[joefor88]

Hello all,
I don't really want to get into a debate on why I open carry and why you do not or whatever. I am simply inquiring to see if there is anyone else out there who carries openly like I do. I have only seen 1 or 2 people other than myself (excluding law enforcement) that carry openly. I normally feel like I am the only person that uses my right to open carry. Just to fill y'all in on how this works and has worked for me over the past 14 or so years. I carry my Ruger P-94 (normally) OWB in an Uncle Mike's open top holster. I go into my 2 banks armed...my doctor's office...the grocery store (Kroger in Madison on Hwy 51...until the recently closed)...my pharmacy...etc. Everyone at these locations knows me now and expects me to be armed. They are not shocked by it at all anymore. When asked why I open carry, I simply tell them that I am protecting my life, my family and my rights. I go through this several times a week when people ask (mainly just curious people). I make sure that I am as nice as I can possibly be when armed because I want it to be clear that I am not a bully and have no intention of using my weapon and that I am a friendly person that they may benefit from speaking to. This seems to help people (again normal general public) talk and undergo normal behavior while I have the "elephant in the room" strapped to my waist. I have always felt that if I walk into somewhere (say Walmart) and don't smile or speak to anyone and just look mad or something that people may be more concerned about the gun. I have never had any problems with it at all. Please feel free to give me some feedback on this so I can get a better feel of the feelings/personalities/people on this board. I have never really talked on boards (except a Jeep enthusiast board) very much and this is my first gun board. Y'all have an awesome day. Joe Porter

 

[ree_countrygirl]

welcome! i'm interested in this! i'm gettin my ccw next year and there are times it would be a lot easier for me to open carry... not may places to put a gun wen ur a 5'2'' 105 lb girl!

 

[Hrdnox]

Don't think I'd feel comfortable, but to each his own. Usually when I see a person open carrying, I just assume they're some form of LEO and are, either off duty or plain clothes. Perhaps you look the part, but I don't. I would imagine that sooner or later you may be challenged by someone in authority. If it's legal, it's legal and you have no worries, but I'd be afraid I'd accidentally slip up and find myself inadvertently in some no carry zone. It's simply not worth a possible gun charge to me to prove a point. May I ask why you don't just go with the flow and aquire a permit. If they don't know you're carrying, there's not much to ask about. To be honest, I would have another concern that I'm sure you've probably considered, but what type of liability would a person face if a BG took possession of their gun and committed a crime with it. You might say that'd never happen to me, but it happens to LEOs often enough and they have the proper training to prevent it. Just my opinion, but it seems a little bold and flamboyant to me.

 

[Myers]

Based on what I read on opencarry.org it seems our open carry law here in MS have become a little convoluted. I don't open carry, but sometime I just wish I did. Part of me says open carry is like playing poker with your cards laying face up on the table.

 

[COWBOYCOPUS]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, and I hope I am. I thought in the State of MS, in a holster is concealed, therefore to open carry, one would need a CCL.

 

[dhollis51]

So do you have a permit or just carry? I'm curious.

 

[cranedriver]

Mississippi Constitution

Article 3, Section 12

The right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in the aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall not be called in question, but the legislature may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons.


Our courts have since stated that carry in a holster is considered conclealed partially and requires a permit.

So basically according to our current laws I can walk around in Wal-Mart with a AR-15 and a shotgun slung over my shoulder but can't have a pistol in a holster. Love them tax dollars at work.

 

[chestnut]

I like the element of surprise factor. I don't open carry for that reason, but whatever works for the person carrying. :2c: and

 

[3spop]

I would open carry at certain times if I knew it was legal. Unfortunately, the way the laws are written doesn't give me that assurance now. CC for me all the way for now.

 

[COWBOYCOPUS]

Mississippi Constitution

Article 3, Section 12

The right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in the aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall not be called in question, but the legislature may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons.


Our courts have since stated that carry in a holster is considered conclealed partially and requires a permit.

So basically according to our current laws I can walk around in Wal-Mart with a AR-15 and a shotgun slung over my shoulder but can't have a pistol in a holster. Love them tax dollars at work.

That's the way I understand it but I was hoping for someone to tell me I'm wrong. Like maybe the law changed.

 

[shoeshooter]

If it works for you, great. Anything we can do to help remove or reduce peoples' irrational fear of guns is a good thing. As for me, it's staying concealed, but I'm not all that worried about "printing" these days.

 

[Tuco]

When I applied for my CCW many years ago I was told specifically that the permit was for CONCEALED CARRY and that if anybody saw my gun I could lose my permit. I am not willing to risk open carry in a heavily populated area. BTW carring in a bank concealed or unconcealed is a Federal Offense as in Federal Prison. Not willing to risk that either.

 

[jakeg823]

BTW carring in a bank concealed or unconcealed is a Federal Offense as in Federal Prison. Not willing to risk that either.

yeah true....but last i checked the vast majority of bank robberies actually took place in a bank though.....sooooo you have to weigh the consequences....its like saying you cant carry into a gas station.......or a school...oh wait....they did take that away already!

 

[sidroski]

I'm like HrdNox, a great many LEO have been killed by their own weapon. You let someone get ahold of it and anyone hurt would be looking at you. And I want the element of surprise as has been said.

