This Business About Getting Your Gun Stolen.

[Buck Snort]

There are two threads running about people carrying (OC and CC) which deal with the issue of having one's gun stolen. I'm think'n that MOST guys who are robbed of their weapon are so embarrassed (it pretty much shoots one's macho all to hell) they don't report it and if they do it is reported "lost". My point is that we probably do not have enough data to determine the extent of the problem with either method of carry. How do you feel about this?

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I think there's no way to know for certain either way.

 

[Oyeboten]

I imagine this might differ in localities where Registration is a manditory pre-requisite to Open Carry.

Where, then, a Handgun stolen from a person while they were Carrying, would be traceable to them if it were later to be confiscated from a BG or other.


While Open Carry is legal here in Nevada, and in Las Vegas, I myself have never done it and have no interest to ever do it, unless I am in a rural area or wide open spaces.

Not only would many people freak out if seeing a Handgun being open carried, others indeed would attack you and or flip out AND attack you to try and get it away from you so they could have it, and or get it, shoot you with it, and, have brownie points among their peers.


I had the initial phase of that latter thing happen one time, when I simply had an old Iver Johnson in my back Pocket as I was mopping floors in here at my Business...couple black inner city dudes appear at the door, insisting aggressively to sell me a portable radio-tape-player, I was polite, and did not want one, as I continued circumspectfully mopping, one of them glimpsed the IJ handle sticking maybe an inch out of my back pocket, and gets into a huge freak out over resenting that I had it, and his pardner had to struggle with him to keep him from attacking me.


There are truely moronic levels of stupid among the BG as well as other categories of people.

No "OC" for me in urban areas!

Especially urban areas where 'inner city' bottom feeder types of any genetic constellation are going to be encountered.

 

[DPris]

Regardless of whether it's allowed by law and regardless of your personal feelings about exercising your rights, the fact remains that in most areas of this country open carry in urban settings (as in "around people") incorporates certain risks.

You WILL draw attention, you WILL eliminate the element of surprise, you WILL most likely be the first target if any shooting begins in a robbery or other armed situation, you WILL be vulnerable to being relieved of your gun by anybody (or any bodies) who wants it badly enough to jump you to get it, and in some circumstances you MAY be required to interact with the police. Whether or not you successfully get through that interaction is not the point, the point is (for me, anyway) why subject yourself to it?

Those who think they can fight their way through any gun grab attempt are not facing reality.

As far as I'm concerned, it's more a matter of good sense than either making a statement or asserting your rights under law just because you can.
In town, I see no reason to carry openly.
Outside town, I do.

In town, I want to be background if anybody else is planning mischief. I do not want to stick out from the crowd. I do not wear clothes with gun logos, gun slogans, or anything else gun related on them. I most certainly do not display a firearm.

In the wilds, I want instant accessability against both people and animals if necessary & don't care if somebody I pass on the trail finds the sight of a handgun alarming. (Many I pass are doing the same thing, anyway.)
I don't allow strangers to get close enough to make a disarm movement. Even though I live in an open carry state & there's nothing illegal or improper about doing so, if they go home & call 911 I'll be long gone before anybody can arrive in the area to require even a brief explanation of who I am & what I'm doing.

Basically, there's a time & a place, and crowded places are not the time.
Denis

 

[General Geoff]

You WILL draw attention,

Generally false.

you WILL eliminate the element of surprise,

Also generally false.

you WILL most likely be the first target if any shooting begins in a robbery or other armed situation,

[citation needed]

you WILL be vulnerable to being relieved of your gun by anybody (or any bodies) who wants it badly enough to jump you to get it,

[citation needed]

and in some circumstances you MAY be required to interact with the police.

I consider the misconduct of police to be immaterial to my decision on how to carry.

Whether or not you successfully get through that interaction is not the point, the point is (for me, anyway) why subject yourself to it?

I'm subjecting myself to nothing; I'm merely displaying to the world that I'm armed and not ashamed of it. And as a bonus, it's way more comfortable in warm weather.

Over the past five years of open carrying in a metropolitan area, I can say that the vast majority of people don't notice or don't care. Only a handful of people have ever commented on my sidearm (mostly positive feedback or neutral curiosity), and I've had a total of one police encounter, which resulted in no arrest, fines, or confiscation of my property (firearm or otherwise). Open carry simply isn't the hassle you make it out to be.

 

[Ryanxia]

I think if I had my gun stolen from off my person I would report it in a heart beat. I may not tell all my friends what happened lol, but I would definitely want a chance to catch the guy/get my gun back.

 

[dogtown tom]

General Geoff

Quote:
You WILL draw attention,

Generally false.

Uh......"generally" you are wrong. Reports of "man with a gun" always draws attention.

Quote:
you WILL eliminate the element of surprise,

Also generally false.

Care to explain?
The police have a name for this element of surprise......called plainclothes officers.......who carry concealed for this very reason.

Quote:
you WILL most likely be the first target if any shooting begins in a robbery or other armed situation,

[citation needed]

No citation is needed when expressing an opinion. If DPris had written "studies show that open carriers are the first ones shot..." then a citation of those "studies" would be helpful.

Quote:
and in some circumstances you MAY be required to interact with the police.

I consider the misconduct of police to be immaterial to my decision on how to carry.

Huh?
Since when is an "interaction" with a police officer "misconduct"?


IMHO DPris is spot on.




.

 

[buck460XVR]

In town, I see no reason to carry openly.
Outside town, I do.


In the wilds, I want instant accessability against both people and animals if necessary

Soooooooooo, you're saying that the threat of violence against you is great while in the woods, but non-existent in town? Funny, I generally feel safer out in the woods than I do in large metropolitan settings. I also do not have an option other than open carry to defend myself whether in the woods or in town. If I want to legally carry a loaded firearm anywhere, it cannot be concealed. So according to you, I should go unarmed and defenseless whenever I'm not in the woods.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Just stop. This OC vs. CCW has already been discussed to death and we certainly don't think a third thread running at the same time in response to the other two threads.