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Where I'm from, OC was almost unheard of 5 years ago. Some people began meeting up and discussing OC at Starbucks and the anti's had a hissy fit. The OC group still had their meetings and the anti's protested one at a Starbucks. Starbucks came out and said if the OCers were doing nothing illegal they would continue to serve them. Strangely enough, I don't think the anti's ever came back to protest again.
Since that incident made local news, OC has grown exponentially here. The police have become more educated on OC and preemption laws have removed some of the no guns allowed signs in our parks and other areas. Every once in a while a situation occurs with an officer who doesn't know the law and they hassle someone OC. Those situations are handled and usually end up with that officer and the department undertaking new training on the laws that pertain to OC and CC.
As OC has become more common here and people become a little more educated they become less fearful. The fear of guns and gun carriers comes from a lack of knowledge, we fear what we do not know. The more educated we make people, the less of an issue it is. It's funny how people get outraged when your gun is visible, but put a t-shirt over it and everything is fine. It's the same gun one way or another and just as deadly whether they see it or not.
You can only ever deter amateur criminals. If truly intelligent, motivated criminals want something you have, your firearms, OC or CC, won't change a thing. The fact remains, that most robberies of citizens on the street are more or less opportunity based. They aren't scoping you out for weeks. They see you walking down the street and an opportunity to make a few dollars. You can't prevent the hell bent criminals. They will commit their crimes regardless of deterrents.
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