Open carry vs. Open carry

[thartz007]

This may come off as being a dot question, but I'm just looking to become a little more informed and am interested in others' opinions and points of view.

I'm a 5'3" female and I carry an H&K USP40 compact in a paddle holster outside the pants. Even being a compact gun it's still fairly bulky. I don't mind open carry (and it's legal here in Washington state), but I've heard many negative thoughts about open carry. Conceal carry is a little bit difficult for me because you can always see the very end of my holster peeking or from under my jacket or it makes a bulge in the side of my jacket which attracts more attentionthan if I were to open carry (in my opinion).

Now, my friends have said to simply buy larger jackets. Easy fix to people who 1.) Won't be spending money on coats and 2.) Won't be swimming in large jackets. Summer is also coming (eventually) and as it approaches I would like to be prepared for carrying when the weather gets warmer.

I was just curious about more opinions from maybe more seasoned firearm owners. Pros and cons of conceal carry and open carry.

Thank you!

 

[Firefighterchen]

I open carry for the tactical advantage.

I open carry for the comfort.

I open carry for the bigger fire power.

I open carry because it's my duty to open carry in the face of an infringing government.

I open carry because I will not pay the government to take away my Right, I respect the Constitution too much.

Most people are too involved in their lives to notice my firearm, and those who live to prey would rather choose an easy victim.

Those who speak negatively about open carry come from the same mentality as the Brady campaign...no substance...no proof...but they sure like to make a lot of noise.

Sent from my HTCONE using USA Carry mobile app

 

[wolf_fire]

^^ any more reason to open carry is not necessary.

Even with that said, I cannot help myself. There has been no evidence that carrying openly has caused a bad guy to pick you off first. BG's want soft targets, you prevent the crime just by carrying openly. A concealed carrier cannot do that.

My suggestion, try open carrying for two weeks and report back here and tell us of all your 'negative' interactions you get. My bet is you will actually engage in some positive conversations about the practicality of carrying a firearm instead.

 

[croute]

If I only had a choice between open carry and open carry, I would choose open carry.

 

[NavyLCDR]

I would recommend you check out the WA subforum at:
forums.opencarry.org . There are several women in the group that open carry.

In WA, you generally won't have any problems, I open carry 90% of the time. Unless you are going to travel out of state, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. I refuse to dress around my gun, except for the fact that I always wear an undershirt with my gun because if my gun gets under my outer shirt, I don't like the bare grip pressing on my side. If you want to flip your shirt/jacket over the gun, in reality 99% of the population isn't going to even notice a bulge or the bottom of the holster peaking out. Most of the "attention" that we think we are getting is just our imagination.

I think some people who work extra hard to deeply conceal their gun forget about actually having to deploy it without the bad guy detecting what is going on and stopping them in the act - you know, that whole "element of surprise" will keep me safe mentality.

1. If the criminal sees my gun before they attack, I am betting on the odds in favor of them just walking down the street one block, or waiting a couple minutes for me to leave and for a seemingly unarmed target to come along. Criminals have just as little desire to get shot as anyone else and little desire to get caught committing their crimes. Even the dumbest criminals know that attacking a citizen who is known to be armed is much more likely to end up with them shot or arrested.

2. If the criminal does not see my gun before they attack, them my gun is much more readily available and quicker to be deployed with less movement.

3. If the criminal sees my gun and attacks me anyway, then concealing my gun certainly would not have done anything to make me any safer.

4. The concealed carry only crowd can only come up with 2 or 3 examples where the Joe Citizen openly carrying a gun in everyday life MIGHT have been attacked for the purpose of taking their gun away from them. That is 2 or 3 examples over several decades. You have a much greater chance of getting killed by getting run over by a car when crossing the street in a crosswalk.

 

[thartz007]

^^ any more reason to open carry is not necessary.

Even with that said, I cannot help myself. There has been no evidence that carrying openly has caused a bad guy to pick you off first. BG's want soft targets, you prevent the crime just by carrying openly. A concealed carrier cannot do that.

My suggestion, try open carrying for two weeks and report back here and tell us of all your 'negative' interactions you get. My bet is you will actually engage in some positive conversations about the practicality of carrying a firearm instead.

Thanks everyone! I will trial open carry and then post here in a couple week's time how it went. It's good to hear so many opinions since almost all my friends are very pro-concealment.

