How many of you carry on a daily basis?

I am fairly certain that the OP's question was well meant, however, whether one carries or does not carry is really a MYOB issue IMO. People complain about their lack of privacy, yet are willing to divulge details about their carry habits. There are lots of people who read these boards (not all of them registered and not all of them our friends) and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who some of you are.

This is a question best left unanswered, unless of course you want the world to know that you carry concealed, which seems to me a contradiction.

No offense to anyone, I 'm just sayin'....

I understand where your coming from on the privacy point but on the other hand its our legal right. Why we HAVE to carry CONCEALED is part of the problem in the first place. Why we have to stay HIDDEN from the general public just adds to the stigma of gun owners. If we did not live in the state we do (MA) I don't know if the "outing" of being a gun owner or carrying daily would have the same consequences. Maybe its just too many of us grew up in a liberal home and now live in a liberal state that makes the paranoia continue to fester in being a gun owner.

That all being said one problem, phone call or question and they can yank your right away so I fully understand the concept of keeping it to yourself. I am just not one that will allow that paranoia to rule how I live, speak or discuss my hobby and right.

No offense to you in any means just my two cents on the topic.
 
I understand where your coming from on the privacy point but on the other hand its our legal right. Why we HAVE to carry CONCEALED is part of the problem in the first place. Why we have to stay HIDDEN from the general public just adds to the stigma of gun owners. If we did not live in the state we do (MA) I don't know if the "outing" of being a gun owner or carrying daily would have the same consequences. Maybe its just too many of us grew up in a liberal home and now live in a liberal state that makes the paranoia continue to fester in being a gun owner.

That all being said one problem, phone call or question and they can yank your right away so I fully understand the concept of keeping it to yourself. I am just not one that will allow that paranoia to rule how I live, speak or discuss my hobby and right.

No offense to you in any means just my two cents on the topic.

I take no offense. Let me give you my background: growing up and living in Arizona back in the day, open carry was permitted (except where prohibited by local ordnance like Tombstone...thank you Wyatt Earp). We wanted to carry concealed, only LEOs could. After many years the law changed in Arizona (long after I left it). Maybe it is the "forbidden fruit" thing, you cannot open carry in Mass (at least de facto, maybe de jure you can, but who is going to test the law?).

It is not paranoia that is driving me. It is more of a privacy thing. We freely give away so much information about ourselves that can and will be exploited. I legally exploit information people post about themselves everyday on the internet, so it is not based on some tinfoil hat fantasy. (I cannot emphasize enough though, only by carefully following certain proscribed parameters, the bad guys or the unscrupulous don't have to operate under my limitations).

With regard to open carry, some feel that it is a deterrent, if a bad guy sees you walking down the street in OC mode, chances are that he will pick an easier mark. There may be some merit in that. On the other hand I don't want you to know if I am armed or not, just like I don't want you to know how often I brush my teeth or what kind of toothpaste I use (Shaws and CVS already know), or what my religious beliefs are or if I buy lottery tickets or not. These are all fairly innocuous personal items of information, but it is really none of your business, just like it is none of my business what you do in these areas. As I get older my right to privacy trumps all other rights, especially when I see how easy it is to exploit information that people voluntarily relinquish.

Personally, having open carried, in an open carry state, I think the novelty wears off after awhile, and people resort to CCW
 
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Mark is right IMNSHO.

We (you, I, whoever posts here) have no idea who reads it and what their intentions are. Not all house-breaks are "random" . . . what people post can and will be used against them by thugs who are ill-intentioned, perhaps by those in LE, employers (or potential employers), etc.

When I get papers to serve, I frequently turn to the Internet to see what I can find about the person being served. My real intent is personal safety, and if something looks questionable my first stop will be their local PD to see if my suspicions are valid (most often they are) and proceed accordingly (they usually offer to back me up to keep the peace).

Mark and I are dinosaurs who grew up before the Internet age, when stringing together personal info on someone was a manual labor task and thus not efficiently done. We both have seen (from the LE side) how much info local agencies amass on residents and recognize the potential for mis-use, thus we suggest caution (which is mostly ignored here [wink]).

