Obviously, we support open carry here. But as a community, when folks carry rocket launchers and massive .50-cals into a Subway, we need to expect a reaction. We'll never tell anyone not to do it. Because it's your right where open carry is legal. And maybe that's all we should ever say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subway restaurants just did a thing. The company, pandering to public pressure from the left, changed official corporate policy. Now the sandwich giant asks customers to no longer open carry<\/a> in its stores, even where legal.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Subway Asks Customers to Stop Open Carry in Restaurants","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"subway-open-carry-restaurants","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2020\/07\/10\/subway-open-carry-restaurants\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":92934,"post_author":"249","post_date":"2019-10-18 08:49:30","post_date_gmt":"2019-10-18 12:49:30","post_content":"\r\n\r\nOpen carry, where you wear a handgun visibly, is a controversial issue among law-abiding armed citizens. The practice can deter criminals who might otherwise have carried out violent assaults. Unfortunately, it can also become the motive for a deadly surprise attack on the carrier.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"120106\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\r\nDangers of Open Carry<\/h2>\r\nOpen-carry advocates at frontiercarry.org are honest and share the dangers with their fellow enthusiasts. They speak of what I\u2019ll call Case One <\/strong>here in Phoenix, Arizona. The victim in question had a handgun obviously protruding out of one pocket. An opportunistic thug simply jogged up to him, grabbed the gun and ran off with it.\r\n\r\nOne might argue, \u201cNo one was shot or killed in that incident, so it\u2019s irrelevant.\u201d But I think that such a situation, where a law-abiding gun owner was rendered helpless and left at the mercy of a thug who could use the handgun to claim other victims later, is totally relevant to our discussion.\r\n\r\nCase One might have ended up as Case Two <\/strong>actually did. Back in 2011, a man at a gas station convenience store in Richmond, Virginia, was carrying his handgun openly when a teenager snuck up behind him, snatched the weapon from the holster of the armed citizen and ran. The citizen chased him on foot. The young offender then shot him dead with his own gun, left the scene and subsequently murdered another innocent victim with the stolen weapon. Finally captured, the perpetrator was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to decades in prison. This was cold comfort to the grieving survivors of his two murder victims.\r\n
Cop Comparisons<\/h4>\r\nSome open-carry advocates say, \u201cBad guys will be too scared of our guns to do that to us. That\u2019s why they don\u2019t sneak up on cops and grab their pistols. They only disarm cops when struggling with them during an arrest.\u201d Au contraire<\/em>. When he was still a street cop in Texas, an old friend of mine became Case Three <\/strong>while he was walking his beat and suddenly felt a blinding impact before everything went black. He awoke face down on the sidewalk with a monster headache and an empty holster. Reconstruction showed that his attacker had come up behind him and smashed him in the head with a piece of lumber, then easily retrieved his handgun from its simple safety-strap holster.\r\n\r\nContrast that with Case Four<\/strong>, an incident in which another old friend was fingerprinting a compliant arrestee when he turned his head away just long enough for the offender to grab a blunt object and smash it into the cop\u2019s skull, knocking him unconscious. Other officers present saw the man desperately trying to get the officer\u2019s .44 Magnum S&W from its holster\u2014and failing. The Bianchi security holster that the officer had recently and wisely switched to had done its job, buying enough time for fellow officers to successfully come to the unconscious cop\u2019s aid.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"114962\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Retention Holsters & Weapon Retention<\/h4>\r\nThe difference between Cases Three and Four came down to one officer having a snatch-resistant security holster and the other not. Having been a weapon-retention instructor since 1980, I strongly feel that anyone carrying a gun needs to know how to defeat disarming attempts. And in terms of hand-to-hand combat, hanging onto the gun with one hand and punching with the other is a frail strategy. History shows that leverage-based techniques, such as the system developed by the great Jim Lindell at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy and the National Law Enforcement Training Center, work better.\r\n\r\nOn the hardware side, a thumb-break holster or the popular BlackHawk SERPA provide a level of retention beyond the simple \u201cgrab-and-go\u201d gun pouch. Safariland offers holsters that offer Level 2 security, meaning two retention elements have to be defeated before the gun can be drawn. A pistol with a manual safety that\u2019s carried \u201con safe\u201d can be considered one level of retention all by itself.\r\n
More Concerns<\/h4>\r\nAnother peril of open carry is illustrated in Case Five<\/strong>, which was detailed on my friend Tom Gresham\u2019s Gun Talk<\/em> radio show. An open-carry citizen lived next door to a man who made it his mission in life to harass his neighbors. One day, that man engaged him in a yelling match. The citizen wisely disengaged. However, having seen the pistol carried openly\u2014and being able to describe it and the holster\u2014the psycho neighbor called in a false complaint, saying the good guy pulled the gun on him and threatened him with it. The criminal justice system eventually sorted the matter out in the good guy\u2019s favor. But it was an expensive and stressful lesson: The falsifier\u2019s description of the easily visible gun and holster he was wearing made his lies initially more credible.\r\n\r\nLast year, I served as an expert witness for the defendant in Case Six.<\/strong> In it, a man had been walking his dog in front of his house. Then a big, careless bicyclist almost ran over his pet. He yelled at the man, who stopped, threw his bike down and stomped angrily and aggressively toward the dog owner. The homeowner put his hand on the Glock he carried openly and loosened it in the holster. The aggressor got the idea and backed off. But he called the police to say that the homeowner had pulled a gun on him for nothing. The homeowner ended up arrested for felony aggravated assault.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"119592\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Negative Connotations Exist<\/h4>\r\nSome good lawyering resulted in the case dismissed. But it provided a lesson: The defendant in Case Six, a regular open carrier; the habit made his neighbors nervous. Some of them said so when police canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses. Their negative impressions of the open-carrying man undoubtedly influence the officers\u2019 decision to arrest and charge.\r\n\r\nLet me be clear: I think open carry should be legal without a permit for any adult with a clean criminal record. It can be a godsend when wind blows the coat open and someone sees an openly carried gun. And someone who overnight became the target of stalkers or death threats would be able to arm himself or herself immediately instead of waiting days, weeks or months going through the process of getting a concealed-carry<\/a> permit.\r\n\r\nHowever, by carrying a gun openly in public now and then just to gauge folks\u2019 responses, I\u2019ve noticed that some people will indeed be alarmed by seeing my firearm. Open carry is not yet the norm in the U.S. An aberration of the norm involving a deadly weapon has the potential to draw unwelcome attention from criminals, cops and the general public alike. It\u2019s why the cardinal rule should be \u201cOpen carry if you must, but do so responsibly and be aware of the pitfalls.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis article is from the November-December 2019 issue of Combat Handguns magazine. Grab your copy at <\/em>OutdoorGroupStore.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/strong> For digital editions, visit\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em>","post_title":"6 Real-Life Cases That Highlight the Dangers of Open Carry","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"dangers-of-open-carry","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/10\/18\/dangers-of-open-carry\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":93106,"post_author":"351","post_date":"2019-09-16 09:06:56","post_date_gmt":"2019-09-16 13:06:56","post_content":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7pnhvWXbD1w\n\nWell that escalated quickly. We reported on Sept. 3 that Walmart decided it no longer wanted anyone to open carry in any of its store<\/a>s. A few days later in Kentucky, a man decided to test the water on that new policy. So Walmart called the cops, the issued the man a lifetime ban to all stores nationwide.\n\n[in_content post=\"119664\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\n
Walmart Bans Man Nationwide<\/h3>\nFootage shows several officers respond to the man open carrying in a Lexington, Kentucky Walmart. Police already have stopped the man, and they are assisting Walmart officials in issuing a lifetime ban from all Walmart stores. The open carrier comes across as both shocked and disappointed. The store officials won't even let him buy the items in his cart.\n\n\"Walmart refuses to sell to me,\" the man says.\n\nOne officer finally steps forward and lets out a his frustration over the situation.\n\n\"Do you realize what you've done?\" the officer asks. He says with the recent mass shootings, especially that one happened in a Walmart store, a call such as this requires a response. He points out that seven officers came to this store in response to his open carry. \"We put the entire public at risk to a certain extent every time we do that.\"\n\nBut again, he also points out the man broke no laws.\n\nThis video, in a nutshell, illustrates the divide over open carry, even within the 2A community. By the reaction of those officers, they clearly understand what is happening. The customer, open carrying while being filmed, is most likely doing this for show, to make a point.\n\nAnd one officer, more concerned with carrying out his duties, and the impact on the community, voices his personal and professional concerns. The man broke no laws. The company has a right to ban him. That's it.\n\nWe fully understand the importance of retaining the right to open carry. However, when we see stunts such as these, it's fair to question if they do more harm than good. Time will tell. The headline \"Walmart Bans Man Nationwide,\" might just happen again soon.","post_title":"VIDEO: Walmart Bans Man Nationwide for Open Carry in Store","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"walmart-bans-man-nationwide","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/09\/16\/walmart-bans-man-nationwide\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":false,"total_page":1},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_23"};
