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Tactical Advantage Versus "Open Carry"

There was a guy passing out leaflets to promote "Open Carry" at the Canton Tea Party I attended last month. These folks are well-meaning, and I don't want to stand in their way. However, I have a few problems with their agenda. The leaflet I read—and as far as I can tell, the Open Carry movement as a whole—focuses on the fight against the anti-gun fanatics and the liberal agenda to call for handgun bans and take away through excessive regulation and bad interpretation the rights the Second Amendment provides to every citizen. And that's a worthy battle.

But they are in danger of losing sight of something important which is gained by carrying a concealed weapon and is likewise lost by carrying a revealed weapon, i.e., tactical advantage. This excerpt from an excellent piece on the subject by Phillip L. Smith explains it well.

Here's the scenario: It's 9:25 p.m. and you're last in line at the ice cream shop. Unknown to you, two perps have been watching the clerk make the evening deposit for the last 3 days. The perps think it is too risky trying to rob the clerk while he is dropping the deposit bag in the bank's well lit and patrolled night depository, so they decide a quick armed robbery at closing time is in order. You've lived in Arizona all your life and are quite aware of the law which allows open carry and you even think its macho and a good idea. Who would ever give trouble to a person who carries an open hand gun on their side? Well, you are about to find out. The robbers burst in the front door and what do they see? A scared teenager armed only with an ice cream dipper, AND you, with your 1911 strapped to your side.

Since they perceive you will draw your handgun, they fire first, and you drop to the floor without having drawn your weapon. Is it fair—no! Is it real—yes! Time for the big question: "What did you do wrong that ended up costing you your life?" You laid your Aces on the table while you were playing poker—You gave up an extremely important tactical advantage by displaying your sidearm thereby broadcasting the exact location of a hindrance to a criminal's evil intent. The greatest tactical advantage you possess is surprise! You lose that advantage when you wear your firearm openly. You can also lose the advantage by flashing (allowing it to be seen), by printing (allowing the outline of the gun to be seen), or by bragging to everyone that you carry a concealed weapon. Would the scenario be different if your handgun was concealed? Probably so, although you might be missing your wallet and a little pride, but the advantage gained is that you survived a deadly confrontation! Never give up your advantage of surprise. The only person who should ever know about your handgun is a perp trying to take you down.

People new to concealed carry often have a personal problem with the stealth required to conceal and carry a handgun. Confusing stealth with "being sneaky" can lead to feelings of dishonesty or even guilt. After all, hiding something from the people around you is being sneaky, right? Yes and no, depending on your intentions. Are you trying to actively deceive and harm those around you, or are you actively trying to protect an extremely important tactical advantage?

It seems the open carriers are forgetting about why we pack in the first place: bad guys. Because they exist and could be anywhere, you may as well paint a target on yourself when you carry a weapon openly in some situations, as the story points out. Ironically, the gun control fanatics make the same omission. They refuse to acknowledge the existence of the threat from violent criminals whether or not weapon possession is legal. Likewise, the Open Carry proponents downplay the threat from bad people who can see you are carrying a $500.00 piece around.

One of the arguments the open carry leaflet tried to advance was that if enough good people were carrying openly, the others would realize "Hey, people who carry guns aren't that bad! They're actually really cool! They're just ordinary folk, you know, except they like to exercise their Second Amendment rights to bear arms!" Come on, guys. Carrying openly is just going to place you into a weirdo subgroup. Unrealistic optimism and guns don't mix any better than drunkenness and driving. I don't know if belief in this theory is due to excessive jocundity stemming from being able to admire and/or show off a favorite pistol every 10 minutes, or just good old fashioned wishful thinking, but regardless they need to take a breath and come back down to earth. Do the normal things citizens are supposed to be doing. Support law enforcement, vote, learn the laws, talk to local politicians, get a concealed carry license, write to the newspaper.... Maybe these people should get into law enforcement or become security guards. Or would that sound too dangerous to them?