One of the long standing debates among many gun owners is the open carry versus concealed carry debate. This debate may be second only to the “What caliber is the best?” and the “You should only carry a Glock versus being open to other brands” debates
And this debate, like those other two, can get pretty heated.
Now, before we get into the details about what I’m going to talk about today, I fully acknowledge that there are reasons that someone may want to open carry a firearm.
Some people open carry for ease of access to their weapon. Others open carry as a warning to any would-be criminals that someone on the premises is armed. Still others open carry from a sheepdog mindset meaning that they want the attention of a criminal to come to them instead of the criminal focusing on some other innocent person in the area.
And those can all be valid reasons to open carry.
Personally, though, I prefer concealed carry. One reason is that I don’t want to draw attention to myself. I want to be the grey man, if you will, who has the element of surprise if, God forbid, I ever have to draw and fire on someone to save the life of the innocent.
Another reason that I advocate for concealed carry, though, is illustrated by a recent incident out of Las Vegas (hat tip to here for the lead). Luke McCoy writes,
A man who was openly carrying a firearm was fatally shot with his own weapon after an erratic individual attempted to disarm him during a violent encounter at an AutoZone on East Charleston Boulevard.
McCoy continues:
According to police, the victim was standing in line to pay for items while openly carrying a firearm when 36-year-old Kyle Capucci entered the store behaving erratically. After a brief interaction with an employee, Capucci lunged for the victim’s firearm. A physical struggle followed, during which Capucci managed to gain control of the weapon and fatally shoot the victim. He fled the scene, leaving the firearm behind.
Now, would the victim have been killed if he hadn’t been open carrying?
Maybe. We don’t have a way to know for sure about that.
What is clear, though, is that open carrying made him a target of someone who, if not having evil intent when walking into the store, at least was a danger to both himself and others.
And if the viictim hadn’t been open carrying a firearm, Capuccci almost certainly wouldn’t have known that the gun was there for him to grab, and there’s a good chance that this death wouldn’t have happened.
Now, someone will almost certainly say to this, “That’s just an argument for gun control! You’re just saying that if the guns aren’t there, people wouldn’t have died!”
To which I reply, “No, that is absolutely not what I’m saying. I’m saying have your gun with you all of the time. Just don’t make it easy for bad guys to know that you’re the one who can stop them.”
There is a world of difference between being unarmed and vulnerable and being armed and perceived as not being a threat. The first puts you in danger. The second gives you an edge if you ever have to draw your weapon to save a life.
And I’m always looking for an edge when it can save a life.
