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Mixed Bag in Wyoming This Weekend

petrophase

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Apr 1, 2009
Messages
300
Location
Rapid City, South Dakota, USA
My fiance and I just go back from spending the last four days camping in the Wyoming Bighorns. We had a good experience and a not so good experience.

We both OC'd our revolvers (Ruger SP101 and LCR) while hiking and fishing in the Cloud Peak Wilderness on Thursday. We interacted with quite a few people, including Forest Service staff and many, many tourists. We met a couple from Ohio and their three small children along the trail and again in the parking lot at the trail head. They were curious about our sidearms. We explained to them the lawfulness of OC in WY and in our home state of South Dakota. They were surprised and pleased. The mother said that "she was glad to see people carrying." We were able to carry without hassle, and were also able to educate. This was the good experience.

That afternoon we went down the mountain to Buffalo, WY, to shop and eat. My fiance is new to OC and still nervous about doing so in 'in town,' so, in order to calm her fears, I stupidly called the Buffalo Police non-emergency line to inquire about the lawfulness of OC. The woman on the other end begrudgingly acknowledged its lawfulness, while using wording and a tone of voice that screamed "it's legal, but it's not!" Next, we went into a local sporting goods shop, The Sports Lure, a place that sells firearms and ammunition, to browse. I asked the man behind the gun counter about open carry in Buffalo. He whispered back, as if we were discussing something bad, that open carry was legal but nobody in Buffalo OC's. These experiences were not so good.

What gives? I expected Wyoming to be more OC friendly than South Dakota. Is this attitude just isolated to Buffalo?

(please don't flame me for asking about OC when I knew it was legal...I know, I know...)
 

Machoduck

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2007
Messages
566
Location
Covington, WA & Keenesburg, CO
Interesting responses from certain Buffalo residents. I had originally thought of Wyoming as a freedom loving state. Then, after hearing reports of less than professional behavior by various city cops, I began to see them as an exception to my original surmise. Now this? It's only one man (the store clerk), fortunately, but it kinda makes you wonder. Has there been a scarcity of open carriers over recent years, activist or not?

I'm fairly new to the open carry movement. Living in Washington (the real Washington, not Rome on the Potomac) I realize that I'm the beneficiary of years of activism by others before me. It appears to me that I simply must open carry in Wyoming to "pay my dues", so to speak, and help things come full circle.

MD
 

Sig229

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2006
Messages
926
Location
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
IMHO, I think you were just unlucky that day.

When I lived in WY, I had absolutely zero problems OC'ing.
However, I didn't go around asking people about it though (lol-just picking).

Also, I stayed pretty much in the southern part of WY. Never made it up further north than Casper.
So who knows, maybe the OC attitude is different between the North and South parts of the state.

Anyhow, just keep OC'ing and show those folks that OC is a right and you are here to stay!
 

MamaLiberty

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2006
Messages
894
Location
Newcastle, Wyoming, USA
You are far more likely to be hassled in any larger population center, especially Cheyenne, Laramie and the touristy traps elsewhere. Here in the NE corner we have almost zero problems and I OC everywhere, every day.

There are fools and hoplophobes almost everywhere. A calm, confident and unobtrusive demeanor will go a long way toward not getting the hassle, of course.
 

petrophase

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Apr 1, 2009
Messages
300
Location
Rapid City, South Dakota, USA

This is exactly why I say, "Don't ask, just research and know the law." Asking can get you all kinds of answers, most of them wrong and most just what that person thinks the law should be. Why do people assume someone else knows more about OC than they do? Are you just looking for validation? Even here, on this board, with people who have a huge interest in OC, you can get different opinions on the same question. If you are not certain OC is legal and you can't explain in understandable, articulate, grown-up English, why it's legal, don't OC. If you can do those things what difference does it make what some gun store clerk, or anybody else, thinks?

I understand and agree with your argument, that's why I asked not to be flamed for asking...
 

petrophase

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Apr 1, 2009
Messages
300
Location
Rapid City, South Dakota, USA
This wasn't a flame. It was an attempt to explain, to those who don't know, why they shouldn't ask or need to.

I agree, "flame" was a poor word choice. "Admonish," or "reprimand" would have been better.
As a rule I don't ask, but I often bend my rules for my fiance.
I just want to keep the thread on topic, i.e. is this anti-OC attitude a Buffalo thing, or more widespread.
 
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