There was a long line of media waiting to register at the press office at the NRA annual meeting this morning. As I stood in line, watching the attendees walk by, there was a gentleman open carrying this five-shot revolver in a cross draw rig. The thumb-break release, held in tight against the body, makes a casual snatch unlikely. In this type of carry, the left arm naturally guards the revolver.

I have seen plenty of open carry at the last two NRA annual meetings. I snapped the picture above and quickly dashed back to my place in line to register as media for the event.

Despite what you might have read, the NRA policy for carry of firearms at the annual meeting from their website:

During the 2018 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits, lawfully carried firearms will be permitted in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and the Omni Dallas Hotel in accordance with Texas law. When carrying your firearm remember to follow all federal, state, and local laws.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the attendance of the Vice President of the United States at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum on Friday, May 4, the U.S. Secret Service will be responsible for event security around the Arena at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. As a result, firearms and firearm accessories, knives or weapons of any kind will be prohibited in the forum prior to and during his attendance. Click here for additional information.

Texas has only recently done away with its Reconstruction-era ban on the open carry of pistols in most public places. Legislative reform to restore open carry, but with a carry permit, went into effect in 2016.

Only five states generally forbid the open carry of holstered handguns. It appears that Florida and South Carolina are in contention to be the next states to restore legal open carry. That would leave only New York, Illinois, and California.

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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85 COMMENTS

  1. This is incorrect. Massachusetts does not explicitly ban open carry but it’s may issue licensing effectively bans it. Open carry and your permit is widely expected to be revoked.

  2. Wait a second and hold the phone. You mean to tell me if by some grace of his highness, the govenor of nj, I recieved a concealed carry permit I would be allowed to open carry?

    • If you get a carry permit in NJ you are so well connected that you can do whatever you want

    • The Republicrats in Florida have year after year showed their true colors. They want gun control. Not open carry. The kingmakers in leadership have ensured that the various committees in the FL Senate will block open carry, campus carry, etc. The Republican leadership won’t allow open debate or bring it to a vote on the floor, as then they would be forced to cast a vote and pick a side. They prefer ambiguity, “oh, what bill? I never saw that even come up, I would have of course supported the Second Amendment, oh, gotta run, reelect me next year! For freedom!”

      But they have revealed their true side, voting for restricting legal adults from exercising their rights, new waiting periods on all guns, including stripped receivers, rifles, “firearms”, suppressors, SBRs, etc, red flag, ban on possession of bump stocks with a 5 year in prison penalty, and they almost approved a 2 year ban on AR sales that leadership held as a voice vote, and declared passed (Republicans hold the majority, it can’t pass unless they vote for it). It was only rolled back with a roll call vote. Open carry? Only if Bloomberg decided suddenly he is a fan of it. Chances of that happening? 0%.

      But glad Texas can do it. I wish they had a q&a session @ NRA with Trump and Pence. That would have been nice!

      • It is bizarre to me that open carry is legal in MN but not FL. It seems to be quite rare though. Outside of 2nd Amendment rallies, I have only seen three open carriers.

        • “It is bizarre to me that open carry is legal in MN but not FL.”

          The Leftists keep claiming it will freak out the foreign tourists, meaning they won’t travel here.

          Oddly enough, I know of a few gun ranges in the ‘Disney World’ – ‘Magic Kingdom’ – Orlando area that do a very good business in renting guns, some even full-auto to the ‘terrified tourists’ that relish the opportunity to shoot guns they would never be allowed to even touch in their home country.

          Hawaii as well, the Japanese – Asian tourists love shooting guns in America…

    • Florida was among the first to pass “shall issue” and “stand your ground.” The governor signed a bill, post Parkland, raising the minimum age to purchase any firearm to 21. Knee jerk reaction that’s going to hurt him in his bid for the U.S. senate. As for open carry; it shouldn’t be illegal, but it’s tactically stupid. You’re standing in line at a convenience store. Joe Hood Rat is waiting in line behind you with a quart of beer. He smacks you over the head with it, snatches your roscoe and bolts for the door. The only time anyone should know you’re carrying a firearm in public is when you point it at them. Suprise!

