This fine gentleman saved me a bunch of typing by expressing, more eloquently than I would probably manage, my feelings on the subject.longtooth wrote: ↑Sun Feb 24, 2019 8:45 pm You will get several that say they conceal so they have a tactical advantage of surprise.
Surprise has never been considered a defensive strategy. If you have to SURPRISE someone they already have you covered w/ a deadly weapon.
Surprise is offensive. Surprise the enemy in ambush. Surprise them with first assault. Surprise is offensive.
Open Carry is a deterrent to any crime of opportunity.
I am a retired Instructor. Before Open Carry I taught and still do that any evident means of self defense is a deterrent to crime. I never had any LEO to disagree with that. Why anyone wants to hide their evident means of personal defense so after a gun or knife is pointed at you and ordered to "gimme your keys and wallet" then you can SURPRISE them with your gun and shoot them is beyond my reasoning.
You will still get those who wills say All of the above may be true but they still want the element of surprise for defense. Again beyond my reasoning. Just say I am not really comfortable w/ OC.
Had my say one more time I wont argue it w/ anyone.
I've been open carrying the majority of the time since about spring of 2016. I've had a lot of good interactions and conversations, and nothing particularly negative. It has acted as a deterrent to criminals a couple times that I know of. I am comfortable carrying openly most of the time, and I view it as an opportunity to be a good ambassador for gun rights in a largely liberal area. It is the only way that we are going to normalize the carrying of guns and change public perception of those that carry. Being friendly and polite while carrying concealed just can't accomplish that. Still, some people are not comfortable carrying openly, and that's okay.
Another fellow on these boards often says something quite wise which I have committed to memory and have said many times in person:
I think that sums up in the best way possible the decision of how to carry, or even whether to carry. It's a personal choice. I can't choose for you, and you can't choose for me. We can share our personal perspectives, but we all must decide for ourselves.oljames3 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 24, 2019 11:50 pm We must each do our own risk analysis. Hardly anyone knows my limitations and capabilities. What works for others may or may not work for me. As with most things in life, it comes down to which risks we are willing to manage and which benefits matter most to us.
Hope this helps.