 

[Bikenut]

Before open carrying for the first time let me suggest:

Know and understand ALL the firearms laws that apply.. or even MIGHT apply.

If recording either audio or audio/video is legal (know those laws too) running a recorder while open carrying gives you a record not only of what happened but also what DIDN'T happen... so if someone lies you can show you didn't do what they said you did. That applies not only to the police but to ordinary folks too.

And click on the following link:

Link Removed

to find the State you live in/are going to open carry in and learn the ins and outs from those who have gone before you.

The reason I'm suggesting this is..... it would be terrible to make a mistake that could cost you lots of money for lawyers or even include jail time just because you didn't know the laws.

Open carry has the possibility of people asking you why you open carry, you might be snubbed and shunned and looked at oddly during your day, and you might get some anti gunner in your face about it, you might get thrown out of a business, or you might have a police officer question you (and that questioning might be legal or illegal) and your knowledge of the law (and that recorder) is your insurance that you didn't do anything wrong.

Know and understand ALL the laws, both firearm and recording, like you know the back of your hand first!

 

[NavyLCDR]

Before open carrying for the first time let me suggest:

Wow... you make it sound SCARY!

In Washington, legally, there is no real difference between open carry and concealed carry except that a license is required to conceal the gun or keep it loaded inside a vehicle. The only statute to be extra mindful of in Washington when open carrying is:

RCW 9.41.270
Weapons apparently capable of producing bodily harm — Unlawful carrying or handling — Penalty — Exceptions.
(1) It shall be unlawful for any person to carry, exhibit, display, or draw any firearm, dagger, sword, knife or other cutting or stabbing instrument, club, or any other weapon apparently capable of producing bodily harm, in a manner, under circumstances, and at a time and place that either manifests an intent to intimidate another or that warrants alarm for the safety of other persons.
(2) Any person violating the provisions of subsection (1) above shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor. If any person is convicted of a violation of subsection (1) of this section, the person shall lose his or her concealed pistol license, if any. The court shall send notice of the revocation to the department of licensing, and the city, town, or county which issued the license.
(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to or affect the following:
(a) Any act committed by a person while in his or her place of abode or fixed place of business;
(b) Any person who by virtue of his or her office or public employment is vested by law with a duty to preserve public safety, maintain public order, or to make arrests for offenses, while in the performance of such duty;
(c) Any person acting for the purpose of protecting himself or herself against the use of presently threatened unlawful force by another, or for the purpose of protecting another against the use of such unlawful force by a third person;
(d) Any person making or assisting in making a lawful arrest for the commission of a felony; or
(e) Any person engaged in military activities sponsored by the federal or state governments.

What a person openly carrying in WA needs to understand about the above statute (and police do, very rarely, like to threaten open carriers with this statute) is that all of the conditions highlighted above must be met. The mere fact that the sight of a holstered handgun has caused someone to wet their pants is not enough to be guilty. The totality of the circumstances must meet all the elements. If a person is pushing their child on a swing in a park during normal hours the park is open and they have a handgun in a holster on their belt, NONE of the elements are met just because someone runs screaming in terror due to the presence of the handgun. The person carrying the handgun, in a holster, is doing nothing out of the ordinary that would not be expected at that time and place. And the word in the statute is WARRANTS alarm, NOT causes alarm. Big difference there.

A cop thretened me with this statute once because someone called 911 because I was eating dinner in a restaurant at dinner time. While I was hassled for 10 minutes and my dinner was ruined, that was the extent of it because my actions obviously did not WARRANT alarm - especially as evidenced by the fact that the officer took no actions to disarm me while hassling me for 10 minutes. None of the elements of the statute were met, even though someone was obviously alarmed. For the record, the restaurant apologized for the situation, they did not call the police and had no desire for the police to hassle me; they invited me, friends, family and our firearms to frequent there any time and about 1 dozen of us openly carrying had a luncheon there the following weekend .

 

[Bob R]

I both Open and Conceal Carry here in Missouri.
Someone above mentioned that some conceal carry so deep that the handgun is Not Accessable.
I have seen this myself quite often. OR Just plain carried in a manner that does not let you have quick access, such as pocket carry without a holster.
I belt carry in a Pancake daily at 3:30 - 4 O'Clock. I carry in the same place 99% of the time. If I am shooting in a match I have the exact same equipment in the same location on the belt.
In smaller town you see a few open carrying in my area. As long as your gear looks good no one seems to pay attention.

Bob The Revolver Guy