Open carry: Poll for LEO only

[Guest confidence]

Are you a LEO or former Tennessee LEO?

 

If so, how do you feel about otherwise law abiding citizens lawfully open carrying? For instance, if somebody is just walking down the sidewalk in town or shopping in Walmart and are not doing anything otherwise suspicious or illegal? Say they have a handgun OWB at 3 o'clock within full view...If you drove or walked by, what would be your reaction?

 

The reason I have started this poll is because I would like to better understand the open carry climate here in TN. I haven't lived here long and usually conceal carry but have open carried a handful of times.

 

IMPORTANT: I would like to keep this thread respectful of law enforcement officers. They put their life on the line every day for our safety. Please do not bash LEO's in the comments. If you want to say something constructive in a respectful way about wanting LEO's to be respectful of open carry rights, that's cool. But let's not start bashing.

[2.ooohhh]

Your poll is flawed, by asking on TGO you're not asking the local LEOs your only asking a small subset of them who are likely to answer differently than the group as a whole. 

[monkeylizard]

I think any response you get here will be very skewed. By virtue of it being a gun board, pretty much every LEO member here is by definition a gun enthusiast. You might be surprised at how few LEOs fit that category. Lots of cadets have never fired a weapon before they get to their police academy training and don't get bit by the gun bug. Their duty weapon is all they own and they only shoot enough to qualify.

 

ETA: cross-post

Edited July 26, 2013 by monkeylizard

[Guest confidence]

Good points. Hadn't thought of it that way. Still, I am frequently surprised by LEO's who are not even aware that open carry in Tennessee is lawful.

[TN-popo]

Plus, caselaw cancels #2 and #3.

[glowdotGlock]

I do agree that this poll will be a little one sided seeing as what the subject of this forum is but to stay on point, while I was a deputy, I didn't see many people OC'ing. A few here and there and yes, I would look closely at their weapons in a discreet way just out of my own curiosity as to what they were carrying. I sure didn't have a problem with it but again I'm a gun enthusiast. A few times during traffic stops when we were notified or just simply given a person's license along with their HCP it would spark a conversation about firearms and I would sometimes chat for several minutes with the driver if we were in a safe place off the road. I had several good contacts with HCP holders.