      • Do you live in the hood? I do now and did many years ago. Your fantasy scenario simply doesn’t happen. It’s utter and total bullshit. What DOES happen is that problem thugs avoid me and my openly armed family. Those local criminal types that are not problems wave hello and continue on; we are on first name basis. A few month ago, local cops told our family that crime in our block went from very high to zero within two months of us moving in. Local law enforcement couldn’t be happier about our OC. There was a rash of armed robberies at the local convenient store chain at which one of my daughters works. I visit her often as she works third shift. Their store was the only one not robbed until one of the few nights she was off. Her fellow workers asked me to visit them every so often on third shift when she is scheduled off now.

        Reality doesn’t match much of the anti-OC hogwash that gets thrown around. Be mostly white, short, and older, hide your firearms, and get in some firefights. Or, OC, remain aware, and act like a decent human being and experience the deterrent value of open carry. Come live in the hood and open carry. Keep your situational awareness up and you might learn a thing or two.

        • It does happen dummy. I know because I HAVE DONE IT TO SOMEONE TO PROVE MY POINT. This guy was one of those “ain’t nobody stealing my gun from me, it’s a crime deterrent,” type of guys. Yeah ok, whatever you say dork. So one day I see him at a Harris Teeter. I snatched his Dan Wesson 1911 off his belt dropped the magazine and tossed a round at him. “You are dead bro,” is all I said after that. I never hit or punched this guy as he is my friend. I simply walked up to him from the rear and took his pistol from him before he had a clue. I had the magazine out and the round in my hand before he turned around. Folks, that is scary; I am no professional theif. I didn’t practice this move at all. He bought a nice pancake holster the next day, I kid you not.

          Unless you are trained to physically defend your weapon, don’t show it off. You will get comfortable with it and forget it is there. Next thing you know someone else will be open carrying your firearm for you. May only happen to one of you, but ain’t that enough?

        • So, Wade any other felonies you want to confess to? You do realize that anyone else in that store would have been justified in giving you a double tap?

          But you stole the pistol from someone you know. Not a stranger.

          You just don’t know how many crimes were prevented by the mere sight of an open carry handgun.

          In my 50 years of life, Kentucky has had open carry twice as long as it has concealed carry. I have never, never, never heard of an open carry firearm being holster swiped from it’s owner.
          I have read about people in other states having their open carry pistol stolen at gun point, but I have read the same about people who carry concealed.

        • Do I live in the hood? Most of the county that I live in, and patrolled before retiring, is a hood. Never happens? If I had a $100 dollar bill for every time a a similar scenario took place, basically a mugging, I’d be wealthy today.

        • Almost forgot. A little story you’ll find interesting. I was on duty one night at a convenience store along with three other uniformed officers conducting crowd control. There had been an event at a nearby high school. Anyway, Joe Hood Rat hit the victim over the head with a bottle shattering it, then stabbed him in the throat severing the carotid artery. Victim was deceased before EMS could get him out of the parking lot. Now, the point is; If four uniformed L.E.O.s with four marked patrol cars weren’t a deterrent to this crime, why do you think you open carrying is going to make a difference?

        • Wade, bullshit story, never happened. Sounds like its ripped straight from some cheesy F/X channel movie.

          YOU’RE the type of Walter Mittey lunatic we don’t need running around fantasizing about heroics. Had you actually done what you claimed, which would have a crime, by the way, you likely would have gotten yourself or someone else hurt, probably shot.

          I don’t trust you with a gun, or even a computer, for that matter.

      • Paul McMichael; “tactically stupid”? It’s TRUE, Since having an OC’er mugged for his gun would be front page news, I am constantly seeing this scenario play out on the nightly news. Oh, wait, Darn! No, sorry, I guess that pretty much never happens.

        I googled Open carry person gets mugged. One event from 08/2014 in Gresham, Oregon when an OC man was robbed for his gun after a guy asked him for a cigarette.
        One event. Four years ago.

