OCing in crowded public places, thoughts/concerns?

[buckfever90]

Does it concern you to open carry in a crowded place such as a public event ect.

 

[Titanium_Frost]

Many malls have no weapons policies so it is not wise to OC there. Other than that, no it doesn't bother me to OC anywhere.

 

[Westside]

as long as there are no 5 year old girls in the crowd you should be fine.

 

[IndyGal65]

as long as there are no 5 year old girls in the crowd you should be fine.

Sweet!

 

[iChokePeople]

as long as there are no 5 year old girls in the crowd you should be fine.

Or handicapped, autistic midgets.

 

[youngda9]

Or handicapped, autistic midgets.

I print out silhouette targets on 11X17 sized paper to practice with at the range. I'm prepared for the midget invasion !!

 

[rockhopper46038]

Does it concern you to open carry in a crowded place such as a public event ect.

Yes, if I'm going to be in a packed crowd I use a retention holster so I have time to get an elbow into their face if need be. I avoid crowded places, because I hate retention holsters almost as much as I hate crowded places.

 

[BlueEagle]

Many malls have no weapons policies so it is not wise to OC there. Other than that, no it doesn't bother me to OC anywhere.

I OC at the Green Tree mall in Clarksville all the time; never had an issue. It is a smaller mall, though, and I think they only have "security," (guys in white shirts with radios,) on the weekends or friday nights. I should check and see if they have a weapons policy.

 

[Titanium_Frost]

I OC at the Green Tree mall in Clarksville all the time; never had an issue. It is a smaller mall, though, and I think they only have "security," (guys in white shirts with radios,) on the weekends or friday nights. I should check and see if they have a weapons policy.

We have a smaller mall here in Evansville that doesn't have anything posted and I have never had a problem there. I know all Simon properties have no weapons policies and there is another large mall chain that is the same.

 

[capn willie]

RETENTION HOLSTER
Until I got one, I was as agitated as Jerry Sandusky at Chucky Cheese anytime I was in a crowd

 

[Denny347]

Even in a level 2 retention holster in full-uniform, I hate being in the middle of large crowds. Working the Superbowl details, I was shoulder to shoulder that weekend and my hand stayed near my pistol the entire time. The last thing I need is some drunk grabbing my pistol, trying to be funny. In large crowds, your situational awareness has to be pegged. I was working so being on high alert is normal. However, if I was there to have fun, it would have dampened the fun a lot. If you know you are going to be in the middle of a large crowd (concert for example) you would probably have more fun if you CC.

 

[rotortech]

I would not consider OC in a dense crowd. Someone can grab that gun pretty fast and it probably won't be someone nice.

 

[J_Wales]

I think only police officers should be trusted to OC in large crowds.

In fact, if the crowd is large enough, only police officers should have firearms at all. Everyone else should be disarmed.

 

[Denny347]

I think only police officers should be trusted to OC in large crowds.

In fact, if the crowd is large enough, only police officers should have firearms.

I'd CC in large crowds if they'd let me, in uniform.

 

[Dwight]

I think only police officers should be trusted to OC in large crowds.

In fact, if the crowd is large enough, only police officers should have firearms at all. Everyone else should be disarmed.

Did your purple run out...???. FIFY

 

[Dwight]

Many malls have no weapons policies so it is not wise to OC there. Other than that, no it doesn't bother me to OC anywhere.

^^^^ This^^^^

Some zoos are a little touchy as well....

 

[J_Wales]

Did your purple run out...???. FIFY[/COLOR]

Well you know, once the crowd is large enough one should surrender all individual liberty and responsibility. In lieu of one's self or the good men around one, one should rely on the state for one's safety and well being.

Hey Dwight, will you pay for my health insurance?

If you so no, that's okay. I will ask my nanny to legislate charity and use the barrel of a gun to make you charitable if need be!

 

[canav844]

Lots of concerns, it keeps me in at least condition orange if not red the whole time I'm in a crowd, that can get exhausting quickly.

I fear a gun grab when it's tightly backed people so that there is little to no personal bubble at all, there is also that tight balance between keeping my arm to guard the gun but just far enough away that it doesn't look like I'm grabbing at it. Someone shouting he's going for his gun could be the instigation of an incident, something I don't want (for comic relief see this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIMiLF_L8s80)

The tight space in the crowd can also hamper movement, both in retention and usage scenarios, it can also make it harder to get the gun out of concealment.

Large crowds create inherent backstop issues, being responsible for every round, your target and what is behind it limits your options of use,a bad guy attacking me in a crowd doesn't care where that stray bullet goes, me defending myself in a crowd, I must care a great deal about that. There are techniques to mitigate, work around minimize, but still extra thought consideration and action required, and keeping that constant mental what if, adding in those factor gets mentally exhausting quickly

Big crowds are also in turn big targets, I don't like being in the middle of a big target.

Big crowds can lead to the mob mentality, people engaging in lawless and or violent behavior they wouldn't otherwise engage in as individuals, this creates increased risk of me becoming a victim, I don't like that.

Mob mentality, even in a just shooting, can cause the crowd to turn on the defender; this has been documented in past cases; now I'm not just defending from one attacker but a mob of people upset with me based on assumption.

Crowds also close my escape routes, that means getting to concealment can potentially be very hard and reaching cover near impossible.

Depending on the cause for the crowd, there may very well be alcohol or other substances added to the mix, potentially increasing the volatility of the crowd or the likelihood of there being an incident.

Retention technique, situational awareness, mental planning, having a person with you to help put a little bubble around you so that you can add a few inches between yourself and strangers, hugging the edge or a wall to protect one side of you (preferably where the gun is), keeping aware of escape routes, concealment, cover, all help, and being beyond bodily contact distance can help ease things if I'm CCing, but crowds in general are unsettling and a stress test for the situational awareness; so there are many times I opt to avoid the crowd in the interests of my own defense. Crowds present some of their own factors, and enhance other factors of risk, I assume risk by leaving the house in the morning or waking up for the day, entering a crowd is no different. I have concerns, so I take steps to mitigate them; though adaptation or non-participation. I have elected to CC with retention holsters in some crowds based upon my own personal assessment for the options at hand; however there are some crowd situations that I think OCing is a perfectly acceptable method, it doesn't ever really boil down to OC vs CC but rather how am I going to get home at the end of the day, and what steps do I want to take to give me that best chance, while still being able to do things like the county fair or visit the mall (which most of the time isn't what I'm talking about when I'm thinking crowd, I'm more at concert, sporting event, packed streets of covered bridge).

 

[esrice]

Lots of concerns, it keeps me in at least condition orange if not red the whole time I'm in a crowd, that can get exhausting quickly.

I think you may need to brush up on the awareness color codes. I certainly hope you aren't in orange and red when you're in large crowds.

Awareness Color Codes

 

[Dwight]

Well you know, once the crowd is large enough one should surrender all individual liberty and responsibility. In lieu of one's self or the good men around one, one should rely on the state for one's safety and well being.

Hey Dwight, will you pay for my health insurance?

If you so no, that's okay. I will ask my nanny to legislate charity and use the barrel of a gun to make you charitable if need be!

Hey J_Wales,

I think we are saying the same thing.....I was trying to pick up if you were sarcastic about surrendering our rights/ guns just because we find ourselves in large crowds. I light-heartedly put your comment in purple (representing sarcasm)thinking that we saw things the same way.....I prefer to keep my rights and remain responsible for my own welfare.

I'm not sure now and I apologize if I mis- represented your true meaning. Peace.....

Dwight