The below was was my reply to a thread in a gun forum about open carry in Texas. Some folks believe there is no risk involved with open carry, I disagree strongly:
'I have rarely seen people open carry. While I live in
AR now, I am in Texas every day as I live in a border city. The first
guy I saw open carrying in TX as best I can recall, literally swaggered
into whatever store I was in with his strong hand and arm so far out
from his body it could only have been because he was showing off. I
guarantee he would have made an easy target for a gun takeaway. Other
than him, I have seen very few folks open carry other than uniformed law
enforcement. There is one local guy here that I see often at the dog
park. He wears a total piece of crap nylon holster that hangs at an odd
angle, my guess is that if someone grabbed the holster and tugged hard
the whole thing would rip off of his belt. I can only imagine he wears
it like that to show it off trying to be tacticool.
As
for me I rarely open carry; about the only time I do so is when going
out to my car fast to grab something and I don't put on a shirt or
jacket to cover it and when I go hunting (which has not been for a
while). You can, of course, do as you please but I believe open carry is
asking for trouble. While you may think there may have been zero
problems to date, that is not factual, takeaways happen from open
carriers. In addition, sooner or later there will be someone else who
has his or her gun grabbed by a bad guy or a group of bad guys or a guy
who gets shot during a crime merely because the bad guy saw the handgun.
I see no reason to tempt fate.
Of
course, some folks have to open carry. They are mostly police officers
or others in law enforcement who are in uniform. They probably amount,
by far, to the greatest number of people who open carry. They have their
guns taken away and are shot by their own guns all too often. That is
why LE concealable body armor is usually required to be at least able to
stop the handgun rounds that the officers in any given department are
carrying.
While some walk
around with their heads in a cloud thinking no one will ever take my gun
away from me, stuff like that happens to those carrying openly. Mostly
it seems to LE officers but then again that is likely because they are
the ones who make up most of the folks who open carry. Here are a few
links to and a video of some examples of gun takeaways from people open
carrying:
[URL
unfurl="true"]https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-county/17-year-old-steals-gun-man-dunkin-shoots-him-death-parking-lot-police-say/AXKCAIEEWNHJJHMMDL7NCWJSDA/[/URL]
[URL
unfurl="true"]https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2021/02/18/video-man-snatches-gun-from-man-at-detroit-gas-station-counter/[/URL]
[MEDIA=youtube]bUgx90ewbhw[/MEDIA]
I
have had to fight for my life in two instances of bad guys (all illegal
aliens) trying to take away my handgun. Luckily I survived both but
during one where multiple assailants were trying to get my gun my
sternum and my zyphoid process were fractured; in the other the bad guy
bit my left bicep and I still bear the scar about 40 years later. In that second one I
mentioned, the bad guy had my gun half way out of my holster but due to
good training in retention I was able to retain and keep control of it.
Thank goodness an Immigration Inspector in the port of entry and a
Sheriff's officer came to my assistance while several Customs &
Immigration Inspectors just watched me battling the guy and trying to
hang onto my revolver. The illegal alien was built like Charles Bronson
in his prime and I was a skinny 155 lbs when soaking wet. I also had a
homeless bum approach me in a parking lot in AZ after the wind blew my
jacket up and he saw my pistol. He approached me saying something like
so you have a pistol. He started to come at me, put his arms out in
front of him, then started moving faster toward me as if he was going to
grab for it. He was probably 20 or 25 years younger than me. I took a
defensive posture getting my car in between him and me and placed my
hand on the grips. When I told him if he took one more step I'd open
fire, he stopped; it took a moment more to convince him that I was dead
serious. He ran away. I reported it to the police who as far as I am
aware did nothing. My pistol was probably in open view during that
encounter for less than 2 seconds but criminals are opportunists and he
started to act on what he thought was an opportunity. I was in my mid
fifties at that time, I guess he was in his young to mid twenties; he
must have thought me an easy mark but soon realized he had guessed
wrong. While no one may ever try to take your gun away from you, the
truth is you raise the risk of a takeaway or of you being shot during
the commission of a crime by displaying it openly. You can choose for
yourself, I choose to carry concealed and believe me I try to be more
aware of the wind ever since the incident in AZ.
All the best,
Glenn B
