imported post
At the walmart near my home in FT. Wayne, there were some sherifs there handing out stuff for kids. Mainly dna kits for the parents to fill out and save in there fridgerators incase of a emergency, and stickers and coloring books.
I struck up a conversation, and as i do with all cops i convers with, i ask the open carry question. This group of deputies was really nice, but they didnt know for sure if oc was legal. They said that it is better to conceal anyways, for basicly all the reasons that anti oc'ers give, some of the points they stressed were as follows.
1. Your target number one.
2. It will scare the people. This one had some emphasis to it.
Now they also stressed one other point I hadnt heard from the anti oc crowd before. that someone who is new to carrying a firearm, and is concealing, may get the wrong impression and shoot you.
They told how they had seen fellow officers tackle guys on the street becuase they have seen there weapons and had arrested them.
This kind of lack of understanding of the law, is disheartening. The type of things i heard from these officers, is why i dont oc more often.Heck at first the officersaid it was down right illegal, then as we conversed admitted he didnt know. Ill do it as part of a group outing, but im still shakey about doing it solo.
Now dont missunderstand them as being rude or JBT's, they wernt. They were nice and polite the whole time we were talking. They were glad of the supreme courts ruling and supported our right to carry a firearm.
As a side note, one of the officers mentioned the training program they recently attended from there department. he stated that at the end of the training that the trainers the state brought in reminded them to always conceal off duty, even if they put there badge next it.