Personally my most major concerns aren't gov't but are "other unknowns". Some examples:

- Former neighbor was a wholesale diamond merchant. Two days after he and his Wife left for FL on vacation his house was broken into. Thief methodically tossed everything. We're certain of two things: thief had been told that they were leaving town (probably in beauty shop) AND knew what kind of business he was in.
- Another neighbor used to own an antique store in Newton, but lived ~25 miles away from there. Their house was broken into during daytime hours and they tossed the lesser valued jewelry in the bushes on the way out. No doubt they knew their target and were looking for valuable items not trinkets.
- Not many years ago obituaries would frequently post more info on where deceased lived (street address) and where immediate family lived. Frequently there were house-breaks during the time all of them were at the church/funeral parlor/cemetery. Not random at all. Thieves were using the info for their purposes. Nowadays most people post very little info in hopes of avoiding this as well as leave a trusted person at their home during the services/interment to further protect the property.

"Loose lips sink ships" may be an old WWII slogan, but it still holds true today. Even amongst my gun-owning friends I've never heard this topic come up. I guess we have too much respect for each other to even broach the subject.

YMMV and many of the younger generation (who tend to post their entire personal lives on the Internet) will likely disagree. It's fine to disagree and do as you please. Perhaps Mark and my admonitions might give a few pause for thought before posting too much personal info.

With due respect, this is just one person's opinion.
 
I take no offense. Let me give you my background: growing up and living in Arizona back in the day, open carry was permitted (except where prohibited by local ordnance like Tombstone...thank you Wyatt Earp). We wanted to carry concealed, only LEOs could. After many years the law changed in Arizona (long after I left it). Maybe it is the "forbidden fruit" thing, you cannot open carry in Mass (at least de facto, maybe de jure you can, but who is going to test the law?).

It is not paranoia that is driving me. It is more of a privacy thing. We freely give away so much information about ourselves that can and will be exploited. I legally exploit information people post about themselves everyday on the internet, so it is not based on some tinfoil hat fantasy. (I cannot emphasize enough though, only by carefully following certain proscribed parameters, the bad guys or the unscrupulous don't have to operate under my limitations).

With regard to open carry, some feel that it is a deterrent, if a bad guy sees you walking down the street in OC mode, chances are that he will pick an easier mark. There may be some merit in that. On the other hand I don't want you to know if I am armed or not, just like I don't want you to know how often I brush my teeth or what kind of toothpaste I use (Shaws and CVS already know), or what my religious beliefs are or if I buy lottery tickets or not. These are all fairly innocuous personal items of information, but it is really none of your business, just like it is none of my business what you do in these areas. As I get older my right to privacy trumps all other rights, especially when I see how easy it is to exploit information that people voluntarily relinquish.

Personally, having open carried, in an open carry state, I think the novelty wears off after awhile, and people resort to CCW

Very well put. I guess I put more into the deterrent of using open carry then you do, of course being that you have experience with it I value the opinion. IMO Just one person open carrying would prevent more then 10 conceal carrying but that just my opinion with no real basis.

I certainly respect your privacy and consider that to trump all other reasons you may or may not want to "out" yourself as person who carries.
 
Mark is right IMNSHO.

We (you, I, whoever posts here) have no idea who reads it and what their intentions are. Not all house-breaks are "random" . . . what people post can and will be used against them by thugs who are ill-intentioned, perhaps by those in LE, employers (or potential employers), etc.

When I get papers to serve, I frequently turn to the Internet to see what I can find about the person being served. My real intent is personal safety, and if something looks questionable my first stop will be their local PD to see if my suspicions are valid (most often they are) and proceed accordingly (they usually offer to back me up to keep the peace).

Mark and I are dinosaurs who grew up before the Internet age, when stringing together personal info on someone was a manual labor task and thus not efficiently done. We both have seen (from the LE side) how much info local agencies amass on residents and recognize the potential for mis-use, thus we suggest caution (which is mostly ignored here [wink]).

