OC in Metropolitan Los Angeles

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Open carried at the gas station this morning to fill up my car This is the first time I have open carried during the day. The gas station was nearly full with people walking all over the place. Started filling up my car and then walked inside to use the ATM. The machine had communication problems so I was standing in front of it for a good 5 minutes or so. Many people passed by without comment. Picked up a water and a chocolate chip muffin which my friend kindly paid for.


At night, my friend needed to go back to lock up his shop because his employee forgot his keys. Open carried on the way there and while walking around his property. Locked up and drove back to his place.

I opened carried while at his house also. It was the first time another friend of mine hand seen me open carrying and he asked me if it was loaded. I explained that it was not loaded and handed him my speedloader. My other friend noticed I only had swc's so he rummaged through his ammo bin and handed me a box of Federal Premium .38 special +p jhp's.

Locked up my firearm and drove the short distance back to my house.

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Left the house at 4:30pm today to go pickup my girlfriend for dinner. Did my usual shuffle then stopped at the gas station to fill up my car. Took some time walking around my car to wipe all my windows also. Decided to go in the gas station minimart to pick up something to drink and a lotto ticket but found the door locked. I thought it was strange for the door to be locked in the afternoon and saw people walking up to the window for transactions. I thought there was a possibility that they might have locked their doors preemptively after seeing a "man with gun" but I didn't feel like sticking around to find out the answer.

Drove to my girlfriend's and picked her up, didn't open carry to the restaurant as I did not know if that city had any restrictions on possession.

Open carried on my drive back from her place and stopped at a donut store for a fresh white frosted with sprinkles. This particular one required me to go inside instead of a walkup window. Ordered my donut and drink without any incident except he initially got me a coffee because he misheard me when I asked for a coke. Went home and enjoyed my donut.
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I've been thinking about the personal digital recorders we've been lugging around. I currently use a SONY ICD-B500 but am starting to worry about something happening to it if it becomes crucial evidence. I've been looking for one that requires a password to delete recordings but have only come across the $500 Philips digital pocket memo 9600.

Does anyone know of another recorder that offers password protection for much cheaper?

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FreshTapCoke wrote:

I've been thinking about the personal digital recorders we've been lugging around. I currently use a SONY ICD-B500 but am starting to worry about something happening to it if it becomes crucial evidence. I've been looking for one that requires a password to delete recordings but have only come across the $500 Philips digital pocket memo 9600.

Does anyone know of another recorder that offers password protection for much cheaper?

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I thought about this too, but didn't take much time to look into recorders, so I'm not sure what's out there.

I was thinking about using my cell phone as a recording device. My phone can record auido, and has a 'keypad lock' (as most phones do).

In the end, I decided that if they wish to tamper with evidence, it's not too hard to just make things disappear or get damaged (say, while you were allegedely resisting arrest).

The only surefire way to preserve the evidence would be to have the recording streamed to a safe place. That would require having something set up like Porc411, and I'm not sure what all that involves.

*In case you're not familiar with Porc411 (and are too lazy to follow the link), it's an automated service that you call in to. The server records your message and immediately sends a notification to subscribers, who can then access the message online. For our purposes, we would just need the recording feature, not the notification/distribution feature. This would put an audio copy of your encounter on a server located in your home (or someplace else) where it will be much more secure.

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Yes, absolutely! I came to the same conclusion on the disappearance or destruction of evidence. I however looked into applications that could run on a windows mobile phone so you dn't incur usage charges. That search came up pretty dry though.

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My suggestion recently about thison anotherthread was to have a dedicated phone line (national or state) with a computer or simplyvoice mailaccepting and recording incoming calls. One could use one touch dialing and then place the phone on speaker. This of course requires some situational awareness to accomplish prior to a contact. If this was run by a group like VCDL as a service then the minimal costs could be shared or a fee could be charged for the message retrieval for legal purposes.

The other option is the "pen recorder" or other covert recording devise that would not be discovered.

And the benefitfrom this is not only for police contact regarding OC but also for any situation where one would later desire to prove what happened or what didn't happen in public where no expectation of privacy for others exists.

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Went to a friend's house today to play the demo for Guitar Hero 3. Took my guitar and my open carry firearm. Got to his place and decided to go get some food. Left my gear at his house as he has a slight apprehension to open carry.

Came back and played some video games until his girlfriend came over. Once she came by, we got ready to go to our friend's car parts shop to do a photo shoot of items for his online business. The owner stopped by so I hopped in the car with him and another friend.

