imported post
Actually, OC goes way back. It just didn't have a proper name. Country people in Va have carried a gun for as long as I can remember.
I've done it for forty years +-. Until VCDL made the scene, Concealed permits were impossible to get in many areas. I think I got mine in 76 or so. In those days, you had to jump through whatever hoops the judge decided to put up.
Permits had to be re applied for (not renewed) every year. I also had to list every gun I owned and the serial numbers. Around 85 I got fed up with that, and didn't re apply.
I went back to my old habit of OC.
When VCDL came around, OC got a name and some publicity. People who never carried a gun, started and people who carried a gun quietly (like in their car) strapped them on.
To be honest, the new "Shall Issue" permits are a two edged sword. While anyone can get one, they are rapidly becoming a form of nation wide registration and identification.
As more states recognize the others permits, the database gets bigger.
Further, the States grant more privileges, note I didn't say rights, to CHP holders. For instance, they can carry off season in WMA's and National Forest Land. They can carry while bowhunting. etc. These things have nothing to do with the qualifications for a CHP.
I can see a day when only CHP holders may purchase guns. Don't laugh. Look at what Drivers Licenses have become.
Hopefully, Va will start easing into limited concealed carry without a permit and eventually into an Alaskan type law.
A good example of this is a gentleman who came on the board to sell a handgun. He would only sell to CWP holders or LEO's. I thought it took a lot of nerve to come on an open carry board and to sell a gun and make the terms CWP holders only. No one else agreed.
He wasn't a bad person, just a brainwashed $%^&.