        Yeah, I think this kind of proves the point. From my personal experience, OC has caused at least 3 different human predators to go look for easier targets, when they saw the gun on my hip. That plus, versus the practically zero chance, with good situational awareness, of becoming a target of a predator. I’ll take that risk.

        • The homicide I referred to did in fact happen. I’ll dig up the case number Monday if you like and post it on this blog. You’ll see my name mentioned. Suspect pled out to avoid the death penalty. Life without parole. I am a hard core supporter of 2A. I believe every citizen should be allowed to carry a firearm. I believe open carry should be legal. Everywhere. It’s just that based on 25 years of firearms training and professional use of the same (and teaching hundreds of citizens a CCW course) I personally don’t think open carry is tactically sound in an urban environment.

        • Well, Paul, you make the point that the four officers with guns weren’t attacked, and that deterrence does not mean a guarantee against other unarmed individuals being attacked, was the victim armed or unarmed?

        • Victim was unarmed. We weren’t attacked because we weren’t the target. Not because we were armed. The point of the story was that if four uniformed L.E.O.s on scene won’t deter a homicide, why would the suspect care about an armed citizen. Not saying armed citizens don’t deter crime. Happens every day and God bless them. I was always on their side. I just believe that, based on 25 years of training and experience, that open carry in an urban environment is tactically unsound. I’ve had more armed confrontations than I care to remember. On and off duty. I remember driving to the farm one afternoon for a little peace in a tree stand. A car pulled along side. Three guys snorting coke. They didn’t see the little sheriff’s star on my back window my boss would give us. Called it in to dispatch. Zone 3 deputy in route. Meanwhile, bad guys notice me noticing them. U turn. Dipped into a parking lot. I block them in. Exit my truck while bolting a round into my stainless Winchester Mod. 70 and identifying myself. Just at that time Tony Geuliano, Florida Highway Patrol, is passing. He backed me up, but told me later he didn’t recognize me from Hwy 90. He said, “Fuck me! A redneck pointing a hunting rifle at three black guys. I do not want to get into this.” (Tony is a funny guy.) Any way Tracy Smith shows up. All three have active warrants. Seized powder and crack cocaine. Sorry guys, you’ll never made me believe open carry is a good idea. I could legally do it for over two decades, but never would unless the job required it. It should be legal though.

          One other thing. And I’ve avoided this because of the shit storm I know it’s going to cause when I say it, but it is what it is. There is a certain element out there that wants open carry out of some misguided sense of machismo. I know it, you know it, and so does everyone else.

        • I have a CCW here in Colorado, when I lived in Nevada I did open carry. I was at a Restaurant in Henderson and a customer getting an attitude about it asked me what would I do if he just took my pistol away from me, I simply looked at him and told him to make sure his life insurance was paid up and current. He, about 45 minutes later, went outside and called the Henderson PD and complained about me having a firearm on me. I turned around and saw them pull up, told the server I would be right back, went outside and it was two officers who knew me and knew I was legal with it. They aid hello to me and we chatted for a few minutes and the guy just stood there looking like an idiot, you could see he was up set because nothing happened. The only reason I now have a CCW is because I often travel to Denver and with it being a home rule city they can a did ban open carry therefore I conceal carry. I have not had any issues about my CCW, and yes I have carried it into school to pick up my Grand daughter who I have living with my wife and I. The small town I live in is more conservative then many of the towns and city’s around Colorado such as Colorado Springs etc.

    • I really don’t get the deal about open carry. Maybe because I did it professionally for two and a half decades. On the farm when I’m moving tree stands, or filling feeders? Sure. When I’m going out to dinner with my girlfriend? Not hardly. Who would want the unnecessary attention? Oh, I’m armed. All of my adult life. But openly? When I don’t have to be? No thanks.

