Open carry while trick-or-treating....probably a good idea.....

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/...eaters-in-Tacoma-176770231.html?tab=video&c=y

TACOMA, Wash. -- Police say a group of armed teenagers wearing blue bandanas robbed children and adults in six holdups on Halloween in Tacoma.

Tacoma police Lt. Gerry Lerum said the muggers took wallets, back packs and cell phones when they confronted parents and children between 8 p.m and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.

An 11-year-old victim also had a bag of candy taken from him, but Lerum said the thieves were "just taking anything that the victims surrendered."

One of the robbers was armed with a loaded .22-caliber handgun, Lerum said.

A police dog tracked them to a car near the intersection of S. 15th and S. Sprague Ave. where officers arrested all six suspects. Police also recovered the stolen items and seized the masks and a gun used in the robberies.

"I truly feel it would have escalated if they would have not been arrested," Lerum said.

The suspects - ages 13 to 17 - were booked into Remann Hall, the Pierce County juvenile detention facility.

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Glad these punks got caught but seriously doubt any real time will be served given they are juveniles. Stayed home and handed out candy with the GF but had my 1911 on the hip myself....pretty safe neighborhood but you never know who's going to be at your door.....

If you took the kiddos trick or treating were you OCing?

We had a BUNCh of trick or treaters last night. The looks on the adults faces was beyond belief. Some of the kids even took off the mask. I opened the door with my 1911 in view on my hip. Directly behind me, my wife was standing there with the Winchester 1400 12 ga, slug barrel, at the ready. None of them stayed very long.

Another youngster recently stained Tacoma's reputation too.
http://www.king5.com/news/cities/tacoma/Tacoma-reputation-Bieber-PR-stunt-173922061.html

Oh the irony.

We had one hundred and five kids last night. I have a fairly elaborate display and even in the rain, it was a steady bunch. I wear a tux for Halloween, and a 9mm pistol. No one even commented on it this year. I guess it must be getting "normal".

All the trick-or-treaters were well-behaved at our place. Maybe that incident from Spanaway a few years back is still fresh on their minds. Do NOT egg the house of a gun owner, it's not the smartest thing to do.

MSG Laigaie said:

We had one hundred and five kids last night. I have a fairly elaborate display and even in the rain, it was a steady bunch. I wear a tux for Halloween, and a 9mm pistol. No one even commented on it this year. I guess it must be getting "normal".

Click to expand...

Nothing "normal" with your haunt.
The brain child of a truly demented mind. Blame it on the the animato Mad Scientist.

Remember, head shots only, for zombies.

Haha Trigger, was there banjo music playing in the background? With the shotgun in hand it would have been too classic. Open the door and say "You gotta purdy mouth!"

We had the traditional neighborhood block party last night with grilled brats, hotdogs, hamburgers, chili, bbq pork, pumpkin pie, with lots of families and their kids attending. There were jack-o-lanterns burning everywhere, and buckets full of candy for the kids. From there the kids went with their parents to some of the nearby homes to trick or treat, but for the most part the block party was where it was at.

The most popular costumes were (1) the witch and (2) the princess. We also had a lot of green G/I Joes, crocodile-dragons, hobo's, and a lot of people just came dressed in their favorite team colors and stadium jackets.

The large presence of the block party made it completely safe for the kiddies to span out and visit the nearby homes there.

There were no OC or CCW issues. It was unnecessary.

Anytime we go camping however, there is normally always one person standing watch, in OC mode. Normally it is me. But last night it was unnecessary.

Looks like the 1911 was the "gun of the day", that's what I was sporting with my WA OC shirt. Only had about a dozen kids, my kids will be happy with the leftovers.

OC'ed my XDm around the blocks with my son. No issues or comments.

Took my little Captain America out and about the neighborhood while OCing. Did not encounter any issues. Not very many trick-or-treaters came to our house but those that did saw me OCing.

I OC'ed at home while answering the door, does that count?

Scott

Dress up as the Lone Ranger. Wear a revolver in a holster. Bonus points if it's actually authentic, but odds are nobody will notice if it's not. People see what they want to see, most of the time.

We reside in TN
Went to the trunk or treat at the Sherriff’s department as it was cold and going to rain, I went OC.
My 4 year old asked one of the officers “Do you always carry a gun?"
And she replied "Yes so I can catch the bad guys"
He replied "So does my daddy but he doesn’t look for bad people he's just ready."

