Why do YOU OC?

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Neo wrote:

There are numerous, legitimate reasons to OC all of which should be respected. In fact, if I were to say that you shouldn't speak your mind on social issues because you might offend or scare someone, most of you would clearly recognize that as a violation of your First Amendment rights and would refuse to comply. The same would be true if someone tried to violate your rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment. Why, then, are we so worried about exercising our Second Amendment rights?

With that said, another major reason that seems to have been omitted so far is comfort. Has anyone here tried to CC in AL in July or August while wearing a suit or sportcoat? When it's 90 F with 85% humidity and you get drenched in sweat just standing outside, you begin to look for alternatives to CC. Sure, sure, somebody's going to want to chime in and harass me for dressing up. But not everyone who chooses to carry a firearm wants to wear jeans and an untucked t-shirt or photographer's vest.

Also, I'd like to point out a recent incident at a GA Waffle House where (even the police agreed) just the presence of a couple of guys OC-ing prevented an armed robbery by multiple suspects.

http://www.examiner.com/x-5619-Atlanta-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2010m2d18-Open-carry-deters-armed-robbery-in-Kennesaw

According to the theory presented earlier in this thread, the forewarned suspects should have come in and shot the OC-ers first and then continued with the robbery, but that's not what happened. It only takes one real-life instance where OC worked to make the blanket, theoretical arguments against it fall apart.

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That is true, but what if there had been only ONE person OC'ing? Also what if the perp's were of violent and wreckless nature? It's a 50/50 here. Personally, I only know ONE person who OC's down in Mobile, and that is DixieBorn. So that pretty much rules out any chance of me being out and about with any of my friends OC'ing.

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smttysmth02gt wrote:

<snip>

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That is true, but what if there had been only ONE person OC'ing? Also what if the perp's were of violent and wreckless nature? It's a 50/50 here. Personally, I only know ONE person who OC's down in Mobile, and that is DixieBorn. So that pretty much rules out any chance of me being out and about with any of my friends OC'ing.

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The article says,

"Meanwhile,conscientious Cobb County Police Officer D. Lowe had noticedsuspicious cars sitting behind the restaurant in the dark and decided to investigate. He caught men with masks and rifles who had been preparing to rob the Wafflehouse (emphasis mine)."

So, there were multiple cars, multiple suspects, and they were armed with rifles not handguns. Would you not consider men like that violent and wreckless? Furthermore, they had the element of surprise, knew the OC-ers were there, and had them outgunned. Yet they chose not to attempt the robbery.

While I agree it's important to consider the potential consequences of our actions, we shouldn't "what if" ourselves to death. Colin Powell's rules 6 and 12 are

6) "Don't let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision."
12) "Don't take counsel of your fears or naysayers."

I agree. The fact of the matter is that, had those patrons concealed their handguns, they most certainly would have had to deal with an armed robbery. Their choice to OC saved everyone in that restaurant from a traumatic, possibly deadly, encounter.

Let me pause here to say that I absolutely do not "know it all" or always respond the right way in every situation. However, I will point out that more than 3/4 of your original post was anti-OC. This is a pro-open carry forum and rule #2 here is, "[font="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"]This web site is focused on the right to openly carry properly holstered handguns in daily American life[/font] [font="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"]all posts should relate substantially tothis agenda, even if your comments pertain mainly to freedom andliberty. OCDO is not a general discussion forum on polticis, religion, the current President, etc. Take that somewhere else![/font]" (See the Forum Rules -> Basic Rules thread). There are other forums if you wish to argue against open carry.

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Neo wrote:

smttysmth02gt wrote:

<snip>

Click to expand...

That is true, but what if there had been only ONE person OC'ing? Also what if the perp's were of violent and wreckless nature? It's a 50/50 here. Personally, I only know ONE person who OC's down in Mobile, and that is DixieBorn. So that pretty much rules out any chance of me being out and about with any of my friends OC'ing.

Click to expand...

The article says,

"Meanwhile,conscientious Cobb County Police Officer D. Lowe had noticedsuspicious cars sitting behind the restaurant in the dark and decided to investigate. He caught men with masks and rifles who had been preparing to rob the Wafflehouse (emphasis mine)."

So, there were multiple cars, multiple suspects, and they were armed with rifles not handguns. Would you not consider men like that violent and wreckless? Furthermore, they had the element of surprise, knew the OC-ers were there, and had them outgunned. Yet they chose not to attempt the robbery.

While I agree it's important to consider the potential consequences of our actions, we shouldn't "what if" ourselves to death. Colin Powell's rules 6 and 12 are

6) "Don't let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision."
12) "Don't take counsel of your fears or naysayers."

I agree. The fact of the matter is that, had those patrons concealed their handguns, they most certainly would have had to deal with an armed robbery. Their choice to OC saved everyone in that restaurant from a traumatic, possibly deadly, encounter.

Let me pause here to say that I absolutely do not "know it all" or always respond the right way in every situation. However, I will point out that more than 3/4 of your original post was anti-OC. This is a pro-open carry forum and rule #2 here is, [font="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"]This web site is focused on the right to openly carry properly holstered handguns in daily American life[/font] (http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/forum1/1.html). There are other forums if you wish to argue against open carry.

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There was nothing anti OC about my posts. My reasons for not OC'ing are for tactical reasons, which examples can be found for either argument. The whole purpose in this thread was to gain insight on why people on this forum CHOOSE to OC. Not once have I said "don't OC" or tried to actually "argue against OC" as you claim. If you think that, then that was not my intention. I simply choose not to OC because nobody else does. I think it makes for a bad situation to be involved in...however I am open minded, and also like to learn new things....hence this thread.