A few years ago at work this issue came up. A woman and her 18-ish year old son walked into my business. The son had a 9 mm in a holster on his belt. The kid is dorky enough that on first glance my receptionist thought it was a toy gun.
She hunted me down, told me what she saw and asked if she should call the cops. I looked online and saw that PA has no law against open carry, making it defacto legal. So, we ignored it. But it was a strange occurrence.
Funny thing is, I’m in rural western PA, where a pickup truck with a filled gun rack is a common sight.
I’ve noticed that (for lack of a better word) disconnect for years and wondered about it. Something like that in your car or truck and no one really seems to notice or care; as soon as its on your body whether holstered or slung and now everyone cares. I try to write it off to how common hunting is around here but that’s a harder explanation to buy in June than it is December.
Of course you’re talking about the USA but I just thought I’d mention that here in the UK we not only don’t allow any carry (open or otherwise), but don’t allow handguns in the home either.
So I am wary of anyone openly carrying a gun.
Even having this conversation at all is remarkably USA-centric. For instance the other day a man with a gun was seen in a Toronto park. The police closed off a major street, warned residents to stay indoors, and called in the Emergency Task Force to make the arrest.
I am not in the USA so the only guns we see here are the ones that the Marines have at the gates of the the embassy. To answer your query, if I was in the USA did see you with a holstered handgun I admit it would be a bit unnerving. I realize the likelihood of you being a threat is vanishing low but that would be my initial response.
I can’t imagine Idaho police care, and would probably be more pissed at the guy who called them.
I don’t even like normal amounts of attention, so would never OC in public. I’ve never bothered with a CCW as I can’t at work anyway, and you don’t need a license to carry in your car. But I will get one soon just because, and it will save me a $25 fee per background check.
I have only seen one guy OC around here. Middle aged black male, which is surprising in itself, doing the totally suspicious activity of calmly walking with his daughter riding a tricycle alongside. It’s not for me, and it might make me not exactly comfortable to see it in a public place, but I also figure that the kind of person who does it probably isn’t intending any malfeasance.
I’m in Ohio, and I’ve had my CHL for many years. But I open carry most of the time, especially in the summer. It’s much more comfortable than concealed carry.
I have not had any problems.
I often joke that the only reason I got my CHL was so that I could open carry in my car.
My wife is from Hong Kong, and when her relatives first visited us they were shocked when they saw our gun culture. They were aghast that regular citizens could go out and buy guns and ammo all day with minimal paperwork.
I realize that this is USA centric but there doesn’t seem to be a way to have this conversation otherwise. Really I’d prefer only to have folks from south east Idaho to see what the local reaction would be but this board isn’t really diverse enough for me to except to get many responses on the subject if I limited it that much.
For our non-American friends if you saw someone open carrying how extreme a response would you expect? SWAT team? Shoot on sight? Evacuate an 8 block radius? Helicopter based snipers?
Anyone openly carrying a hand gun in the UK would be hit by everyhing the police could throw at him/her. Initial respose might try and bring him down with a taser but if he is threatening police or public, then an armed response unit would probably shoot to kill.
I used to open carry here a lot as a form of solidarity with those who could not legally conceal their weapon. After Wisconsin passed CCW legislation I began cutting back on it.
But I still do it when I ride my motorcycle or walk my dog. Never had any significant problems with it here.
I’ve also open carried in Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico, South Dakota, Kentucky, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Virginia. Never had any problems there either.
I don’t get this. I have paddle holsters that work just fine with whatever belt I’m wearing. I can carry a full size metal frame Ruger P97 wearing a thin dress belt with no problems what so ever.
How many people could an armed individual kill before that special unit with the guns show up?
Since open carry isn’t legal and a CCW is slightly less common than a velociraptor riding a unicorn I would be pointing my gun at anyone carrying without a visible badge. I’ve spent time in other states that have open carry and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.
Don’t see it here much. I saw it a lot in Arizona. I was in Tennessee (Memphis) last September and in July of '15 (Nashville) and saw a lot more of it than I had anticipated.