Regardless, Subway bowed to the pressure, and folded the tent. \"For the consideration and comfort of restaurant employees and guests,\" the new policy states, \"Subway respectfully requests that guests (other than authorized law enforcement) refrain from openly displaying firearms inside restaurants \u2014 even in states where \u201copen carry\u201d is permitted.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obviously, we support open carry here. But as a community, when folks carry rocket launchers and massive .50-cals into a Subway, we need to expect a reaction. We'll never tell anyone not to do it. Because it's your right where open carry is legal. And maybe that's all we should ever say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subway restaurants just did a thing. The company, pandering to public pressure from the left, changed official corporate policy. Now the sandwich giant asks customers to no longer open carry<\/a> in its stores, even where legal.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Subway Asks Customers to Stop Open Carry in Restaurants","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"subway-open-carry-restaurants","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2020\/07\/10\/subway-open-carry-restaurants\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":92934,"post_author":"249","post_date":"2019-10-18 08:49:30","post_date_gmt":"2019-10-18 12:49:30","post_content":"\r\n\r\nOpen carry, where you wear a handgun visibly, is a controversial issue among law-abiding armed citizens. The practice can deter criminals who might otherwise have carried out violent assaults. Unfortunately, it can also become the motive for a deadly surprise attack on the carrier.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"120106\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\r\n The letter went on to claim \"no person should have to fear gun violence while visiting or working in Subway restaurants.\" Interestingly enough, no gun violence actually got reported from that Subway location on that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless, Subway bowed to the pressure, and folded the tent. \"For the consideration and comfort of restaurant employees and guests,\" the new policy states, \"Subway respectfully requests that guests (other than authorized law enforcement) refrain from openly displaying firearms inside restaurants \u2014 even in states where \u201copen carry\u201d is permitted.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously, we support open carry here. But as a community, when folks carry rocket launchers and massive .50-cals into a Subway, we need to expect a reaction. We'll never tell anyone not to do it. Because it's your right where open carry is legal. And maybe that's all we should ever say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subway restaurants just did a thing. The company, pandering to public pressure from the left, changed official corporate policy. Now the sandwich giant asks customers to no longer open carry<\/a> in its stores, even where legal.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Subway Asks Customers to Stop Open Carry in Restaurants","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"subway-open-carry-restaurants","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2020\/07\/10\/subway-open-carry-restaurants\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":92934,"post_author":"249","post_date":"2019-10-18 08:49:30","post_date_gmt":"2019-10-18 12:49:30","post_content":"\r\n\r\nOpen carry, where you wear a handgun visibly, is a controversial issue among law-abiding armed citizens. The practice can deter criminals who might otherwise have carried out violent assaults. Unfortunately, it can also become the motive for a deadly surprise attack on the carrier.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"120106\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\r\n We write to urge you to prohibit the open carry of firearms in Subway restaurants in Connecticut and across the county. In doing so, you would send a strong message regarding your commitment to the safety of your employees and customers-and all the communities that Subway serves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The letter went on to claim \"no person should have to fear gun violence while visiting or working in Subway restaurants.\" Interestingly enough, no gun violence actually got reported from that Subway location on that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless, Subway bowed to the pressure, and folded the tent. \"For the consideration and comfort of restaurant employees and guests,\" the new policy states, \"Subway respectfully requests that guests (other than authorized law enforcement) refrain from openly displaying firearms inside restaurants \u2014 even in states where \u201copen carry\u201d is permitted.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously, we support open carry here. But as a community, when folks carry rocket launchers and massive .50-cals into a Subway, we need to expect a reaction. We'll never tell anyone not to do it. Because it's your right where open carry is legal. And maybe that's all we should ever say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subway restaurants just did a thing. The company, pandering to public pressure from the left, changed official corporate policy. Now the sandwich giant asks customers to no longer open carry<\/a> in its stores, even where legal.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Subway Asks Customers to Stop Open Carry in Restaurants","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"subway-open-carry-restaurants","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2020\/07\/10\/subway-open-carry-restaurants\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":92934,"post_author":"249","post_date":"2019-10-18 08:49:30","post_date_gmt":"2019-10-18 12:49:30","post_content":"\r\n\r\nOpen carry, where you wear a handgun visibly, is a controversial issue among law-abiding armed citizens. The practice can deter criminals who might otherwise have carried out violent assaults. Unfortunately, it can also become the motive for a deadly surprise attack on the carrier.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"120106\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\r\n After images of the day went viral, a couple of senators predictably jumped at the opportunity. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy wrote a letter to Subway CEO John Chidsey<\/a>. In it, they implored to the executive:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We write to urge you to prohibit the open carry of firearms in Subway restaurants in Connecticut and across the county. In doing so, you would send a strong message regarding your commitment to the safety of your employees and customers-and all the communities that Subway serves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The letter went on to claim \"no person should have to fear gun violence while visiting or working in Subway restaurants.\" Interestingly enough, no gun violence actually got reported from that Subway location on that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless, Subway bowed to the pressure, and folded the tent. \"For the consideration and comfort of restaurant employees and guests,\" the new policy states, \"Subway respectfully requests that guests (other than authorized law enforcement) refrain from openly displaying firearms inside restaurants \u2014 even in states where \u201copen carry\u201d is permitted.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously, we support open carry here. But as a community, when folks carry rocket launchers and massive .50-cals into a Subway, we need to expect a reaction. We'll never tell anyone not to do it. Because it's your right where open carry is legal. And maybe that's all we should ever say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subway restaurants just did a thing. The company, pandering to public pressure from the left, changed official corporate policy. Now the sandwich giant asks customers to no longer open carry<\/a> in its stores, even where legal.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Subway Asks Customers to Stop Open Carry in Restaurants","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"subway-open-carry-restaurants","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2020\/07\/10\/subway-open-carry-restaurants\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":92934,"post_author":"249","post_date":"2019-10-18 08:49:30","post_date_gmt":"2019-10-18 12:49:30","post_content":"\r\n\r\nOpen carry, where you wear a handgun visibly, is a controversial issue among law-abiding armed citizens. The practice can deter criminals who might otherwise have carried out violent assaults. Unfortunately, it can also become the motive for a deadly surprise attack on the carrier.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"120106\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\r\n This latest saga all started back in May, when a group protesting COVID-19 measures went into a restaurant in Raleigh, N.C., reported newsobserver.com<\/a>. It caused quite a stir, with many of them \"armed to the teeth,\" so to speak. To be fair, images depict a giant, fake wooden .50-cal and an inert AT4 rocket launcher. So some will assuredly argue this display proved to not be the best use of open carry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After images of the day went viral, a couple of senators predictably jumped at the opportunity. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy wrote a letter to Subway CEO John Chidsey<\/a>. In it, they implored to the executive:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We write to urge you to prohibit the open carry of firearms in Subway restaurants in Connecticut and across the county. In doing so, you would send a strong message regarding your commitment to the safety of your employees and customers-and all the communities that Subway serves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The letter went on to claim \"no person should have to fear gun violence while visiting or working in Subway restaurants.\" Interestingly enough, no gun violence actually got reported from that Subway location on that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless, Subway bowed to the pressure, and folded the tent. \"For the consideration and comfort of restaurant employees and guests,\" the new policy states, \"Subway respectfully requests that guests (other than authorized law enforcement) refrain from openly displaying firearms inside restaurants \u2014 even in states where \u201copen carry\u201d is permitted.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously, we support open carry here. But as a community, when folks carry rocket launchers and massive .50-cals into a Subway, we need to expect a reaction. We'll never tell anyone not to do it. Because it's your right where open carry is legal. And maybe that's all we should ever say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subway restaurants just did a thing. The company, pandering to public pressure from the left, changed official corporate policy. Now the sandwich giant asks customers to no longer open carry<\/a> in its stores, even where legal.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Subway Asks Customers to Stop Open Carry in Restaurants","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"subway-open-carry-restaurants","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2020\/07\/10\/subway-open-carry-restaurants\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":92934,"post_author":"249","post_date":"2019-10-18 08:49:30","post_date_gmt":"2019-10-18 12:49:30","post_content":"\r\n\r\nOpen carry, where you wear a handgun visibly, is a controversial issue among law-abiding armed citizens. The practice can deter criminals who might otherwise have carried out violent assaults. Unfortunately, it can also become the motive for a deadly surprise attack on the carrier.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"120106\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\r\n This latest saga all started back in May, when a group protesting COVID-19 measures went into a restaurant in Raleigh, N.C., reported newsobserver.com<\/a>. It caused quite a stir, with many of them \"armed to the teeth,\" so to speak. To be fair, images depict a giant, fake wooden .50-cal and an inert AT4 rocket launcher. So some will assuredly argue this display proved to not be the best use of open carry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After images of the day went viral, a couple of senators predictably jumped at the opportunity. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy wrote a letter to Subway CEO John Chidsey<\/a>. In it, they implored to the executive:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We write to urge you to prohibit the open carry of firearms in Subway restaurants in Connecticut and across the county. In doing so, you would send a strong message regarding your commitment to the safety of your employees and customers-and all the communities that Subway serves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The letter went on to claim \"no person should have to fear gun violence while visiting or working in Subway restaurants.\" Interestingly enough, no gun violence actually got reported from that Subway location on that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless, Subway bowed to the pressure, and folded the tent. \"For the consideration and comfort of restaurant employees and guests,\" the new policy states, \"Subway respectfully requests that guests (other than authorized law enforcement) refrain from openly displaying firearms inside restaurants \u2014 even in states where \u201copen carry\u201d is permitted.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously, we support open carry here. But as a community, when folks carry rocket launchers and massive .50-cals into a Subway, we need to expect a reaction. We'll never tell anyone not to do it. Because it's your right where open carry is legal. And maybe that's all we should ever say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subway restaurants just did a thing. The company, pandering to public pressure from the left, changed official corporate policy. Now the sandwich giant asks customers to no longer open carry<\/a> in its stores, even where legal.