NOTHING CAN STOP AN ATTACKER FROM ATTEMPTING to APPROACH or ATTACK YOU! <---That's where ELEMENT OF SURPRISE COMES IN!
If you APPEAR to be UNARMED and you have to resort to reaching for it OR make a gesture as though you're reaching for it to PREVENT someone from PHYSICALLY ATTACKING YOU!-snip-
If the attack is "imminent" then it is already occurring. The attack is already happening. It is too late to prevent the attack since the attack is.. "imminent".
After all.. one cannot draw their pistol just because some guy "looks" like he might attack... I mean.. should folks draw down on the tattoo'ed biker dude with a scowl on his face because he "looks" so scary? (maybe he is scowling because his biker mamma turned down his amorous advances that morning)... but, in order to fulfill the legal use of a gun for self protection, the guy must actually attack in some manner... not just "look" like he "might" attack.
And if the guy is actually attacking in some manner and the pistol is drawn in response to that attack... then the concealed pistol did NOT
prevent the attack but stopped the attack
after the pistol was drawn in response to an attack already in progress.
The mythical and completely false super ninja mystical magical "element of surprise" of concealed carry doesn't come into play until
after the attack has already started.. therefor it does absolutely NOTHING to prevent an attack.
Now please consider this (and this is the truth about that supposed "element of surprise".....
Scenario #1... A concealed carrier draws his gun from concealment in response to being attacked by a criminal... and the criminal sees the gun.. stops his attack.. and runs away.
Scenario #2... An open carrier
doesn't have to draw his gun because a criminal saw the openly carried gun and decided to wait and attack someone who looks like they don't have a gun.
The commonality between the two scenarios? The sight of the gun.. the mere sight of a gun... stopped the attack. With concealed carry it stopped the attack after it started... and with open carry it stopped the attack before it even began.
The question is............ which would YOU prefer? The magical mystical (I'm a bad ass because I have a surprise for the bad guy!) super stealth ninja "element of surprise" after being attacked? Or surprising the criminal with a gun in plain sight before the attack even starts?
Concealed carry has it's advantages under certain circumstances just as open carry has... but the advantages of concealed carry do not include.. the ability to "prevent" an attack.