First time UOC in Elk Grove

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Hello all!

Well, I did it! I've been lurking and pondering for a while now and today I UOC'd (is that a verb now?) on a trip to Home Depot in Elk Grove.

It was a very nice experience.

- I printed up a couple of the OC flyers.

- I made sure I had my digital voice recorder running.

- I was dressed in relatively nice clothes.

- I had my Kydex holster on my right-side belt and my Kydex single magazine holster on my left.

- I had my Beretta 92FS and one full magazine (not in the magazine well) locked in its case with a big ol' key padlock and placed it in my trunk and I was off to get a new hot water heater draincock (mine was leaking).

I parked out in the south 40 (as I usually do to avoid door dings) and got out, opened my trunk, unlocked the case and holstered the pistol on my right and my magazine on my left.

I strolled across the parking lot, trying to appear as if I did this every day. Truth be told, my heart rate was up because I just knew a mob would stone me before I reached the door or SWAT would draw down on me by the time I reached the BBQs.

Nope, most folks didn't give me a second look.

The "would you like to sign up for a Home Depot credit card" guy inside the door just smiled when I said, "no thanks".

I wandered around a little bit looking for the plumbing/water heater section, found the draincocks, contemplated plastic versus brass, decided upon brass, moseyed up to the self-check-out, paid, bagged, and got a "have a nice day, sir" (yes, he said "sir") from the young man at the self-check-out help counter.

As I made my way out to my car I resisted the urge to constantly swivel my head looking for the LEO that I just KNEW had to be waiting for me.

Nope, I walked back out to the south 40, locked my magazine and pistol in their case, put the case in the trunk, tossed my Home Depot bag in the front seat and headed home.

I continued to look for LEOs that were just sure to be rolling up, Code 2, to investigate me. Nada...

It was, in the most pleasant way possible, a non-event; as it should be.

What did I learn?

- Carrying oneself as someone who is confident in their ability to defend themselves goes a long way to putting folks at ease. If you look as though you might be uneasy about what you are doing folks will probably pick up on that and maybe follow through on calling a LEO to check you out. I simply got the feeling that folks were indifferent or were convinced I was someone who "of course should be carrying". All of us law abiding citizens "should be carrying", however, I mean it in the sense of how a lot of our non-gun citizens might perceive those of us who UOC.

- Dressing a little bit on the nice side can help people see us as more "upstanding". Yes, we're free to wear what we wish, but just as you wouldn't wear raggedy jeans, an old t-shirt, and a Hoof-Arted baseball hat to a job interview, taking time to dress a little nicer can only help with your perception with the general public and law enforcement. I was not gussied up to the nines, I had slacks and a nice button-down shirt. I could have been mistaken for an office worker on his lunch break. (Actually, I am a state worker on furlough):?

- Even with all the thought, concern and research I put into this, no one seemed to care, which is a good thing.

- I would also recommend sunglasses. They come in handy to be able to scan people's reaction without necessarily making eye contact, which can put off some people. I would, however, slide them atop your head, should you have an ecounter with a LEO. Making eye contact with an officer is always a plus, in my opinion.

- I also did a quick check on my GPS to show me direction and distance to any schools. It would be unfortunate to be in an unfamiliar location, proceed to UOC, and turn a corner on a block to find youself within 1000 feet of a school. Most late model GPS receivers can show you this info.

- The only other thing I might add to prep for UOC would be to buy an additional voice recorder and use it in conjunction with a scanning radio running at home. Most major cities have a trunked radio system and have "talk groups" that are defined by geographic region. If you know how to set up your scanner to track the channel used in your region, set it up to VOX activate your digital voice recorder. Should you need to know how the call was dispatched, number of callers, and how LEO responded, as well as other info said over the air, you'll have it at home as a record.

***NOTE*** I am not a lawyer and am NOT giving legal advice! The following information I am sharing is merely information that I know about public safety radio systems.***NOTE*** That being said...

