Open Carry: Something Different

For those of you who have ever read my blog, you’ll know that I’m a huge advocate of concealed carry. The ability to protect and defend your life is priceless and sometimes the ability to have that insurance hidden pays dividends.

I currently reside in a state where open carry, e.g. on the hip, unconcealed, etc. is legal. I have tried to open carry a time or two but have never really enjoyed the experience. All of that changed for me last night when I attended a local meeting where local “open carriers” met and talked about their experiences, legal rights, etc.

It was a new experience to put on a holster I typically only use to practice at the range with (as it’s a demon to conceal) and walk into a large restaurant with 30-40 other people all wearing their gun in plain sight. To my surprise, not one law enforcement agency was summoned by someone eating there, management had given us permission to come, and it was a lot of fun to exercise a 2nd amendment right out in the open! With all of us in one place, I have to say it was the safest building in the state!

So now for a little background. In conversing with people the conversation usually goes like this:

“Open carry? Like cowboys in the old west?”

“Yes, except now with modern equipment, training, responsibility, etc.”

Modern open carry got its start in the pioneer and old west days of America. Firearms were a part of daily life, a tool like a hammer for building or repairing except better suited for fending off would-be outlaws, wild animals, and Indians. While the crime rate in 19th century America was lower in general, Dr. Roger McGrath of UCLA asserts that the murder, robbery, rape, and other violent crimes of today were kept at bay due to the prevalence of firearms1.

Today, open carry continues to be a hotly debated topic amongst gun owners as some feel that concealed permits only entitle a carrier to do just that-carry concealed. A common phrase found on gun forums is, “concealed is concealed. No one needs to know about it.” People on the other side of the debate contend that open carry is not only a right, its a crime deterrent and not something to be feared.

As for the Loneranger, I’m more apt to carry open in some instances. I haven’t completely gone over to open carry as there are still plenty of institutions that can ask me to leave if they know I have a gun and it can result in a hassle with law enforcement officials who are not familiar with state laws. Open carry is coming around. People are becoming more accustomed to seeing firearms and learning to recognize the good guy from the bad but we still have a long way to go.

1. McGrath, Roger D. (1987). Guns, Highwaymen and Vigilantes: Violence in the Old West. ISBN 0-5200-6026-1.

When lightning strikes: Carrying a concealed weapon 24/7

I recently viewed a training DVD for employees and students entitled, “Shots Fired: When lightning strikes.” The 20 minute video helps trainees learn to recognize an active shooter situation and take action. The DVD explains that while no one wants to think about a shooting where they work or attend school it is an unfortunate possibility. The DVD goes on to explain that the odds of an active shooter scenario occurring in your work place are equivalent to your odds of getting struck by lightning, hence the title.

I took something else away from the comparison: if you have made the decision to obtain a concealed weapon permit then you need to carry the weapon 24/7. Unlike weather forecasters who can track and predict weather patterns with some degree of success, you and I can’t know when we will need to defend ourselves or our loved ones. No one can predict the day lightning will strike them, the day they will get in a car accident, or the day they may actually need their concealed weapon and so we live right, buckle up, and strap up every day.

I hope that none of us ever has to shoot someone, but if someone does something to threaten my life or the life of my loved ones I will meet that threat with all of the force necessary to eliminate it. I saw a video clip of a commercial airline pilot talking about training in the post-9/11 world. He recounted how someone asked him when things in airports and airplanes are going to return to “normal”. His answer? “There’s a new normal.”

You and I can’t pick the date on the calendar when bad things will happen so train hard, stay safe, and pack everyday.

Weapon Retention and Disarming

I recently took a course on weapon retention and disarming. Not only was the class an eye opener, but I spent the better part of four hours taking a beating. I highly recommend that anyone who carries a firearm for work or for personal self defense enroll in one of these classes.

People may ask, why do I need to take a class like this? If you carry a firearm and you are in a confrontation, the suspect will have access to at least one gun, YOURS! Professional criminals and terrorists TRAIN HARD and long to be able to disarm armed personnel like us. You must be able to defeat them.

Many people will say “I would just shoot him!” Since most confrontations occur at arms reach, there will not be time to draw and present your weapon. You will have to be able to defend your weapon, retain control, disengage and shoot as needed.

I have attached some pictures from a recent event in California which illustrates the point. The subject was acting suspiciously on a state highway. A Highway patrolman approached him to ask what he was doing. He immediately ATTACKED the officer. A violent struggle ensued with the trooper, a deputy, and an EMT trying to prevent the officer from being DISARMED. Note the magazine on the ground from the troopers Smith & Wesson 4006. His weapon is now non-functional with the magazine out. The trooper employs classic retention techniques and is able to maintain control of his weapon.

Cops get shot all the time with their own guns. They wear retention type holsters. Most of us who carry concealed do NOT. Our retention skills must be excellent since we are out in public and anyone who can spot our gun, can try and take it.

