Eastside OC Report

I'm in my late 20's. I've been watching this forum for some time now. I've lived in Bellevue/Redmond area for about 7 years now. (I moved here from Raleigh, NC in 2005). I regularly OC for the past couple years.

I've been pulled-over a couple times by law enforcement while open-carrying: by the Bellevue PD, Redmond PD, and Kirkland PD. Twice for speeding, *ahem*... but it's usually for stupid reasons like a turn signal that was out- or because my vehicle was missing the month sticker from my up-to-date registration.

My favorite instance: No traffic; 11:45pm on a weeknight in Redmond near the 7-11 on NE 51st St and 148th Ave NE, my wife got pulled over (I was riding passenger while OCing).

She was pulled-over for turning right and then (apparently too quickly) moving into the further of the two lanes. She received a warning. The officer never talked to me or even approached the passenger side so I'm not sure that he realized I was OCing or not. That's fine too though I hope they scanned and noticed (for their own awareness sake).

As a general rule I don't mention whether I'm carrying or not regardless of if I'm carrying CC or OC. My dad carried all the time and never mentioned it to anyone so I guess I just naturally followed suit. I follow the "if it's not a big deal to me, it's not a big deal to you" theory.

The officers who have noticed that I'm carrying have been, without exception, respectful and have mainly kept the conversation to the facts:

Typically after returning my drivers license and insurance the conversation goes as follows:

*"Do you have a CPL?"
Yep. (They already know I do by this point)

*"Are you carrying today?"
Yes sir.

*"Can I see your CPL please?"
(I have everything ready by the time they first reach my car in case they ask for it. I don't like to be 'reaching' for anything when they are standing next to my truck lol.)

Sometimes they ask:
*"Can I ask where it is?"

(I suppose I could just change the subject or ask "Am I free to go yet? I'd like to get on my way"... But it's usually just on my right hip at about 2:30-3:00 in a paddle holster. I don't have a problem mentioning something obvious enough that they should already have noticed it. If I'm CC'ing I usually keep it vague: "On me."

There was one Kirkland officer who requested that in the future, (as a courtesy to the officers) if I would consider announcing that I am carrying when I'm first pulled-over by an officer (Sounds LAME...)

I think that his request was based off poor logic in regards to traffic stops and likely just makes fishing easier and with less work:

As a law-abiding citizen legally carrying in my car, I am no threat. There is no need for advanced warning for something so innocuous. The officer will already find-out when they run my license/registration. Plus, ONLY a good law abiding citizen would ever announce himself truthfully armed anyway...

I have found open carry to be accepted well at Safeway on 24th in Bellevue (I had the opportunity to pass out a couple OC flyers there), multiple gas stations in Bellevue and Redmond, Subway, my apartment complex, Starbucks (of course), I asked my boss at work about carrying and he responded that while it was against company policy, as long as there weren't any complaints he was fine with it. (I CC at work lol)...
No problems walking around Crossroads Mall or Bellevue square (though I hear that they prefer cc). I've both cc'd and oc'd at the local theatres and no one seemed to ever notice. (I've cc'd only at theatres recently just to avoid any overly-cautious employees following their no-gun policies)... The whole area appears for all intents to be fairly gun-neutral and accepting.

I am in the Bellevue/Factoria area all week for work. I have been OCing around town on walks and haven't had any issues. Last night I realized I was pretty hungry around 7:30 PM and the hotel shuttle shut down for the night at 7. So I walked about a mile or so to the Safeway at Factoria Square. Bought ingredients for a taco salad, and went back to the hotel to cook it. No issues on the walk or in the Safeway (unlike back home, ha ha!).

Overall I think fewer people have noticed me here than do back home.

I did have a startle on my walk back to the hotel. I was walking along the sidewalk, and started to feel like I was being watched. I had my flashlight out (little AA powered maglite LED) because of poor streetlight coverage, and because a good stretch of my walk was without a sidewalk, so I wanted to be sure cars could see me. So I swung my flashlight over into the bushes and there was a guy standing back in the trees on his cell phone. Startled the crap out of me and I quickened my pace. He came out of the bushes and started walking the opposite way. Kinda random, but it did get my heart rate up. I don't think the guy had any ill intentions, he was a scrawny otherwise normal looking guy. He probably saw me coming beforehand and decided to avoid me or something.. dunno. Had a good chuckle later about how startled I was due to it, though.

FrayedString said:

I am in the Bellevue/Factoria area all week for work. I have been OCing around town on walks and haven't had any issues. Last night I realized I was pretty hungry around 7:30 PM and the hotel shuttle shut down for the night at 7. So I walked about a mile or so to the Safeway at Factoria Square. Bought ingredients for a taco salad, and went back to the hotel to cook it. No issues on the walk or in the Safeway (unlike back home, ha ha!).

Overall I think fewer people have noticed me here than do back home.

I did have a startle on my walk back to the hotel. I was walking along the sidewalk, and started to feel like I was being watched. I had my flashlight out (little AA powered maglite LED) because of poor streetlight coverage, and because a good stretch of my walk was without a sidewalk, so I wanted to be sure cars could see me. So I swung my flashlight over into the bushes and there was a guy standing back in the trees on his cell phone. Startled the crap out of me and I quickened my pace. He came out of the bushes and started walking the opposite way. Kinda random, but it did get my heart rate up. I don't think the guy had any ill intentions, he was a scrawny otherwise normal looking guy. He probably saw me coming beforehand and decided to avoid me or something.. dunno. Had a good chuckle later about how startled I was due to it, though.

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Silvercloud? Hyatt House? For a minute I thought you were staying at my hotel here in Bellevue but I'm up north a little further. Glad that everything is going OK. Keep that situational awareness sharp! Have you OC'd in the hotel? We have guests do it all the time here (usually visiting from DC). It's nice to see people how new employees and other guests react at breakfast (or don't react).

Hit me up in the future if you need hotel accommodations and it's possible that I can help-out a fellow OC friend!

ConcordScout said:

Silvercloud? Hyatt House? For a minute I thought you were staying at my hotel here in Bellevue but I'm up north a little further. Glad that everything is going OK. Keep that situational awareness sharp! Have you OC'd in the hotel? We have guests do it all the time here (usually visiting from DC). It's nice to see people how new employees and other guests react at breakfast (or don't react).

Hit me up in the future if you need hotel accommodations and it's possible that I can help-out a fellow OC friend!

Click to expand...

I was at the Hyatt House.

I wussed out when it came to OCing in the hotel itself, and opted to pull my shirt over it when going to/from the sidewalk outside the hotel. Had they happened to have a crazy over-the-top reaction to OC, which then led to an over-the-top reaction to me simply having a firearm in the hotel, it would have caused big problems for me; as the room had already been pre-paid by my employer.

Thanks for the info, regarding OC friendly accommodations. A buddy of mine and myself are working on doing a software development startup and have been over to Bellevue a few times for startup/hackathon events, and will likely do so more in the future.

OC'd around Redmond Town Center today.

A friend and I went to the Saturday Market at Redmond Town Center today. I only hear one negative the whole time. It was some guy who looked at my gun and said something like, "Really? Come on." I ignored the **** and kept going.

Ate at BJ's Brew house, no problems. One lady thought it was great that we were carrying but she though that the background checks need to be more thorough. I explained that they didn't help at all.

No, police, no problems, great day.

Ah yes the typical liberal passive aggressive muttering...