Personally my most major concerns aren't gov't but are "other unknowns". Some examples:

- Former neighbor was a wholesale diamond merchant. Two days after he and his Wife left for FL on vacation his house was broken into. Thief methodically tossed everything. We're certain of two things: thief had been told that they were leaving town (probably in beauty shop) AND knew what kind of business he was in.
- Another neighbor used to own an antique store in Newton, but lived ~25 miles away from there. Their house was broken into during daytime hours and they tossed the lesser valued jewelry in the bushes on the way out. No doubt they knew their target and were looking for valuable items not trinkets.
- Not many years ago obituaries would frequently post more info on where deceased lived (street address) and where immediate family lived. Frequently there were house-breaks during the time all of them were at the church/funeral parlor/cemetery. Not random at all. Thieves were using the info for their purposes. Nowadays most people post very little info in hopes of avoiding this as well as leave a trusted person at their home during the services/interment to further protect the property.

"Loose lips sink ships" may be an old WWII slogan, but it still holds true today. Even amongst my gun-owning friends I've never heard this topic come up. I guess we have too much respect for each other to even broach the subject.

YMMV and many of the younger generation (who tend to post their entire personal lives on the Internet) will likely disagree. It's fine to disagree and do as you please. Perhaps Mark and my admonitions might give a few pause for thought before posting too much personal info.

With due respect, this is just one person's opinion.

Lens I always respect your posts and the time you take to explain the reasoning behind your opinion.
Just reading the information you posted gives me a better understanding of why a public broadcast is in many ways not the smartest route to take. Thanks for sharing a bit more about the background that got you too that opinion.
 
Mark is right IMNSHO.

We (you, I, whoever posts here) have no idea who reads it and what their intentions are. Not all house-breaks are "random" . . . what people post can and will be used against them by thugs who are ill-intentioned, perhaps by those in LE, employers (or potential employers), etc.

When I get papers to serve, I frequently turn to the Internet to see what I can find about the person being served. My real intent is personal safety, and if something looks questionable my first stop will be their local PD to see if my suspicions are valid (most often they are) and proceed accordingly (they usually offer to back me up to keep the peace).

Mark and I are dinosaurs who grew up before the Internet age, when stringing together personal info on someone was a manual labor task and thus not efficiently done. We both have seen (from the LE side) how much info local agencies amass on residents and recognize the potential for mis-use, thus we suggest caution (which is mostly ignored here [wink]).

Personally my most major concerns aren't gov't but are "other unknowns". Some examples:

- Former neighbor was a wholesale diamond merchant. Two days after he and his Wife left for FL on vacation his house was broken into. Thief methodically tossed everything. We're certain of two things: thief had been told that they were leaving town (probably in beauty shop) AND knew what kind of business he was in.
- Another neighbor used to own an antique store in Newton, but lived ~25 miles away from there. Their house was broken into during daytime hours and they tossed the lesser valued jewelry in the bushes on the way out. No doubt they knew their target and were looking for valuable items not trinkets.
- Not many years ago obituaries would frequently post more info on where deceased lived (street address) and where immediate family lived. Frequently there were house-breaks during the time all of them were at the church/funeral parlor/cemetery. Not random at all. Thieves were using the info for their purposes. Nowadays most people post very little info in hopes of avoiding this as well as leave a trusted person at their home during the services/interment to further protect the property.

"Loose lips sink ships" may be an old WWII slogan, but it still holds true today. Even amongst my gun-owning friends I've never heard this topic come up. I guess we have too much respect for each other to even broach the subject.

YMMV and many of the younger generation (who tend to post their entire personal lives on the Internet) will likely disagree. It's fine to disagree and do as you please. Perhaps Mark and my admonitions might give a few pause for thought before posting too much personal info.

With due respect, this is just one person's opinion.

