KFOR Channel 4 OKC The Rant on Open Carry

Adam Striegel said:
I'm all for guns and concealed carry, but I'm not really behind open carry. It would be nice to have to worry about flashing or imprinting or whatever, but people rolling around with guns out in the open seems like it would cause more problems that it would fix. Open carry is going to make it easier for people to grab a gun out of someone's holster, put a target on them, and increase the likelihood of accidental discharge. IMHO anyways ...
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You need to spend some time at opencarry.org. The idea that open carry "puts a target" on someone is as NOT TRUE as the idea that we will have shoot outs in the street with concealed carry. 43 states have some sort of open carry, and gun grabs DO NOT HAPPEN. I have visited some of the open carry states and have carried openly, for the most part it has been a non event. I've had some very positive comments from passersby but never a negative event. Not to say that it won't happen, but just saying that it typically doesn't.
 
Rustyzx9 said:
I think that open carry as a practice is tactically not a great idea but I do support the making of open carry legal for the reasons listed above. As a law abiding citizen, gun carrying citizen I would very much like to have the freedom to carry how I please and freedom from the worry of someone spotting my gun and a problem arising.
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Strategically speaking, open carry is a great idea. The criminal element is notoriously chicken. They don't want to pick on anyone that, very visibly, has the means to end their criminal career. So stopping the situation before it starts is a win. Tactics is what you use when your strategy fails.
 
oklaccer said:
You need to spend some time at opencarry.org. The idea that open carry "puts a target" on someone is as NOT TRUE as the idea that we will have shoot outs in the street with concealed carry. 43 states have some sort of open carry, and gun grabs DO NOT HAPPEN. I have visited some of the open carry states and have carried openly, for the most part it has been a non event. I've had some very positive comments from passersby but never a negative event. Not to say that it won't happen, but just saying that it typically doesn't.
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What I mean by "puts a target" on you is something like this: You're buying a cup of coffee at a gas station, because gas station coffee is so amazing, and someone walks in to rob the place. They look over and see you standing there with a gun on your hip, what's going to happen? You just became target #1 ... He's either going to panic and shoot you, or force you at gun point to hand over your gun, and now you've got your gun floating around out there in the hands of a criminal.

Maybe I'm just overly paranoid, but that's the first thing that pops in my head with open carry.
 
Adam Striegel said:
What I mean by "puts a target" on you is something like this: You're buying a cup of coffee at a gas station, because gas station coffee is so amazing, and someone walks in to rob the place. They look over and see you standing there with a gun on your hip, what's going to happen? You just became target #1 ... He's either going to panic and shoot you, or force you at gun point to hand over your gun, and now you've got your gun floating around out there in the hands of a criminal.

Maybe I'm just overly paranoid, but that's the first thing that pops in my head with open carry.
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As I said, you need to spend some time at opencarry.org. The situation you describe has a serious flaw. Using the same setup, but using the reality of the situation, when the BG sees you standing there with a gun on your hip, he tries to discretely walk away and find somewhere else to rob. A common theme from criminals that have been interviewed as to how to pick their victims has been, go for the easy target. Find the person that is not paying attention to the surroundings, someone with an arm full of anything, someone distracted. They universally said that if they knew the intended victim was armed, they picked another victim.
A little paranoia goes a long way, but facts are facts.
 
oklaccer said:
As I said, you need to spend some time at opencarry.org. The situation you describe has a serious flaw. Using the same setup, but using the reality of the situation, when the BG sees you standing there with a gun on your hip, he tries to discretely walk away and find somewhere else to rob. A common theme from criminals that have been interviewed as to how to pick their victims has been, go for the easy target. Find the person that is not paying attention to the surroundings, someone with an arm full of anything, someone distracted. They universally said that if they knew the intended victim was armed, they picked another victim.
A little paranoia goes a long way, but facts are facts.
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I don't know man ... No offense intended, but this point was brought up by someone that has been in law enforcement for over 30 years. I tend to believe someone like that over some random website. :)

Honestly, I think we've probably both got some right on our side. The guy that comes in and cases the joint is going to think twice about doing it when someone with OC is there. The guy that just rushes and and started demanding money is going to be a different story.
 
Adam Striegel said:
I don't know man ... No offense intended, but this point was brought up by someone that has been in law enforcement for over 30 years. I tend to believe someone like that over some random website. :)

Honestly, I think we've probably both got some right on our side. The guy that comes in and cases the joint is going to think twice about doing it when someone with OC is there. The guy that just rushes and and started demanding money is going to be a different story.
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opencarry.org is a lot more that a random web site. It is, to the OC community nationwide, what boomershooter is to Oklahoma, only more so. Thousands of stories about OC. No disrespect to Law Enforcement intended, but they have a terrible track record of being at the scene of the crime. Another problem with the opinion of your LE friend is that there is no real way to quantify the attacks that don't happen because of OC, the robbery that didn't take place because the BG saw an OC'er and left, or any other crime that wasn't committed because of OC.
The guy that just rushed in and starts demanding money probably is so stupid that he didn't see you OC'ing anyway. We could go back and forth all day, but the bottom line is that you are using the same unverifiable emotional paranoia that the anti's use. If you want to CC, by all means do so with my blessing, which you don't need anyway, but please don't argue against OC. And again, please spend some time at opencarry.org. More than a few minutes, spend hours and days there, check out stories from the states, see what is really happening in the OC movement across the nation.
 
Trust me, I would never vote against it or write letters deep-sixing it. I don't care if other people do it, in fact I'm in support of it simply because I don't want to have to worry about flashing when I CC. What I'm saying is I would never open carry myself because I think the problems out-weigh the benefits.
 
When it's 80 degrees outside and I don't want to wear a hoodie just so I can go into Walmart with my weapon. I don't always have my belt badge on me but I always have my wallet badge.
 
ArGyLe64 said:
When it's 80 degrees outside and I don't want to wear a hoodie just so I can go into Walmart with my weapon. I don't always have my belt badge on me but I always have my wallet badge.
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So pretty much just like everyone else.
I thought you meant something specific to Law Enforcement
 
When we're off-duty we have to abide by the same rules as civilians unless we have our belt badge in plain view. The only time I wear my belt badge is when I know I'm going to need it for some occassion.
 
In a nutshell yea.
I can see why...a belt badge makes one as much a "target" as being in uniform.

Open carry in general makes plain clothed officers less conspicuous .

You guys who never go into OC areas probably don't realize the average person doesn't see you or your gun.
 
Adam Striegel said:
Trust me, I would never vote against it or write letters deep-sixing it. I don't care if other people do it, in fact I'm in support of it simply because I don't want to have to worry about flashing when I CC. What I'm saying is I would never open carry myself because I think the problems out-weigh the benefits.
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Your initial post said "I'm not really behind open carry". So which side are you really on?
 
oklaccer said:
Your initial post said "I'm not really behind open carry". So which side are you really on?
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Sorry, to clarify I meant I would never open carry but I'm not really opposed to those that want to. I just think it's too dangerous for my comfort, but I'm not going to run screaming if someone walked into Walmart with a handgun on their side.
 
Fallin said she's signing 1733 this week.

It becomes effective Nov 1.

Expect every holster maker to be back ordered on BBQ rigs and the production makers to run short on Serpa holsters, thumb breaks, etc.
This will be good for the economy....lol

I guess I should punch some new holes in my Gene Autry gun belt... It seems to have shrunk!
 
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