We don't participate in the tradition any more. There are very few little kids in the neighborhood but on Halloween night there are van loads of kids "trucked in" from other parts of town. They park in front of my house because we have a long curb. When my grandkids were young they'd come by and that was it.

At any other time of the year people won't open the door to anyone they don't know but on Halloween???? Door swings wide for just about anyone knocking. Times have changed and that group of older teens with masks or bandana's over their faces may not just be a group of fun loving teens out trick or treating but instead a home invasion team.

After reading of the robbery team in Tacoma I wonder how long it will be before we read of actual home invasions. After all, the doors just seem to get opened by trusting people, don't they?

We had more kids this year than any other year. OC'd my Sig 226, but I don't think anybody noticed, the kids were too focused on the full-sized candy bars I was giving out, and the parents were all waiting at the street. Still, it's my policy to answer the door armed (though I suppose that sentence could be shortened to "to answer the door" most of the time - I'm usually already armed), especially at night.

I had 3-4 groups of kids and I answered the door with my shoulder rig on. I was nice and polite and wanted to give them more candy than I was supposed to.

I hate having candy around the house grrrr I don't care for 90%+ of it.

Open carry while (insert anything here)....probably a good idea.....

compmanio365 said:

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/...eaters-in-Tacoma-176770231.html?tab=video&c=y

TACOMA, Wash. -- Police say a group of armed teenagers wearing blue bandanas robbed children and adults in six holdups on Halloween in Tacoma.

Tacoma police Lt. Gerry Lerum said the muggers took wallets, back packs and cell phones when they confronted parents and children between 8 p.m and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.

An 11-year-old victim also had a bag of candy taken from him, but Lerum said the thieves were "just taking anything that the victims surrendered."

One of the robbers was armed with a loaded .22-caliber handgun, Lerum said.

A police dog tracked them to a car near the intersection of S. 15th and S. Sprague Ave. where officers arrested all six suspects. Police also recovered the stolen items and seized the masks and a gun used in the robberies.

"I truly feel it would have escalated if they would have not been arrested," Lerum said.

The suspects - ages 13 to 17 - were booked into Remann Hall, the Pierce County juvenile detention facility.

--------------

Glad these punks got caught but seriously doubt any real time will be served given they are juveniles. Stayed home and handed out candy with the GF but had my 1911 on the hip myself....pretty safe neighborhood but you never know who's going to be at your door.....

If you took the kiddos trick or treating were you OCing?

Click to expand...

My wife and I took our little monster out. I OC'd as usual. No problems but it was there if needed on Halloween just like any other time.

Ever since folks started talking (not just on OCDO) about the advisability of going armed while sheparding their little gobblins I have been wondering just what preparations they were taking/had taken to deal with a situation where things suddenly went pear shaped. Had they instructed (let alone trained/practiced) the little herd of cats what to do when Daddy/Mommy pulled out the shooting iron?

I realized that this does not apply just to trick-or-treating. It is something that needs to be dealt with every time we are out with our kids. Several of the best (better?) discussions of the subject I have read have been on mommy-oriented fora. Mothers trying to figure out how to juggle a little one on a hip, the grocery cart, and defending against the sudden violent attack really do seem to work through the issue and go beyond just saying "Well, I have my gun so I can deal with anything that comes up."

It is hard enough to find a range that lets you even draw frrom the holster, let alone move laterally while shooting. Finding one that lets you move 360* while having little kids underfoot would be nigh about impossible. Even if you had your own land with a 360* berm I'm not sure the other parent would be very supportive of shooting with the kids underfoot. Trying to run scenarios, even with water pistols, in the parking lot in front of the mega-grocery is likely to get you more negative attention than training time - even if you show up at night when the store is closed.

But in spite of these factors, if we are going to say we plan to protect our kids we need to both trasin how to do that and train them on their part in the plan.

Maybe we could start a thread/section where realistic training exercises could be shared? No outlandish scenarios about vampire zombies from Mars. Stuff like the strong-arm mugger coming up on mommy with kids and a grocery cart heading to the car? Like coming out of the drug store with your sick-with-the-flu kid in tow and being confronted by someone with a knife? We all have probably already covered the active shooter at the mall, so we can skip that one.

Thoughts?

stay safe.

Dressed up as a cowboy (hat, boots, the works) and wore my Ruger six-shooter on my hip. Not a soul noticed at all while we were trick-or-treating.