Posted on 11/20/2010 8:36:44 AM PST by Leaning Right
A recent post by marktwain about an open-carry experience of his got me thinking. Some states are open-carry, some are concealed carry.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Which method would you prefer in your state, and why?
I personally prefer ccw, but feel that oc is an institution that needs to be kept alive.
Both. With no permits required. Just like here in AZ.
I’ve never understood this. If you have a right to carry, why not either way? Concealed or not.
Both is the only right answer, because otherwise it means were retreating on the issue of whether the government can license our Constitutional rights.
As far as which one is better in practice, it’s a hammer and saw question. CCW is no doubt better for normal personal defense carry, but it’s also vital that reasonably large numbers of the public carry openly as well for countering the miseducation the public is subjected to about the law and about the kinds of people that carry. So many having made a point of OCing in the last few years has produced good results.
I think that open carry is more of a guy thing. If it ever comes to my state, I hope they will leave the option of conceal and carry.
In the first place, a gun and holster would not enhance any clothes I am wearing other than maybe jeans. In the second place, I’m not particularly a show-off. I think it’s nobody’s business that I am carrying.
To each his own, I guess.................
CCW unless you are n the streets of Tombstone, Open is only for grandstanding and/ or making a political point (sometimes called for!) with a few other exceptions.
But generally, think “fighter pilot”, whoever sees the opponent first has a TREMENDOUS advantage. You are sitting in a coffee shop,, bad guy walks in to rob the place. Bad guy is likely concealed at first,,as he quickly looks to see who might oppose him. You might discourage him sometimes,, but if it really is dire and he is committed, you’ll be shot before you knew he was even there.
I don’t live in an open carry state so I don’t understand the culture. However, I don’t think it would work. That said, most Americans shouldn’t “carry” at all.
would open up a whole new industry of accessories
Why wouldn't it work? Why shouldn't "most" American carry?
Works fine whereever it's tried. And yes, we in AZ have gunfights in the streets everyday. In Tombstone and Old Tucson.
CCW makes a bad guy wonder if anyone has the ability to stop them, always a question in their mind.
Open carry and the perp can then figure out who needs taking care of first if they still intend to do bad.
Open carry is best when a lot of people do it. It’s main benefits are societal. People see a gun, and then look again and see a polite person going about their day. It helps stop the relexive gun hate that has been cultivated. And open carry usually gives you a bit more speed.
Still CCW is nearly as fast, and gives you the advantage of not being seen first, and also gives you the ability to enter the fight on your timing, not his. You can present and engage at YOUR moment of maximum advantage.
Last, you will not have a fight forced upon you that you might have normally decided did not meet legal standards. The bad guy *was* running out the door of the crowded coffee shop with his 60 bucks, until he saw YOUR gun. He turns to engage you. The ensuing shootout kills a young mother. There will be times that it is unavoidable, but that shootout shouldnt happen unless you deem it crucial to survival and you launch it, not that it was avoidable, and forced upon you.
In public I prefer to carry concealed. For reasons good and bad some people become alarmed by firearms and I’ve no wish to do that to anyone. I always wear open when I’m woods bumming, and if circumstances in society became dangerous enough to warrant it I’d wear a sidearm as well, but for the time being I prefer to be discrete about it and not draw attention to myself.
one other aside, open carry is crucial in the law for another reason. When your concealed gun winds up being accidently visible, it should never make you an instant criminal. I understand this is the case in some ccw states.
Open carry will suppress perps particularly in a public setting.
CCW has the same effect but probably a bit smaller.
Perps don’t want to get hurt and if they see a large number of guns attached to possible victims they are going to rethink their revenue generation program.
I hope we get it soon in Texas. Rick Perry has said that if an open carry bill finds it’s way to his desk, he will sign it.
You are in a right to carry state and it has worked well there since 1987. Why shouldn’t most Americans carry? Yours sounds like an elitist attitude.
Both ways are COTUS 2A protected.
Each has its pros and cons. These change according to the situation.
I don’t have anything concealable, therefore need open carry.
If I had something concealable, I’d probably prefer it.
“open and concealed carry is OK for government workers”
If you are a uniformed cop or something, you have lost any chance to be invisible. He will always be seen first. This is good for deterring some criminals. A starbucks with 3 cops inside at a table will normally be immune to robbery. But those cops are at a tremendous disadvantage when a man walks in the door to shoot them. He has all the advantages of seeing them easily first. Like in Washington state last year, at at the Holocaust museum when that nut murdered that uniformed guard at the entrance. Same at the capitol building.
Cops are basically forced to carry openly for larger reasons, but they pay a huge price in vulnerability to ambush.
and you exposed another issue, as a rule, it is harder to always conceal your full size gun. CCW sometimes pushes you towards a smaller gun.
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