Questions - New

I have a Ruger P-95. I also have a Blackhawk Serpa concealment holster.

If I understand Colorado (Colorado Springs area to include fountain) I can openly carry the handgun anywhere except the general prohibited places (Schools, Federal buildings) without an issue?

Thank you in advance, I am new to openly carrying my firearm.

JonStore,

Yes, you can!

I OC everywhere *I* go here in The Springs: Wells Fargo, King Soopers/Albertsons/Safeway, WalMart/Target, Home Depot/Lowes/Ace Hardware, Frost Bites (frozen yogurt place), haircut place, Walgreens, Heuberger Subaru, Aspen Auto Clinic, Denny's/IHOP/Village Inn, Best Buy, tailor shop, pizza/hamburger stores...everywhere except the *VA Clinic (Federal Property) and the Colorado DMV (CC is okay though).

You may want to look into our regular OC Get-Togethers we have in the COS area (includes Fountain/Security)...check the "Colorado Events" sub-forum at the top of this page to keep track of where & when.

For example, our next scheduled COS (COS = Airport code for Colorado Springs) OC event -- hosted by OCDO Forum member "since9" -- is this coming Saturday (6-21-14) @ the IHOP on N. Academy & Voyager @ 9:00am -- see the thread here:

http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/showthread.php?122389-June-21-COS-IHOP

Maybe you can make it.

Regardless, Happy OC-ing...and welcome to The Great State of Colorado!

Also, register to VOTE when you can, as we prepare to kick-out our sorry Democrat Governor Hickenlooper (AKA: Chickenlooper, AKA: Lickenpooper) this coming election...and then next (hopefully), repeal his also sorry anti-gun laws.




P.S. Two (2) other OC Get-Together events for June 2014 are also coming up, but they are in Castle Rock (6-22-14) and Aurora (6-29-14)...Yours Truly will be the host. We hope to have a "permanent" MONTHLY OC event scheduled for COS from now on, possibly every 3rd Sunday. More on that later -- AFTER consulting with "since9" this coming Saturday...


* They have a sign up in the VACBOC/COS (VA Clinic here in The Springs), something like "For your protection, no weapons (guns or knives) allowed." How is THAT going to "protect" ANYONE (as we all here already know)? Right...should a psycho-shooter enter the building, we all would die UNarmed then -- like they do in every OTHER Gun Free Zone. Regularly.

Thank you for all of that good information. I've also applied for my CHP today. Process was straight forward and the staff there were friendly.

From what I understand, my handgun needs to be visible until that permit is approved. I also understand that I can have the magazine inserted while I carry?

I generally have my young daughter and wife with me and I started questioning my ability to defend my family if the need ever arises. (we all genuinely hope that the need never arises I am thinking) There is an entire spectrum of characters in the Springs area. That... and the presence of bears and bobcats in the state parks give me pause.

cloudcroft said:

Yes, you can!

I OC everywhere *I* go here in The Springs: Wells Fargo, King Soopers/Albertsons/Safeway, WalMart/Target, Home Depot/Lowes/Ace Hardware, Frost Bites (frozen yogurt place), haircut place, Walgreens, Heuberger Subaru, Aspen Auto Clinic, Denny's/IHOP/Village Inn, Best Buy, tailor shop, pizza/hamburger stores...everywhere except the *VA Clinic (Federal Property) and the Colorado DMV (CC is okay though).

You may want to look into our regular OC Get-Togethers we have in the COS area (includes Fountain/Security)...cheek the "Colorado Events" sub-forum at the top of this page to keep track of where & when.

For example, our next scheduled COS (COS = Airport code for Colorado Springs) OC event -- hosted by OCDO Forum member "since9" -- is this coming Saturday (6-21-14) @ the IHOP on N. Academy & Voyager @ 9:00am -- see the thread here:

http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/showthread.php?122389-June-21-COS-IHOP

Maybe you can make it.

Happy OC-ing...

P.S. Two (2) other OC Get-Together events for June 2014 are also coming up, but they are in Castle Rock (6-22-14) and Aurora (6-29-14). We hope to have a "permanent" MONTHLY OC event scheduled for COS from now on, possibly every 3rd Sunday. More on that later -- AFTER consulting with "since9" this coming Saturday...



* They have a sign up in the VA Clinic, something like "For your protection, no weapons (guns or knives) allowed." How is that going to "protect" ANYONE? Right...should a shooter enter the building, we all would die UNarmed then.

Click to expand...

Yes, magazine inserted, cocked & locked, extra mags carried on your off-side...whatever you want. See you @ an OC event sometime, eventually...

Got to leave COS now for Castle Rock (also OC-ing up there) for my weekly Iaido class!

Later...


P.S. Many of us OC-ers here in Colorado ALSO have our CC permit...we just choose to OC most of the time -- for a number of reasons. Still, as we always say, Rule # 1 is to CARRY -- however you do it, OC or CC. We respect either form of carry (and each has its place), but think OC is better for assorted reasons. Two of the MAJOR reasons for OC-ing are:

1. Educating the public (& cops, if need be...but by now, most Colorado cops and State Troopers (like the one I met on I-25 the other day) ARE educated! As for the public, no one can ask you questions about carrying if they don't SEE you carrying. ALL the positive conversations I've had with people would never happen were I CC-ing.

2. Desensitizing the public (& cops, if need be) re: seeing "scary" guns in public, and being carried by We the People -- not just LEOs. I WOULD say "the military" also, except they are unarmed sheep -- by order. Sad...

