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First OC experience (With an OC hating wife story)

chakragod

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
100
Location
St. Joseph, MO
"First" is a little misleading, I have OC'd a few times, maybe stopping by a gas station or something, but nothing for very long.

My wife and I went to eat at Red Lobster, and although I was a little nervous, I wasn't scared by any means. Another place down without so much as a "Hey, he has a gun." (which I did get at a local gas station ealier that day, he started whispering to the manager, but nothing happened.)

After we left, we had to go to Target to look for a TV stand. Again, not even a funny look. I think most people don't even really notice it.

Kind of sad actually, I was hoping to at least educate another person on my trips, but perhaps another time.


Only negative thing that has come out of this is that my wife still doesn't 'understand' why I do it. I try to explain to her it's for our safety 'just in case', and that I like to express my rights and want to educate others about firearms and OC. We had a little arguement before we even left, but I think that the experience let her see that it's O K, since not a single thing happened out of the ordinary. She didn't even believe it was possible for it to be legal at first, but I've at least got her past that. (silly democratic wife =P)

I try to explain to her about our rights, why they're important, and why (as she suggested) it's not a great thing to have waiting periods and government gun registration. She about freaked when I told her you don't even have to supply your ID if you've done nothing illegal, and that LEO's are just civilians like us and are not 'above the law' in any way.

Oh well, hopefully over time she will come about and see that what I'm doing is a GOOD thing. She even agreed to come to the get together in Feb. when/if there is one, as she likes to hear these things from others, not just her husband.
 

sohighlyunlikely

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
724
Location
Overland, Missouri, USA
One more point

One more point you may want to add is this "The presence of a firearm detours criminals". They have done tons of documented interviews on prisoners to find out how they chose their victims or establishments to rob. They have found that a criminal most often will go in and case the place 1st. If someone with a firearm is there they will not take the risk and do 1 of 3 things. Try to wait till the armed person leaves, go look for another location to rob, or plan to come back another time. An exposed firearm is a very well documented crime deterrent.

Doc
 

afcarry

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2010
Messages
206
Location
Southeast of KC Mossouri
One more point you may want to add is this "The presence of a firearm detours criminals". They have done tons of documented interviews on prisoners to find out how they chose their victims or establishments to rob. They have found that a criminal most often will go in and case the place 1st. If someone with a firearm is there they will not take the risk and do 1 of 3 things. Try to wait till the armed person leaves, go look for another location to rob, or plan to come back another time. An exposed firearm is a very well documented crime deterrent.

Do you have a source for that? I'm not disagreeing, I'm curious because Ive been looking for the videos, audio, or transcripts from those interviews. But chakragod, just ask her if she likes having an airbag in her car. How often has she used it? I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want to get rid of it though. Or how about a life preserver under the seat of an airliner? Its something that most people don't think about until you really really need it, and then your glad you have it.
 

sohighlyunlikely

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
724
Location
Overland, Missouri, USA
Do you have a source for that? I'm not disagreeing, I'm curious because Ive been looking for the videos, audio, or transcripts from those interviews. But chakragod, just ask her if she likes having an airbag in her car. How often has she used it? I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want to get rid of it though. Or how about a life preserver under the seat of an airliner? Its something that most people don't think about until you really really need it, and then your glad you have it.

A friend of mine does a lot of research on case laws on self defense shootings. He has lent me several books over the years. I read that stat out of one of his books. I think it was from a Massad Ayoob book but it may have been Kevin Jamison. I will have to get back to you on that.

Doc
 

sohighlyunlikely

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
724
Location
Overland, Missouri, USA
I did a little research on the subject and I believe the book I read was pulling stats from a prisoner study done by Professors James D. Wright and Peter H. Rossi. Here is a link to a write up of the study by Dr Paul Blackman.

http://www.nraila.org/Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?ID=117

and here is an important quote

"Significantly, almost 40% said there was at least one time when the criminal "decided not to do a crime because [he] knew or believed that the victim was carrying a gun." Clearly, armed citizens represent a real threat to criminals, a threat with which large numbers are personally familiar, or familiar with through the shared experiences of their fellow outlaws."