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Subway Asks Customers to Stop Open Carry in Restaurants","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"subway-open-carry-restaurants","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2020\/07\/10\/subway-open-carry-restaurants\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":92934,"post_author":"249","post_date":"2019-10-18 08:49:30","post_date_gmt":"2019-10-18 12:49:30","post_content":"\r\n\r\nOpen carry, where you wear a handgun visibly, is a controversial issue among law-abiding armed citizens. The practice can deter criminals who might otherwise have carried out violent assaults. Unfortunately, it can also become the motive for a deadly surprise attack on the carrier.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"120106\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\r\n Subway restaurants just did a thing. The company, pandering to public pressure from the left, changed official corporate policy. Now Subway asks customers to no longer open carry<\/a> in its stores, even where legal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n This latest saga all started back in May, when a group protesting COVID-19 measures went into a restaurant in Raleigh, N.C., reported newsobserver.com<\/a>. It caused quite a stir, with many of them \"armed to the teeth,\" so to speak. To be fair, images depict a giant, fake wooden .50-cal and an inert AT4 rocket launcher. So some will assuredly argue this display proved to not be the best use of open carry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After images of the day went viral, a couple of senators predictably jumped at the opportunity. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Murphy wrote a letter to Subway CEO John Chidsey<\/a>. In it, they implored to the executive:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We write to urge you to prohibit the open carry of firearms in Subway restaurants in Connecticut and across the county. In doing so, you would send a strong message regarding your commitment to the safety of your employees and customers-and all the communities that Subway serves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The letter went on to claim \"no person should have to fear gun violence while visiting or working in Subway restaurants.\" Interestingly enough, no gun violence actually got reported from that Subway location on that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless, Subway bowed to the pressure, and folded the tent. \"For the consideration and comfort of restaurant employees and guests,\" the new policy states, \"Subway respectfully requests that guests (other than authorized law enforcement) refrain from openly displaying firearms inside restaurants \u2014 even in states where \u201copen carry\u201d is permitted.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously, we support open carry here. But as a community, when folks carry rocket launchers and massive .50-cals into a Subway, we need to expect a reaction. We'll never tell anyone not to do it. Because it's your right where open carry is legal. And maybe that's all we should ever say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subway restaurants just did a thing. The company, pandering to public pressure from the left, changed official corporate policy. Now the sandwich giant asks customers to no longer open carry<\/a> in its stores, even where legal.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Subway Asks Customers to Stop Open Carry in Restaurants","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"subway-open-carry-restaurants","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:33:28","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2020\/07\/10\/subway-open-carry-restaurants\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":92934,"post_author":"249","post_date":"2019-10-18 08:49:30","post_date_gmt":"2019-10-18 12:49:30","post_content":"\r\n\r\nOpen carry, where you wear a handgun visibly, is a controversial issue among law-abiding armed citizens. The practice can deter criminals who might otherwise have carried out violent assaults. Unfortunately, it can also become the motive for a deadly surprise attack on the carrier.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"120106\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\r\n Boebert hails from Rifle, Colo., where she operates The Shooters Grill. She and her wait staff are known for open carrying while serving diners there. In any sense, gun owners likely have a 2A friend headed to Washington in Boebert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"Not only do I support members of Congress carrying a firearm, I believe every American has that right,\" said Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). \"I will work every day to end ALL gun free zones.\" <\/p>\n\n\n\n Boebert hails from Rifle, Colo., where she operates The Shooters Grill. She and her wait staff are known for open carrying while serving diners there. In any sense, gun owners likely have a 2A friend headed to Washington in Boebert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) put in plainly, members of Congress face uncertain threats. \"As soon as you leave the Capitol property, you are a target,\" Massie told NBC News. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"Not only do I support members of Congress carrying a firearm, I believe every American has that right,\" said Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). \"I will work every day to end ALL gun free zones.\" <\/p>\n\n\n\n Boebert hails from Rifle, Colo., where she operates The Shooters Grill. She and her wait staff are known for open carrying while serving diners there. In any sense, gun owners likely have a 2A friend headed to Washington in Boebert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"Members could have a loaded AK47 sitting on their desk and no one would ever do anything about it,\" Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) complained, reported NBC News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) put in plainly, members of Congress face uncertain threats. \"As soon as you leave the Capitol property, you are a target,\" Massie told NBC News. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \"Not only do I support members of Congress carrying a firearm, I believe every American has that right,\" said Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). \"I will work every day to end ALL gun free zones.\" <\/p>\n\n\n\n Boebert hails from Rifle, Colo., where she operates The Shooters Grill. She and her wait staff are known for open carrying while serving diners there. In any sense, gun owners likely have a 2A friend headed to Washington in Boebert. <\/p>\n\n\n\nDangers of Open Carry<\/h2>\r\nOpen-carry advocates at frontiercarry.org are honest and share the dangers with their fellow enthusiasts. They speak of what I\u2019ll call Case One <\/strong>here in Phoenix, Arizona. The victim in question had a handgun obviously protruding out of one pocket. An opportunistic thug simply jogged up to him, grabbed the gun and ran off with it.\r\n\r\nOne might argue, \u201cNo one was shot or killed in that incident, so it\u2019s irrelevant.\u201d But I think that such a situation, where a law-abiding gun owner was rendered helpless and left at the mercy of a thug who could use the handgun to claim other victims later, is totally relevant to our discussion.\r\n\r\nCase One might have ended up as Case Two <\/strong>actually did. Back in 2011, a man at a gas station convenience store in Richmond, Virginia, was carrying his handgun openly when a teenager snuck up behind him, snatched the weapon from the holster of the armed citizen and ran. The citizen chased him on foot. The young offender then shot him dead with his own gun, left the scene and subsequently murdered another innocent victim with the stolen weapon. Finally captured, the perpetrator was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to decades in prison. This was cold comfort to the grieving survivors of his two murder victims.\r\n
Cop Comparisons<\/h4>\r\nSome open-carry advocates say, \u201cBad guys will be too scared of our guns to do that to us. That\u2019s why they don\u2019t sneak up on cops and grab their pistols. They only disarm cops when struggling with them during an arrest.\u201d Au contraire<\/em>. When he was still a street cop in Texas, an old friend of mine became Case Three <\/strong>while he was walking his beat and suddenly felt a blinding impact before everything went black. He awoke face down on the sidewalk with a monster headache and an empty holster. Reconstruction showed that his attacker had come up behind him and smashed him in the head with a piece of lumber, then easily retrieved his handgun from its simple safety-strap holster.\r\n\r\nContrast that with Case Four<\/strong>, an incident in which another old friend was fingerprinting a compliant arrestee when he turned his head away just long enough for the offender to grab a blunt object and smash it into the cop\u2019s skull, knocking him unconscious. Other officers present saw the man desperately trying to get the officer\u2019s .44 Magnum S&W from its holster\u2014and failing. The Bianchi security holster that the officer had recently and wisely switched to had done its job, buying enough time for fellow officers to successfully come to the unconscious cop\u2019s aid.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"114962\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Retention Holsters & Weapon Retention<\/h4>\r\nThe difference between Cases Three and Four came down to one officer having a snatch-resistant security holster and the other not. Having been a weapon-retention instructor since 1980, I strongly feel that anyone carrying a gun needs to know how to defeat disarming attempts. And in terms of hand-to-hand combat, hanging onto the gun with one hand and punching with the other is a frail strategy. History shows that leverage-based techniques, such as the system developed by the great Jim Lindell at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy and the National Law Enforcement Training Center, work better.\r\n\r\nOn the hardware side, a thumb-break holster or the popular BlackHawk SERPA provide a level of retention beyond the simple \u201cgrab-and-go\u201d gun pouch. Safariland offers holsters that offer Level 2 security, meaning two retention elements have to be defeated before the gun can be drawn. A pistol with a manual safety that\u2019s carried \u201con safe\u201d can be considered one level of retention all by itself.\r\n
More Concerns<\/h4>\r\nAnother peril of open carry is illustrated in Case Five<\/strong>, which was detailed on my friend Tom Gresham\u2019s Gun Talk<\/em> radio show. An open-carry citizen lived next door to a man who made it his mission in life to harass his neighbors. One day, that man engaged him in a yelling match. The citizen wisely disengaged. However, having seen the pistol carried openly\u2014and being able to describe it and the holster\u2014the psycho neighbor called in a false complaint, saying the good guy pulled the gun on him and threatened him with it. The criminal justice system eventually sorted the matter out in the good guy\u2019s favor. But it was an expensive and stressful lesson: The falsifier\u2019s description of the easily visible gun and holster he was wearing made his lies initially more credible.\r\n\r\nLast year, I served as an expert witness for the defendant in Case Six.<\/strong> In it, a man had been walking his dog in front of his house. Then a big, careless bicyclist almost ran over his pet. He yelled at the man, who stopped, threw his bike down and stomped angrily and aggressively toward the dog owner. The homeowner put his hand on the Glock he carried openly and loosened it in the holster. The aggressor got the idea and backed off. But he called the police to say that the homeowner had pulled a gun on him for nothing. The homeowner ended up arrested for felony aggravated assault.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"119592\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Negative Connotations Exist<\/h4>\r\nSome good lawyering resulted in the case dismissed. But it provided a lesson: The defendant in Case Six, a regular open carrier; the habit made his neighbors nervous. Some of them said so when police canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses. Their negative impressions of the open-carrying man undoubtedly influence the officers\u2019 decision to arrest and charge.