It's not the 1% of the criminals that have created those lies and myths. If one buys into, even a little bit, the propaganda that the Brady Bunch and other anti-gun groups have pushed on the public for decades, it creates a feeling that carrying a gun is somehow abnormal or worthy of suspicion. Think of how many people on this forum feel that a police officer is just doing his job by "checking out" a person because they are known to be carrying a gun. Think of how many people on this forum feel the need to tell a cop about their permit or their gun at the first opportunity. Think of how many people on this forum feel that government mandated training and permitting is a good thing "to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn't carry them".
All through the latter half of the 19th and first quarter of the 20th centuries, in most of America a man would be considered suspicious and abnormal if they were NOT visibly carrying a gun! It's because of the Brady Bunch and anti-gun rhetoric that has changed that.
It seems as if the concealed carry only crowd simply has bought into that propaganda, that carrying a gun is worthy of extra scrutiny and suspicion. It appears as if some are just trying to gain more acceptance as a "pro-gun" person when they use excuses like you will be shot first if you open carry.
I just don't see why the criminal element would want people to conceal carry and why the criminal element would discourage open carry. Open carry presents a huge advantage to the criminal because they can readily identify the hardened target and wait two minutes for that guy with the gun to leave or go down the street one block to the next "stop and rob" where there doesn't appear to be any armed citizens present.
I really don't think, in my mind, that the criminal element had anything to do with starting the "you'll be a target" open carry myths.