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OC at COSTCO in Newington

happybucklander

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I didn't really research COSTCO on this site before I OCed yesterday at the store around lunchtime in Newington. Looks like COSTCO has a policy against OC(http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=3658&forum_id=55) I got the distinct feeling of being monitored. There was a guy at the end of the aisle a couple of time just hanging around. Actually, I think this is good security - monitoring openly armed folk is just good corporate security, IMO.

So I check out, and get in the food line to get one of their yummy hotdogs. No incidents so far other than thinking the employees are keeping an eye on me. A guy gets in line behind me and quickly says me says "Nice gun". I say "Thanks, hopefully I'll never have to use it". He says "Glock or something?". I say "yeah" (bad vibe kicking in and not wanting to to be specific and say G27, etc.). He says "let me guess, LEO?". I say "no, just a concerned citized exercising the second amendment". He says "Not a bad idea, given all the arab nuts running around". I said "well, I don't know about the racial issue - seems like there are people of all races that have issues". He backtracks a bit and seems a bit uncomfortable. I don't know what was going on, but I had a bad vibe about this guy from the start.

Now this guy was a little weird. HE was the one that seemed a little nutty - just came across that way. Maybe he was nervous with a gun in front of him or something and deals with being nervous by being chatty. I felt almost like he was going to make a move to take it out of the holster, or for sure wanted me to. I had no reason to unholster. Thankfully it's a SERPA holster in case he went for it, but still... He was weird. I wonder if he was undercover COSTCO security, perhaps - dunno. We were only there like 15 minutes, and it was overall a pleasant trip.

I had a guest from work - a (mostly) pacifist, but who was fine with my OC. He agreed that the guy's vibe was just kind of weird.

Oh well, nothing of substance happened, at least, and no COSTCO manager asking me to leave. So the GM of the Newington COSTCO might be ok with it - hard to say.
 

Don Barnett

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I got a different reaction from the employees at Sam's Club: nothing...Zip...Nada...they don't seem to care whatsoever.

The kids at the checkout line were friendly; thought the gun was cool and were extremely helpful!
 

Glock27Bill

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Curtis wrote:
happybucklander wrote:
monitoring openly armed folk is just good corporate security, IMO.
I stopped reading right there.

Why?
I gotta agree with this.

If someone is just shopping with a sidearm, is he really waiting for an opportunity to strike?

Now if you were doing a Plaxico Burress, that might be different.
 

happybucklander

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Why is keeping an eye on someone openly armed good corporate security you ask?

Corporate liability and responsibility (I'm not a lawyer, but I'mguessing - certainlythis would be true in public perception)increaseswhen employees know a person is armed on their property. Their liabilityis unaffected by concealed carry because they have no such knowledge. Therefore, to protect corporate interests (the job of coporate security)it seems wise to me to monitorsomeone that you know is armed.

This has nothing to to with assuming an armed person is a nut case or a BG just waiting for a chance to strikereally, though I can understand people being sensitive to that perception. It just has to do with corporate liability and appropriate responses. Note that I said "monitor", NOT "harass", or "profile".

I'msure we wouldall agree that BGs are MUCH LESS likely to carry open, but to say it would never happen would,I think,be naieve. I don't know if the the Va Tech guy was carrying open or concealed, for instance, but I not so sure he would have been shy about open carry.

I would like to believe that OC is so commonplace as to be the "norm" rather than the "exception", but I don't really think we're there yet.

Did I just open a can of worms?
 

happybucklander

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Glock27Bill wrote:
Curtis wrote:
happybucklander wrote:
monitoring openly armed folk is just good corporate security, IMO.
I stopped reading right there.

Why?
I gotta agree with this.

If someone is just shopping with a sidearm, is he really waiting for an opportunity to strike?

Now if you were doing a Plaxico Burress, that might be different.
Ican understand you and I on the street seeing OCand our automatic assumption is that they are NOT a likely threat. I just think that taking a more cautious position corporately is rational, given our litigious society, thehowever slim chance that aBG is OC'ing,etc. I certainly do NOT support companies taking a position away from OC, however, as, among other things, it isstatistically irrational. In fact I'm waiting for the businesses that ENCOURAGE OC. I keep thinking that I'd like to open an American food restaurant with OC encouraged by employees and patrons alike. The "Second Amendment Cafe" perhaps.
 

