Open Carry for 1st time...not the best experience...

[Guest NYCrulesU]

I hear you on this. Every time I OC I feel like I'm trying to be some wannabe cop or something.

Sounds more like a self esteem issue than an OC issue. Luckily, over time and with support, that can be fixed in some.

[Q-tip]

To the OP, like others have said, please don't give up on OC this fast. I only OC once or twice a week, but have never had a reaction whatsoever aside from a glance. Again, I think location could have had a part in your experience, and you just happened to run across some very ignorant people.

[Guest ArmaDeFuego]

Sounds more like a self esteem issue than an OC issue. Luckily, over time and with support, that can be fixed in some.

I dont know if its a self esteem issue or not, but I have noticed that the more I do it the less I care about it.

[Oh Shoot]

Sounds more like a self esteem issue than an OC issue. Luckily, over time and with support, that can be fixed in some.

Quite a leap there, Sigmund.

- OS

[Clod Stomper]

Well for sure the mountain lions weren't, not even the black ones.

- OS

What? You've never seen a black panther? Everyone else seems to have.

[Guest pfries]

What? You've never seen a black panther? Everyone else seems to have.

I did .... at the zoo

[Guest GregK]

Black panther.... funny, i hear people around here swear they see panthers all the time..

[Clod Stomper]

Well for sure the mountain lions weren't, not even the black ones.

- OS

Black panther.... funny, i hear people around here swear they see panthers all the time..

Yep. And they're always black. Even IF someone saw a panther in the wild here in E TN (a very, very rare transient), the odds of it being melanistic are astronomically against.

Back on topic, OC in tourist areas will certainly draw more attention. Especially in the National Park, since it's a fairly new policy to allow such. Many of these people come from countries or states where only criminals and agents of the State carry weapons.

Here is an interesting anecdote. I worked at Elkmont campground in the Smokies back in '98-'00. A camper came in who actually looked like a LEO in plain clothes. Don't remember why I thought that, but I remember guessing that he was off duty LE. And strapped in front of him was a huge black fanny pack. At that point, it was just too obvious what was in the pack.

Being a gun nut, I asked what he was carrying. I just wanted to talk guns. But by the way the blood drained out of his face you would have thought I had just sprouted horns and fangs. Remember, most everyone in the NPS wears the same uniform. The only thing that distinguishes LE from everyone else is the utility belt and in recent years the badge. But back then the badges were the same. I was not LE, but he had no way of knowing that.

He started stammering that he was, as I had guessed, an off-duty LE. I don't believe it was legal, at the time, for even off duty LE to carry in the park. He fumbled for his badge to show me, while his wife was going on saying, "I TOLD HIM NOT TO CARRY THAT!" By that time, I was feeling bad that I had "outed" him and I explained that I was just interested in what he was carrying. He just said, "9mm". No other description.

So it turns out that he was from CHICAGO. Where, as I said, only criminals and agents of the State carry weapons. So he had no conception of what it is like to be in a (relatively) Free State. Even if he had been spotted by the LEO Rangers that worked there at the time, it really wouldn't have been a big deal. Most Rangers that I know are very gun-friendly. Even concerning non-LE individuals carrying weapons, if there was no other problem with the person, they would explain the law to them, unload their guns or sometimes take their ammunition and wave them a friendly goodbye. Of course, that's changed now that it's legal to carry in the park.

The irony is that if I were spotted in HIS city (which is a much more dangerous place than the Smokies) carrying a firearm, I would be arrested and probably spend time in prison. But that's another thread, I guess.

Will

[Oh Shoot]

Yep. And they're always black. Even IF someone saw a panther in the wild here in E TN (a very, very rare transient), the odds of it being melanistic are astronomically against....

To continue the aside, black cougar is totally undocumented. Not one, ever, in history, in its entire range from Canada to South America.

- OS

[Patton]

To continue the aside, black cougar is totally undocumented. Not one, ever, in history, in its entire range from Canada to South America.

- OS

This is true but I find them a lot more believeable than a Sasquatch.

[Guest 1911Girl]

I try not to open carry cause I am afraid someone in Clarksville will come up and try to grab my 1911. They are people that stupid! BUT a lot of people carry around here but I never see a 1911 being open, and if I open carry I am putting myself out there for criminals, saying hey I carry a .45 , shoot me first if you are going to rob this store..

BUT...

People are not aware of gun laws like we are, wounder what would have happened if you carried a M4 sligned on your back as a carry hehe I would video tape it. IT IS LEGAL

[Oh Shoot]

This is true but I find them a lot more believeable than a Sasquatch.

I avoid rating relative likelihood of one myth over others.

- OS