Open Carry Experience Reports...

OK, first off, I'm NOT OCing a firearm--just an Empty Holster Open Carry (EHOC) as a First Amendment exercise (because MD doesn't "allow" us to exercise our Second Amendment Rights...)

I've EHOC'd in several grocery stores, books stores, and hardware stores, as well as Best Buys and gas stations in Columbia, Wheaton, Olney, and Rockville over the last few weeks.

Interestingly enough, I've not got so much as a second look or a comment from the citizens of MD. My guess is that most of them don't know what an empty Serpa is--probably think it's some kind of cell phone case or something.

I haven't had any interactions with LEOs yet, but I'm sure when that time comes, it will be interesting.

More reports on my one-man, daily EHOC Protest in MD as the days and weeks roll on.

Somebody needs to have some backbone in MD, and start showing the Fine People of this "State" how silly the gun laws here are, and I am fully willing, knowledgeable, and capable of performing the task...

I too wih Maryland would see the light. Half of my family lives up there. As much as I love them, I hate visiting. Maryland's gun control helps nobody but the criminals. Maryland has a higher murder rate than VA, what more evidence do they need?

Keep up the fight Dreamer!!!

On another note, didn't you used to live in NC? How the heck did you skip VA and end up in MD?

thebigsd said:

On another note, didn't you used to live in NC? How the heck did you skip VA and end up in MD?

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The only thing that would bring a law-abiding, Constitution-believing, self-defense supporting man to this cess-pool of Statist fascism--FAMILY...

I'm taking a break from Grad School, and decided the time would be better spent here with my sweetie, the stepdaughters, and my granddaughter.

We own our property here in MD, so at least I can carry while in my own house. But outside the door, it's got to be EHOC every day, everywhere I go.

I was going to print up some "MD Gun Rights" flyers like the ones I have for VA, NC, PA and WV to hand out to people, but I didn't see much sense in handing people a sheet of paper with one line that said "MD Gun Rights" and was otherwise completely blank. :banghead:

COMMENTS REMOVED BY ADMINISTRATOR: Attack on another gun rights group

Funny story. I live in VA now but have fam in So. MD. When my wife and I went home for a weekeend but I didnt take off my holster for my 639 J frame (because it doesnt have snaps and is tight on my gun belt.) I went in Nicks grocery in Calvert, grabbed what I wanted and checked out. Apparently they have an off duty sherrif working security. He saw the holster, eyes buged out, watched, watched, eye Ef'ed me as I walked by and then watched what car I got into. I could tell he thought about raising a stink, but didnt. Maybe he was educated enough to know, maybe he was lazy.

On another note, Open carried my wifes Benelli this AM in Montgomery County. Duck season:monkey

EHOC'd in the Home Depot (Columbia--twice), the Michael's, Safeway, and the Target (also in Columbia). Not so much as a second look from anyone.

I also EHOCd in the WoodCrafters store in Rockville, and the Giant and the BP convenience store in Olney yesterday. Again, not as much as a look or a word.

I'm starting to think that the People of MD are so zombified into "Situation White" that nobody would notice even if I carried a Western-style two-holster rig with a pair of pearl-handled, nickle-plated Schofields around here.

Well, nobody but the LEOs...

I EHOC'd at the PF Chang's at the Columbia Town Center Mall this evening with my sweetie and stepdaughter. No problems, no comments, and no funny looks...

Dreamer said:

I EHOC'd at the PF Chang's at the Columbia Town Center Mall this evening with my sweetie and stepdaughter. No problems, no comments, and no funny looks...

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Dude Im gonna see you soon... My move is on Tuesday... FML...

ImJustMylan said:

Dude Im gonna see you soon... My move is on Tuesday... FML...

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PM sent...

Friday night, I EHOCd at "Union Jacks" in Columbia, having dinner with my friend and his wife who were visiting from CA.

Sunday, I EHOC'd at the Big Lots in Catonsville, and in downtown Baltimore at the "Baltimore Print Studio" on W. North St. I also EHOC'd at the Best Buys, the Dicks Sporting Goods and the Home Depot in Columbia.

And this evening, I EHOC'd at "Riccintis", a high-end Italian restaurant in Olney with my family. The food was fantastic, the wait staff was perfectly attentive, and the atmosphere was delightful.

And not a single comment on any of those days...

My EHOC experiment is actually a little disappointing. I got a LOT more comments in NC when I was carrying a gun (and it was 100% legal to do so, and LOTS of other people do it as well!) that I do in MD with an empty holster and everyone thinks that owning and carrying a gun is some sort of felony...