6L6GC

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while I disagreethat the basic premise of "monitoring" an armed person is prudent, I find your reason to be plausable. In this "sue-happy" world there is someone who will likely eventually sue the XYZ Corp. because they were uncomfortable or didn't feel safe around a (non-threating) citizen.

However, with hundreds of cameras all over the store and parking lot, this "monitoring" could be done on a monitor in the security office's bank of screens.



When I am in a store or mall and I notice someone following me around I usually make a point of changing my direction in the aisle and make good eye contact and offer an emotionless "Hi". I make sure that the individual knows that I am aware of him.



Its only happened a handful of times but every time the tag-a-long Too-Loo finds a way to make himself want to shop somewhere else. Now, I ask you, what if there was a large store with maybe 100 open carriers? Is the store going to asign a hall monitor to every one of them? That wouldn't be practical
 

happybucklander

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Oh, I agree that cameras are a good idea, but cameras really aren't all that effective as a proactive measure. They just record things for after-action analysis. There was no any overt "monitoring"really - it might have been totally conincidental that the folks that I saw were nearby as I was shopping near theentrance (theelectronics section). I went wandering around the store after that just to see if anyone would actively follow me, and nobody did. I think that I MIGHT have been monitored by people just after I came in, but not the whole visit.

Again, that seems to me to be a reasonable security posture to take. I don't like Costco's official stance, but my experience in this store was a good one, except for the weird guy.

If a store owner want to keep an eye on me for a little bit to be sure I'm sane, I'm OK with it. I do that to most people in my proximity whether they are armed or not - don't you?
 

simmonsjoe

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happybucklander wrote:
I didn't really research COSTCO on this site before I OCed yesterday at the store around lunchtime in Newington. Looks like COSTCO has a policy against OC (http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=3658&forum_id=55) I got the distinct feeling of being monitored. There was a guy at the end of the aisle a couple of time just hanging around. Actually, I think this is good security - monitoring openly armed folk is just good corporate security, IMO.

So I check out, and get in the food line to get one of their yummy hotdogs. No incidents so far other than thinking the employees are keeping an eye on me. A guy gets in line behind me and quickly says me says "Nice gun". I say "Thanks, hopefully I'll never have to use it". He says "Glock or something?". I say "yeah" (bad vibe kicking in and not wanting to to be specific and say G27, etc.). He says "let me guess, LEO?". I say "no, just a concerned citized exercising the second amendment". He says "Not a bad idea, given all the arab nuts running around". I said "well, I don't know about the racial issue - seems like there are people of all races that have issues". He backtracks a bit and seems a bit uncomfortable. I don't know what was going on, but I had a bad vibe about this guy from the start.

Now this guy was a little weird. HE was the one that seemed a little nutty - just came across that way. Maybe he was nervous with a gun in front of him or something and deals with being nervous by being chatty. I felt almost like he was going to make a move to take it out of the holster, or for sure wanted me to. I had no reason to unholster. Thankfully it's a SERPA holster in case he went for it, but still... He was weird. I wonder if he was undercover COSTCO security, perhaps - dunno. We were only there like 15 minutes, and it was overall a pleasant trip.

I had a guest from work - a (mostly) pacifist, but who was fine with my OC. He agreed that the guy's vibe was just kind of weird.

Oh well, nothing of substance happened, at least, and no COSTCO manager asking me to leave. So the GM of the Newington COSTCO might be ok with it - hard to say.
Being shadowed by unarmed security is not good corp. policy. It is really stupid policy. I mean, WTF is unarmed security supposed to do if you were a nutjob looking for a killing spree? If you were actually a danger, they were just ASKING to get shot.

You can find most places you are thinking of OCing listed in the VA forum, just use the SEARCH feature. :)

Good luck and welcome.
 

happybucklander

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happybucklander wrote: Being shadowed by unarmed security is not good corp. policy. It is really stupid policy. I mean, WTF is unarmed security supposed to do if you were a nutjob looking for a killing spree? If you were actually a danger, they were just ASKING to get shot.

You can find most places you are thinking of OCing listed in the VA forum, just use the SEARCH feature. :)

Good luck and welcome.


Thanks for the welcome. As I said before I clearly wasn't being shadowed the whole time, maybe just observed at first. And since ALL of the security/employees (so far as I know) in there are unarmed, a guy with a radio doing observation is the best they've got! He was not obviously observing me and stayed out of my line of sight most of the time.

If he was observing me he actually gets kudos from me for being discreet and brave enough to be the unarmed guy to observe the armed guy.
 
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