Who Notices You Open Carrying? List your experiences.

EMNofSeattle said:

Maybe I am more situationally aware....

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I doubt it.

I notice People notice the gun all the time all though they are often very discreet about it. Sometimes they look back after I pass my other half or other friends tell me about the looks.

Rarely do people react how you describe. I don't think it's the gun.

sudden valley gunner said:

I doubt it.

I notice People notice the gun all the time all though they are often very discreet about it. Sometimes they look back after I pass my other half or other friends tell me about the looks.

Rarely do people react how you describe. I don't think it's the gun.

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It doesn't happen frequently, Ive seen it twice. Once at a bus stop once at a supermarket....

That's not the common reaction I see, most people either don't notice or care.

EMNofSeattle said:

It doesn't happen frequently, Ive seen it twice. Once at a bus stop once at a supermarket....



That's not the common reaction I see, most people either don't notice or care.

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Could be your age. How old are you? 5 years ago every anti went ballistic now I'm 30 and I get more positives than anything.

I just went up to show my new house (new to me: offer accepted, inspection tomorrow!!) to the relatives and decided to do some splorin in the new town and not a single person said anything about my carry. One employee at the grocery store watched me warily for a few minutes and relaxed when I yelled at my kid for shin bashing me with the shopping cart and a guy in a Gadsden hat did a double take and no more. High school kid at the checkout looked at it nonchalantly and asked where we were from. Niiicee.

They look at me not because of the sidearm, it's because I am brutally handsome Walsh, Frey and Henley wrote a song about me at one time

wimwag said:

One was huuge and the other was kinda meh. The skinny one was wearing green pants.

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Oh yeah, Baby. Them's is the one that don't shave their armpits. :banana:

Bernymac said:

They look at me not because of the sidearm, it's because I am brutally handsome Walsh, Frey and Henley wrote a song about me at one time

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I see what you did there...

EMNofSeattle said:

It doesn't happen frequently, Ive seen it twice. Once at a bus stop once at a supermarket....

That's not the common reaction I see, most people either don't notice or care.

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Thanks for the clarification.

I took my dad out to dinner in Lakewood for father's day whole OCing my Spring Filed XD. As we where about to leave this little boy, maybe 6 years old walked up to me and said "excuse me, um.... are you in the CIA?"
I laughed and told him that I was not in the CIA. The kid then got a sad look on his face and walked away. It was really cute.

A few weeks ago while carrying the same XD my wife and I where getting our son in a shopping cart outside the South Hill Wal-Mart an older lady smoking a cigarette walked up to me and asked if my gun was real. She then told me I should not carry it around all the young children around us, as a family with 6 kids walked by us. She then followed us a few steps and asked the other family if they thought it was a good idea that I was carrying a gun.. As the father turned around a saw a Glock on his said and he said" I think it's a great idea." I didn't hear anything else from the lady.

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XD253 said:

I took my dad out to dinner in Lakewood for father's day whole OCing my Spring Filed XD. As we where about to leave this little boy, maybe 6 years old walked up to me and said "excuse me, um.... are you in the CIA?"
I laughed and told him that I was not in the CIA. The kid then got a sad look on his face and walked away. It was really cute.

A few weeks ago while carrying the same XD my wife and I where getting our son in a shopping cart outside the South Hill Wal-Mart an older lady smoking a cigarette walked up to me and asked if my gun was real. She then told me I should not carry it around all the young children around us, as a family with 6 kids walked by us. She then followed us a few steps and asked the other family if they thought it was a good idea that I was carrying a gun.. As the father turned around a saw a Glock on his said and he said" I think it's a great idea." I didn't hear anything else from the lady.

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Welcome to the forum. And from your post it appears you and I are in the same state.

Thank you, Where are you located

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Welcome to the forum XD253! That guy wasn't me, but I do frequent that Wal-mart a couple times a week, groceries and such, since I reside by the YMCA area. It's not an uncommon sight at all to see some OC in that store, maybe I'll end up running into you sometime. Good to see some more support for the OC community in my area.

Be sure to check out the Washington sub-forum, introduce yourself to the "locals", and maybe post that story in the South Sound OC thread, they'll get a kick out of it, any maybe you'll find that guy there as well. Open Carry On!

I'm new to this whole posting and message boards and all that. I thought I was in the Washington forums already, ha.
I live next to pope elementary so I'm sure we will run in to each other at some point.

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XD253 said:

Thank you, Where are you located

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Up by Bellingham area.