Almost all radio traffic and 911 calls are recorded and can be requested as a Freedom of Information Act item, or subpoenaed if needed in court, as I understand it. Your at-home recording might give insight as to whether or not the radio traffic might be helpful, should you run into a less-than-understanding LEO.

I am really pleased that my first experience was a good one. I will be UOCing again soon and will report back if anything of note happens.

I'd like to give a big "thanks" to the OC community. Keep up the good work!

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Nice job, I haven't had the nearve yet

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Congrats, it gets easier as time goes. As for how you drive with your weapon. You can drive with it in the holster, I do. But if you are driving past a school it is best to have a loackable case $10 at Wally world if one did not come with your gun. Same thing for the ammo, that never needs to be locked, even in 1000 feet of a school, but I don't belive it can be brought onto school grounds anyway. Don't hesitate to keep your eyes open and head on a swivel, it never hurts. Once agian congrats and sorry to hear about your Furlough Friday.

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Congratulations on your first open carry expedition and welcome to a growing movement to restore the right to keep and bear arms in California.

It sounds like you were well prepared. The only thing absent was a 'friendly witness'.

Your exeperince confirms what we have repeatedly demonstrated. That exposed carry does not create panic among the general public and does not instigate police encounters resulting in a felony stop.

Well done.

It seems our Sacramento contingent is filling out well. Perhaps this spring we will need to celebrate with an anniversary dinner.

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Great Post friend. I know there has been certain gun crimes in Elk Grove in the past couple years that I would have thought put the public on higher tension.

I plan on UOC'ing in Folsom sometime soon. I however am only 21 years old, and definitely look it. My clothing style this day will consists of jeans and a long sleeve black shirt, black sunglasses thanks to your suggestion. It is one of my favorite shirts though I in no way look like I am designated to carry a firearm for any work. So this will be very interesting and I am almost certain I will be called on, I really hope not though, I don't like brushes with the law, though I am doing this to raise awareness in this community and to have a means of defense. I think the more people see law abiding citizens with guns handled properly will change peoples views entirely on how they view strict gun laws. I also hope this may bring up awareness of the corrupt system of CCW issuance we have here in Sac County. It would be impossible for me to obtain a CCW in order to protect myself on an every day basis.

I hope the Sacramento Sheriff does not see this as a negative cause for us here at OpenCarry. We are within the law and not here to cause any trouble. I can almost relate our cause to Ghandi, although there is no civil-disobediance in what we are doing. We are completely within the law and are completely non-violent. I think the last thing any of us would want is any harm caused though in the case of someone presenting a deadly force on us or our family, we will have the means to protect them.

In my view we can either..

1. Raise public awareness that law abiding citizens can properly holster firearms in the public in the means of defending ourselves against possible deadly threats that would be impossible for a cop to respond to in time.

or

2.Create a scenerio where the Sheriff will issue us CCW's if he believes the public can not handle learning the law of UOC.

I heard this on the Nevada forum- if anyone asks why you carry, say because you can't carry a cop. I modified my version into saying "I have a bad back", they say, what does that have to do with anything? I respond "how am I supposed to carry a cop with a bad back??". That usually will hit the point home better.

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Streetbikerr6 wrote:

Great Post friend.I hope the Sacramento Sheriff does not see this as a negative cause for us here at OpenCarry. We are within the law and not here to cause any trouble. I can almost relate our cause to Ghandi, although there is no civil-disobediance in what we are doing. We are completely within the law and are completely non-violent. I think the last thing any of us would want is any harm caused though in the case of someone presenting a deadly force on us or our family, we will have the means to protect them.
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I think the best plan might be to invite the sheriff to the next open-carry luncheon in the area. He would decline I'm sure, but he may delegate as an alternative. I'd do it, but we have been publicly at odds over another issue to the point where he'd probably miscontrue my offer to use this as a venue for the other.