I always wonder what others (the more well versed experienced open carriers who really know the laws) would do, in an instance where a manger at say a Wal-mart was afraid of confrontation, and called the police (some are still untrained on state laws and manipulate them, as seen in Vancouver), Question: If you were in a Wal-Mart and the police came up to you and told you to leave what would you do, leave, ask to see the managment, Do the police have authority to tell you to leave a business, can they act directly for a business?
I've been in such a situation.
A manager told me to conceal, I politely informed him that although I have a CPL, I carry openly, and that he may be asking someone to break the law, because you don't need a CPL to carry openly, but you do need one to conceal. He said if I had a CPL that meant I had to conceal. I respectfully disagreed, and explained the law. He said it was making a bunch of customers nervous, which was funny, because the store was dead and I hadn't seen ONE customer since I'd been there.... I told him that corporate allows OC, but I'll be happy to cover up while he goes to check on it, if it made him more comfortable, I then flopped a shirt over, then suggested that he could also contact the police if he had questions about the legality of open carry.. he matter of factly stated that 'they were already on their way'...... They were working on my car, and couldn't go anywhere anyway.... Two officers showed up.. One wearing a wheel gun, who was more relaxed, casual, very polite and professional, and another officer who seemed a bit more... keyed up... He explained that the manager had called him down there to clarify some things, and that he thought I was someone else, apparently there was an ex- reserve officer that was showing off, wannabe cop or some thing that OC'ed everywhere...and thought it was me, because he didn't know anyone else OC'ed, and if he knew it was 'someone else', he would've left it at 'it's completely legal' and closed the call....
Turned out he was a gun guy, appreciated my 'effort', but cautioned me that not all officers are aware of all the laws, or are as nice, and that I should be aware of my audience..... Completely casual, non-threatening...
The officer verified to the manager that everything I said was true, and said I handled everything 'perfectly', and appreciated that, while I wasn't required to conceal, he appreciated the effort I was making to not cause a scene..
There was some good natured ribbing about wheelgun vs semi, on both parties, which was laughed at (I started it).
It ended with a handshake and an apology from the officer for wasting my time....
The manager there was level headed, opinionated, firm, and WRONG, but overall professional (albeit somewhat cocky)...
There are other managers that outright YELLED at me and demanded to see 'something that says you can have that thing in MY store' (safeway). I remained calm. I made her seem like the idiot when she said 'I'm calling the cops!', to which my response was 'Ok ma'am, that's fine, but will you let me continue shopping when they say that it's perfectly legal to carry a pistol like this?'... she just sat there for a second with a dumb look on her face, not knowing what to say to that, because apparently she thought I would run away when she said she was calling the police. I called her bluff, to which her response was 'I don't care what the police say, I want you out of my store with that thing'... at which point I had no choice to leave... It WAS followed up with by Safeway corporate...and to my knowledge, she no longer is employed by safeway...
I have the full write up
Here