Wow, a very thought provoking response, Len! I am in total agreement with everything you say here. It blows my mind how much personal crap is posted on the several forums that I belong to - especially by the teens/early 20's crowd! They frequently even post "private" pictures of their wives/girlfriends on one of the Mustang sites I belong to. So many things that can come back to haunt you, because these guys don't seem to realize that even when they have deleted stuff, hundreds, sometimes 1000's of other people have saved that stuff, and can re-post it anytime, or use it for nefarious purposes.
 
Good post, but is it really not common sense? Why ppl feel the need to share every detail of their lives baffles me. Should I tell you how much money I carry on me and how often too or where I keep my guns? The fact that many of you here, who show no more than a picutre of your back shooting, can be traced down pretty easily with some internet sleuthing always makes me laugh. Your facebook and email address is more than enough to creep on you
 
Lens I always respect your posts and the time you take to explain the reasoning behind your opinion.
Just reading the information you posted gives me a better understanding of why a public broadcast is in many ways not the smartest route to take. Thanks for sharing a bit more about the background that got you too that opinion.

Yeah, I grudgingly have to admit that I think a lot like Len and Mark. I'm of the if I carry, what I carry, when I carry is "my business" crowd. I usually post in these kinds of threads that I carry a type I hand phaser cuz it prints like a cell phone or I installed a light saber app on my iPhone 7w prototype, so it's all good.

Just because I have a LTC-A with no restrictions doesn't mean I have an obligation to carry whenever possible either.....I'm too cranky anyways...
 
I carry as often as I can. I park my truck off company property so as not to violate the weapons policy when its locked inside. I don't carry if I am going to one of my kids school functions. Other than that its 100%
 
I completely agree with Len here. The less the public knows, the better. Whether I rarely carry or do it 24/7 ought to be known to me and me alone.

I'm fundamentally against open carry because it's essentially advertising to any potential bad guy who they should take out first. The last thing you'd want is to have the perp reduce the precious few seconds you have to react against a violent confrontation.
 
I'm fundamentally against open carry because it's essentially advertising to any potential bad guy who they should take out first. The last thing you'd want is to have the perp reduce the precious few seconds you have to react against a violent confrontation.

Just like my reasoning that has no actual basis on why Open Carry would deter over Conceal Carry. What is your guys basis that an OC person would be targeted first. Is there examples that I just don't read or hear about where someone who was open carrying was targeted first. Having a criminal deterred from committing a crime due to seeing a citizen with a gun is far more likely to never have a statistic because the crime never happens due to the deterrent.

I can certainly see the walking down the street, criminal sees armed person and has ability to try and jump them and get the gun but that comes down to situational and environmental awareness on behalf of the person open carrying.
 
Just like my reasoning that has no actual basis on why Open Carry would deter over Conceal Carry. What is your guys basis that an OC person would be targeted first. Is there examples that I just don't read or hear about where someone who was open carrying was targeted first. Having a criminal deterred from committing a crime due to seeing a citizen with a gun is far more likely to never have a statistic because the crime never happens due to the deterrent.

I can certainly see the walking down the street, criminal sees armed person and has ability to try and jump them and get the gun but that comes down to situational and environmental awareness on behalf of the person open carrying.

I'd put yourself in the bad guy's shoes. If he was 100% going to commit a violent crime in a public area, would you target the person with the means of immediately stopping you first? I'd suspect so.

If I was in the (potential) victim's shoes debating whether to OC or CC, I'd want to blend in as much as possible with the population so that the perp isn't giving me any special consideration over anyone else.
 
I'd put yourself in the bad guy's shoes. If he was 100% going to commit a violent crime in a public area, would you target the person with the means of immediately stopping you first? I'd suspect so.

If I was in the (potential) victim's shoes debating whether to OC or CC, I'd want to blend in as much as possible with the population so that the perp isn't giving me any special consideration over anyone else.

Perfect answers. I must admit I 100% agree with you. I may have to rethink my thoughts on OC.
 
I carry whenever I can legally do so, with a handful of exceptions here and there, but even those are closing, now that I have an LCP at the bottom end of the lineup.

