, and she would help anyone at any time for any reason. We've been to relatives' huge outdoor range where I could let my AR stretch its legs, and she got to try all calibers and some she will not fire again. Mainly my XD-S and .45-70 rifle.

She is scared to death of firearms because of an incident with an ex-husband who held her head over the sink and stuck a .357 magnum to her head to intimidate her. It worked. She is now scarred for life, will only take a few shots with whatever she is shooting and hand it over to me to shoot.

Ironically, after getting her wheelgun, she went through a 50 count box after I limbered-up the trigger for her with a few thousand dry fire pulls. I don't know why it went downhill from there, unless the thought of the sink incident.

I worry she doesn't have the mindset to save her life, if that time ever comes.

I had a discussion with a returning vet about this very issue, and it not only applies to my wife, but soldiers in the heat of battle "freeze", and can't pull the trigger, even though they are in grave danger. He's seen it.

She doesn't carry, and uses the .38 special as a night stand sidearm. I've given her a half-dozen lady firearm sites to visit and peruse, but she only went to one for a few minutes.

She has the tool to protect herself (I wish she could have used a semi-auto), but I'm worried about the freeze factor. Sorry for the editorial, but thought it needed shared.

Thanks for sharing r1der. There are things in this life that do leave everlasting scars. God Bless your wife.

 

[coachdb18]

Like foxytwo, I prefer concealed. But there's no debate as far as I'm concerned. I never debate other people's exercise of their own freedoms just because they exercise theirs differently than I exercise mine.

Exactly, they're both legal options in free America. Generally, I CC in public for the sake of not standing out if SHTF, and open carry when I'm hiking or in the woods, since Bears don't care.

 

[whodat2710]

Whodat, my wife is one of your examples who does not have the mindset to shoot someone to save her life. She picked-out her own personal defense wheel gun, as she cannot rack any slides due to a crushed arm in an accident. I've taken her to the range countless times, had an instructor talk to her, and stayed out of any pushing and impatient badgering.

She is a helper, from stopping to help terrapins cross the road, to giving money to her coworkers, and she would help anyone at any time for any reason. We've been to relatives' huge outdoor range where I could let my AR stretch its legs, and she got to try all calibers and some she will not fire again. Mainly my XD-S and .45-70 rifle.

She is scared to death of firearms because of an incident with an ex-husband who held her head over the sink and stuck a .357 magnum to her head to intimidate her. It worked. She is now scarred for life, will only take a few shots with whatever she is shooting and hand it over to me to shoot.

Ironically, after getting her wheelgun, she went through a 50 count box after I limbered-up the trigger for her with a few thousand dry fire pulls. I don't know why it went downhill from there, unless the thought of the sink incident.

I worry she doesn't have the mindset to save her life, if that time ever comes.

I had a discussion with a returning vet about this very issue, and it not only applies to my wife, but soldiers in the heat of battle "freeze", and can't pull the trigger, even though they are in grave danger. He's seen it.

She doesn't carry, and uses the .38 special as a night stand sidearm. I've given her a half-dozen lady firearm sites to visit and peruse, but she only went to one for a few minutes.

She has the tool to protect herself (I wish she could have used a semi-auto), but I'm worried about the freeze factor. Sorry for the editorial, but thought it needed shared.

Well your patience with her is commendable. At least she tries and doesn't completely disavow guns. She allows them in the house, and even in her nightstand, so if it came down to defending herself she might surprise you. If not, I might sound old school or just my upbringing, but sometimes that's what they have us old ugly buggers hanging around for.

 

[Bikenut]

I do have one objection to open carry or at least a reason I choose not to.

If I open carry I choose to give up a portion of control over my life. I say this because I can’t stop some anti from MWAGing me to the police. I don’t really care to expose myself to that hassle.

Having said that I remain a supporter of your right to carry as you wish

Treo...please understand I'm bouncing off your post... not addressing you personally...

If we allow the fear of being hassled by the police for engaging in legally exercising one of our rights then we have voluntarily ceded our authority to exercise that right to the control of... the police. And we have voluntarily given up control over a portion of our life... the portion that says we have control over how we will exercise our right to bear arms.

Please understand... I'm NOT knocking anyone's decisions. Everyone has the right to decide what they will/will not do for whatever reasons they believe important. But I am trying to point out that whenever we allow fear... fear of public opinion... fear of being noticed.. fear of having to justify our principles by answering questions that strangers ask... fear of being hassled by the police or anti gunners... to restrict exercising our rights then we have allowed simple fear to control our rights. And when we allow that then we are allowing someone else to control our rights.... and those who wish to control... have won... and we let them win because we have allowed ourselves to be intimidated into being controlled.

Who needs laws that infringe upon rights if just being afraid to exercise a right will stop people from exercising their rights?

And, after having been through a few MWAG calls and prevailing, I must admit I am still afraid of having to go through another one... but I have made the decision that I will NOT be intimidated into giving up my right to bear arms just because I'm afraid of actually having to stand up and defend it. I am not saying everyone should make the same decision I have made.... just saying that we should all be honest with ourselves as to the reasons we have for making the decisions we do make. And the consequences... the personal consequences and the long range consequences to our rights (which eventually result in personal consequences too).. involved in the decisions we make.

 

[The_Outlaw]

Where do you stand on the Concealed vs Open carry debate?

