Tinman
I'm just enjoying the show!
That’s a pretty open ended question. I think you can probably learn most of what’s said here by reading several other threads as well, but I’ll throw my 2 cents in anyway.
Without debating the OC vs CC issue, if you’re going to carry concealed, keep it concealed. That means don’t fidget with it, and don’t flash. My feeling, it’s the surprise that you are carrying that is most frightening to a lot of people. Here’s a guy they’ve been talking to with no idea they are armed, often times, the sudden discovery elicits a knee jerk reaction. Obviously, if you OC this might not be an issue, but you might also attract the do gooder who wants to tell you how wrong you are.
Now here’s the big one, be polite, be professional with everyone you meet, regardless of how the treat you. Unfortunately, right or wrong we as CCW’s are held to a higher standard of conduct for choosing to exercise our rights. This sometimes means tying a rope around your tongue when we really want to give some rude dude a piece of our mind (like I can spare that anyway).
If you are confronted remember, it’s not your job to educate, nor win over the world to CCW. Your best bet is a polite and succinct response to the initial question. The response of the person inquiring will determine if it warrants more conversation. If it doesn’t, disengage and walk away. If they are genuinely interested, and open to conversation and debate (not argument) carry on. Again, be polite, be professional. Speak from your heart why you carry and it will ring true, spout a bunch of facts and figures that you read off a website, and you’ll sound like a right wing version of the sheep.
Other than that, buy a decent holster and belt, I’m so tired of seeing these el-cheapos that everything flops around like a fish on the shore.
Also, please don’t invest in one of those CCW badges, those are the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.
Tinman....
Without debating the OC vs CC issue, if you’re going to carry concealed, keep it concealed. That means don’t fidget with it, and don’t flash. My feeling, it’s the surprise that you are carrying that is most frightening to a lot of people. Here’s a guy they’ve been talking to with no idea they are armed, often times, the sudden discovery elicits a knee jerk reaction. Obviously, if you OC this might not be an issue, but you might also attract the do gooder who wants to tell you how wrong you are.
Now here’s the big one, be polite, be professional with everyone you meet, regardless of how the treat you. Unfortunately, right or wrong we as CCW’s are held to a higher standard of conduct for choosing to exercise our rights. This sometimes means tying a rope around your tongue when we really want to give some rude dude a piece of our mind (like I can spare that anyway).
If you are confronted remember, it’s not your job to educate, nor win over the world to CCW. Your best bet is a polite and succinct response to the initial question. The response of the person inquiring will determine if it warrants more conversation. If it doesn’t, disengage and walk away. If they are genuinely interested, and open to conversation and debate (not argument) carry on. Again, be polite, be professional. Speak from your heart why you carry and it will ring true, spout a bunch of facts and figures that you read off a website, and you’ll sound like a right wing version of the sheep.
Other than that, buy a decent holster and belt, I’m so tired of seeing these el-cheapos that everything flops around like a fish on the shore.
Also, please don’t invest in one of those CCW badges, those are the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.
Tinman....
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