There's nothing wrong with it though. I understand that you have irrational fears, but you are just going to have to work through them.
SO! What are the police protocols on this situation? Let's say I am open Carrying . . . .just walking around Someone . . . seeing I am black and are scared says .. . THERE IS A BIG BLACK MAN WITH A GUN! They roll up on me . . . . ... What next? What should my expectations at this point be? Rocket River
Saying cops roll up on you? Well you had better do what they say. If they say "put your hands up", you put your hands up, if they say "drop it" then you drop it. Once you've demonstrated that you aren't a threat, they tell you why they are there and once everything checks out, you get your gun back and are free to go. If you are going to carry a gun, especially if you want to open carry for whatever reason, you need to know the laws of your state as well or better than the cops do and you have to remain calm and do what cops tell you to if they approach you. For those reasons, it's not for everyone. I don't carry because I don't feel like dealing with everything that goes along with it.
So . . . *I* am MORE RESPONSIBLE for knowing the law than the *COPS* . . . The So Called UPHOLDERS of the LAW???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? MMMMKKay . . . . Interesting Society you got there. So . . .you have the right to open carry but that means you have to know the law better than the cops and you are able to be legally harrassed whenever someone else has an irrational or bigotted fear? Is that about the jist of it? Rocket River
Provided your gun is not visible and you do anything other than immediately put your hands straight into the air you can expect to be shot within 2 seconds of them appearing apparently.
I'm not a gun nut but wouldn't this make it safer in public? I mean someone looking to do some criminal activity would hesitate if they saw someone legally carrying a visible weapon in public. Logically when in public, I'm more afraid of potential criminals (I'm unaware of) then lawful citizens carrying a weapon. I guess the big fear/question mark is will potential criminals open carry. I don't think they would but I'm not a criminal so not sure exactly how they look at this situation.
It depends on your goals, if your goal is to remain alive and not in jail, you absolutely should know the law as well or better than police if you are going to carry a weapon in public. Open carry for rifles is already legal, but if you plan on doing so, you better know the law and you should expect that there is a pretty good chance that you'll have to deal with the cops at some point. Welcome to reality. It doesn't matter why someone calls the cops, when the cops are called, they have to respond. I'm sure there will be plenty of bogus calls to the police by simple minded liberals who are afraid of guns...it's just something those who want to carry will have to deal with. Again, it's part of the reason I choose not to carry at all. If cops tell you to put your hands up and you reach for your gun, even if it is a replica, you can expect to be shot by police. Fortunately there will be people like you who will whine about it.
The worry is the POWER and CONFIDENCE a gun gives the wearer. The person without a gun may let a slight, a brush, a inconvience go . . .a person with a gun may feel more enpowered to seek justice, respect, common decency i.e. No Gun . . someone step on your shoes you give them a WTF look and move on With Gun . . .someone step on your shoes you more apt to say EXCUSE ME . . YOU STEPPED ON MY SHOES AND I DEMAND AN APPOLOGY!! No Gun .. . someone cuts you off or take your parking space With Gun .. You might try to On Up them to the point shots maybe fired. Guns embolden people to act and escalate more than they would without a gun Loosely translated . . . Guns make people more courageous than Alcohol . . . .. and we have not even allowed alcohol to enter the equation Rocket River
So you admit the cops *can* be wrong . . . #Progress next can they be wrong against minorities . .. Rocket River
Of course they can be wrong, it's just that you keep talking up times when they aren't. If you picked your battles better, you'd look better.
First, you don't get anything. But that's fine. Your assumptions can stay with you. The point is irrational fear is probably more likely the reason for open carry than to be against it. Using it, as you did, for why people are against open carry is your lack of understanding of why people are against it. In the state where I have my business, open carry has been legal since the 80s. In the last 25 years, I can remember only two cases of someone open carrying a gun into our store. I'm not concern about it. If it become more common, I would definitely be concern. So while it's not a concern, I'm against it for one simple and major reason - guns are too easily accessible by criminals, by mentally unstable people, by mentally stable people that lack knowledge of gun safety and appropriate use. Open carry by very knowledgeable and responsible people is fine. The problem is most people have very little smart and awareness around gun in general. When you add stress on top of that, even most knowledgeable people probably loose their cool. There isn't substitute for actual practice and how many people actually practice open carry and being prepare to be targeted and defend against criminals? The one that likely open carry are either sending some political message or have some fear of being attack, yet they likely lack enough awareness to response appropriately in an actual attack.
I don't know about criminal behaviors. But as far as safer, I doubt it. If lots of folks actually open carry, there is likely an increase chance of accident, deadly escalation, criminals taking your OWN gun and using it against you, etcs. Look back at the history of how many cops are killed by their own guns and what they did about that to get an idea of what would happen if all of a sudden many people start to open carry.
The only difference between this law and the old law is that people don't have to hide their guns anymore. It does not make anything more dangerous. I just makes people more aware of the guns around them which will make some people FEEL less secure.
Over/Under on how many days/weeks/months before the first Minority is shot by police for exercising his/her right to open carry and not being threatening or committing a crime? I say it happens by Summer.
Thought this thread was about Open Containers in TX ... lols Couldn't figure out why the OP was afraid to get on the bus, like, because bums might have a Mad Dog 40/40 on them.
