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444 · May 9, 2013, 09:26 PM

I have never open carried in public here where I live now, and I wouldn't do it whether it is legal or not.

However, I spent most of my adult life in the south-west United States and my experience was that open carry was not a big deal: most places. Of course some common sense has to be used. It would attract attention in a major metro area for example.

I lived in Nevada and occasionally open carried. I didn't open carry into Walmart or anything like that. It was more like, I was going shooting, or I was going to do some off-road driving, or I was going on a hike: and I stopped at a gas station, and I probably went in and got a drink and or food............. But I regularly saw people open carrying in the grocery store, Walmart, whatever and I never saw anyone hassled about it. I know when I went to Gunsite in northern Arizona, I saw people open carrying in the grocery store, and in various restrants and nobody seemed to care.

In the east, I think it would be a much bigger deal.

FWIW: the first time I ever open carried, I did it by accident. I went out hiking in the desert with some friends. I had a S&W J-Frame in a belt holster. In other words, the gun was light and small. We stopped on the way home at a bar and ate some bar food and drank a few beers. When I got home, I realized that I had never taken the gun off my belt. And, nobody said a thing about it.

May 9, 2013, 09:26 PM	#14
444 Senior Member Join Date: November 20, 2000 Location: Ohio Posts: 3,968	I have never open carried in public here where I live now, and I wouldn't do it whether it is legal or not. However, I spent most of my adult life in the south-west United States and my experience was that open carry was not a big deal: most places. Of course some common sense has to be used. It would attract attention in a major metro area for example. I lived in Nevada and occasionally open carried. I didn't open carry into Walmart or anything like that. It was more like, I was going shooting, or I was going to do some off-road driving, or I was going on a hike: and I stopped at a gas station, and I probably went in and got a drink and or food............. But I regularly saw people open carrying in the grocery store, Walmart, whatever and I never saw anyone hassled about it. I know when I went to Gunsite in northern Arizona, I saw people open carrying in the grocery store, and in various restrants and nobody seemed to care. In the east, I think it would be a much bigger deal. FWIW: the first time I ever open carried, I did it by accident. I went out hiking in the desert with some friends. I had a S&W J-Frame in a belt holster. In other words, the gun was light and small. We stopped on the way home at a bar and ate some bar food and drank a few beers. When I got home, I realized that I had never taken the gun off my belt. And, nobody said a thing about it. __________________ You know the rest. In the books you have read How the British Regulars fired and fled, How the farmers gave them ball for ball, From behind each fence and farmyard wall, Chasing the redcoats down the lane, Then crossing the fields to emerge again Under the trees at the turn of the road, And only pausing to fire and load.