acmariner99
Regular Member
Last week I had several excellent encounters with OC throughout Western WA -
On July 4, I went to a Starbucks in Renton where I saw a Renton LEO walk in, get his own coffee and leave. He plainly saw I was armed and didn't talk to me at all, much to the annoyance of a young couple who I overheard say: "He's got a gun and the cop won't even talk to him, what's up with that?" Kudos to Renton PD - they seem to be well aware of the law. On the rare occasion where I was pretty sure somebody called them to "check me out," they kept their distance and didn't approach me let alone ask any questions.
On July 5, I ran a bunch of errands in Issaquah, where a middle aged woman asked if I was carrying an XD (I was) and if I liked shooting at West Coast Armory (I do). We talked a couple of minutes about being glad about ammo and reloading equipment being back in stock. Went to REI and Chipotle with no issues.
On July 6, a friend and I went hiking up in the North Cascades near Mt. Baker. On the first trail we tried, (we turned back since the trail was difficult to find with the heavy snow pack) we did run into a couple of hikers and just talked about trail conditions. We then went up to the Mt. Baker trail area at the end of the Mt. Baker Highway. We did run into a Canadian family, who was curious about my handgun. The father told me that he has a handgun and a Canadian carry permit (which surprised me since those are darn near impossible to get) and said he could only carry it concealed. I happily told him that I could carry for my protection out in the open in Washington without a permit of any kind. They were surprised, but supportive. They also found it curious that carry and self-defense laws are state specific. They were more annoyed that the US wouldn't let them take their handgun across the border or carry them under US/state law - I do not know if this is actually true or not. (Canada will usually let American gun owners across if they have all of their paperwork in order in advance and abide by their maze of restrictions).
On July 7, myself and a couple of friends went shooting out near Sultan Basin. We saw a family out there teaching their young girl to shoot a 22. We have already had a number of really positive encounters with people in Monroe, which appears to be VERY gun friendly. They can elaborate on further details if they want.
Carry On!
On July 4, I went to a Starbucks in Renton where I saw a Renton LEO walk in, get his own coffee and leave. He plainly saw I was armed and didn't talk to me at all, much to the annoyance of a young couple who I overheard say: "He's got a gun and the cop won't even talk to him, what's up with that?" Kudos to Renton PD - they seem to be well aware of the law. On the rare occasion where I was pretty sure somebody called them to "check me out," they kept their distance and didn't approach me let alone ask any questions.
On July 5, I ran a bunch of errands in Issaquah, where a middle aged woman asked if I was carrying an XD (I was) and if I liked shooting at West Coast Armory (I do). We talked a couple of minutes about being glad about ammo and reloading equipment being back in stock. Went to REI and Chipotle with no issues.
On July 6, a friend and I went hiking up in the North Cascades near Mt. Baker. On the first trail we tried, (we turned back since the trail was difficult to find with the heavy snow pack) we did run into a couple of hikers and just talked about trail conditions. We then went up to the Mt. Baker trail area at the end of the Mt. Baker Highway. We did run into a Canadian family, who was curious about my handgun. The father told me that he has a handgun and a Canadian carry permit (which surprised me since those are darn near impossible to get) and said he could only carry it concealed. I happily told him that I could carry for my protection out in the open in Washington without a permit of any kind. They were surprised, but supportive. They also found it curious that carry and self-defense laws are state specific. They were more annoyed that the US wouldn't let them take their handgun across the border or carry them under US/state law - I do not know if this is actually true or not. (Canada will usually let American gun owners across if they have all of their paperwork in order in advance and abide by their maze of restrictions).
On July 7, myself and a couple of friends went shooting out near Sultan Basin. We saw a family out there teaching their young girl to shoot a 22. We have already had a number of really positive encounters with people in Monroe, which appears to be VERY gun friendly. They can elaborate on further details if they want.
Carry On!
