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My first open carry today.

curtiswr

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2008
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1,133
Location
Richmond, VA, ,
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Beretta M9 in a Blackhawk Serpa

It was nice. It felt like I was doing the right thing. I was in the Richmond area, all throughout the Fan and down near VCU (near the Kroger closest to Monroe Park). Places I visited:

EB Games: no one said anything other than a kid in the store pointing it out to a friend. When leaving there were two homeless people panhandling that smiled/laughed and said "DAMN"
Barber Shop: the barbers liked it and supported it. I knew they would from previous conversations in the past. The family of four (dad, mom, two sons) didn't say anything, nor did the father and son pair; but they didn't gawk, point it out, or look away nervously either.
Jersey Mike's Subs: the clerks all looked at it and I would periodically catch them looking me up and down it seemed, but on the whole they didn't have any problems it seemed. They didn't say anything. There was a young couple from VCU, all tattooed up, and they disapproved, although they didn't say anything to me. They would give me glares and whisper to each other. When they left they stared at me the whole time, with the guy holding the girl's hand and giving what seemed to be a "you're an idiot" look directed at me. I didn't let it phase me however as my experiences throughout the day thus far had been excellent and nowhere near as bad as all the nervousness I had before going out would have led anyone to believe they would be. And I figure I shouldn't let them bug me because it's probably something that will happen plenty more as I carry to more and more places.
7-11 on corner of W. Cary & Thompson: the clerk saw me walking in with it and seemed to get a sort of nervous appearance about himself, but when I was kind and politely asked if he would take a 50 or if that was too large a bill his worries seemed to go away and he just started the usual banter I accustom with the 7-11 clerks in the area.... ( I frequent 7-11 a lot :D)
CVS beside Ukrop's at end of Carytown: I went in looking for shoe laces and a trainee, shadowing the manager, that wasn't watching where he was going nearly bumped into me. The manager noticing me, then my handgun, said "watch out!" and stopped him from running into me. I asked them where there shoe laces were and the manager showed me to them. A few minutes later, after figuring out which length I needed, I ventured to the pen/paper aisle. While looking at the pen selection the manager and trainee walked by. The manager stopped and asked if I had a permit; I explained that for open carry in Virginia a permit was not necessary. He seemed shocked, but also excited in a way to find this out. The trainee just kind of looked on in disbelief/worry. They then disappeared into the back. I checked out, and the cashier didn't say anything.
7-11 on Nansemond, between Ellwood and Cary: I wanted to see if a different 7-11 would have a different reaction, but it didn't. This one was more crowded and no one even stopped to give a second look. The only person that seemed interested was the cashier. A younger male. He seemed more curious about the gun itself and what kind it was rather than the fact that I had just walked into his store with it on my hip. He didn't start any conversation around it, but when I went to buy my Gatorade he leaned over the counter to get a look at it.


All in all, pretty uneventful and a nice ice breaker to open carrying for me. I am relieved to find out it wasn't a big deal to most of the people I encountered and the places I went. I look forward to continuing to OC. To be honest, if it weren't for finding this forum I probably wouldn't have even wanted to do it. I was researching carry laws in Virginia and trying to find if there were any Richmond specific laws, and I stumbled upon this place. After reading accounts in the Richmond thread, and having a few questions answered via my first posts made here, I was made comfortable enough to give it a whirl. Glad I did. Thanks everybody!

:celebrate
 

samdavisrises

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Dec 30, 2006
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Richmond, Virginia, ,
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I am very glad to know that your day went well. The Serpa is a good choice. Frankly, I am surprised that you got as much attention as you did, as most people either don't bat an eye, or fail to notice the 1911 on my hip. Your experience in EB games reminded me, it often seems that kids notice OC more than adults, I assume this is because it is closer to eye level, and also because they have not turned into worker bees/ zombies yet. I'm glad you did not let what attention you did receice faze you, as you become more comfortable, I imagine less people will notice. Congrats on using your chance in the barber shop to spread the word.

Happy toten :celebrate
 

mercutio545

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Sep 2, 2006
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VA
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Be careful around VCU. If you went to the Jersey Mikes I'm thinking of (the one below Ramz Hall, by the EB and Qdoba, I presume?), it may be VCU property. I'm still not clear on that code section in the VAC about VCU being off-limits, but I would still watch out. The VCU police are very professional and courteous, but I'm not sure how they would react to seeing OC around campus.
 

curtiswr

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Jul 11, 2008
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Richmond, VA, ,
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Duly noted. Thanks for the pointers (I am getting some in this thread on the general discussion forum as well).

