Unlike its competitor (*cough*Costco*cough*), Sam’s Club (being a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wal-Mart) does not really care if you carry a firearm into their establishments, so when Better Half and I headed out to the local one yesterday to pick up some various materials (in the bulk those stores are known for), I was, of course, openly carrying my Walther PPS in my Little Bear Holsters stingray rig, like I almost always am when I am outside of the house and not at work. While we were in line waiting to order up a batch of their oh-so-unhealthy hot dogs for lunch, I noticed a nice gentleman behind us waiting with his wife and two children, one still in a stroller – he only stuck in my brain for his exceedingly military-regs haircut, being not-long separated from that world myself.
After we picked everything up, and secured a table, I went back to get some condiments, whereupon the gentleman in question approached me, and said, “Got a strange question for you…”
“Sure thing.”
“Do you ever get in any kind of trouble for carrying your gun out like that?”
“Not really, no.”
“Huh. I have a carry permit myself, and I was just wondering.”
“No worries. When I got in a car accident, the police officers asked for my permit, but aside from that, I have not had a problem.”
“Alright, thanks.”
Then, on the way out of the store, another gentleman asked me how I liked the Walther, about its decocking method (removable backstrap – no “Glock Leg” here), and what calibers it came in. Both individuals were polite and friendly, and while the first did seem a little uncomfortable talking about firearms in public, or asking me those kinds of questions, I cannot say a though I blame him – walking up to a random stranger with those kinds of inquiries is not exactly a “normal” thing. But that is kind of the point of openly carrying, is it not?
One thing I did neglect to mention with the first gentleman is that one has to be particularly mindful of establishments that prohibit firearms on their premises, especially in light of the new changes to the relevant laws – concealed means concealed, and if you were to somehow miss a two-inch sticker placed in the far corner of a store’s windows, and if you are carrying under a shirt, it is likely no one would ever know. Not so much when your sidearm is out there for the world to see, and dressed up in blue stingray at that. I find myself slowing noticeably these days as I enter stores, trying to keep up with the plethora of warnings, cautions, advertisements, licenses, and whatever-the-hell else the establishments decide to affix to their doors… better to spend a few seconds on the way in, than a few days in jail.
Oh, and suffice to say that there were no mass panics, “man with a gun” police responses, or other unexpected reactions to my openly carrying, though the armored truck deliveryman’s wary glances were somewhat amusing…
I used to OC my 1911 around a lot. Usually I just had people looking at me. Every once in a while I got the “you a cop?” question followed by a frenzied scurry in another direction when I reply with “no”.
However, most of the comments or questions I’d get were inquiring about it in a curious/friendly sort of way.
My OC even stopped a robbery in progress once.
I either get “hey, your gun is cocked” since I carry a 1911, or a question about what make it is. I think most people don’t notice. Up here there’s no real question about the legality of open carry, but at the same time I don’t really see anyone else doing it. I’ve never seen another person in public open carrying besides in the gun shops, or maybe on a trail somewhere. It’s way more comfortable to open carry, in my opinion anyway, so either I’m odd in that respect or most people just don’t bother carrying.
I’ve had a few people get the deer in the headlights look when they notice my pistol though. People like that make ME nervous, when they start staring at me and getting fidgety, and I try to get the hell away from them before they do something stupid. I’m always a little nervous some hero from out of state will try to grab my gun from behind in the grocery store or something, which is part of the reason I moved from a Ross leather holster to a Serpa, as an intermediate step to getting a nice leather thumb break holster made up. Plus I need the retention on the motorcycle, because the thought of a nice 1911 sliding down the highway because it somehow popped out of a bikini holster gives me the willies.
@JP – Surprisingly enough, I have never once gotten that question. Yet. Probably because the PPS is sufficiently small that it is unlikely to be mistaken for the bricks cops carry around. You are eventually going to have to post about that robbery, though…
@weambulance – Tennessee is kind of peculiar when it comes to open carry, in that the practice is not specifically prohibited, and our permits state nothing more than “Handgun Carry”. Loaded rifles and the like are illegal, as are shotguns (outside of obvious hunting applications, obviously), but whatever you want to do with a handgun is pretty much fair game… it is just that the state, and a lot of training establishments, unfortunately, does not go out of its way to publicize that fact. I have made a habit of carrying around a teensy-assed copy of the State Attorney General’s opinion on the matter, but have not yet had cause to pull it out.
I, too, have found open carrying to be significantly more comfortable – it started out as something of an experiment, just to see what the big deal was, but now that I have tried both concealed and open, the latter definitely has the edge when it comes to creature comforts. Sure, I could still untuck my shirt and “conceal” the sidearm that way, but I might as well look my best, right?
My only complaint with dedicated retention holsters (and it is a silly complaint, I know) is that they really need to make some more-attractive ones… Given the abilities and products of custom holster manufacrturers these days, plain black kydex just does not cut it any more. That said, with my pancake-style rig, you would be very hard pressed to extricate my PPS except in the direction it was designed to be drawn from, and my elbow/arm rests on it more often than not… and this was the second copy I received from Little Bear Holsters, after the first was not snug enough to hold onto my pistol (David did some outstanding work the second time around, though). Still, being mindlful is the first layer of defense, and while TN does not have many people like those you describe, they give me a small case of the heebie jeebies as well…
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