open carry - not strategic?

[tuj]

I know a lot of people are proponents of open carry but I've wondered if this has some major strategic flaws:

-the open-carrier is easily identified as a higher-level threat to a bad guy(s). I could see this becoming a major issue in say a bank robbery.

-the open-carrier is 'advertising' they have a weapon which might be taken from them. Yes, there are retention holsters and yes, police have this problem, but they are trained on weapon retention.

-it may be very hard to distinguish between a bad guy and a open-carrier. Let's say you walk into the local mini-mart with your AK strapped across your back... How does the merchant know you aren't there to rob him?

-police harassment / legitimate concern. Just seems like a headache at best and a potential standoff at gunpoint at worst.

I understand some people may be for open-carry on principle. But my main question is: do you consider open carry to be a strategic mistake, particularly if you can carry concealed legally instead?

 

[Fred Fuller]

I can't say yet another OC versus CC thread might not be useful, perhaps, somehow, somewhere.

But I see nothing in the OP to commence a useful discussion of the possibilities, and several things (Let's say you walk into the local mini-mart with your AK strapped across your back...) that flat out rankle.

So we aren't going there on this one... sorry.

 

[Al Thompson]

But my main question is: do you consider open carry to be a strategic mistake, particularly if you can carry concealed legally instead?

Yes. As JShirley once stated, if I have a weapon on me and decide to use it, I want the element of surprise on my side.