      • Paul, I’m with you on this 100%. I was in law enforcement for 31 years, 21 in investigations. Usually in jeans and a t shirt. Always carried in a horizontal shoulder holster. Summer time concealed it with a light cover shirt. My numerous injuries have caught up with me and my shoulder can no longer take the weight nor my hips. Had to down gun from my full size pistols and now carry a S&W M&P Shield with 2 spare mags in a belly band. Very comfortable way to carry. Like you, The only reason I can think to open carry is if the state doesn’t allow CCW, like the state I retired from, Kalifornia.

        • Thanks Marty. I worked plain clothes too. Always tried to be concealed when I could. Sometimes it was just too damn hot though. Almost 90 today and it’s only the first week of May. I really don’t understand why so many people want to walk around with an exposed handgun. Even before I got into law enforcement I never wanted to and always thought it was a dumb idea. I still do. Shouldn’t be illegal though. There may be exigent circumstances when a person has to and they shouldn’t be jailed for it.

          • Yea Paul. I was in Kalifornia and luckily Hawaiian shirts were in. Always wore one size larger and a horizontal shoulder holster. Never printed. Now I live in a state where you seldom see a Hawaiian shirt. Got about a dozen of them in the closet down in the basement. Only time I wear them is when I go back to Kalifornia to get my Title 18 926 c ID card renewed.

        • More than likely Paul, the subconscious reason that you don’t like seeing citizens carrying OC, is because those people are saying they are not subjects, that they are in fact free citizens.

          Those free citizen reminds those of the statist mind set, that there are still those that cannot be casually treated by the thoughtless abuse, let alone the active tyranny, by those that make, or enforce, the laws.

          As for me, I’ve OC’d for almost 10 years here in NM. In cites many times, with nothing but good response from police and citizens alike.

          • Thomas, you are dead wrong. I’m a huge supporter of gun rights, Been a life member of the NRA for close to 50 years. Life member of the California Rifle and Pistol Association for about the same amount of time. I’ve seen over and over again armed citizens come to the aid of LEO’s when they desperately needed it. So don’t give me this subconscious shit.

        • Touch a nerve have we Marty? I was talking to Paul, well, I’ll talk to you instead. In the beginning of our country, only criminals carried concealed. Honest law-abiding citizens would open carry their firearms as a public statement of their commitment to protecting their society from predators as a free citizen.

          Our founding fathers warned against a paid military and a paid police force that didn’t have citizen soldiers as their primary first line of defense. Because they saw historically that the paid military and the paid police force would start becoming more arrogant and abusive of their power and they would start looking at citizens as the “other” verging on being the ebemy. How often have we heard from police that they see the public as the “enemy” . Now it’s becoming more and more what our founding fathers warned against.

          But I don’t blame you Marty, because it is my fellow citizens that have allowed the paid police in particular, to become comfortable in their niche of being the openly armed enforcers in a badge and uniform as being the only “legitimate” protectors against predators, whereas the openly armed citizen has somehow become illegitimate in being the first line of defense against predators in our society.

          My goal in open carrying is not only to be a form of deterrence to bad guys, but it is also to remind my fellow citizens and the paid police that the openly armed citizen is the first line of self-defense in my society, because generally, it is the citizen that is on the front line as the first responder, dealing with human predators, with the paid police as back up.

          So embrace the fact Marty, when you do see a citizen open carrying a firearm and say to yourself and to others around you how blessed we are that we have the freedom that is denied the six billion other people in this world, the freedom that is almost unique, that we have in this country and encourage other citizens to do the same.

          • Thomas, I would agree with your thoughts, If, like at the early stages of our Country, Almost Everybody open carries. Of course the vast majority back then worked on farms and later ranches. This required folks to carry a weapon, and holster carry was far more comfortable then a large revolver in the waistband.

            I’m not telling you or anybody else, you shouldn’t open carry. I don’t do it myself, unless fishing or hunting. I just think it draws unnecessary attention. If and when everybody is doing it, I may change my mind. I said MY mind. You and the others do what you please. It’s no skin of my nose.

