New to OCDO and could use some tips

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Hello.

I am new to OCDO, and am interested in help/tips from you longtime gun carriers. I just turned 21 and I plan on getting a handgun of my own. I plan on carrying for personal reasons as well as protection. I have a CWP and intend on both concealing and OCing.

I would really appreciate any tips on laws and such for OC. I only really intend on OCing when I cant comfortably conceal my weapon, but that might be often. lol. I see alot of postings on here about people who have had LEO encountersand such and how they have dealt with the situations. I would like to educate myself so I can deal with a situation like that in a calm, CORRECT manner. I would like to be able to have literature and knowledge of the RCWs and laws so I can 'argue' so to speak my reasoning for carrying.

Thanks in advance for any and all help, and I hope to be a member of OCDO for a long time to come.

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I would suggest CC'ing for a while first to get used to the notion of packin everywhere. Ween your way up to openly carrying.

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Here is some good reference material to carry around. I haven't figured out how to attach multiple items yet so bear with.

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Some of the training bulletins from various departments.

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Here is a good unpublished case to use in the event that the cops try and pull the "people are nervious and that is warranting alarm" card.

If you want any more reading then try browsing the older topics, they have alot of valuable information. I also have quite a few more pdf's if you still need them so feel free to PM me. Good luck and happy carrying.

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Welcome to the club!

Enroll in a firearms safety and training course that includes coverage of WA State laws on the subject of self-defense with a firearm

There is a lot of great advice to be found here; familiarize yourself with the law so that you will recognize it when you see it because there's some not-so-great advice on here as well. It's better to quote the law than to quote the internet.

Carrying--openly or otherwise--means you no longer get the luxury of indulging your emotions. Anger and frustration must now be handled in a mature and controlled manner. Shouting, becoming animated with anger, and chest-thumping are out. What you "would" or "wouldn't" actually do is irrelevant; what matters is what people are reasonably convinced you will do based on your behavior. To put the shoe on the other foot: What an attacker "would" or "wouldn't" do is irrelevant; what matters is what YOU are reasonably convinced he will do.

In the event that someone voices a negative opinion about your decision to carry, treat it as a discussion about the weather with a neighbor, not a debate about religion with an infidel.

Take the time to really think through your reasons for carrying a weapon. Ask a friend who has more experience carrying to challenge your philosophy using some of the anti-gun rhetoric that he or she has heard over the years. If you want to be a good representative of a law-abiding, armed citizen, you will need to be prepared for a reasonable discussion, even if your opponent isn't. "Because it's my right" will not suffice, no matter how true it is. Neither will the exercise of dreaming up "what ifs" that justify you carrying. Your carrying doesn't need to be justified, it simply needs to be thought through. "What ifs" are for training.

Don't quote a statistic until you've verified it. Again, there's plenty of well-meaning, yet inaccurate, information on the internet.

Finally, here are some thoughts to consider. I found this posted elsewhere and, like good poetry, it's someone else describing my own feelings on a subject:

Why I don't carry a Gun.


I don't carry a gun to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed.

I don’t carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.

I don’t carry a gun because I’m paranoid. I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.

I don’t carry a gun because I’m evil. I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.

I don’t carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.

I don’t carry a gun because I’m angry. I carry a gun so that I don’t have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.

I don’t carry a gun because my sex organs are too small. I carry a gun because I want to continue to use those sex organs as designed for a good long time to come.

I don’t carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.

I don’t carry a gun because I’m a cowboy. I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a cowboy.

I don’t carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.

I don’t carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three violent thugs, I am inadequate.

I don’t carry a gun because I love it. I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.

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