Began open carrying; on the way to his shop he decided to stop for coffee so we called everyone up and took their orders. We stopped in a busy shopping center that has a major chain coffee shop. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go in or not but decided at the last minute to go inside. I went first in line and ordered a handful of drinks. The cashier seemed very nervous and managed to drop his marker once and drop two cups, but he eventually got my order down. Wasn't sure if he noticed or not. My other two friends placed their orders and we waited to get our drinks.

My buddy commented that no one seemed to notice my status. The place was pretty busy with lots of people moving in and out, and even people standing next to me. I do think I saw one guy staring down as he moved to get around me for the bathroom.

Left without any incident and open carried during the whole shoot. It was probably a good choice as the shop is in a so-so neighborhood and we had lots of valuable photography equipment visible from the street.

Finished up around midnight and went to go eat at a coffee shop. Did not open carry at a friend's request. Left the place, and helped pack all the photo gear up. Locked up my gear and drove home.

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FreshTapCoke wrote:

My buddy commented that no one seemed to notice my status. The place was pretty busy with lots of people moving in and out, and even people standing next to me. I do think I saw one guy staring down as he moved to get around me for the bathroom.

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This refutes the accepted andestablished Internet 'gun guru'canon, that anyone open carrying would instigate a stampede of fearful hoplophobes stumbling over themselves to flee an openly armed citizen and the probability that SWAT would arrive to prone out same said person for doing what is natural and lawful. This demonstration now relegates such talkto nothing more than speculation.

I am however, concerned about what contact with police might mean in your metropolitan stomping grounds. I suspect your friends discouragement of open carry is somewhat related to this concern. If anyone you hang out with has a record, your activities may draw more attention than they may be willing to bear- that or they don't wish to see officers drawing down in their general direction. If contact with police is as it ought to be, your friends anxiety may be alleviated.

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ConditionThree wrote:

FreshTapCoke wrote:

My buddy commented that no one seemed to notice my status. The place was pretty busy with lots of people moving in and out, and even people standing next to me. I do think I saw one guy staring down as he moved to get around me for the bathroom.

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This refutes the accepted andestablished Internet 'gun guru'canon, that anyone open carrying would instigate a stampede of fearful hoplophobes stumbling over themselves to flee an openly armed citizen and the probability that SWAT would arrive to prone out same said person for doing what is natural and lawful. This demonstration now relegates such talkto nothing more than speculation.

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It's also been my experience that 99% of the sheeple don't notice.

This also refutes the idea that OC is likely to result in a 'gun grab' or 'robber shoots armed person first' scenarios. As for the latter, I'm guessing the would-be-robber would have tunnel vision and be less likely to notice you are armed.

As for your friend requesting you to not carry: I'm assuming he had some compelling reason that made you decide to go unarmed. I hope your friend wouldn't be so rude as to demand you to disarm as a condition of your friendship.

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I very much agree with both of you after experiences so far, though I think it will be quite a while before I muster the same fortitude as ConditionThree to enter a bank openly carrying.

I know I seem overly obsessed with protection from abuses considering it's metropolitan Los Angeles, but my past encounters with local law enforcement has been all straightforward and professional. It takes only one bad encounter to ruin an entire life though, and preventing that chance is imperative to safety and Liberty. I don't anticipate any felony stops, especially if I'm with any of my friends. (we're all very unassuming individuals with clean records)


The reason my friend asked me to not open carry at the restaurant was because he was afraid we would receive sub-standard service after watching the coffee shop cashier fumble around while taking my order. Not all understand exactly what I'm doing but the majority of them are supportive with one even considering it from time to time. I do have one friend thought that does not agree with what I am doing due to the risk, but is still pro-firearms.



I'd like to meet both of you one day considering how much your actions have lead to giving me the confidence necessary to keep doing this. Would either of you be receptive to me driving up from Southern California and meeting up for dinner?

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This is a fascinating thread to say the least, it's almost unbelievable but mind blowingly cool if true.

Got any pics?

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FreshTapCoke wrote:

I'd like to meet both of you one day considering how much your actions have lead to giving me the confidence necessary to keep doing this. Would either of you be receptive to me driving up from Southern California and meeting up for dinner?

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Heck yeah. I would offer to meet you half way, but I'm on a student's budget (which means my truck is a p.o.s. and I don't have much gas money).

Let me know if/when you want to do this; maybe send me a PM and we can discuss it further via e-mail.

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Ya, whats 300 miles between OC buddies! For our eastern brethren that's akin to a Virginian driving across Tennessee to have an OC dinner in Indiana!

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^^Cept the scenery is nicer in Cali. I've made the trip from Norcal to Socal. So damned nice looking. Luckily for me I'm going on a little vacation to Kali in a few days. Won't be open carrying sadly, but at least the scenery will be nice.