        • Marty, you and I would have worked well together. You ever make it to N. Florida give me a shout. Make it around January. I’ll put you in a comfortable deer stand one afternoon and we’ll be 20 miles off shore fishing the next day. Steaks and bourbon at the camp in between. Lots of conversation about firearms also. Most guys in attendance will be L.E.O.

          • WOW, what an offer. I’d love to take you up on that, but the chances of me making it to Florida are slim to none. So, how about you take a trip to the mountains of Central Utah. The Bourbon is always in season at my house. I understand non residents have a better chance of drawing an Elk tag than I do. I’ve been here for almost 13 years and have 12 bonus points. I’m told I may get a tag with 20 points. However I do get a deer tag every other year, while non residents seem to get one every year. If you can’t make it this year, you may have to take a trip to Wyoming. Tomorrow morning, my wife and I head up to Northern Wyoming to check out some homes up there. Best of both worlds. Like you in Florida, no income tax and a drive of about 70 miles to the Costco in Billings, no sales tax. Weather there is not as severe as here where we have been 36 below 0 too many times to count, but not in the last several years. But Below 0 every year since we’ve been here. I’d love to get together with you, we’re like two peas in a pod. Great trout fishing here in streams and lakes, nice firm pink meat do to the cold. That’s why we moved here, after all, that’s what ya do when you retire, hunt and fish, right? Been a Volunteer Fire Fighter up here for the last 12 years. Wife not happy about it and wants me to step down. I’m out fighting fires when she gets called to evacuate. Can’t figure out why she gets so upset LOL. But she is right, I can’t blame her. It’s time to move to a less severe fire area, out of the forest and onto some farm land where we can grow our own grass hay for the horses. We definitely need to stay in touch, but how do we do it? If I leave the fire dept, I can give you my FD email address as I would close it down sometime after leaving. What do you think?

      • ThomasR, at the beginning of our country there was no such thing as a professional police force. Anywhere. The only thing the founding fathers were concerned about was an over reaching federal government and a standing army to enforce it’s will. Go back and reread your 8th grade civics book. I have often said that I would never obey an order to disarm an otherwise law abiding citizen of the United States of America. And I never did. Listen. I’m going to speak very slowly and with small words. I THINK OPEN CARRY SHOULD BE LEGAL. I DON’T THINK IT’S A SOUND TACTIC IN MOST URBAN AREAS. There only six words with two syllables. Can you wrap your brain around that?

        • Paul, you and me both. I can’t even remember how many law abiding citizens who I found to have loaded weapons in their vehicle, whom I admonished the next cop might not be so understanding, and sent them on their way. Just because the Kalifornia law was screwed up, didn’t mean I always had to go by the book.

    • Are crime rates going up? They’ve been steadily going down since 1994, actually. 2016 saw the first moderate increase in crime per year since 1993, and even then, it was all concentrated in the Leftist Blue Cities. Outside of these cities, America’s “gun violence” rate drops to that of Finland. Democrats cause crime.

    • The Russia thing is a horse that has been beat to a pulp already and you link is to an opinion piece from a liberal publication that and describes a really poorly formed opinion. Your effort doesn’t even get a nice try. Now please crawl back under your rock.

    • The NRA has Members all over the World. So what if a few are Russian? They pay their dues like every other Member.
      I am a Life Member. And NOT Russian.

  7. Sorry all, I don’t believe anyone should open carry unless the are unable to carry concealed. I’ve lived in situational awareness for more then 4 decades. I live and breathe it. However, there are times when something unexpected caught me unaware. Maybe, if we had eyes in the back of our heads, but we don’t. If someone sees a person open carrying, that person can become a target. If you are CCW, the bad guys will never know it. It is much safer to carry concealed and react to a severe problem. If you open carry, that problem could identify you so much easier. Please don’t tell me you are 100% sure of everything around you. You’d only be kidding yourself. I truly believe all qualified folks should be armed, but unless you can’t carry concealed, for whatever reason, then by all means open carry, but your situational awareness should ALWAYS be level red, and know you could still targeting yourself.