I think that both concealed and open carry are good for this country, but I personally prefer to carry 'concealed'.

'Keep it secret, keep it safe." ~Gandalf~

 

[jasonb92]

I carry both concealed and open depending on my plans for the day. The nice thing about concealed is that it doesn't draw attention, however when I open carry I stand out. This IMHO can as others have said show that you are not a soft target. When I go out on my motorcycle I typically open carry. When I'm not I tend to conceal more often.

 

[Chris Rakes]

R1DERBIKER, i think it is great that your wife is at least willing to shoot. if that had happened to me i probably would never be without a gun. especially near a spouse. i hope she does realize the gun had nothing to do with what happened to her. be sure to make it fun for her to shoot. there is a factor that some women just don't like to shoot. hopefully though if the SHTF, she will react

One thing to factor into that equation is attitude, not just size or sex. If a randomly selected person straps on a firearm(OC), but is not confident that he or she can defend him/herself with it, or they do not seem to be comfortable with it, a randomly selected bad guy may just view this as a challenge, and an opportunity to get a gun as an aded bonus. For a woman that has the additional "target factor" of being a possible sexual assault victim (yeah, I know it's not just women but bear with me, the biggest % is) The simple confidence of having a firearm AND being comfortable with it could bump up your point value just based on attitude.
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I guess what I'm sayingis that it is not just OC, but being comfortable with it, that enhances personal safety. If you OC and your head is on a swivel and you seem nervous about it, you might be a bigger target (or at least a challenge)

the example i gave is subject to all kinds of views. when my grandmother was 82, she walked with a cane and looked like granny Clampet, but she carried a .357 magnum colt trooper in her bag. dam thing was near as big as she was, and she would shoot you in a heart beat.

attitude is a hard thing to measure, as well as judge. i have a kind of attitude because i am a big guy and a bit older, so i am a bit meaner.
there is an old saying too, "it ain't the size of the dog in a fight but the size of the fight in a dog".

it would be very, very rare for a BG to want a challenge. they want things as easy as possible. if they wanted a challenge they would work for their money. not saying there's not one somewhere. it just is very rare

as far as situational awareness (heads on a swivel), that can only be a good thing for all carriers. you should always be aware of what is going on around you. but the main point is that it will make you a harder target. again the BG wants things to be easy, they will not a attack a person if that person sees it coming. then there are the people (sheeple) that argue just the opposite, that having a gun will make you do things that you shouldn't. could possibly be true, but i hope most people are like me and never want to shoot anyone. so i will not get into anything i think might lead to a problem.

 

[whodat2710]

as far as situational awareness (heads on a swivel), that can only be a good thing for all carriers.

I was not talking about SA. Imagine someone cashing a big check, having a boatload of cash they don't usually have, and being worried everyone was out to get it. Someone OC-ing, and not comfortable with it could present the same "head on a swivel" nervous attitude.
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As a law abiding citizen, looking at two people OC-ing, and one being a nervous wreck and the other appearing confident, I would be extremely worried being near the nervous one. If I was a criminal, I might think just the opposite.

 

[Treo]

Treo...please understand I'm bouncing off your post... not addressing you personally....

No prob, I've stated in the past my primary reason for not open carrying is because I prefer Hawaiian shirts. the other is a secondary reason

 

[Bikenut]

No prob, I've stated in the past my primary reason for not open carrying is because I prefer Hawaiian shirts. the other is a secondary reason

If we were to stand next to each other we would be examples of complete opposites because I am (*nearly always) completely and totally monochromatic. I have many pairs of pants, both dress and jeans, and I have many shirts, both button up and pullover but (*with the exception of a couple of red shirts for special occasions) everything in my closet is black. My shoes are black too... as are my socks.

And the truth is... I've chosen to go that route because I'm lazy. I just want to reach in and grab something because I don't want to be bothered making a decision about what color I will wear that day... it will (*almost always) be ... black.

 

[Treo]

And the truth is... I've chosen to go that route because I'm lazy. I just want to reach in and grab something because I don't want to be bothered making a decision about what color I will wear that day... it will (*almost always) be ... black.

Most of the time I have no decision to make either; I get up grab a uniform and go to work. When I'm home at the end of the the day I am home and I'm in shorts and a tee shirt or sweats depending on the season. I don't go out much usually Sunday and Wednesday and Saturday for church and one of those days I'm usually in the church security uniform. So I really only pick twice a week or so

 

[Chris Rakes]

I was not talking about SA. Imagine someone cashing a big check, having a boatload of cash they don't usually have, and being worried everyone was out to get it. Someone OC-ing, and not comfortable with it could present the same "head on a swivel" nervous attitude.
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As a law abiding citizen, looking at two people OC-ing, and one being a nervous wreck and the other appearing confident, I would be extremely worried being near the nervous one. If I was a criminal, I might think just the opposite.

you could be an honest person trying to think like a criminal.
for years i have always said i would rather work with a mean horse than a scared one. a mean horse you can predict. but a scared horse will go through you , a barn wall, or even injure itself. you never know what it will do. kind of the thing scared people will do

No prob, I've stated in the past my primary reason for not open carrying is because I prefer Hawaiian shirts. the other is a secondary reason

hey a shoulder holster with a Hawaiian shirt. wouldn't that be Miami vice-esk

as i have said before. please just carry