What could I have done better?

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Ok, so lately I been OC-ing getting used to carrying a handgun on my property, and to and from Champion Arms to go shooting.

There have been unconfirmed rumors of very bad people with very bad backgrounds on my street, so I been carrying on the belt at home. (Not taking chances, I got a family too)

Now that said, I was trying to get a truck sold (Selling for someone else, I wasn't owner), listed it on craigslist, and got a bunch of calls. One lady came today, and she had kids and had another friend that drove her here. When she arrived, I came outside while OC-ing, and went to intro myself and shake hand and everything. She walked to the truck without saying anything about my firearm (didn't even notice). Took a look around, and wanted a test drive, went back to her friends SUV. They were there a bit, I didn't hear what was said but when she came back, she came to peek at my belt and asked if I had a gun (Apparently she was not bothered), and I said yes, I OC because this is my home and this is for my personal protection.

1. She replied that her friend was freakin out and asked if I would put away in the house or something, I told her no I would not put it in the house.


2. Anyways I got out and she asked if it would be ok to test drive it down the block and back and not have me in the truck with her as her friend was freakin out. I thought about it for a second, and her friends SUV was in no position to quickly turn around and drive off or anything, so I said I wouldn't mind.

3. I tucked my shirt over the handgun, and that made it magically dissapear and everything apparently was OK to the friend. I did see her holding a cell phone in the SUV but I didn't stare, I just looked down the block to watch the test drive. She came back around and said she liked it, ran well, she would talk with her husband to make arrangements to come get it. She went back to her truck and her friend did a u-turn pretty quick and drove away pretty darn quick for a residential neighborhood .

tukwila police have not shown up and it'd be surprising if they did since one of their officers informed me I needed a concealed weapons permit for a baton and several more have some serious attitude issues (personal experience) . :shock:

Extra details for you to use while quarter backin, the buyer's husband is military on deployment, so she's probably used to firearms or something which could be why she didn't freak or whatever.

I will not care if she changes her mind over buying the truck just because of my gun, as I do have a list of people who are very interested in the truck.

So my question to anybody experienced in the world of OC and situations is;

Is there anything I should have said, shouldn't have said, done, or shouldn't have done?

I do feel a bit weird since I tucked my shirt over just for her friend....I feel like I let the OC-ers down, since we're not supposed to hide our tools....

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Pretty good. As long as there wasn't attitude but just freindly refusal to cave for your rights. I sold quite a few things on craigslist last year and always OC'ed.

Come to find out one of the guys bought my PA system, was the little brother of someone I played music with I didn't know this 'till later that night got a call asking if I sold my PA to such and such....he knew it was me because brother kept talking about how he bought it from someone carrying a gun.

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Poosharker wrote:

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she came to peek at my belt and asked if I had a gun (Apparently she was not bothered), and I said yes, I OC because this is my home and this is for my personal protection.

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You should have peeked at her waist and said "yes, I OC because this is my home and this is for my personal protection. Where's your's"?

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1. She replied that her friend was freakin out and asked if I would put away in the house or something, I told her no I would not put it in the house.

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Very Good, Dont Unprotect yourself because others are more afraid of not being shot by a law abiding citizen, than they are of being shot by a criminal.

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3. I tucked my shirt over the handgun, and that made it magically dissapear and everything apparently was OK to the friend.

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That was very nice of you, you have earned a merit badge.

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She came back around and said she liked it, ran well, she would talk with her husband to make arrangements to come get it.

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If she comes to purchase the truck, offer to meet her at your local shooting range with her friend and inform her to bring her friend so she can see how much fun it can be to target practice.

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Is there anything I should have said, shouldn't have said, done, or shouldn't have done?

I do feel a bit weird since I tucked my shirt over just for her friend....I feel like I let the OC-ers down, since we're not supposed to hide our tools....

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I dont think you let anyone down, I think you since you bent a little she will realize that you are just another guy like everyone else. If you had made an issue, she would probably jump on a brady campaign page to complain. Never hurts to be polite. Important thing is you didnt disarm yourself and leave yourself vulnerable, because she so chooses to.

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hey poo,,,carrying concealed or openly, on your own property, at your age, seems to me to be just as legal!
you might try covering with your sweatshirt to calm the sheeple, then uncover, when needed to ward off the bad guys!

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Poo I think you did just fine and I feel the majority of your doubts has to over thinking the situation and being new to encounters with an open carry firearm.

Beware that there has recently been shootings and robberies on issues of selling items on Craigslist and you are right it is for your protection.

As to letting someone driving off even though they have a friend there in their vehicle they could just drive off and you being left red faced.

Continue to conduct yourself in a calm respectful demeanor and filled with knowledge.

It is more important not to let yourself down then a concept of not letting a concept down of never cover up.
Open and Concealed is a mode of carry and have their places.

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Oh and she had asked if I was an officer to which I replied nope, just another citizen. Very good encounter, I did know ahead there could be an issue as she say she was bringing her children, but it wasn't her the one worried.

Where did my smart aleck responses go, must have been nervous just because it was the first time someone actually said anything about my firearm other than my girlfriend yesterday who said; "how dare you expose yourself like that!"

And to 1245, I OC outside purposely because of the "supposedly" bad guys across the street. I prefer OC as I do not have to quickly yank my shirt up for a quick draw, however I do practice quick drawing with a shirt and sweatshirt over.

SVG; the last guys that came to my house to buy some crap, I just concealed and I don't think they noticed any printing as they never said anything, I will be doing this more and more for any situation at my home now that I got a good leather holster.