Doc

P.S. Hey Superlite I found your Real avatar
diver-fish.gif
 

chakragod

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
100
Location
St. Joseph, MO
One more point you may want to add is this "The presence of a firearm detours criminals". They have done tons of documented interviews on prisoners to find out how they chose their victims or establishments to rob. They have found that a criminal most often will go in and case the place 1st. If someone with a firearm is there they will not take the risk and do 1 of 3 things. Try to wait till the armed person leaves, go look for another location to rob, or plan to come back another time. An exposed firearm is a very well documented crime deterrent.

Doc

I did try that as well...then she gave me the ol' "They'll just go for you first." She's pretty much your typical person that's ignorant to anything firearm related...except the Castle Doctrine, she has read a lot on that so that she knows what she can do if someone breaks into our house and I'm gone.
 

MK

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2010
Messages
396
Location
USA
I bet it would be alot easier for her to feel comfortable with it if seeing other people out open carrying was a regular occurance. Maybe she feels a little akward like you stand out from the crowd or that it might draw some attention? I don't like the idea of people staring at me like I'm in some kind of sideshow but to be honest, I really haven't noticed any of that. For the most part from my experience, people around middle Missouri either don't care, don't find it unusual or just don't seem to notice yet I've only seen one other person unknown to me open carrying in my area.

My wife is pretty liberal and I was kind of surprised that she didn't even bat an eye when I first decided to start open carrying. So far while I've been out with her the only time I got any kind of noticeable attention was when a concealed carrier exclaimed at Wal-Mart in Jeff City, "hey, you open carry", and started up a very friendly chat with me about carrying and our firearms we had on us. Other than that I've been asked by two different people if I was a police officer and when I explained I wasn't and you don't have to be to carry openly they both asked more questions about it and seemed generally interested.
 

chakragod

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
100
Location
St. Joseph, MO
I just went with the cheap walmart one that was mentioned. It's actually pretty nice for a $7 holster lol. Fits the gun perfectly and if I want an extra mag.
 

mFonz77

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2009
Messages
265
Location
Sierra Vista, AZ
I think it has been beaten to death in many forums: OC as a deterrent vs. CCW as "the element of surprise."

Based on internet research (so go figure), I would challenge ANYONE to show ONE SINGLE INSTANCE of a criminal "going for the OC'er first." I don't think there is one. I'm not saying this means OC is "better", I just don't think that argument against it holds any water.

Tactically, yes, you're showing your hand (or are you? do you carry a concealed BUG?). But, you also have quicker access and therefor quicker time-to-target.

From a criminal standpoint, consider the grand percentage of the types of crimes one would expect to deter involving a firearm: petty theft, robbery, rape, assault. Unless a criminal has premediated these crimes and has a plan for it, many factors can change things for them at the last minute.

Remove guns from the equation entirely: someone out looking to rob someone, given the choice of two unarmed people, is going to select someone muddling along, looking at their shoes over someone walking with purpose, alert, etc...

Add guns back in: now the robber is DEFINITELY going to pick someone else.

Same for a Quickie Mart hold-up: robbers want to get in and out FAST. Maybe they don't have a good resolve in the first place. They walk in and see someone in line or getting a Slurpee OC'ing, they're probably going to go find another quickie mart.

My .02 (.04 now due to inflation)
 

peterarthur

Regular Member
Joined
May 28, 2010
Messages
613
Location
Phoenix, AZ
I did a little research on the subject and I believe the book I read was pulling stats from a prisoner study done by Professors James D. Wright and Peter H. Rossi. Here is a link to a write up of the study by Dr Paul Blackman.

http://www.nraila.org/Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?ID=117

and here is an important quote

"Significantly, almost 40% said there was at least one time when the criminal "decided not to do a crime because [he] knew or believed that the victim was carrying a gun." Clearly, armed citizens represent a real threat to criminals, a threat with which large numbers are personally familiar, or familiar with through the shared experiences of their fellow outlaws."

Doc

P.S. Hey Superlite I found your Real avatar
diver-fish.gif

Excellent article. So support for citizens armed with handguns comes from 2 former anti-gunners, in the Wright-Rossi survey of almost 2000 prisoners and their subsequent book "Under the Gun". Pass that tidbit on to cops and other naysayers and read it yourself, available at Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Under-Gun-Wea...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1293748349&sr=8-2
I knew there was documented studies giving us strong support. :)
 
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