Sorry if my actions/where I carried can be perceived as careless and more detrimental to the OC community than anything. :?
 

dixiehacker

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Jun 5, 2006
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114
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, Virginia, USA
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I think that peopel who are just starting with the open carry thing get a lot more attention. When you start out, you are walking around kind of nervous yourself, and people sense that and notice more.
 

zoom6zoom

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2006
Messages
1,694
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Dale City, VA, Virginia, USA
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Looks like you had a good day.
Be careful with the shoelaces, though. BATF has determined a shoelace to be a machine gun, and you wouldn't want to get in trouble.
 

Grapeshot

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May 21, 2006
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Congrats curtiswr you had a good first day. I OC regularly at all of the places you named 'cause I do a lot of work in the fan.

Don't forget the Richmond OC dinner on Tues. at O'Charley's
http://tinyurl.com/5mbb8p
Looking forward to it.

Yata hey
 

marshaul

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
11,188
Location
Fairfax County, Virginia
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samdavisrises wrote:
I am very glad to know that your day went well.  The Serpa is a good choice.
Indeed.

samdavisrises wrote:
Frankly, I am surprised that you got as much attention as you did, as most people either don't bat an eye, or fail to notice the 1911 on my hip. 
As am I. OC attracts very little attention.

dixiehacker wrote:
I think that peopel who are just starting with the open carry thing get a lot more attention. When you start out, you are walking around kind of nervous yourself, and people sense that and notice more.
This is my bet. It sounds like you were looking around a lot, in order to have noticed all the attention you got! :D

The truth is, if you go about your business as normal, and aren't looking over your shoulder like someone who has a reason to be nervous, people will pick up on your body language and feel that you carrying a gun is a normal event, even if they might consciously claim that guns scare them.

People really understand so little of their own psychology. I bet you $5 that the right body language would have preemptively shut those VCU kids up.
 

DocDaddy

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Feb 27, 2008
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308
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Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA
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Bullbuster wrote:
Congrats to you for finally choosing to OC. Like 99.9% of us we had many mixed emotions our first time out. It only gets easier and more comfortable the more you do it.
+1 Everyday is a learning experience and every OC outing adds to it! Just be confident and learn as much as you can know what you need to know... "Because knowing is half the battle"... G.I. Joe :lol:
 

richarcm

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Jul 1, 2008
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Richmond, VA
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mercutio545 wrote:
Be careful around VCU. If you went to the Jersey Mikes I'm thinking of (the one below Ramz Hall, by the EB and Qdoba, I presume?), it may be VCU property. I'm still not clear on that code section in the VAC about VCU being off-limits, but I would still watch out. The VCU police are very professional and courteous, but I'm not sure how they would react to seeing OC around campus.

Your right to carry extends to public universities does it not?
 

TexasNative

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Apr 11, 2007
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Austin, TX
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In a nutshell, the Virginia Administrative Code prohibits the possession of firearms on the VCU campus. There's debate as to whether that is legally enforceable. No one wants to be the test case to find out.
 

ProShooter

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www.ProactiveShooters.com, Richmond, Va., , USA
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TexasNative wrote:
In a nutshell, the Virginia Administrative Code prohibits the possession of firearms on the VCU campus. There's debate as to whether that is legally enforceable. No one wants to be the test case to find out.
Actually, there's a secondary debate about that statute. It seems to only prohibit firearms by members of the university community.
 

skidmark

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ProShooter wrote:
TexasNative wrote:
In a nutshell, the Virginia Administrative Code prohibits the possession of firearms on the VCU campus. There's debate as to whether that is legally enforceable. No one wants to be the test case to find out.
Actually, there's a secondary debate about that statute. It seems to only prohibit firearms by members of the university community.

ProShooter volunteers to be the test case. :celebrate

stay afe.

skidmark
 

Grapeshot

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skidmark wrote:
ProShooter wrote:
TexasNative wrote:
In a nutshell, the Virginia Administrative Code prohibits the possession of firearms on the VCU campus. There's debate as to whether that is legally enforceable. No one wants to be the test case to find out.
Actually, there's a secondary debate about that statute. It seems to only prohibit firearms by members of the university community.

ProShooter volunteers to be the test case. :celebrate

stay afe.

skidmark
I will commit my 2 cents[sup]14[/sup] worth right now for his legal defense fund. I really would like to see a decision set down on this question.

Yata hey
 

ProShooter

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skidmark wrote:
ProShooter wrote:
TexasNative wrote:
In a nutshell, the Virginia Administrative Code prohibits the possession of firearms on the VCU campus. There's debate as to whether that is legally enforceable. No one wants to be the test case to find out.
Actually, there's a secondary debate about that statute. It seems to only prohibit firearms by members of the university community.

ProShooter volunteers to be the test case. :celebrate

stay afe.

skidmark
Dont worry skidmark....you can cower behind me, trembling in fear....I'll protect ya. :)
 

Grapeshot

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It's not very often that someone volunteers to take the shot for you is it.
Stepping in front to take the bullet really takes something. Wow!

Yata hey
 
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