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If someone said their friend was in the car freaking out, I'd say "Well, if I were them I'd be freaking out if there WASN'T a firearm around, considering what happened recently to someone selling something on craigslist."

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It will be a great world when it gets to the point where we are the majority and people are asking those without sidearms, "Wheres your gun"?

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Thanks bigdave, even though I would have been super pissed if that had happened, it's just a truck, a hunk of metal. I've experienced and learned the difference of losing items that are replaceable and body parts that aren't.

Or I could just shoot out the tires, 17rd mag yo! (JUST KIDDING!)

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You need a Glock so you can get a 33 round mag, yo!

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I am way too happy with my M&P thank you very much. Waiting for the arrival of the two free 17rd mags from rebate....now I just need mag holsters and either a shoulder or a thigh for when riding on the bike...

I will try to remember to ask people where their gun is.

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Poosharker wrote:

And to 1245, I OC outside purposely because of the "supposedly" bad guys across the street. I prefer OC as I do not have to quickly yank my shirt up for a quick draw, however I do practice quick drawing with a shirt and sweatshirt over.

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A strong suggestion here Poo, go about your normal daily routine and carry when you can, do not go out of your way to display your weapon on your side may back fire.

Gangs can and do get provoked and normally will do things when they have the advantage, ie when you are not expecting it with filling your house full of bullets and it is hard to return fire when ducking for cover, they hit and run and will not stick around for return fire.

By going out to ensure you are seen and carrying is well puffing your chest, challenging, you do not need this.
Prepare and train but do not draw attention to yourself they play for keeps.

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Every situation will be different. Some people will be scared, some will be curious, some will ask dumb questions, some will say nothing. You have a few seconds to listen to their tone of voice and decide how you are going to react. I would say the best things you can do is to be polite, be courteous, be professional, and be nice. In a few seconds people make judgements about you and decide to trust you or not. I believe one of the reasons that I do not get hassled is because I gain that trust when people look at me and judge me. I do not seek to call attention to the fact thatI carry. You have seen me, black holster, black gun, decently dressed. I walk through a store just the same as if Ihad the firearm concealed. I also turn my body in such a way as my strong side is often away from view.



(now one little caveat; while above I said some people ask dumb questions and that is the cliche, I don't think there are any dumb questions, only dumb people. By definition half of the people have a less than average IQ)

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Poosharker wrote:

I am way too happy with my M&P thank you very much. Waiting for the arrival of the two free 17rd mags from rebate....now I just need mag holsters and either a shoulder or a thigh for when riding on the bike...

I will try to remember to ask people where their gun is.

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There ya go. It's the un-Americans that didnt read the rules...

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Anytime we encounter the public on this type of contact or hundreds a day, we are ambassadors of the open carry movement, leaving a good impression is imperative to make up for all the bad press by the anti's.

Remember no body likes a smart ass, maybe that is why I am surrounded with so many dumb asses:shock: :lol:

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I don't mean that I just walk around outside to show the weapon, what I mean is when I walk outside to do something I don't turn to the side to not let someone see it or try to walk quickly out of view. I do exactly what I do, just with a handgun on my hip.

And yes I do think about what might and could happen if a drive-by ever occurred. That is why I always try to keep my life outside away from my home, I don't bring "friends" from school over, just people I know and are close family friends with. I always worried about something happening to my family, didn't worry if they did something in the street, as that is only me in the situation.


Gogo, I totally agree, I didn't get on the offensive because there was no attitude in the woman's voice, just a friendly tone. If she had been on the mean sounding offensive, I would have just told her to........ "get off my lawn". And yes there are dumb people, dumb questions should be said as...."wrong time/thoughtless out questions"

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Poosharker wrote:

tukwila police have not shown up and it'd be surprising if they did since one of their officers informed me I needed a concealed weapons permit for a baton and several more have some serious attitude issues (personal experience) . :shock:

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Everyone else's comments are spot on for you. Well done! It's your property and they have some nerve asking you to change behavior on your own property.

Tukwila PD is smoking crack if they told you that you need a CWP to carry a baton. We don't have CWP's in Washington. We have CPL's. Concealed PISTOL license. Has nothing to do with any other type of weapon.

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That's exactly right. A tukwila officer came to my door (for another reason) and saw my baton on my hip and told me if I wore it, I would need to conceal it, and would need a concealed weapons permit :lol:. As for the other officers...they aren't too nice. I only met one so far that was nice, the guy walked and talked like a cowboy, and that was in the early morning hours when someone parked in front of my house and ran to the neighbors car and smashed their car window and ran back and drove off.

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You never know who you're gonna meet, especially on Craigslist. Only thing I can suggest for you is to firmly but politely decline when someone asks you to disarm. Your life and the lives of your family may depend on it.

I personally would have concealed, just to smoothly sell the truck. But I know you're working on the 18 year CPL thing, rightfully so, and so in this situation I believe you did the right thing.

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Printing doesn't matter to me, when I conceal I don't go through that whole, make sure concealed is concealed blah blah blah. I casual conceal and never had a problem with it at the mall or Costco, pretty much the only places I conceal.

Some people are not going to like you carrying I think you handled it good. You had no reason to suspect she was a crook who was going to drive off with your truck anymore than she had reason suspect you were a crook.I would have done the same. The measure of trust you extended to them might give them a pause to think about what kind of man you really are even though her irrational fears were controlling her at the moment.