I am not suggesting you go out and start broadcasting it to the public that you carry. Nor am I suggesting that if the person is clearly paranoid and nearly soiling themselves that you stick around and try to convert them on the spot.chasfm11 wrote:
My concern about having a gun discussion with a stranger who may have just perceived it is that you never know where they are coming from. I've met a lot of people who were open to discussions about guns but there are some closet antis out there, too. My fear is that it will be one of them who asks me. There would be nothing to stop them, after our discussion, from making a 911 MWAG call. Although they probably wouldn't have physically seen it, I confirmed through our discussion that I had it. A dispatch tape with the caller saying "and he intimidated me" would not go well afterwards, I suspect. I freely admit to a bias in believing that antis are part of a Liberal mentality for whom the facts are unimportant.
I'm a risk avoidance type. I don't frequent Oak Cliff (though I've gone there on occasion ) because I see it as a high risk environment. I view talking to absolute strangers about guns to be another risk area that I'd prefer not to venture into.
Total strangers aren't going to be close enough to feel it during a hug or whatever. At most they might have caught a glimps of the bottom of a holster or imprint of a grip on a shirt if I mess up too bad with concealment. Generally though folks in public are oblivious, "condition white" to what is going on around them and aren't going to see anyway.
If your doing your job concealing, the people that are going to notice are those with whom you spend time around and most likely already have some sort of relationship with.