First caveat: In case you've been living on Mars, I'm in the Volksrepublik of Massa-fucking-chusetts, one of the most anti-gun states in the union. My thoughts on open carry are rather heavily prejudiced by the overwhelmingly anti-gun attitude I experience on a daily basis in MA.
NOTE: I am biased.
There. It's out of the way.
If I were to open carry a handgun in MA, several things are very likely to happen.
*Someone will call the police with a frenzied "Man with a Gun" type call - OH NOES! Scawwy gun!
*The police, not knowing it's a law-abiding citizen exercising his Second Amendment right, will approach the sitation as a "felony stop" - I'll have a boot on my neck and several loaded guns aimed at my vital organs.
*I may or may not be charged with a crime - it's a grey area whether or not they could prosecute me for "Posing a public danger" or nuisance or somesuch.
*I will most likely have my firearms permit revoked by my Chief of Police as an "unsuitable" person. This means that I lose the guns I own, and would have to answer "Yes" to the question of have you ever had a permit revoked should I move to another state and apply for a permit there.
So, needless to say, I am more likely to run buck nekkid through Faneuil Hall at noon the day after Thanksgiving than I am to open carry in MA.
As far as open carrying in a friendly state, like NH, I'm still ambivalent. There are enough stories of people getting hassled that I honestly wouldn't risk it - see the part above about being declared "unsuitable". I have in the past open-carried in NH, but won't do it again until I move there...
All that said, I can't really get behind open carry. I just don't think it's a tactically sound practice for a non-LEO person. I'd rather have the element of surprise.
I don't buy into the "having a gun will make the criminal think twice". I feel (and that's all it is, a feeling) that a criminal would be more likely to blindside you in an attempt to get your firearm or simply shoot first, steal later. Put plainly, if they're smart enough to see the gun and avoid you, they're smart enough to chose a better line of work than strong-arm robbery. That's my feeling.
I'd rather keep my gun hidden from view and maintain the element of surprise. A little practice in drawing from concealment and the extra second afforded an open pistol is negated.
Sure, in a perfect world no citizen would be hassled for open carry. In an ideal world, the sheeple wouldn't go into a blind screaming panic if they caught sight of a firearm carried by someone not wearing a uniform. Then again, in a perfect world we wouldn't have people looking to steal from us, and as such could leave our firearms for the target range only.
Until then, mine stays hidden. "Keep it secret, keep it safe", as it were (tip 'o' the pen to Gandalf...)
That is all.
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9 comments:
Well said.
If you open carried here, you would at the very least get some strange looks. It would make people uneasy and they would likely call 911.
There are some wilderness areas here where it would still be practical to open carry. The few people in those areas probably wouldn't look twice at you.
You should have the freedom to open carry, but avoiding the panic and hassle by carrying concealed is the better choice (in my opinion).
In Michigan, it depends on where you are. I have open carried during hunting season, just goin into town to get some supplies or whatever. Never into a bar or anything. Anyhow, no one said boo about it. But then again, it was hunting season.
(shrug)
The law in MI says you can open carry. On a daily basis, I'm not sure I'd try it, although I do concealed carry every day.
Shaggy Shoggoth
Fair enough. I would feel the same way in certain situations.
But let me throw a monkeywrench into things, if I may:
Would you support open carry legislation if it came up?
(This, of course, would assume that you lived in a state where such legislation had more than a snowball's chance in hell.)
tweaker
I open carry every time I go to the range. and i mean that I open carry the whole way there and to every stop I make along the way.
I've never had a problem, and as for the possibility of being picked first as a target. You have to consider how often it is that you see someone with a black object on their belt. 99% of the time, most people do not even notice that I am carrying.
Crayton Cramer put up a post about open carry (in Idaho) a few weeks back. http://www.claytoncramer.com/weblog/2008_07_20_archive.html#9028545918809328231
I agree with him. If the bad guys don't know exactly who is carrying, a large degree of uncertainty is injected into their lives and livelihood. Concealed carry means that everyone is safer, not just the person carrying.
Now, if we could get say, 30% of the population to carry at any one time, we'd be in really good shape.
"I agree with him. If the bad guys don't know exactly who is carrying, a large degree of uncertainty is injected into their lives and livelihood. Concealed carry means that everyone is safer, not just the person carrying. "
Possibly, except for:
A) It is not anyone's job but there own to ensure their safety. AND
B) I very much doubt that even in a completely friendly legal and social enviroment all, or even a majority of armed citizens will open carry. AND
C) Broadcasting, when the would-be criminals notice the open carriers, at least some will be reminded that for every armed citizen they see, there's quite a few more they don't.
I couldn't agree more with the views posted about the tatical advantages of concealed carry. However after reading about people's open carry stories I believe that if you are openly carrying you are very likely to discus your reasoning with someone who is interested in arming themselves. Which could possible lead to them carrying themselves. So it could be possible to increase the number of gun owners by openly carrying.
In the county I live in, the only way to bear arms in public is either unloaded open carry (not within 1000 feet of a public or private K-12 school, which is a f-f-felony), or by lining the pockets of the Sheriff to get a CHL.
It's ultimately a protest more than a practicality, and unless you really like answering questions fielded by curious bystanders and cops with elevated blood pressure, it's not worth the bother.
On the other hand, my one open-carry experience leads me to believe Tam has it right:
"
I'm beginning to think that you could walk through the middle of the mall with a neon-pink STI Open Class racegun in a drop thigh rig, wearing a tee-shirt that says, in four inch fuschia letters "I AM CARRYING A GUN", and maybe one in ten people would pause their cell phone conversations long enough to notice..."
I sort of waffle back and forth between open and concealed carry. For me, it's a matter of the situation, and where I'm going to be. However, having said all that, I am Open carrying more each day. So far, I've had no negative comments, and more than a few people who ask about it. It's not for everyone, but as long as it's legal, I intend to do it.
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