Cue-Ball
Regular Member
imported post
Friday, after work, I was taking one of my puppies for a walk around the neighborhood, as usual. It seems like nice weather and a puppy in tow, brings people out of the woodwork. During my walk I was called across the street buy a guy who lives a half a block down or so. He straight up asked me if Washington was an open carry state, and I told him that it was. He seemed rather surprised. I was actually rather surprised that he's never noticed me before.
I simply explained a little bit about the legal aspect, and CC vs. OC, and he thanked me and went about his business. Unfortunately, I forgot to mention opencarry.org. If I see him again this week, I'll make sure to mention it (maybe I need business cards?).
Later on, during that same walk, I happened across another neighbor who was having a garage sale. I've actually known this lady for quite a long time now. She serves on our HOA committe, and I used to work with her several years ago. Despite that, she has probably never seen me openly carrying before, since our HOA meetings take place on school grounds. Anyway, she saw that I had a new puppy and wanted to meet her. I could tell that she noticed my gun, but she didn't mention it, and didn't even really seem to care (which is not what I would have expected). Her husband was there, and also didn't seem to care in the least. The same for the several people who were at the garage sale, who wanted to make friends with my pooch.
The lesson here is, puppies are a great OC proponent.
On Saturday, my wife I and met a couple of friends at Wade's to do some shooting. My wife and I were both openly carrying. We stayed for about two hours, then, as we were getting ready to leave, I overheard a young lady a few lanes down comment about my gun. I couldn't hear exactly what she said, but it was something along the lines of "I've never seen that done before" and "is that legal". There were two guys with her, who appeared to be giving an impromptu lesson. I tried to mind my own business and wasn't even sure if she was talking about me OC'ing, but had to interject when I overheard him tell her that it wasn't legal, and that I had to conceal because Washington was a concealed carry state. I piped up "No it's not!" and made my way over there. We had a short chat about Washington versus Texas, the merits of the mighty Springfield XD, and other gun range type small talk. I told the three of them about opencarry.org and made my departure.
After leaving the range, we ate at the Azteca on 148th in Bellevue. I was openly carrying, my wife was concealed, since it was cold. We were seated and served without any issues, though I'm not sure if the host or waitress noticed or not. But, the big deal about this is that a left-leaning friend of ours met us for lunch. Not only did he not care that I was carrying (i've exposed him to open and concealed carry a few times before), he actually asked about our marksmanship. The next thing you know, I'll have him down at the range, blowing off a few rounds!
All in all, very positive exposure, as usual. I was able to educate at least four people about how open carry is perfectly legal and responsible. In addition, I was able to show several people that we're not all lunatics, and that normal, caring citizens choose to arm themselves without the intention of shooting up a mall or school.
Friday, after work, I was taking one of my puppies for a walk around the neighborhood, as usual. It seems like nice weather and a puppy in tow, brings people out of the woodwork. During my walk I was called across the street buy a guy who lives a half a block down or so. He straight up asked me if Washington was an open carry state, and I told him that it was. He seemed rather surprised. I was actually rather surprised that he's never noticed me before.
I simply explained a little bit about the legal aspect, and CC vs. OC, and he thanked me and went about his business. Unfortunately, I forgot to mention opencarry.org. If I see him again this week, I'll make sure to mention it (maybe I need business cards?).Later on, during that same walk, I happened across another neighbor who was having a garage sale. I've actually known this lady for quite a long time now. She serves on our HOA committe, and I used to work with her several years ago. Despite that, she has probably never seen me openly carrying before, since our HOA meetings take place on school grounds. Anyway, she saw that I had a new puppy and wanted to meet her. I could tell that she noticed my gun, but she didn't mention it, and didn't even really seem to care (which is not what I would have expected). Her husband was there, and also didn't seem to care in the least. The same for the several people who were at the garage sale, who wanted to make friends with my pooch.
The lesson here is, puppies are a great OC proponent.
On Saturday, my wife I and met a couple of friends at Wade's to do some shooting. My wife and I were both openly carrying. We stayed for about two hours, then, as we were getting ready to leave, I overheard a young lady a few lanes down comment about my gun. I couldn't hear exactly what she said, but it was something along the lines of "I've never seen that done before" and "is that legal". There were two guys with her, who appeared to be giving an impromptu lesson. I tried to mind my own business and wasn't even sure if she was talking about me OC'ing, but had to interject when I overheard him tell her that it wasn't legal, and that I had to conceal because Washington was a concealed carry state. I piped up "No it's not!" and made my way over there.
We had a short chat about Washington versus Texas, the merits of the mighty Springfield XD, and other gun range type small talk. I told the three of them about opencarry.org and made my departure.After leaving the range, we ate at the Azteca on 148th in Bellevue. I was openly carrying, my wife was concealed, since it was cold. We were seated and served without any issues, though I'm not sure if the host or waitress noticed or not. But, the big deal about this is that a left-leaning friend of ours met us for lunch. Not only did he not care that I was carrying (i've exposed him to open and concealed carry a few times before), he actually asked about our marksmanship. The next thing you know, I'll have him down at the range, blowing off a few rounds!
All in all, very positive exposure, as usual. I was able to educate at least four people about how open carry is perfectly legal and responsible. In addition, I was able to show several people that we're not all lunatics, and that normal, caring citizens choose to arm themselves without the intention of shooting up a mall or school.