\r\n\r\nLet me be clear: I think open carry should be legal without a permit for any adult with a clean criminal record. It can be a godsend when wind blows the coat open and someone sees an openly carried gun. And someone who overnight became the target of stalkers or death threats would be able to arm himself or herself immediately instead of waiting days, weeks or months going through the process of getting a concealed-carry<\/a> permit.\r\n\r\nHowever, by carrying a gun openly in public now and then just to gauge folks\u2019 responses, I\u2019ve noticed that some people will indeed be alarmed by seeing my firearm. Open carry is not yet the norm in the U.S. An aberration of the norm involving a deadly weapon has the potential to draw unwelcome attention from criminals, cops and the general public alike. It\u2019s why the cardinal rule should be \u201cOpen carry if you must, but do so responsibly and be aware of the pitfalls.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis article is from the November-December 2019 issue of Combat Handguns magazine. Grab your copy at <\/em>OutdoorGroupStore.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/strong> For digital editions, visit\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em>","post_title":"6 Real-Life Cases That Highlight the Dangers of Open Carry","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"dangers-of-open-carry","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/10\/18\/dangers-of-open-carry\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":93106,"post_author":"351","post_date":"2019-09-16 09:06:56","post_date_gmt":"2019-09-16 13:06:56","post_content":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7pnhvWXbD1w\n\nWell that escalated quickly. We reported on Sept. 3 that Walmart decided it no longer wanted anyone to open carry in any of its store<\/a>s. A few days later in Kentucky, a man decided to test the water on that new policy. So Walmart called the cops, the issued the man a lifetime ban to all stores nationwide.\n\n[in_content post=\"119664\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\n
Walmart Bans Man Nationwide<\/h3>\nFootage shows several officers respond to the man open carrying in a Lexington, Kentucky Walmart. Police already have stopped the man, and they are assisting Walmart officials in issuing a lifetime ban from all Walmart stores. The open carrier comes across as both shocked and disappointed. The store officials won't even let him buy the items in his cart.\n\n\"Walmart refuses to sell to me,\" the man says.\n\nOne officer finally steps forward and lets out a his frustration over the situation.\n\n\"Do you realize what you've done?\" the officer asks. He says with the recent mass shootings, especially that one happened in a Walmart store, a call such as this requires a response. He points out that seven officers came to this store in response to his open carry. \"We put the entire public at risk to a certain extent every time we do that.\"\n\nBut again, he also points out the man broke no laws.\n\nThis video, in a nutshell, illustrates the divide over open carry, even within the 2A community. By the reaction of those officers, they clearly understand what is happening. The customer, open carrying while being filmed, is most likely doing this for show, to make a point.\n\nAnd one officer, more concerned with carrying out his duties, and the impact on the community, voices his personal and professional concerns. The man broke no laws. The company has a right to ban him. That's it.\n\nWe fully understand the importance of retaining the right to open carry. However, when we see stunts such as these, it's fair to question if they do more harm than good. Time will tell. The headline \"Walmart Bans Man Nationwide,\" might just happen again soon.","post_title":"VIDEO: Walmart Bans Man Nationwide for Open Carry in Store","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"walmart-bans-man-nationwide","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/09\/16\/walmart-bans-man-nationwide\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":false,"total_page":1},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_23"};
BROWSE BY BRAND
Dangers of Open Carry<\/h2>\r\nOpen-carry advocates at frontiercarry.org are honest and share the dangers with their fellow enthusiasts. They speak of what I\u2019ll call Case One <\/strong>here in Phoenix, Arizona. The victim in question had a handgun obviously protruding out of one pocket. An opportunistic thug simply jogged up to him, grabbed the gun and ran off with it.\r\n\r\nOne might argue, \u201cNo one was shot or killed in that incident, so it\u2019s irrelevant.\u201d But I think that such a situation, where a law-abiding gun owner was rendered helpless and left at the mercy of a thug who could use the handgun to claim other victims later, is totally relevant to our discussion.\r\n\r\nCase One might have ended up as Case Two <\/strong>actually did. Back in 2011, a man at a gas station convenience store in Richmond, Virginia, was carrying his handgun openly when a teenager snuck up behind him, snatched the weapon from the holster of the armed citizen and ran. The citizen chased him on foot. The young offender then shot him dead with his own gun, left the scene and subsequently murdered another innocent victim with the stolen weapon. Finally captured, the perpetrator was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to decades in prison. This was cold comfort to the grieving survivors of his two murder victims.\r\n
Cop Comparisons<\/h4>\r\nSome open-carry advocates say, \u201cBad guys will be too scared of our guns to do that to us. That\u2019s why they don\u2019t sneak up on cops and grab their pistols. They only disarm cops when struggling with them during an arrest.\u201d Au contraire<\/em>. When he was still a street cop in Texas, an old friend of mine became Case Three <\/strong>while he was walking his beat and suddenly felt a blinding impact before everything went black. He awoke face down on the sidewalk with a monster headache and an empty holster. Reconstruction showed that his attacker had come up behind him and smashed him in the head with a piece of lumber, then easily retrieved his handgun from its simple safety-strap holster.\r\n\r\nContrast that with Case Four<\/strong>, an incident in which another old friend was fingerprinting a compliant arrestee when he turned his head away just long enough for the offender to grab a blunt object and smash it into the cop\u2019s skull, knocking him unconscious. Other officers present saw the man desperately trying to get the officer\u2019s .44 Magnum S&W from its holster\u2014and failing. The Bianchi security holster that the officer had recently and wisely switched to had done its job, buying enough time for fellow officers to successfully come to the unconscious cop\u2019s aid.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"114962\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Retention Holsters & Weapon Retention<\/h4>\r\nThe difference between Cases Three and Four came down to one officer having a snatch-resistant security holster and the other not. Having been a weapon-retention instructor since 1980, I strongly feel that anyone carrying a gun needs to know how to defeat disarming attempts. And in terms of hand-to-hand combat, hanging onto the gun with one hand and punching with the other is a frail strategy. History shows that leverage-based techniques, such as the system developed by the great Jim Lindell at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy and the National Law Enforcement Training Center, work better.\r\n\r\nOn the hardware side, a thumb-break holster or the popular BlackHawk SERPA provide a level of retention beyond the simple \u201cgrab-and-go\u201d gun pouch. Safariland offers holsters that offer Level 2 security, meaning two retention elements have to be defeated before the gun can be drawn. A pistol with a manual safety that\u2019s carried \u201con safe\u201d can be considered one level of retention all by itself.\r\n
More Concerns<\/h4>\r\nAnother peril of open carry is illustrated in Case Five<\/strong>, which was detailed on my friend Tom Gresham\u2019s Gun Talk<\/em> radio show. An open-carry citizen lived next door to a man who made it his mission in life to harass his neighbors. One day, that man engaged him in a yelling match. The citizen wisely disengaged. However, having seen the pistol carried openly\u2014and being able to describe it and the holster\u2014the psycho neighbor called in a false complaint, saying the good guy pulled the gun on him and threatened him with it. The criminal justice system eventually sorted the matter out in the good guy\u2019s favor. But it was an expensive and stressful lesson: The falsifier\u2019s description of the easily visible gun and holster he was wearing made his lies initially more credible.\r\n\r\nLast year, I served as an expert witness for the defendant in Case Six.<\/strong> In it, a man had been walking his dog in front of his house. Then a big, careless bicyclist almost ran over his pet. He yelled at the man, who stopped, threw his bike down and stomped angrily and aggressively toward the dog owner. The homeowner put his hand on the Glock he carried openly and loosened it in the holster. The aggressor got the idea and backed off. But he called the police to say that the homeowner had pulled a gun on him for nothing. The homeowner ended up arrested for felony aggravated assault.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"119592\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Negative Connotations Exist<\/h4>\r\nSome good lawyering resulted in the case dismissed. But it provided a lesson: The defendant in Case Six, a regular open carrier; the habit made his neighbors nervous. Some of them said so when police canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses. Their negative impressions of the open-carrying man undoubtedly influence the officers\u2019 decision to arrest and charge.\r\n\r\nLet me be clear: I think open carry should be legal without a permit for any adult with a clean criminal record. It can be a godsend when wind blows the coat open and someone sees an openly carried gun. And someone who overnight became the target of stalkers or death threats would be able to arm himself or herself immediately instead of waiting days, weeks or months going through the process of getting a concealed-carry<\/a> permit.\r\n\r\nHowever, by carrying a gun openly in public now and then just to gauge folks\u2019 responses, I\u2019ve noticed that some people will indeed be alarmed by seeing my firearm. Open carry is not yet the norm in the U.S. An aberration of the norm involving a deadly weapon has the potential to draw unwelcome attention from criminals, cops and the general public alike. It\u2019s why the cardinal rule should be \u201cOpen carry if you must, but do so responsibly and be aware of the pitfalls.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis article is from the November-December 2019 issue of Combat Handguns magazine. Grab your copy at <\/em>OutdoorGroupStore.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/strong> For digital editions, visit\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em>","post_title":"6 Real-Life Cases That Highlight the Dangers of Open Carry","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"dangers-of-open-carry","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/10\/18\/dangers-of-open-carry\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":93106,"post_author":"351","post_date":"2019-09-16 09:06:56","post_date_gmt":"2019-09-16 13:06:56","post_content":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7pnhvWXbD1w\n\nWell that escalated quickly. We reported on Sept. 3 that Walmart decided it no longer wanted anyone to open carry in any of its store<\/a>s. A few days later in Kentucky, a man decided to test the water on that new policy. So Walmart called the cops, the issued the man a lifetime ban to all stores nationwide.\n\n[in_content post=\"119664\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\n