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Decided that CA_Libertarian's post regrding the lapel mic suggestion made by ConditionThree was a good idea and that a trip to Radio Shack was in order.  Got dressed and drove to the local shopping plaza.  It's a fairly large one; there's a market, drug store, and a dozen little stores.  The time was around 1:30pm and there were lots of people everywhere.

Walked across the parking lot to the Radio Shack and went straight to the counter.  The cashier immediately saw my openly carried firearm and became visibly apprehensive.  I asked him if they carry any lapel (lay-pull) mics and he shook his head and said no.  I asked again if he was sure they didn't carry any and he said "Oh, lapel (luh-pell) mics?  Yes, they're over here."  He hastily lead me to the mics and I grabbed one, thanking him enthusiastically and with a big smile.  He seemed to calm down a bit and took me back to the register to ring me up. 

While he was ringing me up he pointed to my open carry firearm and asked why I was carrying a gun.  I replied that I carried it for protection, and explained the relevant code to them a little bit.  They really relaxed and lightened up at this point smiling and saying they couldn't believe someone was actually doing it.  Left the store after we wished each other a good day.

Walked all the way across the parking lot again to go to the drugstore.  I had to pick up some soap and wrapping paper for a friend's gift.  Walked up and down the aisles many times past many people while looking for the soap.  Finally found it and grabbed some wrapping paper.  No one seemed to pay any attention at all except the cashier but she didn't say anything.  Paid for my stuff and left.

Took a really funny route from the drug store to my dry cleaners to avoid some main streets.  This place is in a smaller plaza with one market and a small handful of stores.  Took my dirty shirts in and paid for my clean shirts without any issues.  Decided I was a little hungry so I went over to the pizza place.  There were a few people sitting and eating but none paid any attention.  Ordered a slice of pepperoni and a large soda.  Unfortunately though, they were out of ice.  Picked up my pizza and headed back home.

Decided not to open carry for the rest of the day as I would not have been happy if I couldn't make it to my friend's birthday dinner.



By the way, I took a picture while I was shopping at the drugstore.   With all of the talk in my previous post about nice photography equipment you might be wondering why it is such low quality and doesn't show much but the last thing I wanted to do was hold a photo shoot. 

I assure you all my accounts are factual; I think I've even left an open carry situation or two out of the thread. 

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FreshTapCoke wrote:

Decided that CA_Libertarian's post regarding the lapel mic was a good idea...

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To give credit where credit is due: ConditionThree is the one who posted first about getting a mic attachement. After reading how much it improved his audio pickup is when I decided it was a good idea.

...I had to pick up some soap and wrapping paper for a friend's gift....

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Nothing says, "take a shower," like the gift of soap. :lol:

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I read this thread in amazement. I have been to CA many times, including several trips to LA. I simply cannot imagine OC'ing there.

Hat's off to ya!

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If I did OC in CA it would be with a revolver!!!
Thatway no one could tell it was unloaded.

Stupid laws:exclaim:

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I don't go to Commifornia due to the Fact that they don't Honor or Recipricate Utah Permit. The same Principle as applied to stores. "Don't allow my Gun, I'll spend my $$$ somewhere else". Why should a State be any different ??? That's a reason why I haven't been to Nevada and now they FINALLY Recipricate:celebrate.

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Agent19 wrote:

If I did OC in CA it would be with a revolver!!!
Thatway no one could tell it was unloaded.

Stupid laws:exclaim:

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I OC a pistol with an empty magazine. Looks just as loaded, and does a decent job of keeping dust/rain out.

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I know I haven't posted in quite a while now; I think the shock of the Heller case being granted Cert knocked off my activist hat. My doctor also diagnosed me with some type of spine/nerve damage late November, and I've been visiting specialists to determine exactly what is going on. My doctor warned me against any phsyical activity as any falls or shock have the possibility of parlaysis.

But these things are part of life, and life goes on, so last night I began practicing open carrying again.



Had to go feed my girlfriend's cat and change it's litter box as no one was home last night. Put on my Don Hume holster and speed loader and headed out the door. Arrived at my girlfriend's house but had to park down the street as the neighbor owns many cars and takes up multiple spots on the street. Walked to her house and opened the front gate. Switched to concealed carry at this point and went about my business inside.

Left after half an hour and switched back to open carry as I got outside. Went back to my car and drove home. (note - I should get one demerit for forgetting my audio recorder!)



After not open carrying for a few months it felt like it was back to square one again as far as my comfort level. Hopefully as my diagnosis is finalized and they know whether or not surgery will be necessary, open carrying will become comfortable again.

As for good news, Don Hume was kind enough to switch my old holster with the one for their hammerless model. This one doesn't have the benefit of holding the hammer with the retention strap but at least it will close.