since someone else has already necro-bumped this...
The
real LawDog lives in TX, & supports the concept & practice of armed citizens.
http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/
you still have to take the time to perceive a threat, load the weapon, take aim, and fire the weapon
As others have pointed out, the "load" step only has to happen in CA (& IL, where they have to carry U&E
[unloaded & encased]).
The rest of us have only to perceive, draw, & fire.
(Forget aiming... at SD range it's not needed & you won't have time.)
I have dealt with my share of open Carry citizens in the past
More evidence you're not the real LawDog; for now, TX only allows OC in very limited circumstances.
Why open Carry?
I know it is your right, that I get, but besides you wanting to exercise your right, why?
Why worship? Why vote? Why post on a blog? Why gather with friends?
People don't have to defend their choices to exercise any other rights.
I carry to protect myself, & I will defend any child.
I carry openly because, at present, it's the only legal way in WI.
Even after cc becomes legal in WI, I'll continue to OC when I choose because:
1) it
deters crime & is peaceful, rather than requiring me to play catch-up &
respond to a crime in progress, which is at best scary & at worst quite violent
2) allows faster access to my self-defense tool (I've never held a weapon)
3) it's easier & more comfortable
I think the whole [FTFY] CCW process in most departments is a joke, because they choose not to issue concealed weapons permits to citizens who have valid reasons for having them.
The "valid reason" for carrying (illegally infringed by the gov't trying to require a permit) is that it's a right.
But you're right, "may-issue" laws are completely wrong, open to abuse, & should be changed to "shall-issue" or Constitutional Carry.
Police officers can not be everywhere, and sometimes we have to depend upon the citizens to protect and defend themselves
LOL! "sometimes"?
Here in Milwaukee (MKE), the PD had a press conference earlier this year where they admitted that their average response time to the
most serious calls was north of 13min. (I have a link to the article somewhere in my blog.)
That's
after the victims managed to call 911 & report the crime.
When my house was burgled, & the house next door, it took
2.5 hours before a car (2 officers) arrived.
Given that some of my things which I'd left in my dresser were scattered in the back yard, I was pretty sure the criminals were gone, so I went in to make sure the cats were OK & the pistol which had been left at home was still there. (It was; the next day I bought a safe.) Yes, I had my pistol drawn & held at my side ready to shoot.
My response to someone trying to break in while I was here one afternoon was simply to walk to the door to see what the noise was. He saw my OC pistol (in the holster) & left. Quickly. Crime averted, peacefully, in about 10 seconds.
My response to an attempted violent crime against me would take even less time.
Do you think that the mere sight of a gun is going to have a criminal think twice or quake in their shoes?
Criminals say they avoid people or places they even
think are armed.
And if you read through the "true tales" thread here, or the news articles collected at
www.learnaboutguns.com you'll see that armed citizens regularly deter or stop crimes.
In the city I worked for, one OC citizen was actually robbed at gunpoint by a suspect whose [FTFY] sole intent was to steal his firearm.
If it happened, that's only the second one I've heard of.
The other was in Milwaukee either last summer or the one before.
Given the tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of people who OC every day, 1 (or even 2) armed robberies are statistically zero.
going over laws and loopholes, techniques and tactics to use the law to their advantage
You mean like lawyers everywhere do?
And like law enforcement officers are taught?
The other problem that I had with quite a few but not all OC is their attitude towards LEO's.
Physician, heal thyself.
I have no problem with any person who does a job professionally & without infringing my rights.
I have a huge problem with someone who's supposed to be a public servant, supposed to know & follow the laws, who not only does
not know/follow laws, but because of ignorance, poor training, or an attitude of "I'm superior" breaks laws & infringes my rights.
It happens way too often, and good LEO need to speak up to stop it.
As an example, see the real LawDog's post of 21JUL11 about the Canton incident.
I've had several
very bad experiences with LEO, 2 of which resulted in 1983 suits (the 3rd is related to the 2nd). No, I hadn't done anything wrong.
I realize that there are decent people in uniform, & there are probably way more of them than there are of the power-tripping jerks who variously arrested & attacked me.
But how am I supposed to tell the good guys from the bad guys?
You all wear the same uniform.
I trust a friend of mine who happens to be an officer,
2 friends who happen to be retired LEO,
and would also trust the real LawDog & Mas Ayoob, though perhaps not quite to the same degree because I don't know them as people, only through their writings & works.
Any other LEO will be treated professionally until s/he proves to be either friendly & supportive of all my rights, or commits crimes against me (at which point I have 2 lawyers listed as ICE in in my cell phone - one criminal defense, the other civil rights).
I hope OC citizens are carrying not just for show.
See above: I carry to defend myself, & will defend any child.
I've read the SD laws, I practice both marksmanship & practical close-range SD shooting.
have been trained to treat every gun as if it were loaded.
As has anyone who's taken any gun safety course.
Yet, again, read various encounters detailed on these fora where officers seize a pistol & mishandle it, including flagging the OCer, themselves, & bystanders. It'd be much safer to leave it in the holster.
you should have the right to have that weapon already [FTFY] loaded!
We do have the right. Some states just infringe it.
I am able to accomplish the goal of protecting myself quite capably by carrying [FTFY] the weapon concealed.
You have special privileges not available to normal citizens.
Especially in CA, that option is only available to a vanishingly small number of people who are not LEO.
carrying a firearm concealed tends to not ruffle the feathers of the non-gun public out there.
OC generally doesn't either.
I've posted in several threads & on other message boards links to videos of me OCing around Milwaukee, in a grocery, in a bank, in a home-improvement store... and nobody ran screaming in terror, nobody called the cops, in fact most people don't notice. They were made with a pen camera, so it's not like people knew they were being recorded.