Anyway, NEITHER of those 2 goals can be achieved by someone CC-ing as no one can SEE the gun.

***********************************
Edited to add:

P.P.S. Yes, get your CC permit right away...El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa is in some "difficulty" right now and I can only assume his replacement (next election?) will be as pro-gun and OC friendly as Maketa is and HAS been...but you never know. Probably doesn't matter, as Shall-Issue is Shall-Issue whether a Sheriff (personally) likes it or not. I guess.

;-)

Fortunately, MOST Colorado County Sheriffs are very PRO-gun, and most say they will NOT be enforcing that "high-capacity" magazine ban. The cops haven't commented on that, nor have the State Troopers, so I assume they WILL enforce it...IF they can tell which "high-capacity" mags were purchased AFTER the ban and which were owned previous to it -- in short, a pretty near impossible feat, so it's unenforceable anyway -- like the Sheriffs have said all along.

But at least most Sheriff Departments in The Great State of Colorado are on the side of We the People in this case.

BTW, you mention Fountain: We had one of our OC events at the IHOP down there in Fountain/Security (6450 S. US Highway 85-87, next to Applebee's)...plenty of "Educating & Desensitizing" (and "awareness") went on re: the IHOP staff & management there -- and a whole lot of other customers who noticed "Guys with Guns" at one of the tables there that afternoon. ;-)

No issues...

My understanding is they won't really pursue the ban as a primary violation as the burden of proof is on them and unless they see you buying it they really don't have RAS that a crime is being committed (there are millions of 15+ round magazines existing already in the state).

It may be used by some jurisdictions as an add-on charge when they have other violations in an effort to force a plea bargain to something. Again though, without a receipt for other evidence that the magazine was purchased after the ban date its pretty much a throw away.

As for OC, I have a CCW but fairly frequently OC because its too warm to wear heavy enough clothes to conceal the full sized semi autos I prefer to carry (for obvious reasons - stopping power, firepower and accuracy which all favor a larger weapon). I didn't even have a smaller framed handgun till recently, for the most part the smaller caliber, lower capacity and shorter barrels means they are less capable to meet the wider spread of threat scenarios that one may encounter. IE take an active shooter situation where you are beyond what would normally be a radius that one would presume a threat to exist (ie 7 yards, 10 yards or whatever doctrine you follow). The shooter may be 100 yards away taking shots at anyone in sight, in such a situation you may have to return fire from that distance due to cover and the fact that every shot he takes another innocent is hurt or killed. A 6" barrel on a 10mm such as I carry can make a 100 yard shot with fair accuracy, my 3.8" barreled 9mm small frame would be hopeless at such a distance. In Texas a man shot a criminal at 150 yards with a .357 magnum who was shooting at a deputy with a rifle, the deputy was in major trouble - that ole boy sure could shoot and I'll bet that gun had plenty of barrel on it; he took 5 shots and hit on all of them at that distance.
http://deadlinelive.info/2012/08/07...es-cop-by-making-150-yard-shot-with-a-pistol/

I did actually have a negative encounter over OC which made the news and was resently resolved with a settlement by the city. However, I can say that the settlement doesn't nearly cover what I see as the real damages to reputation and loss of opportunity that occurrs in modern (last 20 years) context due to Google, Yahoo etc which preserve the initial arrest news report vs the settlement report at a ratio of around 500:7. Apparently our laws on defamation need updating. The initial arrest was bogus from the outset, the officers in charge didn't know the law which had changed 9 years prior and even after being informed such, they opted to stretch the truth to come up with a charge (claiming "brandishing or flourishing" when the gun never left the holster). That ultimately was dismissed, my attorney was able to handle it by reinforcing the point via media that it was an invalid arrest and finally the County DA informed the city PD that I had not violated any state laws.

Notably also, there were 17 officers involved but only a couple actually made that decision, we never got to the stage to determine who did what to sort out which ones would not have been involved in responsibility for the violation of rights that the incident was.

Despite that though, most police officers and sherrifs are better informed than the ones that co-signed that incident. The town I actually live in every officer I've met there seems to understand people's rights and even thanked me for being willing to defend myself and others. Makes me glad of the decision to live where I do, in my mind that creates a very high value on said property vs some place like Denver where you are sure to get harassed for chewing a pop tart into the shape of a gun.

JonStore said:

I have a Ruger P-95. I also have a Blackhawk Serpa [strike]concealment[/strike] holster.
--snipped--

Click to expand...

Fixed it for you

Grapeshot said:

Fixed it for you

Click to expand...

I know... it does not really conceal anything. I have a thing for accuracy (complete product name). As an aside, I was really impressed on how this forum software autolinked the product. That was a nice surprise.

JonStore said:

I've also applied for my CHP today.

Click to expand...

Smart move. There are some times/areas where I can CC but not OC, or when CC is by far the more prudent choice. However, I usually just OC.

From what I understand, my handgun needs to be visible until that permit is approved. I also understand that I can have the magazine inserted while I carry?

Click to expand...

Correct on both accounts. I carry one in the pipe, as well, because my CZ has a firing pin interlock. Always properly holstered.

You're also correct on the critters. Both two and four-legged...

Well the Serpa may be an OWB holster, but it doesn't add all that much to the profile of the gun. Its concealable under a jacket or coat.

Unlike the Level 3 Safariland I have for the same gun.