What is “Open Carry” and Should You?

Now there’s the rub. “Should you” indeed.

I was tempted to lay out an impartial pros and cons list before giving my opinion to make sure no one got so mad they stopped reading before they got the info, but if you’re here you likely came from the CFI Newsletter and as such, know which way I lean on this one so here goes…

No, I don’t think you should open carry if carrying concealed is an option.

Now in the words of Inigo Montoya.. “lemme splain”

The reasons I will nearly always choose concealment over open carry for day to day life boil down to 4 main points that I’ve learned in my years of study and training. In no particular order:

1. When you open carry, you sacrifice the element of surprise. Might not sound like a big deal but stick with me. By nature of being the “good guy” you don’t get to go first in a life or death situation. You don’t walk out of your door with the intention of taking someone by surprise and shooting them. As such, whether defending your own life or the life of another, you will invariably be responding to a threat and want every advantage you can get. The bad guy not knowing you are armed is a dang good one to waste. They may potentially underestimate you, they may be caught off guard when you produce and use a firearm buying you precious time, and they likely won’t be making you their #1 target (more on that one in a second.) These (admittedly underwhelming) potential advantages could very well be the difference makers in a life or death encounter where fractions of seconds count, and they’re likely some of the only advantages you’ll be given. Elements of time, space, and terrain can be used to your advantage if you’re very situationally aware and remain vigilant, but at the end of the day, one of the only assets you will have at the start is that they have no idea you’re armed. 
2. By carrying open, you increase the likelihood of an incident/altercation. I’m talking about both with other civilians and police officers. It doesn’t take tactical training or studying security camera footage to learn this one. A quick youtube search for “open carry” will reveal a veritable cornucopia of videos showing everything from enraged anti-gun nuts to incidents with law enforcement started by someone open carrying while following all the applicable laws simply due to the fact that they’re visibly armed. (Yes, I’m well aware that is the sole reason some folks open carry, to get a rise out of people. That is not my bag nor is it my suggestion to anyone reading this.) Note: This one can change based on where you live, it is not an “across the board” state of affairs. If you live in a rural town where even the preacher doesn’t speak from the pulpit without their trusty sidearm on their hip then you will likely find the local law enforcement is much more used to interacting with an armed populace and your fellow citizens are far less likely to be of the ilk to try and scream at you for daring to practice personal protection in public. The unfortunate fact of the matter is those places are fewer and further between and the odds that you live in one aren’t that great. We have to work with the realities of our situations, not how it ought to be.
3. When you Open Carry, You are target #1. Many proponents of open carry will say that (and I’m paraphrasing here) “I carry open because it will scare off bad guys” but the evidence simply does not bear this out. It’s one of those things that sounds like it should be true but the evidence tells us it isn’t. Has it happened before? You bet. But much like the idea of buying a shotgun so you can scare off bad guys with the sound of racking a round into the chamber, it’s the exception, not the rule and we shouldn’t base our personal protection strategy on it. More often than scaring bad guys off, you will simply become target #1 they have to take care of before they go about doing the bad things they were going to do anyways. Preparing for that possibility requires an extremely heightened level of situational awareness which brings us to our last point.
4. When you open carry, you cannot relax. Rather, you dang-well better not. Your firearm is 100% your responsibility to secure and the whole world knows you have one. Who is around you? Is anyone acting suspicious? If you close your eyes could you count off exactly how many people are within 6 feet of you? How about 15 feet? Crowds should be avoided if at all possible, lots of hands floating around your firearm there. Are your hand-to-hand combat skills sufficient to fend off an attacker unexpectedly reaching for your firearm? Colonel “Jeff” Cooper came up with a great scale for levels of situational awareness (seen below) and the Armed Defense Training Association has a pretty good article talking about it here: https://armeddefense.org/color-code  Simply put, we go about our day in various states of situational awareness, white being relaxed and oblivious, yellow being you’re aware and scanning, orange you’re extremely alert, maybe you’ve found a potential threat and you’re planning reactions, red you’re about to fight the identified threat, and black being you’re in the fight. Each level of awareness comes with a corresponding raised alertness and stress level as well. If you walked around all day between an “orange” and “red” your blood pressure would be through the roof! If you walk around all day in the white zone you’re probably quite mellow and also a very easy target. Ideally we should go about our lives in public in the yellow zone. We know where the exits are, we know who’s around us and can spot potential threats, but we’re not amped up to an 11 and prepping for a fight. When you carry a firearm open When you carry a firearm open you must maintain a much higher level of vigilance and alertness (with all the accompanying stress) to ensure the absolute security of your firearm at all times. Moreover, beyond standard threats in day to day life, you’re displaying a firearm for everyone to see. Ill intentioned criminals who want your gun for violence aside here, that’s like walking around the mall with $600 hanging out of your pocket. You’ve got to stay sharp.