Why You (Probably) Should Not Carry A Weapon

[GreenieMeanie]

There are two schools of thought.
1 - Open carry provides a deterrent; a bad guy is likely to go elsewhere looking for unarmed victims.
2 - open carry is a sign that says "shoot me first".
There's not actually any evidence at all to support either position, so go with your gut. I lean slightly towards the "shoot me first" sign, and also feel like open carry is attention seeking behaviour. So I conceal.

From the perspective of professional security circles, school 1 applies, “target hardening” I believe they call it.

From the perspective of single carriers, who want to be left alone and move about, school 2 applies.

Niether is wrong, just used differently.

 

[GreenieMeanie]

From the perspective of professional security circles, school 1 applies, “target hardening” I believe they call it.

From the perspective of single carriers, who want to be left alone and move about, school 2 applies.

Niether is wrong, just used differently.

Of course, if

From the perspective of professional security circles, school 1 applies, “target hardening” I believe they call it.

From the perspective of single carriers, who want to be left alone and move about, school 2 applies.

Niether is wrong, just used differently.

Of course, if at a public event, or VIPs sensitive to the presence of weapons, they don’t open carry.

 

[HighKick]

People who open carry around here are looking for trouble. They either want to provoke cops, provoke liberals, or both. They aren’t good guys, and I have no faith that they’d be any use at all in a real crisis.

I see someone open carrying and just presume they’re an insecure, unpredictable coward.

Fortunately, we don’t see it all that often.

That sounds like a personal prejudice. You either do not have their skill set and experiences or have some kind of apocalyptic mindset where 'everyone' is a bad and have an evil intent.
It is quite the opposite for most all people. And I am going to give them the benefit of a doubt (while keeping an eye on them), and Not judge them based on appearance. This includes the person who open carries. It is never an automatic indicator that they are some sort of 'John Wayne' wanna-be. And certainly not an automatic sign that they are looking for trouble.

For all you know, they are an off-duty officer.

 

[Steve]

That sounds like a personal prejudice. You either do not have their skill set and experiences or have some kind of apocalyptic mindset where 'everyone' is a bad and have an evil intent.
It is quite the opposite for most all people. And I am going to give them the benefit of a doubt (while keeping an eye on them), and Not judge them based on appearance. This includes the person who open carries. It is never an automatic indicator that they are some sort of 'John Wayne' wanna-be. And certainly not an automatic sign that they are looking for trouble.

For all you know, they are an off-duty officer.

The off duty police around here don’t look like fat grizzly bears with upside down flags on their dirty shirts.

 

[gyoja]

The off duty police around here don’t look like fat grizzly bears with upside down flags on their dirty shirts.

Where is this?

 

[gyoja]

That sounds like a personal prejudice. You either do not have their skill set and experiences or have some kind of apocalyptic mindset where 'everyone' is a bad and have an evil intent.
It is quite the opposite for most all people. And I am going to give them the benefit of a doubt (while keeping an eye on them), and Not judge them based on appearance. This includes the person who open carries. It is never an automatic indicator that they are some sort of 'John Wayne' wanna-be. And certainly not an automatic sign that they are looking for trouble.

For all you know, they are an off-duty officer.

The only LEO that open carries while off duty around here is the Sheriff. We literally know every deputy and police officer in town (small town in the South).

 

[Steve]

Where is this?

Washington.

 

[gyoja]

Washington.

Eastern or Western?

 

[geezer]

The off duty police around here don’t look like fat grizzly bears with upside down flags on their dirty shirts.

If I were a bear, I'd take offense.

 

[Steve]

Eastern or Western?

Western Washington. South of Seattle. Semi rural area. Are you familiar with Washington? Ever been up here to the PNW?

 

[gyoja]

Western Washington. South of Seattle. Semi rural area. Are you familiar with Washington? Ever been up here to the PNW?

I’m a little familiar. I trained at JBLM and Yakima. I really wanted to get assigned there when I first enlisted. I could only really be assigned to three places, two in Georgia and Washington. As fate would have it, I got Georgia.

 

[HighKick]

The off duty police around here don’t look like fat grizzly bears with upside down flags on their dirty shirts.

If I have any idea what this means I might reply, but I am just going to pass on it.

 

[Steve]

If I have any idea what this means I might reply, but I am just going to pass on it.

I can spell it out, though I thought I painted a pretty clear picture.

I mentioned earlier, we're fortunate most people don't open carry. Perhaps that's part of why, when we do see it, it's some kind of statement. Think bushy beards, bellies, and overt libertarian, anti-establishment symbolism. As I said earlier, it's always an attempt to get some attention and provoke some kind of confrontation, usually with cops.

As a reminder, this is in response to you saying they're as likely to be off duty police as anything else. Maybe where you live, but around here that's pretty clearly not the case.

 

[HighKick]

I can spell it out, though I thought I painted a pretty clear picture.

I mentioned earlier, we're fortunate most people don't open carry. Perhaps that's part of why, when we do see it, it's some kind of statement. Think bushy beards, bellies, and overt libertarian, anti-establishment symbolism. As I said earlier, it's always an attempt to get some attention and provoke some kind of confrontation, usually with cops.

As a reminder, this is in response to you saying they're as likely to be off duty police as anything else. Maybe where you live, but around here that's pretty clearly not the case.

That could not be farther from the truth. I am not sure where you live, but it must not be in the modern world. If it is getting attention, it is the right kind of attention. If you are offended, all I can say is that is on you, and it is not yours to pass judgement on other people.
As far as the bushy beards, and bellies, they are everywhere. You are a liberal, you have made that quite overtly obvious. But how can open carry be anti-establishment when the same government supports the 2nd amendment? Call me a libertarian, I am fine with that (all though I am not). But I don't think you even know how the 'establishment' was founded.
To be clear, I said "for all You know, they are off-duty officers". That is a far cry from saying 'they are likely off-duty officers, neither me or you have any idea (unless we personally know them). Please don't mince my words.

I will not respond to your further comments on the subject.

 

[Steve]

That could not be farther from the truth. I am not sure where you live, but it must not be in the modern world. If it is getting attention, it is the right kind of attention. If you are offended, all I can say is that is on you, and it is not yours to pass judgement on other people.
As far as the bushy beards, and bellies, they are everywhere. You are a liberal, you have made that quite overtly obvious. But how can open carry be anti-establishment when the same government supports the 2nd amendment? Call me a libertarian, I am fine with that (all though I am not). But I don't think you even know how the 'establishment' was founded.
To be clear, I said "for all You know, they are off-duty officers". That is a far cry from saying 'they are likely off-duty officers, neither me or you have any idea (unless we personally know them). Please don't mince my words.

I will not respond to your further comments on the subject.

You seem upset. I’m not calling you anything and don’t know what gave you that impression at all. I’m strictly sharing how things go down around here. I will repeat it again. We don’t see a lot of open carry around here. But when we do, there is a type.

Respond or don’t, it’s all good for me. I’m not trying to upset you, but at the same time, I’m not too worried about your hyper sensitivity on this issue. I don’t understand why you’re so upset, but don’t honestly care all that much either.

 

[Hanshi]

I agree! The average person has an IQ well below average. I do prefer dogs over people. But what's a guy to do.........?

 

[Steve]

I agree! The average person has an IQ well below average. I do prefer dogs over people. But what's a guy to do.........?

Wouldn’t the average person have average IQ by definition? 😅