The class I took was comprehensive and as mentioned before-very physical. I learned how to defend my weapon in the holster from the front, back, sides, and on the ground as well as how to defend my gun when it is grabbed from the front, back, and sides. Probably the funnest part of the course was learning how to disarm someone who has a gun-or worse yet-your gun but is within reach. I came home with bruises that I wore for a week but also lessons I’ll not soon forget.

Oh, and that guy who tried to get the California Highway Patrolman’s gun?

Busted.

The Sheep Parable

Author unknown.

Not so long ago and in a pasture too uncomfortably close to here, a flock of
sheep lived and grazed. They were protected by a dog, who answered to the
master, but despite his best efforts from time to time a nearby pack of
wolves would prey upon the flock.

One day a group of sheep, bolder than the rest, met to discuss their
dilemma. ‘Our dog is good, and vigilant, but he is one and the wolves are
many. The wolves he catches are not always killed, and the master judges and
releases many to prey again upon us, for no reason we can understand.
What can we do? We are sheep, but we do not wish to be food, too!’

One sheep spoke up, saying ‘It is his teeth and claws that make the wolf so
terrible to us. It is his nature to prey, and he would find any way to do it,
but it is the tools he wields that make it possible. If we had such teeth, we
could fight back, and stop this savagery.’ The other sheep clamored in
agreement, and they went together to the old bones of the dead wolves heaped
in the corner of the pasture, and gathered fang and claw and made them
into weapons.

That night, when the wolves came, the newly armed sheep sprang up with their
weapons and struck at them, crying, “Be Gone!” We are not food!’ and drove
off the wolves, who were astonished. When did sheep become so bold and so
dangerous to wolves? When did sheep grow teeth?

It was unthinkable!

The next day, flush with victory and waving their weapons, they approached
the flock to pronounce their discovery. But as they drew nigh, the flock
huddled together and cried out, ‘Baaaaaaaadddd! Baaaaaddd things!

You have bad things! We are afraid! You are not sheep!’

The brave sheep stopped, amazed. ‘But we are your brethren!’ they cried. ‘We
are still sheep, but we do not wish to be food. See, our new teeth and claws
protect us and have saved us from slaughter. They do not make us into wolves,
they make us equal to the wolves, and safe from their viciousness!’

‘Baaaaaaad!’ cried the flock, ‘the things are bad and will pervert you, and
we fear them. You cannot bring them into the flock!’ So the armed sheep
resolved to conceal their weapons, for although they had no desire to panic
the flock, they wished to remain in the fold. But they would not return to
those nights of terror, waiting for the wolves to come.

In time, the wolves attacked less often and sought easier prey, for they had
no stomach for fighting sheep who possessed tooth and claw even as they did.
Not knowing which sheep had fangs and which did not, they came to leave sheep
out of their diet almost completely except for the occasional raid, from
which more than one wolf did not return.

Then came the day when, as the flock grazed beside the stream, one sheep’s
weapon slipped from the folds of her fleece, and the flock cried out in
terror again, ‘Baaaaaad! You still possess these evil things! We must ban you
from our presence!’

And so they did. The great chief sheep and his council, encouraged by the
words of their advisors, placed signs and totems at the edges of the pasture
forbidding the presence of hidden weapons there. The armed sheep protested
before the council, saying, ‘It is our pasture, too, and we have never harmed
you! When can you say we have caused you hurt? It is the wolves, not we, who
prey upon you. We are still sheep, but we are not food!’

But the flock drowned them out with cries of ‘Baaaaaaddd! We will not hear
your clever words! You and your things are evil and will harm us!’

Saddened by this rejection, the armed sheep moved off and spent their days
on the edges of the flock, trying from time to time to speak with their
brethren to convince them of the wisdom of having such teeth, but meeting
with little success. They found it hard to talk to those who, upon hearing
their words, would roll back their eyes and flee, crying ‘Baaaaddd! Bad
things!’

That night, the wolves happened upon the sheep’s totems and signs, and
said, ‘Truly, these sheep are fools! They have told us they have no teeth!
Brothers, let us feed!’ And they set upon the flock, and horrible was the
carnage in the midst of the fold. The dog fought like a demon, and often
seemed to be in two places at once, but even he could not halt the
slaughter.

It was only when the other sheep arrived with their weapons that the wolves
fled, only to remain on the edge of the pasture and wait for the next time
they could prey, for if the sheep were so foolish once, they would be so
again. This they did, and do still.

In the morning, the armed sheep spoke to the flock, and said, ‘See? If the
wolves know you have no teeth, they will fall upon you. Why be prey? To be a
sheep does not mean to be food for wolves!’ But the flock cried out, more
feebly for their voices were fewer, though with no less terror, ‘Baaaaaaaad!
These things are bad! If they were banished, the wolves would not harm us!
Baaaaaaad!’

So they resolved to retain their weapons, but to conceal them from the
flock; to endure their fear and loathing, and even to protect their brethren
if the need arose, until the day the flock learned to understand that as long
as there were wolves in the night, sheep would need teeth to repel them.

They would still be sheep, but they would not be food!