    • Open carry is about normalization. The same exact way the gay community made being gay socially acceptable. As the fearful ignorant populace sees normal, everyday people, who are not cops, carrying without issue, they come to accept it.

      • Yea, that I can understand and agree with. However, remember there are a lot of ‘snowflakes’ and such out there who would never agree. Remember, level red at all times.

      • I understand that concept, but in practice it seems to have the opposite effect.

        • “… in practice it seems to have the opposite effect.”

          Then it’s not being practiced enough. That’s the reality.

          It took many years of folks seeing gay couples in public before most folks never pay it any mind. It will be the same with guns.

          (Note – I said *most* folks. Some folks never learn…)

      • Yup, and if there are a hundred such persons around, who is the bad guy going to focus on?

        • So a predator sees 99 people with no gun and then he see’s one guy with a gun, who will the Predator think he should try to mug first?

          So The Predator is looking at the one guy that has a gun, he looks like he has good situational awareness and the fact that the guy with the gun actually is looking at him because a predator on the hunt is like having a red flashing light on your head to anybody who is willing to look; then the Predator is looking at the 99 other people who are probably in condition white, completely oblivious to their surroundings and who look like they don’t have guns on them.

          Oh, I don’t know, I think the Predator might choose one of those 99 other people.

          • Yup, you’re right. That’s why I originally said situational awareness is the key to open carry. But, my guess is the vast majority of open carry folks don’t have great SA. Like I also said none of us have eyes in the back of our head. Real SA is very hard work and must be practiced every day, every hour when out in public.

        • If that were true Marty, then more that OC would be targeted for their firearm, since predators look for the helpless, the weak, the defenseless and the unaware. Your beliefs aren’t supported by facts, logic, or history. Which means your projecting what are essentially irrational fears.

          • You’re reading something that’s not there. I have absolutely no fears. I might if I open carried, but I don’t. Like I said in my first comment on this subject, open carry takes excellent situation awareness that most people simply don’t have. You say my beliefs are not supported by logic. This is where you are totally wrong. It’s very logical to believe open carry brings unwanted attention. Now, most of that attention is harmless, but it’s illogical to believe all of that attention is harmless.

        • So Marty, you didn’t answer my question, where is the proof that open carriers are not using good situational awareness? The fact that you keep insisting that open carriers don’t use good situational awareness without showing any reason why you believe that tells me that you are projecting your own lack of trust, your own fears about other people without proof. Then, you use that baseless fear, to then project the irrational fear that an open carrier would become a target by a human predator.

          So, again, what is the basis of your statement that open carriers don’t use good situational awareness?

          • The basis of my thought is my experience. I know myself how hard it was for me to develop SA when I first started concealed carrying more than 45 years ago. It took me years to develop my SA to a point where it became a habit I really didn’t need to constantly think about. It comes from 31 years in law enforcement and almost being able to read the minds of the crooks I was after. I’ve talked with 1000’s of hard core violent felons. Because I’ve been into firearms all my adult life (I was a police firearms instructor, SWAT firearms instructor and a civilian firearms instructor), I always asked them about their use of firearms in crime. I know how crooks think.

    • I carry concealed every time I leave the house, and I plan to keep doing just that. The reason I want to see open carry legalized here in Florida is that I want the option if circumstances make it the better choice. It might be something as simple as being caught in a thunderstorm and getting soaking wet and wanting to – briefly – carry my holstered pistol in my hand.

      • Alan, not sure about Florida, but I live in one of the best 2A states, and I don’t believe open carry allows open in the hand. I think the weapon has to be holstered at all times. Maybe you were just being facetious.

      • Open carry should be a legal option, but exercised judicially. In the aftermath of a natural disaster looters seeing an armed property owner is a definite deterrent. Same with civil unrest. Witness Korea Town during the L.A. riots. I know this from personal experience having worked several hurricanes, including Katrina. However, when going about your daily business keep it concealed.

      • You CAN Open Carry on Florida with the ONE exception to the Law forbidding it.

