derf wrote:
I appreciate the opportunity to OC and consider it a privilege.
And this is exactly the problem - if you consider the right to carry a privilege, then you concede tothe police and government generally the power to "confront" you for exercising your privilege in a place that some person or persons happens to arbitrarily decide that your kind is not wanted.
If racial minorities kept putting up with this years ago, the water fountains would still be segregated today.
Having said that, there is no reason to be a nasty person while OCing or to instigate problems -
a successful OCer is usually not noticed or by the time she is noticed, has moved on about her business or simply accepted as minding her own business and being normal by the people around her. This type of OCer helps the cause as hundreds or thousands of people are exposed to the reality that fellow citizens do carry guns in daily life, that nothing bad happens, that they appear otherwise normal, nobody calls the police or gets scared, and life goes on.
I have open carried extensive in VA, PA, NC, WV, OH, and KY and have
never been bothered (unless you count an "eye roll" one time in WalMart by a Fairfax County police officer) by police or really anybody else even when walking right past them or speaking at a podium in public meeting (e.g., city council meeting), in a traffic stop, buyong beer or groceries at various grocery stores, Starbucks, gun shops, etc.
But if a police officer or anybody else ever
unlawfully detains or searches me while I am minding my own business just because i am carrying a gun, I will sue them in their individual and official capacities and seek damages and other relief from them and the locality or agency which employs them -I will FOIA them, investigate them, get the matter into the press, depose them, force them to disclose documents, build a website about them and the case, etc., and trust me, they are not going to like it and neither will their superiors or their superior's political masters.
THIS, is not being mean spirited - this is doing your duty to support gun rights and the American way of life generally. If you are singled out by police because you are open carrying and your rights infringed in any way, take it seriously and find a good lawyer in your state to bring suit - in many cases, this can be done on a contingency basis.