Walmart Bans Man Nationwide<\/h3>\nFootage shows several officers respond to the man open carrying in a Lexington, Kentucky Walmart. Police already have stopped the man, and they are assisting Walmart officials in issuing a lifetime ban from all Walmart stores. The open carrier comes across as both shocked and disappointed. The store officials won't even let him buy the items in his cart.\n\n\"Walmart refuses to sell to me,\" the man says.\n\nOne officer finally steps forward and lets out a his frustration over the situation.\n\n\"Do you realize what you've done?\" the officer asks. He says with the recent mass shootings, especially that one happened in a Walmart store, a call such as this requires a response. He points out that seven officers came to this store in response to his open carry. \"We put the entire public at risk to a certain extent every time we do that.\"\n\nBut again, he also points out the man broke no laws.\n\nThis video, in a nutshell, illustrates the divide over open carry, even within the 2A community. By the reaction of those officers, they clearly understand what is happening. The customer, open carrying while being filmed, is most likely doing this for show, to make a point.\n\nAnd one officer, more concerned with carrying out his duties, and the impact on the community, voices his personal and professional concerns. The man broke no laws. The company has a right to ban him. That's it.\n\nWe fully understand the importance of retaining the right to open carry. However, when we see stunts such as these, it's fair to question if they do more harm than good. Time will tell. The headline \"Walmart Bans Man Nationwide,\" might just happen again soon.","post_title":"VIDEO: Walmart Bans Man Nationwide for Open Carry in Store","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"walmart-bans-man-nationwide","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/09\/16\/walmart-bans-man-nationwide\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":false,"total_page":1},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_23"};
BROWSE BY BRAND
Dangers of Open Carry<\/h2>\r\nOpen-carry advocates at frontiercarry.org are honest and share the dangers with their fellow enthusiasts. They speak of what I\u2019ll call Case One <\/strong>here in Phoenix, Arizona. The victim in question had a handgun obviously protruding out of one pocket. An opportunistic thug simply jogged up to him, grabbed the gun and ran off with it.\r\n\r\nOne might argue, \u201cNo one was shot or killed in that incident, so it\u2019s irrelevant.\u201d But I think that such a situation, where a law-abiding gun owner was rendered helpless and left at the mercy of a thug who could use the handgun to claim other victims later, is totally relevant to our discussion.\r\n\r\nCase One might have ended up as Case Two <\/strong>actually did. Back in 2011, a man at a gas station convenience store in Richmond, Virginia, was carrying his handgun openly when a teenager snuck up behind him, snatched the weapon from the holster of the armed citizen and ran. The citizen chased him on foot. The young offender then shot him dead with his own gun, left the scene and subsequently murdered another innocent victim with the stolen weapon. Finally captured, the perpetrator was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to decades in prison. This was cold comfort to the grieving survivors of his two murder victims.\r\n
Cop Comparisons<\/h4>\r\nSome open-carry advocates say, \u201cBad guys will be too scared of our guns to do that to us. That\u2019s why they don\u2019t sneak up on cops and grab their pistols. They only disarm cops when struggling with them during an arrest.\u201d Au contraire<\/em>. When he was still a street cop in Texas, an old friend of mine became Case Three <\/strong>while he was walking his beat and suddenly felt a blinding impact before everything went black. He awoke face down on the sidewalk with a monster headache and an empty holster. Reconstruction showed that his attacker had come up behind him and smashed him in the head with a piece of lumber, then easily retrieved his handgun from its simple safety-strap holster.\r\n\r\nContrast that with Case Four<\/strong>, an incident in which another old friend was fingerprinting a compliant arrestee when he turned his head away just long enough for the offender to grab a blunt object and smash it into the cop\u2019s skull, knocking him unconscious. Other officers present saw the man desperately trying to get the officer\u2019s .44 Magnum S&W from its holster\u2014and failing. The Bianchi security holster that the officer had recently and wisely switched to had done its job, buying enough time for fellow officers to successfully come to the unconscious cop\u2019s aid.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"114962\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Retention Holsters & Weapon Retention<\/h4>\r\nThe difference between Cases Three and Four came down to one officer having a snatch-resistant security holster and the other not. Having been a weapon-retention instructor since 1980, I strongly feel that anyone carrying a gun needs to know how to defeat disarming attempts. And in terms of hand-to-hand combat, hanging onto the gun with one hand and punching with the other is a frail strategy. History shows that leverage-based techniques, such as the system developed by the great Jim Lindell at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy and the National Law Enforcement Training Center, work better.\r\n\r\nOn the hardware side, a thumb-break holster or the popular BlackHawk SERPA provide a level of retention beyond the simple \u201cgrab-and-go\u201d gun pouch. Safariland offers holsters that offer Level 2 security, meaning two retention elements have to be defeated before the gun can be drawn. A pistol with a manual safety that\u2019s carried \u201con safe\u201d can be considered one level of retention all by itself.\r\n
More Concerns<\/h4>\r\nAnother peril of open carry is illustrated in Case Five<\/strong>, which was detailed on my friend Tom Gresham\u2019s Gun Talk<\/em> radio show. An open-carry citizen lived next door to a man who made it his mission in life to harass his neighbors. One day, that man engaged him in a yelling match. The citizen wisely disengaged. However, having seen the pistol carried openly\u2014and being able to describe it and the holster\u2014the psycho neighbor called in a false complaint, saying the good guy pulled the gun on him and threatened him with it. The criminal justice system eventually sorted the matter out in the good guy\u2019s favor. But it was an expensive and stressful lesson: The falsifier\u2019s description of the easily visible gun and holster he was wearing made his lies initially more credible.\r\n\r\nLast year, I served as an expert witness for the defendant in Case Six.<\/strong> In it, a man had been walking his dog in front of his house. Then a big, careless bicyclist almost ran over his pet. He yelled at the man, who stopped, threw his bike down and stomped angrily and aggressively toward the dog owner. The homeowner put his hand on the Glock he carried openly and loosened it in the holster. The aggressor got the idea and backed off. But he called the police to say that the homeowner had pulled a gun on him for nothing. The homeowner ended up arrested for felony aggravated assault.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"119592\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Negative Connotations Exist<\/h4>\r\nSome good lawyering resulted in the case dismissed. But it provided a lesson: The defendant in Case Six, a regular open carrier; the habit made his neighbors nervous. Some of them said so when police canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses. Their negative impressions of the open-carrying man undoubtedly influence the officers\u2019 decision to arrest and charge.\r\n\r\nLet me be clear: I think open carry should be legal without a permit for any adult with a clean criminal record. It can be a godsend when wind blows the coat open and someone sees an openly carried gun. And someone who overnight became the target of stalkers or death threats would be able to arm himself or herself immediately instead of waiting days, weeks or months going through the process of getting a concealed-carry<\/a> permit.\r\n\r\nHowever, by carrying a gun openly in public now and then just to gauge folks\u2019 responses, I\u2019ve noticed that some people will indeed be alarmed by seeing my firearm. Open carry is not yet the norm in the U.S. An aberration of the norm involving a deadly weapon has the potential to draw unwelcome attention from criminals, cops and the general public alike. It\u2019s why the cardinal rule should be \u201cOpen carry if you must, but do so responsibly and be aware of the pitfalls.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis article is from the November-December 2019 issue of Combat Handguns magazine. Grab your copy at <\/em>OutdoorGroupStore.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/strong> For digital editions, visit\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em>","post_title":"6 Real-Life Cases That Highlight the Dangers of Open Carry","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"dangers-of-open-carry","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/10\/18\/dangers-of-open-carry\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":93106,"post_author":"351","post_date":"2019-09-16 09:06:56","post_date_gmt":"2019-09-16 13:06:56","post_content":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7pnhvWXbD1w\n\nWell that escalated quickly. We reported on Sept. 3 that Walmart decided it no longer wanted anyone to open carry in any of its store<\/a>s. A few days later in Kentucky, a man decided to test the water on that new policy. So Walmart called the cops, the issued the man a lifetime ban to all stores nationwide.\n\n[in_content post=\"119664\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\n
Walmart Bans Man Nationwide<\/h3>\nFootage shows several officers respond to the man open carrying in a Lexington, Kentucky Walmart. Police already have stopped the man, and they are assisting Walmart officials in issuing a lifetime ban from all Walmart stores. The open carrier comes across as both shocked and disappointed. The store officials won't even let him buy the items in his cart.\n\n\"Walmart refuses to sell to me,\" the man says.\n\nOne officer finally steps forward and lets out a his frustration over the situation.\n\n\"Do you realize what you've done?\" the officer asks. He says with the recent mass shootings, especially that one happened in a Walmart store, a call such as this requires a response. He points out that seven officers came to this store in response to his open carry. \"We put the entire public at risk to a certain extent every time we do that.\"\n\nBut again, he also points out the man broke no laws.\n\nThis video, in a nutshell, illustrates the divide over open carry, even within the 2A community. By the reaction of those officers, they clearly understand what is happening. The customer, open carrying while being filmed, is most likely doing this for show, to make a point.\n\nAnd one officer, more concerned with carrying out his duties, and the impact on the community, voices his personal and professional concerns. The man broke no laws. The company has a right to ban him. That's it.\n\nWe fully understand the importance of retaining the right to open carry. However, when we see stunts such as these, it's fair to question if they do more harm than good. Time will tell. The headline \"Walmart Bans Man Nationwide,\" might just happen again soon.","post_title":"VIDEO: Walmart Bans Man Nationwide for Open Carry in Store","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"walmart-bans-man-nationwide","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/09\/16\/walmart-bans-man-nationwide\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":false,"total_page":1},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_23"};
BROWSE BY BRAND
Dangers of Open Carry<\/h2>\r\nOpen-carry advocates at frontiercarry.org are honest and share the dangers with their fellow enthusiasts. They speak of what I\u2019ll call Case One <\/strong>here in Phoenix, Arizona. The victim in question had a handgun obviously protruding out of one pocket. An opportunistic thug simply jogged up to him, grabbed the gun and ran off with it.\r\n\r\nOne might argue, \u201cNo one was shot or killed in that incident, so it\u2019s irrelevant.\u201d But I think that such a situation, where a law-abiding gun owner was rendered helpless and left at the mercy of a thug who could use the handgun to claim other victims later, is totally relevant to our discussion.\r\n\r\nCase One might have ended up as Case Two <\/strong>actually did. Back in 2011, a man at a gas station convenience store in Richmond, Virginia, was carrying his handgun openly when a teenager snuck up behind him, snatched the weapon from the holster of the armed citizen and ran. The citizen chased him on foot. The young offender then shot him dead with his own gun, left the scene and subsequently murdered another innocent victim with the stolen weapon. Finally captured, the perpetrator was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to decades in prison. This was cold comfort to the grieving survivors of his two murder victims.\r\n
