NoTolerance
Regular Member
I really wish those passing these laws and statutes on gun control were required to spend a week - or even a day - carrying.
I'm in my open carry infancy still. I've only been doing it for a few months. Before I started, I landed here, read as much information as I could absorb, familiarized myself with as much of the law as I could, and brushed up on my rights and responsibilities. Your stories and shared experiences - however trivial or epic - have been helpful, informative, and even inspirational for me.
I can't OC all day, every day (work rules), but since I've started, it's become part of my routine and habit to walk out the door armed. My firearm has become my "American Express" card - I never leave home without it.
I gotta tell ya... it sure is a pain in the butt sometimes. I've trained myself to drive by the front doors of businesses before parking to look for the gun buster signs - which is all well and good so long as the doors face the parking lot. But I have two scenarios this weekend which really sort of aggravated me. The first was while fishing.
I took my son to do some shoreline fishing on Saturday morning. While we were doing our thing, a very polite gentleman informed me that we were actually on posted, private property. You could tell he felt bad about it, but I understood his situation. If they let people fish there, it'd probably become overrun, and he has a business to run. He very kindly pointed out another spot that was also part of their property, but was more inconspicuous, and said we were more than welcome to fish there.
As we were packing up our gear, I asked if he minded if I came into his bar/restaurant to use the restroom. "No problem. Stop back when you're done fishing and have a couple of beers if you'd like." So I start following behind. He glances over his shoulder and says, "You can't bring that inside."
Yeah, I completely "forgot" I was carrying. Or, more accurately put, I wasn't really considering the asinine rules about OCing into a bar/Class B establishment. It really put me into an awkward situation. My options were to continue "holding it", walk about a half mile to my truck and back and disarm, or, uh, hand my firearm off to my kid... Now, my "kid" is almost 17 and has been trained in the use and handling of firearms since he was about 10. I have no doubt that he'll be OCing the day he turns 18. But these are things *I* know. To the casual observer, I just handed a loaded firearm to a kid for safekeeping while I went into a bar. I can see the headlines now...
Later that night, we went to a show at The Rave in Milwaukee. If you're not familiar with Milwaukee, The Rave isn't located in the worst part of town, but it's not exactly a "high class" neighborhood, either. The Rave has a strict "no weapons" policy and they pat you down as you enter. We had about a 6-block walk from where we parked to the door.
My rights don't trump a business' rights - so be it. However, it would be really nice to see these businesses making an effort to accommodate these types of situations by maybe offering "gun check" services. I'd certainly feel better about leaving my firearm in the safe at an insured business than leaving it under the seat of an unattended parked car in a shady neighborhood.
What types of awkward situations have some of you seasoned vets had to deal with?
I'm in my open carry infancy still. I've only been doing it for a few months. Before I started, I landed here, read as much information as I could absorb, familiarized myself with as much of the law as I could, and brushed up on my rights and responsibilities. Your stories and shared experiences - however trivial or epic - have been helpful, informative, and even inspirational for me.
I can't OC all day, every day (work rules), but since I've started, it's become part of my routine and habit to walk out the door armed. My firearm has become my "American Express" card - I never leave home without it.
I gotta tell ya... it sure is a pain in the butt sometimes. I've trained myself to drive by the front doors of businesses before parking to look for the gun buster signs - which is all well and good so long as the doors face the parking lot. But I have two scenarios this weekend which really sort of aggravated me. The first was while fishing.
I took my son to do some shoreline fishing on Saturday morning. While we were doing our thing, a very polite gentleman informed me that we were actually on posted, private property. You could tell he felt bad about it, but I understood his situation. If they let people fish there, it'd probably become overrun, and he has a business to run. He very kindly pointed out another spot that was also part of their property, but was more inconspicuous, and said we were more than welcome to fish there.
As we were packing up our gear, I asked if he minded if I came into his bar/restaurant to use the restroom. "No problem. Stop back when you're done fishing and have a couple of beers if you'd like." So I start following behind. He glances over his shoulder and says, "You can't bring that inside."
Yeah, I completely "forgot" I was carrying. Or, more accurately put, I wasn't really considering the asinine rules about OCing into a bar/Class B establishment. It really put me into an awkward situation. My options were to continue "holding it", walk about a half mile to my truck and back and disarm, or, uh, hand my firearm off to my kid... Now, my "kid" is almost 17 and has been trained in the use and handling of firearms since he was about 10. I have no doubt that he'll be OCing the day he turns 18. But these are things *I* know. To the casual observer, I just handed a loaded firearm to a kid for safekeeping while I went into a bar. I can see the headlines now...
Later that night, we went to a show at The Rave in Milwaukee. If you're not familiar with Milwaukee, The Rave isn't located in the worst part of town, but it's not exactly a "high class" neighborhood, either. The Rave has a strict "no weapons" policy and they pat you down as you enter. We had about a 6-block walk from where we parked to the door.
My rights don't trump a business' rights - so be it. However, it would be really nice to see these businesses making an effort to accommodate these types of situations by maybe offering "gun check" services. I'd certainly feel better about leaving my firearm in the safe at an insured business than leaving it under the seat of an unattended parked car in a shady neighborhood.
What types of awkward situations have some of you seasoned vets had to deal with?
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