Whats in the holster

Open carried in Findly Toyota while waiting for service, Famous Dave’s no issue. Open carried in Bass Pro on the way out a young man asked me what I had in the holster. The question caught me off guard. If they are curious as to the firearm I am carrying, they usually ask what caliber it is or is that a Glock or other brand not what I have in the holster. I answered I have a pistol in the holster. Thought about saying it is a cell phone that looks exactly like a 40cal auto pistol with a laser.

Turns out he carries concealed and we had a good conversation. I told him I carry 99% of the time open even though I have a CCW. He said he sees the advantage to open carry however, sees disadvantage. As I have done in the past, he had done some research on carrying open and concealed.

For more than 10 years, I carried concealed because I too did my research. Not until I stumbled onto Opencarry.org did I realize most so called experts talking about open carry never open carried in public. So when the young man told me he saw the good and not so good to open carrying I told him I have carried in both configurations and can say none of the so-called if you open carry this will happen has happened. I told him to check out OC.org.

Preparation is the key to questions such as above. I regret (mostly) the lost opportunity to discuss the merits of open carry with people who inquire. Sometimes if one is busy concentrating on matters at hand we simply are not able to switch modes instantly to give serious consideration to their questions. It is something I'm sure we could all get better at.

I had a discussion yesterday with an older gentleman about the same, OC vs. CC. It started with him telling me that he has an old Ithaca 16g pump he wants to sell in order to buy a carry gun. (If anyone is interested in this old beauty let me know and I can put you in touch with him.) He went on to ask about various snubbies and what I thought and then asking about getting his CC permit. I asked him why he didn't just open carry. He said that he had been told what a bad idea that is and that he would be hassled at the very least. He asked me about being hassled by the police and I assured him that here in Henderson he would have no trouble. That unless there was some other issue involved not in Vegas either. I warned him about the NLV issue and that was being worked on, but as a general rule it is not an problem either.

I told him that some businesses might ask him to leave but actually that happens very rarely to almost never depending on where you go. He asked me what I would do in that event and I responded "What business doesn’t have competition? If they won't honor your rights why would you want to spend your hard earned money with them?" I'm going to take he and his wife with my family to the range and let him tag along with me one day just to see that it really is not an issue. We'll see how it goes.

TBG

Good encounter!