-Mike
 
Just like my reasoning that has no actual basis on why Open Carry would deter over Conceal Carry. What is your guys basis that an OC person would be targeted first. Is there examples that I just don't read or hear about where someone who was open carrying was targeted first. Having a criminal deterred from committing a crime due to seeing a citizen with a gun is far more likely to never have a statistic because the crime never happens due to the deterrent.

I can certainly see the walking down the street, criminal sees armed person and has ability to try and jump them and get the gun but that comes down to situational and environmental awareness on behalf of the person open carrying.

Here's two scenarios I'll paint here:

- Perp walks into a gun shop where 4 clerks are working, all are OC'g and in different locations in the store. If perp decides to rob the place with his gun, he KNOWS he's about to commit suicide (assuming he isn't high as a kite and has no brain response)!
- Perp walks into a "stop 'n rob" and sees ONE customer OC'g. If he's hell bent on robbing the place he decides to take out the customer BEFORE he even shows the gun. Action is quicker than reaction. Good guy may well bite the dust!

On your second point:

- Holsters that we wear are NOT retention holsters. Retention holsters that LEOs now use on duty are big and clunky things. It's so easy to grab the gun from one of us that it isn't even funny.
- When I was appointed to the PD, there really were no retention holsters (other than snap-strap) on the market for revolvers in common use at PDs (yes, I am that old [smile]). I can't remember any of our officers wearing a snap-strap holster back then.
- When I was in a crowd or patrolling downtown area, I always had my head on a swivel and tried to cover the gun as much as possible. It was a PITA and uncomfortable to always be in "orange" mode.
- It is eye-opening to take a firearms retention class!! Due to missing my R/I Academy class on this (my appendicitis wouldn't wait until my Academy days were over), I did this as a "make-up" with all FT POs. I noticed the Harvard PD Chief (this was 30 years ago and he was an older guy, tall, slender and mostly gray) was carrying a S&W Chief's Special in a open-top OWB holster (one usually used by brass or off-duty only). I remember thinking to myself that he was going to have a "bad day" in this class. I did lose track of him, as I was paired up with an MBTA PO that took his survival very seriously and I had a brutal battle on my hands keeping my gun and then trying to wrestle his out of his holster . . . and we "knew it was coming" in this class. I can tell you that I do NOT want to go there while going about my normal business day to day!


I'd put yourself in the bad guy's shoes. If he was 100% going to commit a violent crime in a public area, would you target the person with the means of immediately stopping you first? I'd suspect so.

If I was in the (potential) victim's shoes debating whether to OC or CC, I'd want to blend in as much as possible with the population so that the perp isn't giving me any special consideration over anyone else.

I agree, see my comments above.
 
I'm the semi-fortunate holder of a Class A LTC with "Target and Hunting" restrictions. When I have explained to friends and family that this means I have a license to carry that doesn't actually allow me to carry, I usually get the response "Well would you really want to carry anyway, doesn't it seem silly to carry a gun anytime you leave the house even to run to the store?"
My response is that having an LTC and choosing not to carry is like getting in your car and choosing not to wear a seat belt. You probably won't ever need it, you hope you never do, but if you do need it and you don't have it you may not survive or you may survive but have to live with the consequences. Obviously if you are going to carry you need to be 100% comfortable with your abilities, but aside from that concern why would you not carry?
Do most of you feel the same way and carry regularly, do you just carry in certain situations, or do you choose not to carry because you don't think you will ever win the "Oh $h!t" lottery?
Just curious.

I carry 100% It's an insurance policy we hope we never have to cash in. My family understands this (with the exception of my father who calls me silly) and we go about our business as normal. This doesn't count in crime-safe zones like Federal buildings, schools, or the like though....which is frustrating.
 
Except swimming...still need a swimming gun.
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And I hope you appreciate this. I had to Google "swimwear holster" for the third one, and some of the things that turned up were horrifying.

ETA: Anyone want to debate "What caliber for sharks?" [smile]
 
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