Please, I ask ALL pro-2A people in the MD area--EVERY TIME you visit MD on your own time, wear an empty holster. Let's get the Fine People of MD thinking, and maybe they will start asking some questions.

I'm working on a "MD Gun Rights" flyer, and hopefully I will have it ready by the weekend. Stay tuned for more details...

How is the flyer coming? I ask in a good way. Would like to see what ya go, and maybe print and copy some to take with me for the Holidays while I visit Fam there in MD. Won't be too out and about, but will put them on bullitin boards of places that I do go.

I guess I'm just spoiled. Always have had guns, and now live In VA where it's respected.

Since I live right on the border, on the ESVA/ESMD line (I kid you not, I live 100yds from State Line Road), I spend lots of time in Pocomoke. I guess once I get around to finally choosing a pistol, I'll EHOC when I have to go up to Pocomoke/Salisbury for shopping. Otherwise I think I'm going to try to figure out places in VA that have what I need.

I'll join you in your EHOC. I think maybe a leather holster might get more noticed by the blind nanny staters, that's what they see on TV. I only have Serpa's though.

I just want to thank the few brave souls who have volunteered to join my EHOC action. I've been EHOCing pretty much any time I'm out of the house and not at work. Rockville, Olney, Columbia, Baltimore, Laurel, Silver Spring, Jessup so far.

I've even EHOCed in the Columbia Mall several times and never got so much as a second glance, let alone a question.

I think that most of the sheeple up here just don't know what an empty Serpa really is. And I'm wearing my Coyote Tan 1911 serpa, so it's pretty obvious....

Maybe it's time to start wearing the black leather Galco Side Snap Scabbard instead. I think maybe a leather holster that looks like what they wear on the popular "cop shows" on TV might actually register with some people up here...

Again, thanks for your participation, and please post your EHOC reports when you can. I'm interested to see just what we have to do to get people to ask questions in MD. We need to treat anyone who asks with polite respect and courtesy--just like if you were in an OC-friendly state and someone asked why we were carrying a gun. Except we'll be explaining why we are NOT carrying a firearm in our empty holster--because Maryland doesn't trust it's citizens (or visitors) to carry for self-defense unless they are well-connected or wealthy.

I think we really need to stress that our empty holsters symbolize the forced helplessness of the Citizenry, and our forced dependence on the police to provide a service they are neither legally required to do, or logistically capable of doing. And we need to also stress the fact that MD's "gun control" laws are based in the racist policies of MD government that date back to the 1960s, and the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s, and even back to the Restoration when they didn't want newly-freed slaves to be able to defend themselves against the Klan (which was, BTW, more politically powerful in MD at that time than it was in MD, WV, or PA--ALL of which are now "shall issue" and OC-friendly...)

This is a TREMENDOUS educational opportunity, and a chance to step in to a huge void in public outreach where we could be a positive force in changing public perception and citizen awareness of the TRUTH about MD's racist "gun control" policies for nearly 2 centuries. Nobody else seems to be "taking it to the People" in MD, and the official stance of most of the large "gun rights orgs" in MD has been openly stated that the majority of the People in the "4 urban counties" are "lost causes" with regards to gun rights. I refuse to give up that easily--I take this as a challenge, and I feel that with just a small (but active and vocal) group of focused EHOCers, we CAN make a difference, and we CAN bring attention to the REALITY of the situation in MD--to the PEOPLE of MD.

Let's wake up the Citizenry. Remember the words of Samuel Adams:

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.

It's time to let Annapolis know that we see through their ruse, and we are not going to take it any more--we are ready, willing and VERY able to fight back intellectually and with historical proof against their propaganda and program of 21st Century Jim Crow Culture...

Our holsters may be empty, but our hearts are full--of Truth, Love and Respect for our fellow law-abiding Citizens (feelings that are in dismally short supply in Annapolis and Pikesville for the beleaguered citizens of this once-fair State)

(Empty Holster) Carry On!

Dreamer Im going to touch basis with you some time this week..

I guarantee that should police contact you, they will try to charge you with something, just to prove a point.

I had an officer JUMP out of his car, and yell 'WHAT THE **** ARE YOU DOING?!', after I took a picture of his unmarked car in the middle of a parking lot.

I refused to ID myself, and refused to hand over the camera, and when I refused to delete the pictures, he attempted to arrest me for 'disorderly conduct'.

They WILL break the law, then make it look like YOU were the threat.

TechnoWeenie said:

I guarantee that should police contact you, they will try to charge you with something, just to prove a point.