        “In Florida, you can legally open carry a loaded firearm while engaged in, or going to and from, Fishing, Hunting, and Camping. With some planning and preparation, a law abiding person can open carry a firearm in public and stay in compliance with the law.”

    • “If someone sees a person open carrying, that person can become a target. ”

      If someone sees a person without a visible weapon, that person can become a target.

      • Yea, anybody can be a target. But I won’t be targeted for my weapon, which they don’t know I have. I won’t be drawing their attention like I would be with open carry. It’s pretty much common sense. When I need my weapon, I want it to be a complete surprise to the crook.

        • Except that the incidence of people at OC being attacked for their gun is practically non-existent. Like I said, Google “open carrier gets mugged” and you have one incident from 2014 in Oregon of that actually happening.

          On the other hand, you have regular reports of people that concealed carry that are attacked and they need to use their firearm to defend themselves from being preyed upon. To me it’s obvious why that happens, because the predator doesn’t know if somebody’s carrying a concealed firearm because it’s concealed.

          Now you might say it’s because there are more people carrying a concealed firearm, perhaps; but if OC really was a magnet for predators to target people that open carry firearm, and OC is legal in most States, then it would be much more common than just one incident, 4 years ago.

          To me, fact, logic, history doesn’t support what seems to me an irrational hysteria that open carrying actually encourages becoming a target for predators.

          I believe that fact, logic and history shows that OC actually creates the exact opposite conditions, in which an open carrier is the least likely, (not zero) least likely to be targeted by a predator.

          • You’re right, it’s because there are tons more CCW’s than OC. I live in a very pro gun state. OC is legal, CCW is shall issue. I’ve been here for 13 years. Outside of two friends, I’ve never seen another OC, Never. I also live in a fairly rural area, where one might think is the perfect place for OC. Nope, their all CCW.

        • Oh Marty, you completely ignore my other point that says that if OC really was a magnet, even though it’s not as common as concealed carry and OC is legal in most States. Out of the 5 to eight millions of people that conceal carry, there would at least hundreds if not thousands, if not more, that open carry; then the OC person would be attacked more often than just one event in the last 4 years.

          Be honest.

          • Thomas, I don’t know about any state other than the ones I have lived in. In both states I have experience in it is against the law for a permit holder to carry openly, or even to accidentally expose their firearm. In both states you would immediately have your permit revoked and depending on the circumstances, be criminally charged. Your facts aren’t aren’t factual.

  8. I’ve been at NRA in Dallas all day- have seen no open carrying. Haven’t seen lots of concealed carry, however. 🙂

    Today, while listening to Pence and Trump was the first time I can remember in last 5 years or so I was not carrying. Always IWB. Had to cinch up the pants tighter…

    • Now that you mention it, the Trump event might be why I saw so little evidence of open (or concealed) carry today.

  9. It will be a cold day in hell if Illinois ever permits open carry. Illinois is defiantly not Kentucky where open carry has been allowed since its statehood.

  10. California banned loaded open carry in all cities and towns after an armed Black Panther demonstration IN the State Capitol. Governor Reagan happily signed the law. Open carry disappeared because–well, what’;s the point of carrying it it unloaded? Beginning in 2012 activists began having open unloaded events, all perfectly legal, but the soccer moms and the Star Bucks patrons totally freaked, and another “emergency” bill passed into law in 2013 banning open (unloaded) carry of handguns. The next year, when activists said they would carry rifles instead, open carry of long guns became law.

    Given this history, the odds of California suddenly reversing course is essentially nil, absent a court ruling decreeing otherwise. A case argued by Charles Nichols to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals raises the issue that open carry is the right, and cannot be banned–except in GFSZs and government buildings (i.e., nearly everywhere). Having already decided that there is no 2A right to carry a concealed firearm, it will be interesting to see how that court finds a way to continue the open carry ban–meaning an urban carry ban for residents of all major cities except Sacramento as those cities barely issue any CCWs–as allowable under the Second Amendment. (Unfortunately, in pro per plaintiff Charles Nichols is an incredibly inarticulate spokesman who has as many enemies in the 2A camp as supporters.)

