protector84
Regular Member
imported post
I haven't been open carrying for very long but have run into some ignorance and other weird behavior. This is in Arizona which is a gold-star open carry state. For some reason people including LEOs can't seem to understand why I needa gun and especially why I need to carry it everywhere I go which actually isn't any of their business.
Some places have outright prohibited it in which case I usally pretend to leave it in the car but instead just conceal carry it anyway. I don't really care that it is illegal. My right to protect my life outweighs some bogus law. Anyway, the general attitude is that people think it is extreme that I would "need" the gun everywhere I go. Yet they don't seem to think it is extreme to have a fire extinguisher in every place that they go. After all, fires never happen just like criminals always attack someone else some other place. Like if I go into a grocery store the attitude is "Do you really need a gun just to buy groceries?" Anyway, when nosey people ask I usually answer "Yes. I need to defend myself if needed."
As to weird behavior from the general public, people act like I am a crazy person that they need to keep an eye on just in case I decide to go postal. Like at a Starbucks I was getting irritated because some idiot in front of me was taking 10 minutes to order a cup of coffee because she didn't know what she wanted or how she was going to pay for it. The lady behind me noticing my agitation seems to go out of her way to try to calm me down when I wasn't even really upset to begin with, just a little annoyed. Yet the entire time she goes on and on about "remaining calm, patience, enjoying life, etc." all while staring at my gun as if she thinks she is trying to talk me out of shooting someone because apparently being a bit irritated and having a gun must mean I'm going to go bananas, right?
As to LEOs, a couple of responses I have encountered tells me there is really something wrong with cops these days. I was walking into a bank one day open carrying on my hip. Just as I happen to walk by an armored car parked up front with a rent-a-cop sitting in it (the guys who refill the ATM), suddenly the engine shuts off, the door opens and shuts quickly, and I hear feet running toward me. I went on about my business in condition yellow and entered the bank, bypassed the line for the teller, and proceeded toward the vault. I must have been preparing a crime-of-the-year bank robbery, right? No, actually I needed to get cash out of my safe deposit box. So I turn around and notice the security just coming through the glass doors (which is extremely unusual behavior as they normally don't even go in the bank since the ATM is outside). The man is practically shaking with his hand on his gun as if he is ready to pull it while looking right at me with an angry and disturbed facial expression. So I go into condition orange and put my hand on the grip of my gun and immediately move about 1/2 of my body behind a cement pillar and give him a funny look back. The man suddenly realizes that I am covered while he is as wide open as one can be with 20 feet on both sides. He angrily leaves the bank. I expected the entire SWAT team to be there when coming out of the booth with the safety deposit box. Instead I actually got an apology from one of the bank employees. A number of gun owners have told me to beware of rent-a-cops as they are often poorly trained and don't always go through mental health screenings like real cops do.
The other case was simply in a bookstore where I was browsing some books and then sitting down in one of the chairs thumbing through them. An off-duty cop who was open carrying in plain clothes with his badge clipped to his belt started acting more and more nervous around me while he was in one of the chairs thumbing through magazines. Every slight movement I would make such as turning a page would cause him to suddenly turn and look at me. The longer this went on the more it forced me to start watching the cop's movements (condition orange). Every time the man lifted up either his coffee cup or one of the magazines, his hands were shaking and the paper was rattling. When he would catch me looking as he was shaking, the shaking would suddenly get worse. This was observable from 20-30 feet away. The shaking became so bad that it was identical to someone public speaking who is really nervous about getting in front of an audience. The kind of speaker whom would rattle the speech papers and stutter words. The man literally was afraid for his life because I was sitting there reading a book minding my own business and happened to have a pistol on my side. The next thing I know the man lifts his coffee to his lips and I could see the shaking out of the corner of my eye. As I turn to look and he sees me looking at him, he accidently drops the cup of coffee and spills about twenty magazines onto the floor. The man is shaking as he is picking up the magazines, uses his napkins to clean up the spilled coffee, and hurries out of the bookstore nearly shaking himself to death.
When we have sworn police officers that are this scared, it tells me that it is more important than ever to have more armed citizens. I'm sure that staring at him from time to time may have escalated the situation but his paranoid behavior caused me to look. It did appear that my gun was a better gun than his gun. Whatever.
I hope I didn't bore anyone but it does seem like open carrying carries a big liability. There are so many stupid people including cops and security that in some ways it puts me at risk simply for exercizing my rights. The problem is that not only are people scared of guns including cops apparently but that these people do not think rationally. What concerns me is the possibility that some scared citizen or security guard will suddenly try to disarm me while I am going on about my business. The two previous cases mentioned caused me to go from condition yellow to condition orange but I hope I don't have to go to condition red. If someone not known to be a LEO in uniform tries to disarm me, I will probably end up having to shoot them. Perhaps part of the problem is that so many people in Arizona are from other states with strict gun laws. Some idiot even told me one time that he thought that not only was open carry illegal but that you had the right to shoot anyone you see with a gun even if they just happen to have it on them. With people like this, it really starts making open carry a serious concern. Far too many times when open carrying I am immediately going from condition yellow to condition orange because something seems to be brewing over me having a gun on me.
Anyway, I hope either I can get more used to this or that I can maybe pick places that aren't likely to be problematic.
I haven't been open carrying for very long but have run into some ignorance and other weird behavior. This is in Arizona which is a gold-star open carry state. For some reason people including LEOs can't seem to understand why I needa gun and especially why I need to carry it everywhere I go which actually isn't any of their business.
