Not far behind the intensity generated by well-worn topics like 9mm vs. .45 ACP and GLOCK vs. 1911 is the always controversial question about the advisability of open carry. Lots of experienced gun gurus you know and respect advise against it. From a practical standpoint, aside from the loss of the element of surprise when you carry openly, they argue that any advantage in quick deployment that open carry may give you is minimal.
Others would argue that most people who carry a gun suck at deploying the firearm quickly and smoothly and there’s a huge difference between the two carry systems for the average armed self-defender. But ease and speed of deployment isn’t the topic here. One aspect that lots of experts fail to address is an another mission critical aspect to open carry…deterrence.
The first person I ever saw openly carrying a firearm was an African American gas station owner in Atlanta. As a ballistically sheltered northerner I was taken aback by the stainless steel Smith & Wesson 686 holstered on his hip. When I asked him about the gun he had a simple explanation. “It shows the bad guys I mean business.”
Lots of people argue that if you carry openly, you might as well wear a “Shoot Me First” T-shirt. Again, I’m not here to quibble. There aren’t any stats backing up the assertion that showing a gun puts you first in the firing line and I don’t have any relevant experience in that particular area, so I’ll concede the point.
But there’s no ignoring that gas station owner — and thousands more like him — at the sharp end of this debate. The business owner decided that open carry is in and of itself a form of self-defense. Bad guys see a gun, calculate their odds of success versus the downside of corporal ventilation and decide to look for easier, more likely unarmed prey.
Open carry isn’t just about getting to your gun more quickly. It’s also about increasing the probability that you won’t have to use it.
Another frequently overlooked point: the more people open carrying in a given location, the more effective the deterrent. If a bad guy or guys see more than one person carrying a firearm, they know that any attempt to victimize the gun owners or nearby citizens will trigger a serious response. Which most miscreants will avoid if given the opportunity.
Obviously, this deterrence multiplier doesn’t apply [so much] to gangbanger versus gangbanger confrontations. And a drug-crazed criminal or spree killer might not have the presence of mind or capacity to worry about the possibility of being confronted by multiple armed defenders. But the chances are they’ll look for a softer target. And spree killers seem to have this thing for gun-free zones.
It must also be said that this multiple open carry deterrent effect is almost entirely theoretical. Estimates vary, but less than than five percent of Americans carry a concealed weapon. Period. The number who open carry is a small fraction of that fraction.
Which brings us back to question of open carry as a personal deterrent. That’s a tough one. Again, there are no stats on open carry’s inhibitory impact on crime nor any reliable method for creating the data (how do you measure crime that doesn’t happen?). Gun owners have to judge the advisability of open carrying based on guesswork. Or, if you prefer, common sense.
Common sense says that people who see a man with a gun understand that the man is willing to use it. And there’s the rub. A lot of this depends on where you live. If you’re in a rural area, that’s one thing. If you live in an urban or suburban area, well, you can bank on being an outlier.
You may have the legal right to carry openly where you live, but that doesn’t mean it might not yank some delicate soul’s chain. Which could prompt a call to local law enforcement…with all of the inconvenient, uncomfortable results that can follow from that. That’s where a lot of people’s desire to carry in plain sight — for whatever reason — flounders on the rocks of real world practicality.
That’s a damned shame. Because those of us who believe in open carry deterrence should have a choice.