Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

I was in Freddy's today to grab a quick lunch in between boat gigs today and I noticed a guy with two mags and his pistol strapped to his hip.I was a little curious about open carry in Seattle so I asked him how long he had been doing so and what the general reaction has been.Said him and his wife had been OC for two years now and that he had only encountered one person who had made any kind of stink about it.In addition he told me that him and his better half had sat down to coffee at a Starbucks with six SPD officers who stated that they wished they saw more people doing so.Very friendly,informative dude and I found it pretty shocking that in lib Sea town there were not problems with OC.

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

Open carry is so rare in our society that I think most people assume someone open carrying is an off-duty LEO. Just speculation.

Tom

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

I think open carry is so much more of a deterrent than CCW that everyone should do it. We were in Indianapolis and a guy on a bike went buy with a Glock on his hip. I thought that was a little strange too. I am all for it. I do not see this turning into the old West like some people probably would think. I do think that if more people carried openly and less people made a stink about it, crime would be next to nil.

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

I have never seen anybody open carrying in my area except the people who run the pistol range I shoot on.

It's kind of strange considering open carry has been completely legal without a permit here for a long time and still is. Then again, I guess everybody is concealed carrying now because they legalized it last November.

Madison is kind of a liberal area too, so I bet if I went further north I'd notice it being done more.

As for open carry, I myself would rather cover it up.

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

The best defence is a good offence!

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

An armed society is a polite society

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

I open carry in NC cuz i let my ccp lapse been doing it for about 6mo now only had two people say anything one thought i was a leo the other told her co-worker i was here to shoot her! dumb joke to say the least

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

Here in the liberal NorthEast I hardly ever see anyone open carry. In fact I have not seen anyone.

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

I open carried in Arizona from when I was 16, (yes, it was legal then), to when we established CCW in '94. I was asked to leave three restaurants, (all closed down), and did so immediately, never to return. Once when shopping/wandering in the Park Mall in Tucson, (not Park Place Mall as it is now, that previous management went bankrupt), a buddy of mine and I were ordered to leave by a rent a cop after we had been inside for 4 hours. As we agreed, (state law says when asked, you go), then the security guard made a grab for my buddy's Smith 28. Fortunately he grabbed a clue, with help, and we left with no further incident.
Generally, OC is still seen out here in the Old West, saw a gentleman with a Ruger P series in the worst nylon rig I'd ever seen, shopping at Dollar General, and another gent with a very large single action hogleg of unknown maker in a western style holster downtown, a think last month. We have less OC as CCW became normal, but we have Constitutional Carry now, and you see a little bit more open carry. Doesn't bother many people...well, those that LIVE here, the winter visitors are a different kettle of fish entirely.
I agree with something posted earlier - if you dress well, good clothes, good professional looking holster and sidearm, you are generally though to be LE. If you carry a Davis 32 auto in a Rhino nylon rig in torn jeans and dirty T-shirt, well, the initial impression may not be so favorable.

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

This topic has been discussed a bit. My opinion hasn't changed. If I were a BG, the first person I'd shoot, if necessary, would be the person I knew for a fact had a weapon.

Knowingly making myself a target doesn't make much sense to me. JMO.

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

It's a fine edged sword Lyle. My brother recently retired with 30 years as a PCSO. The only place he open carried was at work, the gun shop, or the range. Never in public, or even family get togethers (and we are ALL shooters - the girls are really good).

Is there a reason he doesn't open carry? I'll ask him.

Federal Offense (Way) officers were actually given a course in open carry a few years back. Open carry is legal here, but I'll let you interpret the law.

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9.41.270

Pay close attention to the wording.

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

I can't speak for anyone else, but if I were somewhere, say eating lunch, and somebody walked in the door with a visible weapon, I would immediately feel intimidated.

Large cities, IMO, have a different view of Open Carry. I can see it as an every day thing in smaller communities where folks know one another, or OC is the norm, a non issue, so to speak.

But, living in the states murder capital ( for 22 years - what a record ), I'm sure the person doing the OC would have an agenda, a message. To many folks dying here on, a daily basis, to not feel immediately intimidated or threatened.

I feel certain folks in other larger cities would feel the same.

' What are you looking at boy? Yeah, I got a gun, so what '?

Then...from five different places in the restaurant you hear Pop..pop..pop...pop..pop.

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

Absolutely! And that's the way I look at it too. If you're open carrying a weapon, odds are you're going to run into somebody who is going to take offense to it and feel intimidated, call police, and there will be a big stink made. I, myself, do not have a problem with open carry, but I just feel that it's better to cover it up and not scare people who are ignorant about the Second Amendment.

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

That's what I've run into before, and the only thing that's done is the visitor from New York/New Jersey/Hawaii is given a soothing message from the police, "Sorry, ma'am, but that's completely legal here."

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

With this conversation bringing up some good points for and against open carry, what is everyone's opinion on concealed carry printing? I have heard that in some states if your are concealed, you had better not print. In other states, it makes no difference.

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

i almost always carry in an inside the belt holster(but outside my t-shirt or else it chafes), with a polo or other shirt or coat over it. i usually only OC when it's too hot out for a polo shirt or jacket or when i'm doing hard work and don't want to mess up my polo shirt.

i think when deciding whether or not to OC you should take into consideration your surroundings and where you are. gun show in guntown, TX? duh, how are people supposed to admire your piece if they can't see it? New York City? bad idea.

if you're in a rural area where alot of people carry then by all means do so. but in most of the country i advise concealed carry. if you're sitting in an IHOP in a city where few if any people even own a firearm, sitting there stuffing your face with pancakes, and some badguy walks in and seeing your OC'ed handgun, walks up behind you, and pops a round into the back of your skull, BAM, now the only person in the place who could've stopped the mass shooting is lying there with his brains mingling with Aunt Jemima.

so, OC? CC? whatever floats your boat, just be smart about it.

Re: Guy in Ballard,open carrying
 

I have open carried, and I did not like the attention I got. I carry concealed now, and get no attention, or respect! :eek: If I wanted to rob a bank, where I know there is an armed guard, the first thing I would do is make sure the guard would not be a factor! Same applies to any other situation where I was going to rob the joint! I am all for Open Carry in all States. It's just not my choice to open carry, even if I could. Here in TX the law has made that choice for us, no open carry. In Louisiana, open carry is legal, but don't try it! The standing rule is that even though it's legal, if the LEO's get the call about a man with a gun, then you will get arrested for disturbing the peace!