A man stopped me in Wal-Mart (Virginia) yesterday while I was open carrying. Asked me if I was supposed to be carrying concealed.... I said open carry in VA is legal. So he told me yes but its supposed to be three point. I have thoroughly reviewed the state law once again to find nothing. Also googled it with same results. Was this guy crazy? Just pulling my chain? I was using my concealment OWB holster with my t-shirt tucked behind it in the small of my back completely exposed. Now what I get out of the VA law is that it must not be hidden from common observation or "disguising in the true nature of". Which it definitely was not. Just want to be sure even though I'm pretty sure many cops and security guards have seen it, and not ever mentioned anything at all.
how to open carry?
- Thread starter roejay87
- Start date
Firefighterchen
OC for Tactical Advantage
What's three point?
jstnptchtt
New member
No "three-point" test exists. Under my reading, even having it OWB at 12 o'clock would be fine (under terms of the law, exempting a discussion of merits to this form of carry) even thought such a form of open carry prevents it from being seen from behind.
B
Bikenut
Guest
When folks tell me I'm doing wrong by open carrying.. whether that be that I can't.. or I can't in the way I'm doing it... or that I can't where I happen to be... or I have to have a concealed permit and then I have to conceal......................... I just hand them a print out of the pertinent Michigan laws, the actual laws themselves, and suggest they read them for a better understanding of what is legal and what isn't.
If that doesn't satisfy them I simply tell them that if they think I'm committing a crime to call a cop. That happened once in a local park and the look on the woman's face when the cop showed up and explained I was legal and there wasn't anything she could do about it was...................... priceless.
SouthernBoy
New member
This... I would have loved to have seen. Great job.
SouthernBoy
New member
The reason you're having a problem finding anything in Virginia law addressing open carry is because there isn't anything. Our laws are written to let you know what you cannot do, not what you can do. If there is no staute, it's legal. And because there are no statutes on open carry in Virginia, this mode of carry is the "normal" mode (read that as standard of default if you wish).
The gun does not have to be visible or seen when open carried. For example, if you were looking at a magazine rack and someone approached on your weak side, they would not see your OC'd handgun. Also, if you are in a restaurant and are sitting in a booth with your strong side against the wall, no one would be able to see your sidearm. And then there is driving. Passersby cannot see your sidearm unless they look inside of your vehicle. I all of these scenarios, you would be perfectly legal carrying openly. There is no such thing as a "three point" law. You were told wrong.
FiremanPaul
New member
I will never understand the mindset of someone who decides someone is dangerous and then confronts them. "Oh he has a gun. That is dangerous or illegal!!! I think I'll go confront them." If the armed person is so dangerous, why do they confront them? If they think it's illegal, what do they think they are going to do about it?
SouthernBoy
New member
Pacify you to death.
B
Bikenut
Guest
I'm not a psychiatrist but I have a theory....
Just like gun control is not about the gun but is all about control.... those who irately confront legal gun carriers with anger and insults are NOT frightened or intimidated. On the contrary .. what they really are is "offended" and "insulted" that anyone would dare show them just how unimportant they really are and how powerless they are to make everyone behave in ways they deem "reasonable", "appropriate", and "acceptable". And it is the anger they feel for having been confronted with their own insignificance that compels them to angrily confront what has "offended" them so.
On a side note:
It is my opinion that the words "reasonable", "appropriate", and "acceptable", are the core of all anti gun arguments. And those words always originate in someone's opinion... never in what is a right.
Every time someone says any of those three gun control words I know the person speaking doesn't care about the gun at all... but they consider themselves to be so superior to the unwashed commoners that they have the divine duty to tell everyone else what to do.
And even gun owners who say they support the right to bear arms will spout that bearing arms should only be done where, why, how, and by whom, it is ..."reasonable", "appropriate", and "acceptable".. and then will go on to tell everyone how it should, but more importantly how it should NOT, be done.
Firefighterchen
OC for Tactical Advantage
I don't believe that is a requirement anywhere. Just more of that misinformation that gets spread because it doesn't get squashed immediately.
SouthernBoy
New member
100 points for this post. The visions of the anointed infest and fester the "masses". As you say they know better and if we'll just listen to them and turn over our liberties to their superior knowledge, then we'd all be better and live happily ever after.
Good post indeed.
Firefighterchen
OC for Tactical Advantage
The more I open carry the more I want to go to a level 1 retention (just friction/molding ie: raven concealment). The only reason I carry a level 2 is because I ride a motorcycle.