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Let them try.

Using some of the settlement to pay for NRA and SAF "lifetime" memberships would be triple sweet...

Pamphlet

What's so hard about developing a hand-out for Maryland....

Front page should read.... Your Maryland Gun Rights.....

On the back page it should read..... 0 .........

Shouldn't be that hard to put together, unless your having a hard time picking out the Font...<G>



Keep up the cause man.. and ........CARRY ON .........

Dreamer said:

Friday night, I EHOCd at "Union Jacks" in Columbia, having dinner with my friend and his wife who were visiting from CA.

Sunday, I EHOC'd at the Big Lots in Catonsville, and in downtown Baltimore at the "Baltimore Print Studio" on W. North St. I also EHOC'd at the Best Buys, the Dicks Sporting Goods and the Home Depot in Columbia.

And this evening, I EHOC'd at "Riccintis", a high-end Italian restaurant in Olney with my family. The food was fantastic, the wait staff was perfectly attentive, and the atmosphere was delightful.

And not a single comment on any of those days...

My EHOC experiment is actually a little disappointing. I got a LOT more comments in NC when I was carrying a gun (and it was 100% legal to do so, and LOTS of other people do it as well!) that I do in MD with an empty holster and everyone thinks that owning and carrying a gun is some sort of felony...

Please, I ask ALL pro-2A people in the MD area--EVERY TIME you visit MD on your own time, wear an empty holster. Let's get the Fine People of MD thinking, and maybe they will start asking some questions.

I'm working on a "MD Gun Rights" flyer, and hopefully I will have it ready by the weekend. Stay tuned for more details...

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Hi Dreamer,
We had a guy on the California forum and said your all EHOC, so thought I would ask if you were to
put a toy gun in that might get more attention.
I don't know what the laws are on toy guns there, but here in California I believe its legal.
We will also not be able to UOC after Jan 1st, so EHOC might help the effort.
I was thinking toy guns, and that way using up the "Resources" to check you out, might
get more attention. Gee its a toy gun ?
Here's some more fun toys to look at Pick one !

http://www.411toys.com/

You might look into the wording of your laws there.
Anyway Good luck in your State to, one I'll never visit ! Robin47

Robin47 said:

Hi Dreamer,
We had a guy on the California forum and said your all EHOC, so thought I would ask if you were to
put a toy gun in that might get more attention.

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Toy guns would bring the kind of attention we don't want--like several rounds of government-issued .40 caliber hollowpoints in our backs...

No, open holsters are a better idea--they are 100% safe--there is NO mistake that an empty holster is EMPTY and does not contain a firearm, so they are in no way threatening--even to an uneducated sheeple who has no idea what the difference between a real gun and a toy gun is.

Second, empty holsters are absurd--and they publicly proclaim the absurdity of MD's gun laws.

Third, they give us the opportunity to have a conversation about firearms law without the tension, fear, paranoia or emotional reaction that the presense of a real (or toy) firearm would present to the sheeple.

Fourth, wearing empty holsters is CLEARLY covered under 1A expression, and therefore it is our RIGHT to do so, as the SCOTUS has already incorporated the 1A against the states. EHOC is NOT a 2A activity because there are no arms being borne--it is merely an expression of the absurdity of the laws through wearing a non-functional clothing accessory. Even in the PRM, 1A incorporation stands the court tests. But in MD, there is no RKBA clause in the State Constitution, so we can't legally or safely protest such things using 2A tactics, without risking arrest, imprisonment, or grave bodily harm a the hands of overzealous LEOs.

I "get" the toy gun angle--but in MD it won't work, unless the protestors are willing to commit "suicide by cop" to prove their point--and since I don't believe that 70 virgins await me in heaven if I am martyred for the cause, I'm not willing to take that risk...

I am playing the "absurdity" and 1A angle.

In other words, if they can't take a joke, "f" 'em. And I strongly believe that the courts are on my side with regards to 1A expression--even on this issue.

The HD on my laptop crapped out a few days ago, and so yesterday I took it to the Apple Store in Columbia Mall to have them see if they could fix it. I EHOCed for that trip.

As I sat at the "Genius Bar" talking with the tech, the customer beside me said "hey, nice holster". We got to talking about it, and it turns our he is a Serpa fan too. I told him I have 3 of them, and loved the Serpa, but I hated the MD laws about carry. Talked with the tech about MD carry laws too.

This was the FIRST time anyone has said anything to me about my EHOC in MD.

I was glad it was a positive experience all around...