    • Mark N. My opponents are lying cocksuckers such as yourself. It is the NRA which argued in its concealed carry lawsuit to preserve California’s Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1995, not me. There is absolutely nothing in my lawsuit which conflicts with the US Supreme Court decisions in Robertson v. Baldwin, District of Columbia v. Heller, McDonald v. City of Chicago or Caetano v. Massachusetts.

      Which is why the State of California begged the court of appeals in my case to ignore the US Supreme Court and adopt a 14th century England prohibition on wearing armor in terror of the people as binding in this circuit and apply its interpretation of that law to the mere carriage of firearms.

      I am the only person in the 51 years since California enacted its 1967 ban on carrying loaded firearms in public to challenge that ban as it applies to Open Carry. I am in my seventh year of litigation.

      What have you done these past seven years, other than suck a lot of dick?

      Is that articulate enough for you?

  12. As always, the left gets away with fake news, no calling the “MSM” out on themselves I suppose.

    I know for a fact I heard NPR espouse (could not control their smugness) the “gun ban” at the convention prior to the online links now, that are all five days old or less, which specify Pres/Vice being the only events that guns were not allowed.

    Even Snopes cited the NY Times as being incorrect on this topic, both in 2015 and 2018. But I guess since all fake news is right wing/Trump created, I must be utterly mistaken.

  13. South Carolina keeps kicking Open Carry down the road, every year for the past 5 years since I got my CWP.
    STILL no Open Carry.
    Which is why I mostly shop in North Carolina (because I live 8 miles from the border) in the City of Whiteville (except for food, 2% Food Tax). Open Carry State. Nobody cares, nobody notices, nobody complains, not even the LEOs in Walmart.
    Oh. And the Sales Tax is lower, 6.75%, whereas North Myrtle Beach is 8% and Myrtle Beach is 9%.
    Walmart in Whiteville is only 6 more miles one way than NMB or Conway.

  14. I open carry.. of course it is a knife.
    They try and steal a lethal weapon?..
    I’ll shoot them.

  15. Marty, what are you going to do? You really can’t argue with the uninitiated. I said this in an earlier post, that many may miss, but I’m going to repeat it now. I know and you know and everyone else knows,that at least some of the open carry advocates want it out of some kind of misguided sense of machismo. Remember, I believe open carry should be legal!

    • Yup Paul, And I’ve said numerous times, I’m only against open carry for me. One of the two I know who open carry here in my little town definitely OC’s for the machismo thing. It’s all over his face. Even when it’s cold and he has to wear a jacket, he wears his shoulder holster on the outside of his jacket instead of a belt holster outside his jacket. Oh well, I’m not going to change my mind, they are not going to change theirs. This topic has been going around several sites over the last couple of years and my guess, very few minds have been changed.

      • That’s too funny! Outside his jacket? When it could easily be concealed? That guy definitely has some issues. I guess I’ll never understand it. Except when in uniform I always hid my weapon when possible.
        ThomasR, only able to find one incident in four years? Isn’t that one to many? Ask that guy if he wishes he had been carrying concealed, or if he is glad he was carrying openly.

  16. Marty, I’d love hunt the American West, but can’t get far from home. My parents are 90 & 89. Dad is wheelchair bound. They depend on me too much for me to be away more than a day, or two. I drive them to Dr.’s appointments, take care their lawn, cook the occasional meal, etc. They took care of me for 18 years. My turn now.

    • I totally understand. Cuddo’s to you for accepting the responsibility that far too many won’t. My wife’s mother was in a nursing home with cancer. She would visit her 2 times a week and was appalled at how many folks in the home had so few visits from family members. They all looked forward to my wife’s visits almost like my wife was their daughter. It’s a very good thing you are doing.

      My trip to Wyoming was a total flop. We are staying here for the time being.

  17. open carry may be legal, but why would you open yourself to a swatting call.And if someone wants to shoot up a place and does any recon you will be the first one shot. I carry concealed for my safety and it is a lot less hassle.

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