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My first Open Carry Experience

2K views 10 replies 11 participants last post by  tkruf 
#1 ·
I just wanted to share an open carry experience. A fellow coworker and I were having lunch at taco bell and we were waiting in line. There was a guy ahead of us and I saw a gun near his waist. Cool, he must be an undercover cop.

When I saw some videos of people open carrying on youtube, people were freaking out and calling the cops just because someone walked into a store or restaurant just because they saw them carrying a gun by their waist.

If I see someone with a gun on their waist, I don't care as long as they are not waiving it around like a maniac cause some day they can save someone's life.
 
#2 ·
It seems to be the majority of the people's mindset that

gun on waist + normal looking guy = cop


However I though it was YOUR experience carrying :wink:
 
#7 ·
I must be doing something wrong. Everytime I'm stopped when I'm OCing people ask me if I'm a bounty hunter..I've never been asked about being a LEO.

P.S I also thought it was going to be your OC experience too!!!
 
#8 ·
O.K. I also thought that you were talking about YOU OCing. Here in the Phoenix area, I see people OCing all the time. I own a store here in Mesa (suburb of Phoenix) and often ask them things like, "why did you choose that brand/model" and ask them to come back again. I like to be surrounded by like minded people. The funny thing is, I didn’t OC 'till last year. I had fears that I would be escorted by police out of the establishment, but never was. Out of a few dozen places I went to, I only saw 3 or 4 people even visibly notice the gun. I am a CCW and sometimes carry a gun concealed, but I was surprised by how few people reacted to me OCing.

It might be that they thought I was LEO, but I also think that here it is simply a case of being legal and many people choose to do so. I love this state! However, of the LEO's I know, and a lot of our customers are, all of them carry concealed when not on the job.

I wonder just how much of this is thinking they are LEO is due to the internet and/or media.

But, over the dozen years I lived in Arizona, I have learned that about 99.99% of the OCers are good people. And, I would rather be their friends and advocates.
 
#9 ·
Before I began carrying, I was walking around in a Home Depot one afternoon wearing jeans, a button-down short sleeve shirt tucked in, and had keys dangling from my belt loop. In the span of 45 mins no fewer than four people had asked me questions about building material; all were surprised to learn that, no, I was not the lumber department manager.

I can understand the assumption people make about a civilian OCer being an off-duty or plain clothes cop. It's a bad assumption, but an understandable one.
 
#10 ·
Nice of you to share your thoughts on what you saw. Do you carry concealed, or are you just starting out with an interest in carrying? One thing I noticed with your post, is that your interest is making you more aware of your surroundings, which is a good place for your head to be, whether you carry or not.
Welcome to our forum, lots of good and knowledg People.
 
#11 ·
I too thought the op's post was about he himself and his first experience OC experience.

I wonder, how many people have long hair and OC, if they would still be mistook for a plain clothed or UC LEO. Seems that is the first question in most cases I read about here, "Are you a LEO?"

I think my first response, rather than "no", would be, "why do you ask?" or "no, why do you ask?". Let them bring up, "because you have a gun". Then I can inform them that OC is legal in the state, etc.
 
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