Out of boredom and curiosity I looked up the crime statistics for my county. Between 2003 and 2012 (the most recent year data is available) there has been... drum roll.. Zero murders and TWO robberies. Yes, two robberies in ten years. Horrifying.
I go concealed. I can see arguments for both, but I prefer concealed. If you are standing in line somewhere waiting for your coffee, burger, etc. you are looking at menu, not the "bad guy" coming behind you. Advantage to "bad guy". All depends on "bad guy" though. Bad Guy 1: Sees open carry, decides he doesn't want to die over whatever it is. Bad guy 2 doesn't care and is 100% committed to his actions, targets open carrier first. To each his own.
I only conceal carry in public. I just don't like a lot of attention so open carrying in public isn't for me. The only people I see open carrying are either young and just got their lisence or people who they think they're in a militia. If I'm out in the woods I'll be open carrying, but I'm also out in the woods
Here in NY we only have concealed carry. As others have said, carrying concealed gives you an element of surprise if necessary, and does not draw extra attention to you. When I first started carrying, there were only two occassions when someone saw that I was carrying. Both times it was one of my friends, and both times were my fault for not being used to having a firearm on my. NY is not the friendliest state when it comes to gun enthusiasts, and it gets worse the closer you get to NYC. People are very anti gun, and go as far as calling your house like telemarketers to convince you that guns should be banned (I do hate this state sometimes). You can look at it like this... do you want to be that guy or girl who goes to the store with a big wad of cash and pulls it out flashing it all over the place, and then gets robbed in the parking lot? Or do you want to be that person that no one looks twice at? I would rather be the person who people don't look twice at. -Andrew
I'm for either but I have no idea why someone would want to open carry. Could it potentially prevent a small number of people from doing something knowing that they would have to deal with the person carrying and can someone open carrying draw their firearm a little quicker, perhaps. But it also puts the target on their back as the first person to eliminate. I carry concealed when I carry because I don't want anyone to know that I am carrying.
