old lady new shooter
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- Joined
- Apr 26, 2015
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"My personal reaction to the scenarios:
- Anybody concealed carrying a handgun, no problem.
- Somebody open carrying either a handgun or a long gun in a rural area, no problem if they're not doing anything else that looks dangerous.
- Somebody (other than a SWAT team responding to an incident) open carrying a long gun in an urban environment, I would be extremely uncomfortable."
1) You can't have a 'personal reaction' to a concealed handgun
I didn't mean I would SEE it, I meant the CONCEPT.
2) Add a bullet point for a poorly-concealed handgun (and another for a hood-rat with the same)
3) Split open-carried handguns into "holstered" and "hand-held" categories, so that...
4) you can properly compare to rifles carried "slung/sheated" and "forward slung (on chest)" and "at ready (mag in, bolt forward, hand on grip/at trigger)" as separate categories
You are right on all three points.
5) Why on Earth would you feel 'comfortable' with a heavily-armed SWAT goon in proximity --he's there for a reason, after all (I'd be looking where he was looking, unless he looked bored and was picking his nose). Cops don't usually patrol with rifles, these days, unless they have a reason.
Really sorry to have written "shorthand". Of course I wouldn't be comfortable if something requiring a SWAT team were going on in my vicinity, what I meant was, I wouldn't be afraid the SWAT officer had bad intentions toward me.
It'd also be nice if people would define 'rural' and 'urban' when they say stuff like this for a change, since I'll bet you actually mean "anything but a wheat field." I live in a smallish town (25k) and the most hopping area is about as active as a surburban strip-mall center; a place many would be 'uncomfortable' with the presence of firearms. However, our actual city center is further north near the rail lines, and is the closest thing to a legitimately dangerous area around here (heck, it is dangerous of late).
Well, living in greater Los Angeles, I wouldn't call a town of 25,000 "urban", but I guess maybe it's also not "rural". In an area like downtown L.A. or NYC I would feel uncomfortable seeing people open carrying. Where I live is I guess "suburban" and I would still feel uncomfortable, but much less so if we're talking about a holstered handgun and otherwise respectable appearance. (I suppose "respectable" is subject to complaint also but basically the difference between somebody who looks like maybe a plumber between repair locations vs somebody with his pants halfway down his behind who looks stoned.)
The best practice is to avoid the area, but let's pretend I have to be there to settle a beef with the tax assessor. Tell me again why it's a bad idea to openly carry a gun A) where I would be most likely to need it, and B) where it would be most likely to have a deterring effect on the type of rational-thinking human predator opportunist most likely to accost me?
Well, I'm by far not any kind of tactical expert, but I would think two things: a) Some BG might decide to jump you just because he sees your gun, i.e. he thinks he can take it; and b) Being able to surprise a would-be assailant by producing your weapon from concealment could be an advantage.