 

[bubbat]

There is no Federal law against carry in a bank. The Wall Street Journal ran a article in 1996 (March 5, 1996, page B1)stating it was against Fed. law to carrying in a bank and then had to run a retraction(April 18, 1996,page A2) saying it wasn't against the law to carry in a bank because they were wrong. There is a law against carrying in a Federal facility but a bank isn't a Federal facility. Some states do ban it and some banks have policies against it, but as far as I can find out there are no Federal laws against it.

 

[BeRichH]

BTW carring in a bank concealed or unconcealed is a Federal Offense as in Federal Prison.

FALSE INFO!!! There is no federal law concerning open or concealed carry in banks. Some states may have their own laws on this issue but Mississippi isn't one of them.

Sorry Bubbat! I didn't see your post before I typed. :tophat:

 

[Kevin346]

I don’t want anyone knowing I have a gun on me. The simple fact is there are people who are scared of guns, plain and simple. Some people do not even know that there is such a thing as a CCW permit and think that the only people who carry guns are the police and bad guys. So when these people see someone who isn’t in a police uniform with a .45 strapped to their belt they get scared.

When I was working at 911 I got a phone call from someone saying that they were in the parking lot of the mall and saw someone with a gun. Upon further questioning she stated that a guy pulled up next to her in a pickup truck, and when the guy leaned over into the bed of his truck his shirt lifted up and she saw a gun in a holster on his side. Of course my initial thought was this guy was just a law abiding citizen of was carrying concealed with a permit. But still I had to send an officer out to check out the complaint. Sure enough the guy had a permit and the officer let him go. The woman that reported this called me back and was on the verge of hyperventilating demanding to know why the police did not arrest the guy who had the gun. I had to explain to her how is MS that people are allowed to have guns and have them in their vehicles and that there was such a thing as a CCW permit which allowed to him to actually carry the gun “like a cop” on his side. She was amazed by this and started in on how she thought guns were dangerous and yada yada yada. So I just gave her the number to MHP and told her to call them and complain about it since they are the ones who issue the permits.

Don’t always plan on those around you understanding the laws like you do. Heck, there are cops who don’t even know the laws that good and they may take you as a threat. Here is a thought also…

(Do not take my following statement as a threat or anything. I am simply saying this simply as food for thought)
So you want to open carry? Ok, but let’s say someone was going to rob a bank, convenience store that you were standing in. Of course they (or any good robber) would case the place out and make sure there was nobody inside like cops, security, or gun-ho people who want to openly carry their pistol. So they walk into the bank, see you standing there with your gun, and just puts a slug through you head right off the bat before you have any time to react because they knew you had a gun that you could use against them. But if your were carrying it concealed and they did not know that you had it you very well could have had that extra few seconds to draw your gun and do something about the situation.

Think of this, anyone who will shoot a cop will have no problem shooting you. But back to the original subject……

Plain and simple, I want the element of surprise and people (yes even though it makes you mad that they don’t know the laws like they should) are scared of people with guns. Heck, even though I carry concealed if I was to see another person with a gun I would be a little concerned for the simple fact that I do not know who they are or if they have a CCW permit or a bad guy looking for trouble. I guess I’m just paranoid and just don’t trust anyone.

Just because you have the “right” to carry a gun openly does not mean that you should necessarily do so. You are not a cop and this isn’t the Wild West. In my opinion the pros to carrying concealed outweigh the cons of carrying openly.

Also, from what I was told when I first got my permit that I was not allowed to carry in any government building (which includes a post office, police/fire station, courthouse, city hall or similar buildings), schools, events that were school sponsored, banks, hospitals, military bases, bars, liquor stores, casinos, and any place that has a “Gun Free Zone” sign.

 

[marionmedic]

When I applied for my CCW many years ago I was told specifically that the permit was for CONCEALED CARRY and that if anybody saw my gun I could lose my permit. I am not willing to risk open carry in a heavily populated area. BTW carring in a bank concealed or unconcealed is a Federal Offense as in Federal Prison. Not willing to risk that either.

Not True on BOTH counts actually.

The way the law is currently written, "concealed in whole OR IN PART", your HOLSTER is all the "concealing" it takes to run afoul of the law with OC.

But that is also a double edged sword.

Since the holster HAS been ruled to conceal a firearm, that means when you carry OWB and "out in the open", you are STILL carrying "concealed".

I think some of this comes from the mouths of those who "sell Rights" by teaching classes to get a CCW in places where they lobbied for the requirement.

OC is the preferred method of honorable men.

 

[marionmedic]

I want the statistics, WITH REFERENCES, on all these "gun grabs" and "armed man shot first" incidents.

I read this all the time on gun boards, spouted by those who are rabidly against OC in any way.

It must be true then that this is a HUGE problem, and it must be easily documentable by the high numbers of occurences and the regularity of those incidents.

Please someone point me to the information.

 

[PAYCHECK]

OK my :2c: I guess how i carry would be called openly concealed. I only have OWB holsters and just leave my shirt untucked. I don't try to advertise but also don't go to great length to try to hide or worry much about printing. Depending on where i am gonna be sometimes I will only carry an LCP in a wallet holster.