I am a Louisiana resident, and I hold a Florida CCW permit from years ago. Not long after I got it, the scuttlebutt started about Louisiana no longer honoring out-of-state permits for Louisiana residents, and that, of course, has now come to pass. I always OC now, and in all honesty, I seldom carried concealed anyway.... VERY seldom.
At this point very little has changed for me personally in regard to my personal carry habits, but I am still glad that I have the FL permit, and it has been particularly useful to me in some instances. First, I live very near the LA-MS state line, and although I seldom go into MS, my FL CCW permit is honored there. In addition, I have family in GA, and driving through MS, AL, FL to get there, I feel better having the permit...especially AL. Oddly enough, there are certain strictures there in regard to vehicular carry that seem not at all standard for the gulf coast. I don't particularly keep up with current laws unless I am actually undertaking a trip that way, and I buy The Travelers Guide to Firearms Laws of the States yearly for that, just in case. Oddly enough, I guess, I am perfectly able to CC in many states other than LA with this out-of-state FL permit, yet not in LA, my state of residence.
Regardless of whether one carries OC or CC, there are exceptions carved out from the areas one is allowed to carry in, and there are mandates to announce to any LEO one comes in contact with if you CC. In all honesty, I would, I guess, like to hold a LA CC permit if I could snap my fingers and get it, but very much like when LA honored the FL permit for LA residents, I would probably OC 99% of the time. I do not do so to make any sort of "statement", or to "raise awareness", etc., although I do not at all condemn those motives for others. It just seems to fit me and my situation best, but its important to say here as well that I live in a parish (county to most) that doesn't have a single, solitary red-green-yellow traffic light. I mean that absolutely literally....not - a - single - one.
Now, there are regular occasions where some things that I do requires a firearm, especially in hot weather, but that is generally handled best by a little 10/22, or occasionally an AR of the .223 persuasion – but that is not all why I always carry. I just, well, do, and maybe I’m a weirdo (well, that’s a given according to some), but to me, I honestly do not ever feel a need to explain myself doing so because its simply not the way that I think, I guess. I don’t carry for any particular reason…. Well, let me retract that – I simply carry because I may want or I may need a gun at any given time, and although failing to do so for the former may wind up being an inconvenience or a disappointment to me, a failure in the latter may well be catastrophic. On many occasions where I wanted a handgun I have been glad I had it, but I have never really needed one – and hope I never do.
I’ve done this for years, and I think that most people would be surprised to see just how little people seem to notice anyone OCing. I would say that I literally only have occasions where a stranger makes any sort of remark about it in one of probably several hundred interactions, and one in thousands of people I cross paths with in stores, etc. And, no, I cant imagine that anyone, ANYONE AT ALL, would ever even begin to mistake me for a LEO.
Oddly enough, I was at a Wal-Mart in Amite, LA. A few years ago with a buddy of mine, who was standing behind me while I scratched and grabbed at the shelves trying to find a type of pen that I liked, and I saw someone approach me from the left as they rounded the aisle, and the only odd thing is that I could see that it seemed as if they were crossing over the aisle toward my side. When it was obvious that this is what was happening, I looked to my left to see a Amite City LEO and a Wal-Mart employee sidling up to me. I turned to face them, and the LEO asked me something that I still smile at to this day – he didn’t engage me with banter, nor did he ask me my name, or make any reference to the weapon. He didn’t say ‘Hello’, nor did he ask me about the weather. He walked up and asked, and I am directly quoting him with this, “Are you a member of LOCAL?” (That’s the Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League”).
Well, my buddy thought that I set this up to gig him a bit, and I almost thought he did so to me. It was that, well, not so much odd, but moreso not what one would expect. I kind of laughed a bit, affirmed that I in fact was, and I spoke with this extremely pleasant guy for 5 minutes or so. And that, by far, was the most of any sort of interaction I have had with anyone at all regarding my OC. Even the Wal-Mart employee with him was seemingly pleased with the situation, smiling and asking be before we went our own separate ways about “How [did I] keep that gun right there!?” (I carry in a Level II retention holster right at belt buckle positioning, tilted toward right hand access and slightly cantilevered “out” just a bit, to help stop anyone from slipping up behind me and relieving me of my sidearm)...I figure that I can ball up like a damned armadillo if need be and have at least a pretty good chance of retaining my weapon – moreso than any other way that I can think of.
But, I digress, and I feel sure that right about now you are sort of scratching your head and wondering just where the hell this post is leading as far as this particular thread goes. I quite often get off on some tangent and have to try to jerk myself back where I belong, and Ill try to do that here if I may: I guess what I am saying is that this may well be a viable option for you if in fact you want some sort of stop-gap measure between your application for a LA CCW permit and your receipt thereof. Regardless of means/methods of carry, be it OC or CC, you need to keep up with what’s kosher and what’s not, and if you do that and act accordingly, I see no reason why this may not something that you may be interested in doing for now.
At any rate, I wish you the very best, and I hope that you will, like I have thus far, never need to use any firearm that you are carrying with you at any time.