Cop Comparisons<\/h4>\r\nSome open-carry advocates say, \u201cBad guys will be too scared of our guns to do that to us. That\u2019s why they don\u2019t sneak up on cops and grab their pistols. They only disarm cops when struggling with them during an arrest.\u201d Au contraire<\/em>. When he was still a street cop in Texas, an old friend of mine became Case Three <\/strong>while he was walking his beat and suddenly felt a blinding impact before everything went black. He awoke face down on the sidewalk with a monster headache and an empty holster. Reconstruction showed that his attacker had come up behind him and smashed him in the head with a piece of lumber, then easily retrieved his handgun from its simple safety-strap holster.\r\n\r\nContrast that with Case Four<\/strong>, an incident in which another old friend was fingerprinting a compliant arrestee when he turned his head away just long enough for the offender to grab a blunt object and smash it into the cop\u2019s skull, knocking him unconscious. Other officers present saw the man desperately trying to get the officer\u2019s .44 Magnum S&W from its holster\u2014and failing. The Bianchi security holster that the officer had recently and wisely switched to had done its job, buying enough time for fellow officers to successfully come to the unconscious cop\u2019s aid.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"114962\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Retention Holsters & Weapon Retention<\/h4>\r\nThe difference between Cases Three and Four came down to one officer having a snatch-resistant security holster and the other not. Having been a weapon-retention instructor since 1980, I strongly feel that anyone carrying a gun needs to know how to defeat disarming attempts. And in terms of hand-to-hand combat, hanging onto the gun with one hand and punching with the other is a frail strategy. History shows that leverage-based techniques, such as the system developed by the great Jim Lindell at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy and the National Law Enforcement Training Center, work better.\r\n\r\nOn the hardware side, a thumb-break holster or the popular BlackHawk SERPA provide a level of retention beyond the simple \u201cgrab-and-go\u201d gun pouch. Safariland offers holsters that offer Level 2 security, meaning two retention elements have to be defeated before the gun can be drawn. A pistol with a manual safety that\u2019s carried \u201con safe\u201d can be considered one level of retention all by itself.\r\n
More Concerns<\/h4>\r\nAnother peril of open carry is illustrated in Case Five<\/strong>, which was detailed on my friend Tom Gresham\u2019s Gun Talk<\/em> radio show. An open-carry citizen lived next door to a man who made it his mission in life to harass his neighbors. One day, that man engaged him in a yelling match. The citizen wisely disengaged. However, having seen the pistol carried openly\u2014and being able to describe it and the holster\u2014the psycho neighbor called in a false complaint, saying the good guy pulled the gun on him and threatened him with it. The criminal justice system eventually sorted the matter out in the good guy\u2019s favor. But it was an expensive and stressful lesson: The falsifier\u2019s description of the easily visible gun and holster he was wearing made his lies initially more credible.\r\n\r\nLast year, I served as an expert witness for the defendant in Case Six.<\/strong> In it, a man had been walking his dog in front of his house. Then a big, careless bicyclist almost ran over his pet. He yelled at the man, who stopped, threw his bike down and stomped angrily and aggressively toward the dog owner. The homeowner put his hand on the Glock he carried openly and loosened it in the holster. The aggressor got the idea and backed off. But he called the police to say that the homeowner had pulled a gun on him for nothing. The homeowner ended up arrested for felony aggravated assault.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"119592\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Negative Connotations Exist<\/h4>\r\nSome good lawyering resulted in the case dismissed. But it provided a lesson: The defendant in Case Six, a regular open carrier; the habit made his neighbors nervous. Some of them said so when police canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses. Their negative impressions of the open-carrying man undoubtedly influence the officers\u2019 decision to arrest and charge.\r\n\r\nLet me be clear: I think open carry should be legal without a permit for any adult with a clean criminal record. It can be a godsend when wind blows the coat open and someone sees an openly carried gun. And someone who overnight became the target of stalkers or death threats would be able to arm himself or herself immediately instead of waiting days, weeks or months going through the process of getting a concealed-carry<\/a> permit.\r\n\r\nHowever, by carrying a gun openly in public now and then just to gauge folks\u2019 responses, I\u2019ve noticed that some people will indeed be alarmed by seeing my firearm. Open carry is not yet the norm in the U.S. An aberration of the norm involving a deadly weapon has the potential to draw unwelcome attention from criminals, cops and the general public alike. It\u2019s why the cardinal rule should be \u201cOpen carry if you must, but do so responsibly and be aware of the pitfalls.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis article is from the November-December 2019 issue of Combat Handguns magazine. Grab your copy at <\/em>OutdoorGroupStore.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/strong> For digital editions, visit\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em>","post_title":"6 Real-Life Cases That Highlight the Dangers of Open Carry","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"dangers-of-open-carry","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/10\/18\/dangers-of-open-carry\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":93106,"post_author":"351","post_date":"2019-09-16 09:06:56","post_date_gmt":"2019-09-16 13:06:56","post_content":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7pnhvWXbD1w\n\nWell that escalated quickly. We reported on Sept. 3 that Walmart decided it no longer wanted anyone to open carry in any of its store<\/a>s. A few days later in Kentucky, a man decided to test the water on that new policy. So Walmart called the cops, the issued the man a lifetime ban to all stores nationwide.\n\n[in_content post=\"119664\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\n
Walmart Bans Man Nationwide<\/h3>\nFootage shows several officers respond to the man open carrying in a Lexington, Kentucky Walmart. Police already have stopped the man, and they are assisting Walmart officials in issuing a lifetime ban from all Walmart stores. The open carrier comes across as both shocked and disappointed. The store officials won't even let him buy the items in his cart.\n\n\"Walmart refuses to sell to me,\" the man says.\n\nOne officer finally steps forward and lets out a his frustration over the situation.\n\n\"Do you realize what you've done?\" the officer asks. He says with the recent mass shootings, especially that one happened in a Walmart store, a call such as this requires a response. He points out that seven officers came to this store in response to his open carry. \"We put the entire public at risk to a certain extent every time we do that.\"\n\nBut again, he also points out the man broke no laws.\n\nThis video, in a nutshell, illustrates the divide over open carry, even within the 2A community. By the reaction of those officers, they clearly understand what is happening. The customer, open carrying while being filmed, is most likely doing this for show, to make a point.\n\nAnd one officer, more concerned with carrying out his duties, and the impact on the community, voices his personal and professional concerns. The man broke no laws. The company has a right to ban him. That's it.\n\nWe fully understand the importance of retaining the right to open carry. However, when we see stunts such as these, it's fair to question if they do more harm than good. Time will tell. The headline \"Walmart Bans Man Nationwide,\" might just happen again soon.","post_title":"VIDEO: Walmart Bans Man Nationwide for Open Carry in Store","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"walmart-bans-man-nationwide","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/09\/16\/walmart-bans-man-nationwide\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":false,"total_page":1},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_23"};
BROWSE BY BRAND
Dangers of Open Carry<\/h2>\r\nOpen-carry advocates at frontiercarry.org are honest and share the dangers with their fellow enthusiasts. They speak of what I\u2019ll call Case One <\/strong>here in Phoenix, Arizona. The victim in question had a handgun obviously protruding out of one pocket. An opportunistic thug simply jogged up to him, grabbed the gun and ran off with it.\r\n\r\nOne might argue, \u201cNo one was shot or killed in that incident, so it\u2019s irrelevant.\u201d But I think that such a situation, where a law-abiding gun owner was rendered helpless and left at the mercy of a thug who could use the handgun to claim other victims later, is totally relevant to our discussion.\r\n\r\nCase One might have ended up as Case Two <\/strong>actually did. Back in 2011, a man at a gas station convenience store in Richmond, Virginia, was carrying his handgun openly when a teenager snuck up behind him, snatched the weapon from the holster of the armed citizen and ran. The citizen chased him on foot. The young offender then shot him dead with his own gun, left the scene and subsequently murdered another innocent victim with the stolen weapon. Finally captured, the perpetrator was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to decades in prison. This was cold comfort to the grieving survivors of his two murder victims.\r\n
Cop Comparisons<\/h4>\r\nSome open-carry advocates say, \u201cBad guys will be too scared of our guns to do that to us. That\u2019s why they don\u2019t sneak up on cops and grab their pistols. They only disarm cops when struggling with them during an arrest.\u201d Au contraire<\/em>. When he was still a street cop in Texas, an old friend of mine became Case Three <\/strong>while he was walking his beat and suddenly felt a blinding impact before everything went black. He awoke face down on the sidewalk with a monster headache and an empty holster. Reconstruction showed that his attacker had come up behind him and smashed him in the head with a piece of lumber, then easily retrieved his handgun from its simple safety-strap holster.\r\n\r\nContrast that with Case Four<\/strong>, an incident in which another old friend was fingerprinting a compliant arrestee when he turned his head away just long enough for the offender to grab a blunt object and smash it into the cop\u2019s skull, knocking him unconscious. Other officers present saw the man desperately trying to get the officer\u2019s .44 Magnum S&W from its holster\u2014and failing. The Bianchi security holster that the officer had recently and wisely switched to had done its job, buying enough time for fellow officers to successfully come to the unconscious cop\u2019s aid.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"114962\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Retention Holsters & Weapon Retention<\/h4>\r\nThe difference between Cases Three and Four came down to one officer having a snatch-resistant security holster and the other not. Having been a weapon-retention instructor since 1980, I strongly feel that anyone carrying a gun needs to know how to defeat disarming attempts. And in terms of hand-to-hand combat, hanging onto the gun with one hand and punching with the other is a frail strategy. History shows that leverage-based techniques, such as the system developed by the great Jim Lindell at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy and the National Law Enforcement Training Center, work better.\r\n\r\nOn the hardware side, a thumb-break holster or the popular BlackHawk SERPA provide a level of retention beyond the simple \u201cgrab-and-go\u201d gun pouch. Safariland offers holsters that offer Level 2 security, meaning two retention elements have to be defeated before the gun can be drawn. A pistol with a manual safety that\u2019s carried \u201con safe\u201d can be considered one level of retention all by itself.\r\n
