Seriously, whats the deal with open carry?

Not an anti gun thread, we'v done them to death.

Iv seen plenty guns before and iv read on WF about open and concealed carry but up until today iv only really seen guns on hips of police officers.

So this evening, i went up to Wallmart to grab a few essentials. I see this dude walking in with his kid, gun strapped to his hip. Why? Honestly, ive no idea. I get some of you want your right to carry, but why does this guy really need it on display in fucking supermarket.

Talk me through the thinking and logic behind open v concealed carry. I am genuinly interested and not looking for another guns are great v guns are bad.

I think open carry is stupid as fuck.

That's fine, but do you think it should be legal?

Don't really have an opinion one way or the other.

What about you?

I see it at Walmart all the time. It's just chest thumping bullshit.

There's an old guy in town who carries a SAA in a western rig. At least he's got style.

I don't really have a problem with it. I'm not sure if it's necessary, but I generally come down on the side of if you aren't harming anyone, do what you want. We did see that in the night club shooting CC, saved lives so... I suppose it could be a deterrent.

I don't think it should be illegal.

I do think it's dumb and (from a gun rights perspective) counter-productive.

It's dumb because it's all but useless for defense. It's a big fat sign on you that says "SHOOT ME FIRST!" or "FREE GUN FOR KNOCKING ME OUT!"

Carrying a gun is for your personal defense. It should never be about intimidating or scaring the hoi polloi.

I just had a hard time processing the why. No doubt there were plenty guns in that Wallmart but why the need to show it off? Status symbol? Sort of like the scumbags in the UK who parade around with their close to the limit dangerous dog breeds?

My step father is an open carry guy, I don't think he does it everywhere or all of the time, and he basically does it to deter potential thug.

Does he do it in a supermarket? Is a supermarket a typical thug confrontation ground?

I don't know. He's a verry responsible guy though. I'm thinking bars.

There's nothing strange about it unless they're wearing a mask.

Note that the guys carrying concealed look like goobers.

It depends - is it smart to leave your gun in your vehicle if you have to stop off at the store? And if you don't have "concealed carry" then what choice would you have but to open carry? In other words some people drive around with guns in their vehicles at the ready for protection. Anecdotal, but I know a few folks who are alive today (and bad guys who are dead) from people right here in Augusta who had guns in their cars and were forced to use them. So should a gun owner plan all their comings & goings around the fact that some people don't like to see people exercising their constitutional rights. He's not robbing the store with the gun, just shopping. Not to traumatizing IMO.

As long as you don't have a GLOCK or SIG sticker on your car.

I like goobers, the candy.

When I used to carry a pistol in my pickup, it stayed locked in the glove compartment. The only people who ever saw it was the carload of drunks who threatened me.

They left when I...showed...it to them.

It's still stupid to open carry.

This is pretty much my stance, I suppose. I don't know that it should be illegal, but it's a pretty stupid thing to do for all the reasons that @Paladin mentions.

Then isn't the point of open carry?

You showed a carload of drunks your gun and they were.....amused.....scared.....some other emotion?
Technically you could have been arrested for brandishing a weapon and conveying a threat. That's what would most likely happen if you try to scare people with a gun in my county. Odds are the carload of drunks might have a gun too - quite a recipe for disaster. In what manner did they threaten you? To kick your ass? That's not likely to be fatal versus shooting one of them. Fuck that, I'm not going to jail/prison. I'm not showing a gun to anyone unless it's the last thing they'll see in this world.

A carload of drunks made like they were getting ready to assault me. When I showed them my pistol, they hauled ass.

Five or six against one? I'm not going to take an ass-kicking when I have three times that many bullets in my pistol.

"Your honor, I was in fear for my life."

What are the statistics on people using open carry being singled out as targets? In other words
is that really the "shoot me first situation" that some people think it is? Most robbers (at least around here) don't like a challenge, and would rather have an easy risk-free target. I would think that open carry is pretty much a "red flag" that says "I actually practice with a gun and know what I'm doing and will kill a criminal as soon as look at one." But hey, I'm not a criminal so maybe they they are all suicidal - who knows?

If you are open carrying , and you deter someone from say jackin you by pointing to your gun and then open carry worked, worked as a deterrent, didn't it?

It wasn't in the "open" until they approached my truck and I pulled it out of the glove compartment.

Not remotely "open carry".

Hmmm......tough to prove for you really. It depends on where you live and what kind of lawyer you can afford.
The burden of proof could be on you to prove that your life was in danger. A lot of people get thrown under the bus for using a gun when the jury thinks they could have employed other options, or that the threat was blown out of proportion. IMO it should be common sense that if a group of people are actually about to carry out what could be a fatal assault you can use deadly force - but not everyone fells the same way, sadly. You be amazed how many people take ass whippings because they are more afraid of a jury/lawyers than they are the people assaulting them.

Unlike you, I live in a great county with a sensible district attorney.

In some states you can't have a loaded gun in the glove compartment - guns and ammo have to be stored separately - which pretty much negates the purpose of having a gun for self defense. Personally on the rare occasions I know ahead of time that I have to do business or travel through a high risk zone I certainly will have the ammo with the weapon. I have no idea if this is legal, but being Georgia they are not very "criminal friendly" so it probably is. After the fact if I had to (god forbid) use it on a proven threat nobody would make an issue out of it. I'm so glad I live in a state where they don't coddle violent criminals, or have idiotic gun laws.

Our DA is generally sensible. That said the county does love generating revenue! I wouldn't put it past the cops to make an arrest knowing it won't stick if it goes to trial just to justify their jobs and the jail to justify their jobs, etc.etc. Like when the DA got the charges dropped on my son & his buddies a few years back ( a ridiculous trumped up charge) I had already spent money on a lawyer, the tow truck operator/impound lot, bail money, and probably some more things I forgot about by now - and the jail justified their budget by rotating more people through without having to actually feed or house them. They love a quick safe arrest and the suspect making bond fast. They won't even feed you if they know somebody is likely to bond you out within a day or two.

Same here.

At the time, what I was doing was actually illegal but since then the law's been changed to allow for keeping a gun in a vehicle without any restrictions.

I don't care about that kind of stuff, though. If I feel a need to carry a gun (not often, but occasionally) I just do it.