Most of these answers are just what I had in mind when I started. Not so much "What was your experience?", but specifically "Who" noticed you carrying.

So far my experience has been that children notice my sidearm far more frequently than adults. Guess it's because they're closer to where it is. I will also say that they are not shy about informing Mom and Dad or about asking me questions about it.

Of the adults who have noticed, only one has been negative and one semi-negative.

I do notice that those whom I perceive to be up to no good are very quick to turn and walk the other way when they do see the sidearm. That category also includes those begging in various parking lots, to include my church's parking lot.

I've been OCing for about three years now. 4" N Frame in a black Safariland 568 paddle holster.

If anyone says anything about, they usually assume that I'm a cop or a game warden. I have no idea why. Even the one cop I interacted with thought I was a cop (USFS LEO at Bankhead NF). My usual response is: "Nope, just a ROF." i.e. Retired Old Fart.

I've had one negative comment from someone that said open carrying scared people. My response was that those same people could also choose to grow up and not be afraid of an inanimate object. He dropped the subject after that. I think we both knew we were talking about him, but nothing was said about it.

If anyone ever wants to observe the lack of awareness, cluelessness or blindness of the average American, strap on a 4" N frame and walk around for a day. It will open your eyes (pardon the pun).

I was in the local Walmart today shopping and another customer came up and asked if I was open carrying on purpose. I answered yes and he continued on with his shopping. No negatives.

XD253 said:

I took my dad out to dinner in Lakewood for father's day whole OCing my Spring Filed XD. As we where about to leave this little boy, maybe 6 years old walked up to me and said "excuse me, um.... are you in the CIA?"
I laughed and told him that I was not in the CIA. The kid then got a sad look on his face and walked away. It was really cute.

A few weeks ago while carrying the same XD my wife and I where getting our son in a shopping cart outside the South Hill Wal-Mart an older lady smoking a cigarette walked up to me and asked if my gun was real. She then told me I should not carry it around all the young children around us, as a family with 6 kids walked by us. She then followed us a few steps and asked the other family if they thought it was a good idea that I was carrying a gun.. As the father turned around a saw a Glock on his said and he said" I think it's a great idea." I didn't hear anything else from the lady.

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When the six year old asked you if you were in the CIA, you should have looked around furtively, leaned forward, and whispered, "I can neither confirm nor deny that I am in the CIA." The kid wouldn't have been disappointed, and you wouldn't have lied to him.

The second story was priceless!

Sent from my little slice of Heaven.

Elm Creek Smith said:

When the six year old asked you if you were in the CIA, you should have looked around furtively, leaned forward, and whispered, "I can neither confirm nor deny that I am in the CIA." The kid wouldn't have been disappointed, and you wouldn't have lied to him.

The second story was priceless!

Sent from my little slice of Heaven.

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ha, I never thought abut that. next time I'll be ready!

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Well, I gave it a couple days to think about this, but I may have had my first really negative experience:

Went to the Legends Steakhouse in Pulaski, TN a couple nights ago. I was OCing my Sig P226 (instead of my usual Smith 329PD) and got seated by the hostess, no problems.

At one of the tables we went by were an older couple (ok, maybe he was the same age as me - are you happy now????) but I digress....

Guy kept looking at me with a stink eye. Wasn't always but enough for me to notice it. My wife was sitting across from me with him in the background about 25 degrees to my wife's left, and trust me, she's far more worth looking at than any guy.... but I digress again....

I ignore him, not hard to do with my wife, especially when she's talking (am I digressing again????) and they finish and leave. No drama, other than every once in a while, I get the hard stare/stink eye from him.

They left quite a while before we did, so I don't think they were waiting for us in the parking lot (which is what I looked for).

The only other downside: Legends way overcooked my "raw side of rare" prime rib! :banghead:

Perhaps, maybe, possibly I'm overthinking it: Should I have stuck with the 329PD?


ETA: Some dumb*** forgot to update my location to TN - who do I see about that?

I've had multiple positive comments from people over the last few years of OCing. Only one less-than-positive experience 4 years ago. Nothing really negative, but I've also never encountered police while OCing, and I also CC a fair amount (church, etc.).

Last week I was getting milk and sandwich meat+cheese from my favorite local butcher shop, wearing my favorite RIA 1911 in a Serpa at the 3 o'clock position, and a gentleman in line behind me said "It's good to see folks open carrying". Didn't get to pursue any more conversation as I was next in line to order, but that comment made me happy.