More Concerns<\/h4>\r\nAnother peril of open carry is illustrated in Case Five<\/strong>, which was detailed on my friend Tom Gresham\u2019s Gun Talk<\/em> radio show. An open-carry citizen lived next door to a man who made it his mission in life to harass his neighbors. One day, that man engaged him in a yelling match. The citizen wisely disengaged. However, having seen the pistol carried openly\u2014and being able to describe it and the holster\u2014the psycho neighbor called in a false complaint, saying the good guy pulled the gun on him and threatened him with it. The criminal justice system eventually sorted the matter out in the good guy\u2019s favor. But it was an expensive and stressful lesson: The falsifier\u2019s description of the easily visible gun and holster he was wearing made his lies initially more credible.\r\n\r\nLast year, I served as an expert witness for the defendant in Case Six.<\/strong> In it, a man had been walking his dog in front of his house. Then a big, careless bicyclist almost ran over his pet. He yelled at the man, who stopped, threw his bike down and stomped angrily and aggressively toward the dog owner. The homeowner put his hand on the Glock he carried openly and loosened it in the holster. The aggressor got the idea and backed off. But he called the police to say that the homeowner had pulled a gun on him for nothing. The homeowner ended up arrested for felony aggravated assault.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"119592\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Negative Connotations Exist<\/h4>\r\nSome good lawyering resulted in the case dismissed. But it provided a lesson: The defendant in Case Six, a regular open carrier; the habit made his neighbors nervous. Some of them said so when police canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses. Their negative impressions of the open-carrying man undoubtedly influence the officers\u2019 decision to arrest and charge.\r\n\r\nLet me be clear: I think open carry should be legal without a permit for any adult with a clean criminal record. It can be a godsend when wind blows the coat open and someone sees an openly carried gun. And someone who overnight became the target of stalkers or death threats would be able to arm himself or herself immediately instead of waiting days, weeks or months going through the process of getting a concealed-carry<\/a> permit.\r\n\r\nHowever, by carrying a gun openly in public now and then just to gauge folks\u2019 responses, I\u2019ve noticed that some people will indeed be alarmed by seeing my firearm. Open carry is not yet the norm in the U.S. An aberration of the norm involving a deadly weapon has the potential to draw unwelcome attention from criminals, cops and the general public alike. It\u2019s why the cardinal rule should be \u201cOpen carry if you must, but do so responsibly and be aware of the pitfalls.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis article is from the November-December 2019 issue of Combat Handguns magazine. Grab your copy at <\/em>OutdoorGroupStore.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/strong> For digital editions, visit\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em>","post_title":"6 Real-Life Cases That Highlight the Dangers of Open Carry","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"dangers-of-open-carry","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/10\/18\/dangers-of-open-carry\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":93106,"post_author":"351","post_date":"2019-09-16 09:06:56","post_date_gmt":"2019-09-16 13:06:56","post_content":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7pnhvWXbD1w\n\nWell that escalated quickly. We reported on Sept. 3 that Walmart decided it no longer wanted anyone to open carry in any of its store<\/a>s. A few days later in Kentucky, a man decided to test the water on that new policy. So Walmart called the cops, the issued the man a lifetime ban to all stores nationwide.\n\n[in_content post=\"119664\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\n
Walmart Bans Man Nationwide<\/h3>\nFootage shows several officers respond to the man open carrying in a Lexington, Kentucky Walmart. Police already have stopped the man, and they are assisting Walmart officials in issuing a lifetime ban from all Walmart stores. The open carrier comes across as both shocked and disappointed. The store officials won't even let him buy the items in his cart.\n\n\"Walmart refuses to sell to me,\" the man says.\n\nOne officer finally steps forward and lets out a his frustration over the situation.\n\n\"Do you realize what you've done?\" the officer asks. He says with the recent mass shootings, especially that one happened in a Walmart store, a call such as this requires a response. He points out that seven officers came to this store in response to his open carry. \"We put the entire public at risk to a certain extent every time we do that.\"\n\nBut again, he also points out the man broke no laws.\n\nThis video, in a nutshell, illustrates the divide over open carry, even within the 2A community. By the reaction of those officers, they clearly understand what is happening. The customer, open carrying while being filmed, is most likely doing this for show, to make a point.\n\nAnd one officer, more concerned with carrying out his duties, and the impact on the community, voices his personal and professional concerns. The man broke no laws. The company has a right to ban him. That's it.\n\nWe fully understand the importance of retaining the right to open carry. However, when we see stunts such as these, it's fair to question if they do more harm than good. Time will tell. The headline \"Walmart Bans Man Nationwide,\" might just happen again soon.","post_title":"VIDEO: Walmart Bans Man Nationwide for Open Carry in Store","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"walmart-bans-man-nationwide","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/09\/16\/walmart-bans-man-nationwide\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":false,"total_page":1},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_23"};
BROWSE BY BRAND
Subway and Open Carry<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Dangers of Open Carry<\/h2>\r\nOpen-carry advocates at frontiercarry.org are honest and share the dangers with their fellow enthusiasts. They speak of what I\u2019ll call Case One <\/strong>here in Phoenix, Arizona. The victim in question had a handgun obviously protruding out of one pocket. An opportunistic thug simply jogged up to him, grabbed the gun and ran off with it.\r\n\r\nOne might argue, \u201cNo one was shot or killed in that incident, so it\u2019s irrelevant.\u201d But I think that such a situation, where a law-abiding gun owner was rendered helpless and left at the mercy of a thug who could use the handgun to claim other victims later, is totally relevant to our discussion.\r\n\r\nCase One might have ended up as Case Two <\/strong>actually did. Back in 2011, a man at a gas station convenience store in Richmond, Virginia, was carrying his handgun openly when a teenager snuck up behind him, snatched the weapon from the holster of the armed citizen and ran. The citizen chased him on foot. The young offender then shot him dead with his own gun, left the scene and subsequently murdered another innocent victim with the stolen weapon. Finally captured, the perpetrator was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to decades in prison. This was cold comfort to the grieving survivors of his two murder victims.\r\n
Cop Comparisons<\/h4>\r\nSome open-carry advocates say, \u201cBad guys will be too scared of our guns to do that to us. That\u2019s why they don\u2019t sneak up on cops and grab their pistols. They only disarm cops when struggling with them during an arrest.\u201d Au contraire<\/em>. When he was still a street cop in Texas, an old friend of mine became Case Three <\/strong>while he was walking his beat and suddenly felt a blinding impact before everything went black. He awoke face down on the sidewalk with a monster headache and an empty holster. Reconstruction showed that his attacker had come up behind him and smashed him in the head with a piece of lumber, then easily retrieved his handgun from its simple safety-strap holster.\r\n\r\nContrast that with Case Four<\/strong>, an incident in which another old friend was fingerprinting a compliant arrestee when he turned his head away just long enough for the offender to grab a blunt object and smash it into the cop\u2019s skull, knocking him unconscious. Other officers present saw the man desperately trying to get the officer\u2019s .44 Magnum S&W from its holster\u2014and failing. The Bianchi security holster that the officer had recently and wisely switched to had done its job, buying enough time for fellow officers to successfully come to the unconscious cop\u2019s aid.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"114962\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Retention Holsters & Weapon Retention<\/h4>\r\nThe difference between Cases Three and Four came down to one officer having a snatch-resistant security holster and the other not. Having been a weapon-retention instructor since 1980, I strongly feel that anyone carrying a gun needs to know how to defeat disarming attempts. And in terms of hand-to-hand combat, hanging onto the gun with one hand and punching with the other is a frail strategy. History shows that leverage-based techniques, such as the system developed by the great Jim Lindell at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy and the National Law Enforcement Training Center, work better.\r\n\r\nOn the hardware side, a thumb-break holster or the popular BlackHawk SERPA provide a level of retention beyond the simple \u201cgrab-and-go\u201d gun pouch. Safariland offers holsters that offer Level 2 security, meaning two retention elements have to be defeated before the gun can be drawn. A pistol with a manual safety that\u2019s carried \u201con safe\u201d can be considered one level of retention all by itself.\r\n
More Concerns<\/h4>\r\nAnother peril of open carry is illustrated in Case Five<\/strong>, which was detailed on my friend Tom Gresham\u2019s Gun Talk<\/em> radio show. An open-carry citizen lived next door to a man who made it his mission in life to harass his neighbors. One day, that man engaged him in a yelling match. The citizen wisely disengaged. However, having seen the pistol carried openly\u2014and being able to describe it and the holster\u2014the psycho neighbor called in a false complaint, saying the good guy pulled the gun on him and threatened him with it. The criminal justice system eventually sorted the matter out in the good guy\u2019s favor. But it was an expensive and stressful lesson: The falsifier\u2019s description of the easily visible gun and holster he was wearing made his lies initially more credible.\r\n\r\nLast year, I served as an expert witness for the defendant in Case Six.<\/strong> In it, a man had been walking his dog in front of his house. Then a big, careless bicyclist almost ran over his pet. He yelled at the man, who stopped, threw his bike down and stomped angrily and aggressively toward the dog owner. The homeowner put his hand on the Glock he carried openly and loosened it in the holster. The aggressor got the idea and backed off. But he called the police to say that the homeowner had pulled a gun on him for nothing. The homeowner ended up arrested for felony aggravated assault.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"119592\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Negative Connotations Exist<\/h4>\r\nSome good lawyering resulted in the case dismissed. But it provided a lesson: The defendant in Case Six, a regular open carrier; the habit made his neighbors nervous. Some of them said so when police canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses. Their negative impressions of the open-carrying man undoubtedly influence the officers\u2019 decision to arrest and charge.\r\n\r\nLet me be clear: I think open carry should be legal without a permit for any adult with a clean criminal record. It can be a godsend when wind blows the coat open and someone sees an openly carried gun. And someone who overnight became the target of stalkers or death threats would be able to arm himself or herself immediately instead of waiting days, weeks or months going through the process of getting a concealed-carry<\/a> permit.\r\n\r\nHowever, by carrying a gun openly in public now and then just to gauge folks\u2019 responses, I\u2019ve noticed that some people will indeed be alarmed by seeing my firearm. Open carry is not yet the norm in the U.S. An aberration of the norm involving a deadly weapon has the potential to draw unwelcome attention from criminals, cops and the general public alike. It\u2019s why the cardinal rule should be \u201cOpen carry if you must, but do so responsibly and be aware of the pitfalls.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis article is from the November-December 2019 issue of Combat Handguns magazine. Grab your copy at <\/em>OutdoorGroupStore.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/strong> For digital editions, visit\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em>","post_title":"6 Real-Life Cases That Highlight the Dangers of Open Carry","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"dangers-of-open-carry","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/10\/18\/dangers-of-open-carry\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":93106,"post_author":"351","post_date":"2019-09-16 09:06:56","post_date_gmt":"2019-09-16 13:06:56","post_content":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7pnhvWXbD1w\n\nWell that escalated quickly. We reported on Sept. 3 that Walmart decided it no longer wanted anyone to open carry in any of its store<\/a>s. A few days later in Kentucky, a man decided to test the water on that new policy. So Walmart called the cops, the issued the man a lifetime ban to all stores nationwide.\n\n[in_content post=\"119664\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\n
