mdak06
Regular Member
I guess I don't fit the mold. I open carry but also have a CHP. It depends on where I am going, what I am doing, and the environment I will be in. OC is generally more comfortable for me and fits my wardrobe better. However if I am going to be at a "crowd" event (sporting game, racetrack, concert) I prefer to carry concealed. It is a matter of retention for me. When I open carry I have (or at least attempt to) a higher sense of my surroundings and the behaviors of those around me. A crowd environment overwhelms my ability to maintain that awareness bubble around me and I get uncomfortable and tense - and I stop having fun. CC allows me to still be prepared to defend myself and those in need around me but allows me to do so in a more relaxed manner. That may sound selfish but I go with whatever method I am comfortable with in the given circumstances.
If I had a CC permit I would probably do exactly this. Right now I don't - it costs a lot of money and takes a fair bit of time to get a CC permit in my state, but the right to OC is not infringed upon.
You will find this on just about any gun site you enter that has this topic as a thread. It seems to be universal. I have to wonder if they realize that they are feeding the anti's with this division. I do both, but I OC most all the time and I have what I believe to be very good reasons for this even though one needn't have "reasons" to exercise a basic right. As far as the thing that the BG is going to "shoot the OC'er first", there is one case of that taking place in Virginia, but as I recall, the OC'er re-entered the business to confront the robbers. Not a smart idea if he had managed to leave safely.
As for me, I fully and completely support both modes of carry and make no distinction between either as it relates to one's personal preferences since I see it as just that; a personal choice. As skid pointed out, OC is the standard (normal, default) mode of carry here in Virginia and that is how it should be. Personally, I would prefer what is commonly called Constitutional carry as four states already practice, with the option of obtaining a permit for any extraneous reasons.
Hopefully we'll eventually end up with Constitutional Carry everywhere.
As far as my reasons for OC -- in general, other than for legal reasons, the primary appeal is crime deterrence. But the fact that it also gives us an opportunity to re-normalize carrying firearms and to educate people is an excellent benefit. The more that people see "normal folks" carrying a firearm, the more normal it appears to be, and over time we might have a chance to reprogram the folks who have been brainwashed into thinking "guns r bad."
Yes, some people are uncomfortable with it. We need to make as many people as possible more comfortable with it, so those who continue to have the irrational fear are a smaller and smaller minority. The only way to do that is open carry.
But as others have said, there is no need to "justify" open carrying. It's the default option. It's kind of like asking "how do you justify keeping a spare tire in your car?" or "How do you justify keeping a fire extinguisher in your kitchen?"