Some places have outright prohibited it in which case I usally pretend to leave it in the car but instead just conceal carry it anyway. I don't really care that it is illegal. My right to protect my life outweighs some bogus law. Anyway, the general attitude is that people think it is extreme that I would "need" the gun everywhere I go. Yet they don't seem to think it is extreme to have a fire extinguisher in every place that they go. After all, fires never happen just like criminals always attack someone else some other place. Like if I go into a grocery store the attitude is "Do you really need a gun just to buy groceries?" Anyway, when nosey people ask I usually answer "Yes. I need to defend myself if needed."
As to weird behavior from the general public, people act like I am a crazy person that they need to keep an eye on just in case I decide to go postal. Like at a Starbucks I was getting irritated because some idiot in front of me was taking 10 minutes to order a cup of coffee because she didn't know what she wanted or how she was going to pay for it. The lady behind me noticing my agitation seems to go out of her way to try to calm me down when I wasn't even really upset to begin with, just a little annoyed. Yet the entire time she goes on and on about "remaining calm, patience, enjoying life, etc." all while staring at my gun as if she thinks she is trying to talk me out of shooting someone because apparently being a bit irritated and having a gun must mean I'm going to go bananas, right?
As to LEOs, a couple of responses I have encountered tells me there is really something wrong with cops these days. I was walking into a bank one day open carrying on my hip. Just as I happen to walk by an armored car parked up front with a rent-a-cop sitting in it (the guys who refill the ATM), suddenly the engine shuts off, the door opens and shuts quickly, and I hear feet running toward me. I went on about my business in condition yellow and entered the bank, bypassed the line for the teller, and proceeded toward the vault. I must have been preparing a crime-of-the-year bank robbery, right? No, actually I needed to get cash out of my safe deposit box. So I turn around and notice the security just coming through the glass doors (which is extremely unusual behavior as they normally don't even go in the bank since the ATM is outside). The man is practically shaking with his hand on his gun as if he is ready to pull it while looking right at me with an angry and disturbed facial expression. So I go into condition orange and put my hand on the grip of my gun and immediately move about 1/2 of my body behind a cement pillar and give him a funny look back. The man suddenly realizes that I am covered while he is as wide open as one can be with 20 feet on both sides. He angrily leaves the bank. I expected the entire SWAT team to be there when coming out of the booth with the safety deposit box. Instead I actually got an apology from one of the bank employees. A number of gun owners have told me to beware of rent-a-cops as they are often poorly trained and don't always go through mental health screenings like real cops do.
The other case was simply in a bookstore where I was browsing some books and then sitting down in one of the chairs thumbing through them. An off-duty cop who was open carrying in plain clothes with his badge clipped to his belt started acting more and more nervous around me while he was in one of the chairs thumbing through magazines. Every slight movement I would make such as turning a page would cause him to suddenly turn and look at me. The longer this went on the more it forced me to start watching the cop's movements (condition orange). Every time the man lifted up either his coffee cup or one of the magazines, his hands were shaking and the paper was rattling. When he would catch me looking as he was shaking, the shaking would suddenly get worse. This was observable from 20-30 feet away. The shaking became so bad that it was identical to someone public speaking who is really nervous about getting in front of an audience. The kind of speaker whom would rattle the speech papers and stutter words. The man literally was afraid for his life because I was sitting there reading a book minding my own business and happened to have a pistol on my side. The next thing I know the man lifts his coffee to his lips and I could see the shaking out of the corner of my eye. As I turn to look and he sees me looking at him, he accidently drops the cup of coffee and spills about twenty magazines onto the floor. The man is shaking as he is picking up the magazines, uses his napkins to clean up the spilled coffee, and hurries out of the bookstore nearly shaking himself to death.
When we have sworn police officers that are this scared, it tells me that it is more important than ever to have more armed citizens. I'm sure that staring at him from time to time may have escalated the situation but his paranoid behavior caused me to look. It did appear that my gun was a better gun than his gun. Whatever.
I hope I didn't bore anyone but it does seem like open carrying carries a big liability. There are so many stupid people including cops and security that in some ways it puts me at risk simply for exercizing my rights. The problem is that not only are people scared of guns including cops apparently but that these people do not think rationally. What concerns me is the possibility that some scared citizen or security guard will suddenly try to disarm me while I am going on about my business. The two previous cases mentioned caused me to go from condition yellow to condition orange but I hope I don't have to go to condition red. If someone not known to be a LEO in uniform tries to disarm me, I will probably end up having to shoot them. Perhaps part of the problem is that so many people in Arizona are from other states with strict gun laws. Some idiot even told me one time that he thought that not only was open carry illegal but that you had the right to shoot anyone you see with a gun even if they just happen to have it on them. With people like this, it really starts making open carry a serious concern. Far too many times when open carrying I am immediately going from condition yellow to condition orange because something seems to be brewing over me having a gun on me.
Anyway, I hope either I can get more used to this or that I can maybe pick places that aren't likely to be problematic.
Not to mention that I am guessing both of us are simply carrying a pistol or a revolver and probably not a terribly large one. I could see people getting panicky if I was carrying a 12-gauge shotgun or an AK-47 in my hands but how is a Glock handgun that is secured in a holster so terrifying? Something else I have started to notice is that some of the people that are fearful of this are gun owners themselves but the ones who never open carry. The ones who conceal carry are shocked by the open carry for some reason.