Visiting Hamilton/Fairfield

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My girlfriend's extended family lives in and around Cincinnati, mostly Hamilton and Fairfield. We plan on visiting them just before Christmas, and I plan to bring my pistol with me. I have a South Carolina permit, as well as non-resident permits from New Hampshire and Connecticut, and I am very familiar with flying with firearms.

However, I do not know how the local PD's are in the area. Is open carrying going to get me harassed by police? Should I keep it concealed the entire time, or are there areas where I can uneventfully go about my business openly armed? I'm not looking to become another test case for the 2nd Amendment while on vacation to visit her relatives.

And yes, I'm aware that UDF does not allow guns, but I still want to try their ice cream. She loves it.

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I'm sure Ohio is like any other state. If you're talking about a small village or suburb, they don't take kindly to strangers and have police who believe themselves beyond reproach. If you're talking about a major city, you'll have freedom-hating laws on the books (not anymore in Ohio ), but a police force that is too busy fighting REAL crime to bother with a law abiding citizen.

I WAS a test case in Oregon, Ohio, suburb of Toledo. I had the police called on me for open carrying after that. Needless to say, the way the police acted that time was MUCH different. They didn't even come knock on my door. I've open carried in Oregon since and open carry in any number of establishments in Toledo every day.

That's my experience. From what I hear, Cleveland has a mayor who thinks he's a NYC mayor who thinks he's the president of the eastern seaboard. Nevertheless, his antics have been successfully countered every step of the way and Cleveland police have been on record since stating that they understand they cannot arrest somebody simply for openly carrying. The only other hotspot I have heard of is Columbus. Not heard of as in stories of police abuse of the law-abieing citizen. But rather a generally socialist political climate.

Ultimately, it's your choice. But for the love of tree, get past the fear of the words "test case." There's no such thing. It's a liberal myth designed to bleed the resolution out of law-abiding citizens that aren't too keen with having their rights stolen from them. Of course I am by no means making light of your concern. Open carrying in your own backyard can be a challenging decision. Doing it in another state... I hear you. If it were me, I'd do it. Hell, I HAVE done it. Statewide pre-emption was a clause of HB 347 that Jim Aslanides championed primarily because of the cases of the law-abiding being mistreated. The word is getting out there.

I hope you do carry openly in Ohio. When word of my arrest got out, a lot of people woke up to the fact that if we don't, we could lose that right. I'd like to think we've been making a lot of progress since.

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I haven't had any trouble from LEOs in the Cincinnati area, either with OC or CC; have been downtown OC'ing in front of LEOs with no interaction. No guns signs are pretty rare in my area, as I imagine they'd be in Hamilton too.

Legba, onhere, had a bad experience with the Dayton police while not even carrying (about 40 minutes north of Cincy), but that's not where you'll be.

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Yeah, I live in Hamilton and I haven't had any problems here. I've OCed to work on foot when my car was down (my current one is still impounded). They may ask you what's up, but they aren't automatically going to get SWAT on you.

Dayton, on the other hand...

-ljp

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I live in Dayton. Haven't been pulled over while carrying, but have been followed by the police. I have the OFCC bumper sticker in my rear window (Jeep Cherokee), so I know they saw that, and I'm sure they ran my plates.

Especially one night coming home from work (second shift, got off work at 2:30 am) I had a cop change direction to get behind me. Followed for a bit, then turned off.

Back in the late 90's I was pulled over in the a.m. while driving a van. I had my Undertaker Bowie knifeon the passenger seat. One cop took my info while the other shown his light in the passenger side of the van. It was a cargo van, no side windows except for the passenger and driver windows.

I KNOW he saw the knife, but said nothing.

So I really can't say one way or another how the Dayton Police are. So far, no problems. Though I haven't been actually pulled over while armed with a firearm.

Here are pics of what the Undertaker looks like, though (perhaps fortunately!)mine was sheathed. But the "extreme brass knuckle" type handle could have proved a problem!

http://http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=79129684#PIC]http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=79129684#PIC]http://http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=79129684#PIC[/url]