Walmart Bans Man Nationwide<\/h3>\nFootage shows several officers respond to the man open carrying in a Lexington, Kentucky Walmart. Police already have stopped the man, and they are assisting Walmart officials in issuing a lifetime ban from all Walmart stores. The open carrier comes across as both shocked and disappointed. The store officials won't even let him buy the items in his cart.\n\n\"Walmart refuses to sell to me,\" the man says.\n\nOne officer finally steps forward and lets out a his frustration over the situation.\n\n\"Do you realize what you've done?\" the officer asks. He says with the recent mass shootings, especially that one happened in a Walmart store, a call such as this requires a response. He points out that seven officers came to this store in response to his open carry. \"We put the entire public at risk to a certain extent every time we do that.\"\n\nBut again, he also points out the man broke no laws.\n\nThis video, in a nutshell, illustrates the divide over open carry, even within the 2A community. By the reaction of those officers, they clearly understand what is happening. The customer, open carrying while being filmed, is most likely doing this for show, to make a point.\n\nAnd one officer, more concerned with carrying out his duties, and the impact on the community, voices his personal and professional concerns. The man broke no laws. The company has a right to ban him. That's it.\n\nWe fully understand the importance of retaining the right to open carry. However, when we see stunts such as these, it's fair to question if they do more harm than good. Time will tell. The headline \"Walmart Bans Man Nationwide,\" might just happen again soon.","post_title":"VIDEO: Walmart Bans Man Nationwide for Open Carry in Store","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"walmart-bans-man-nationwide","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/09\/16\/walmart-bans-man-nationwide\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":false,"total_page":1},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_23"};
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Subway and Open Carry<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Dangers of Open Carry<\/h2>\r\nOpen-carry advocates at frontiercarry.org are honest and share the dangers with their fellow enthusiasts. They speak of what I\u2019ll call Case One <\/strong>here in Phoenix, Arizona. The victim in question had a handgun obviously protruding out of one pocket. An opportunistic thug simply jogged up to him, grabbed the gun and ran off with it.\r\n\r\nOne might argue, \u201cNo one was shot or killed in that incident, so it\u2019s irrelevant.\u201d But I think that such a situation, where a law-abiding gun owner was rendered helpless and left at the mercy of a thug who could use the handgun to claim other victims later, is totally relevant to our discussion.\r\n\r\nCase One might have ended up as Case Two <\/strong>actually did. Back in 2011, a man at a gas station convenience store in Richmond, Virginia, was carrying his handgun openly when a teenager snuck up behind him, snatched the weapon from the holster of the armed citizen and ran. The citizen chased him on foot. The young offender then shot him dead with his own gun, left the scene and subsequently murdered another innocent victim with the stolen weapon. Finally captured, the perpetrator was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to decades in prison. This was cold comfort to the grieving survivors of his two murder victims.\r\n
Cop Comparisons<\/h4>\r\nSome open-carry advocates say, \u201cBad guys will be too scared of our guns to do that to us. That\u2019s why they don\u2019t sneak up on cops and grab their pistols. They only disarm cops when struggling with them during an arrest.\u201d Au contraire<\/em>. When he was still a street cop in Texas, an old friend of mine became Case Three <\/strong>while he was walking his beat and suddenly felt a blinding impact before everything went black. He awoke face down on the sidewalk with a monster headache and an empty holster. Reconstruction showed that his attacker had come up behind him and smashed him in the head with a piece of lumber, then easily retrieved his handgun from its simple safety-strap holster.\r\n\r\nContrast that with Case Four<\/strong>, an incident in which another old friend was fingerprinting a compliant arrestee when he turned his head away just long enough for the offender to grab a blunt object and smash it into the cop\u2019s skull, knocking him unconscious. Other officers present saw the man desperately trying to get the officer\u2019s .44 Magnum S&W from its holster\u2014and failing. The Bianchi security holster that the officer had recently and wisely switched to had done its job, buying enough time for fellow officers to successfully come to the unconscious cop\u2019s aid.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"114962\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Retention Holsters & Weapon Retention<\/h4>\r\nThe difference between Cases Three and Four came down to one officer having a snatch-resistant security holster and the other not. Having been a weapon-retention instructor since 1980, I strongly feel that anyone carrying a gun needs to know how to defeat disarming attempts. And in terms of hand-to-hand combat, hanging onto the gun with one hand and punching with the other is a frail strategy. History shows that leverage-based techniques, such as the system developed by the great Jim Lindell at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy and the National Law Enforcement Training Center, work better.\r\n\r\nOn the hardware side, a thumb-break holster or the popular BlackHawk SERPA provide a level of retention beyond the simple \u201cgrab-and-go\u201d gun pouch. Safariland offers holsters that offer Level 2 security, meaning two retention elements have to be defeated before the gun can be drawn. A pistol with a manual safety that\u2019s carried \u201con safe\u201d can be considered one level of retention all by itself.\r\n
More Concerns<\/h4>\r\nAnother peril of open carry is illustrated in Case Five<\/strong>, which was detailed on my friend Tom Gresham\u2019s Gun Talk<\/em> radio show. An open-carry citizen lived next door to a man who made it his mission in life to harass his neighbors. One day, that man engaged him in a yelling match. The citizen wisely disengaged. However, having seen the pistol carried openly\u2014and being able to describe it and the holster\u2014the psycho neighbor called in a false complaint, saying the good guy pulled the gun on him and threatened him with it. The criminal justice system eventually sorted the matter out in the good guy\u2019s favor. But it was an expensive and stressful lesson: The falsifier\u2019s description of the easily visible gun and holster he was wearing made his lies initially more credible.\r\n\r\nLast year, I served as an expert witness for the defendant in Case Six.<\/strong> In it, a man had been walking his dog in front of his house. Then a big, careless bicyclist almost ran over his pet. He yelled at the man, who stopped, threw his bike down and stomped angrily and aggressively toward the dog owner. The homeowner put his hand on the Glock he carried openly and loosened it in the holster. The aggressor got the idea and backed off. But he called the police to say that the homeowner had pulled a gun on him for nothing. The homeowner ended up arrested for felony aggravated assault.\r\n\r\n[in_content post=\"119592\" alignment=\"align-right\" \/]\r\n
Negative Connotations Exist<\/h4>\r\nSome good lawyering resulted in the case dismissed. But it provided a lesson: The defendant in Case Six, a regular open carrier; the habit made his neighbors nervous. Some of them said so when police canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses. Their negative impressions of the open-carrying man undoubtedly influence the officers\u2019 decision to arrest and charge.\r\n\r\nLet me be clear: I think open carry should be legal without a permit for any adult with a clean criminal record. It can be a godsend when wind blows the coat open and someone sees an openly carried gun. And someone who overnight became the target of stalkers or death threats would be able to arm himself or herself immediately instead of waiting days, weeks or months going through the process of getting a concealed-carry<\/a> permit.\r\n\r\nHowever, by carrying a gun openly in public now and then just to gauge folks\u2019 responses, I\u2019ve noticed that some people will indeed be alarmed by seeing my firearm. Open carry is not yet the norm in the U.S. An aberration of the norm involving a deadly weapon has the potential to draw unwelcome attention from criminals, cops and the general public alike. It\u2019s why the cardinal rule should be \u201cOpen carry if you must, but do so responsibly and be aware of the pitfalls.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis article is from the November-December 2019 issue of Combat Handguns magazine. Grab your copy at <\/em>OutdoorGroupStore.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/strong> For digital editions, visit\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em>","post_title":"6 Real-Life Cases That Highlight the Dangers of Open Carry","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"dangers-of-open-carry","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:35:53","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/10\/18\/dangers-of-open-carry\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":93106,"post_author":"351","post_date":"2019-09-16 09:06:56","post_date_gmt":"2019-09-16 13:06:56","post_content":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7pnhvWXbD1w\n\nWell that escalated quickly. We reported on Sept. 3 that Walmart decided it no longer wanted anyone to open carry in any of its store<\/a>s. A few days later in Kentucky, a man decided to test the water on that new policy. So Walmart called the cops, the issued the man a lifetime ban to all stores nationwide.\n\n[in_content post=\"119664\" alignment=\"align-left\" \/]\n
Walmart Bans Man Nationwide<\/h3>\nFootage shows several officers respond to the man open carrying in a Lexington, Kentucky Walmart. Police already have stopped the man, and they are assisting Walmart officials in issuing a lifetime ban from all Walmart stores. The open carrier comes across as both shocked and disappointed. The store officials won't even let him buy the items in his cart.\n\n\"Walmart refuses to sell to me,\" the man says.\n\nOne officer finally steps forward and lets out a his frustration over the situation.\n\n\"Do you realize what you've done?\" the officer asks. He says with the recent mass shootings, especially that one happened in a Walmart store, a call such as this requires a response. He points out that seven officers came to this store in response to his open carry. \"We put the entire public at risk to a certain extent every time we do that.\"\n\nBut again, he also points out the man broke no laws.\n\nThis video, in a nutshell, illustrates the divide over open carry, even within the 2A community. By the reaction of those officers, they clearly understand what is happening. The customer, open carrying while being filmed, is most likely doing this for show, to make a point.\n\nAnd one officer, more concerned with carrying out his duties, and the impact on the community, voices his personal and professional concerns. The man broke no laws. The company has a right to ban him. That's it.\n\nWe fully understand the importance of retaining the right to open carry. However, when we see stunts such as these, it's fair to question if they do more harm than good. Time will tell. The headline \"Walmart Bans Man Nationwide,\" might just happen again soon.","post_title":"VIDEO: Walmart Bans Man Nationwide for Open Carry in Store","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"walmart-bans-man-nationwide","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_modified_gmt":"2023-05-31 10:36:09","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.dev.athlonoutdoors.com\/2019\/09\/16\/walmart-bans-man-nationwide\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":false,"total_page":1},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_23"};
BROWSE BY BRAND
BROWSE BY BRAND
BROWSE BY BRAND
BROWSE BY BRAND
