Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Open Carry Pistol Snatcher

elkcountry; All,

TELL EVERYONE how many unformed security & police officers, that you know of , who got their handguns "snatched" or for that matter got in shootouts with a mass murderer..

Personally, I heard of ZERO. = Mass murderers & most armed criminals are COWARDS, PREFER & PREY UPON helpless, cowering, unarmed victims.
(That's why I favor allowing every background checked, trained & law-abiding GI to carry.)

I know that the LIBs would just hate it but if a few dozen armed felons got shot/killed by armed/trained marksmen each month & those shootings were widely covered on TV, there would soon be a lot less armed felons trying to commit armed robbery, shooting up schools/churches and attempting other predatory crimes.
(Here in metropolitan San Antonio, about one felon every day is STOPPED from completing his crime by an armed householder. - About 400 such STOPS were reported to our city/county LE agencies in 2016.)

yours, tex

i'm bringing the neck gun into style. folks don't mess with a man with a 1911 in condition zero pointing at his own neck.

Cops have to fight for their guns quite often, although they have the advantages of training, and retention holsters to help them keep control of their weapon, so seldom is the criminal successful, although they occasionally are. Here's just a few from the 1st page of search results.

Baltimore Officer

Multiple Officers

Minnesota Officer

I am not a LEO. I have never played the part of a LEO in a movie or on TV, but i do know that firearm retention is a big issue whether you carry openly or concealed. Retention holsters have become the standard from what I observe. Before you decide to carry in public there are lots of decisions to be made.

Arizona has very permissive laws concerning carrying firearms. No permit is required for concealed carry, although we have provisions to obtain a permit which is recognized in several other states. I carry concealed almost all the time and I have spent a lot of time and money to decide what is comfortable and what works for me. I have spent several hundred dollars on holsters and carried several different firearms. The solutiom I came up with is a compromise of several things and probably wouldn`t work for someone else. The only time I carry open is on the ranch or when I don't plan to be out in public. I even modified my chaps to allow for open carry without another belt. One pair has a holster attached to them.

There have been some very good reasons brought up for not carrying openly in public. Firearm retention being one of them. Also not letting people know you are armed and public perception (paranoia) concerning the prescence of a firearm. I support the idea of a national concealed carry permit to enable people in some of the blue states to decide for themselves.

Before the retention holsters were well developed and put into service and an emphasis placed on retention training about 20% of police officers that were shot, were shot with their own gun. I had a tussle with a great big drunk sumbuck one night and while grappling with him my 4" 686 .357 service revolver fell out of my thumb break duty holster and landed within inches of the guys right hand. I was on the dudes back stuck to him like a tick trying to get some advantage, he was now on his hands and knees when the gun crashed onto the bar's floor right in front of his right hand. He saw it and I could feel the guy tense and bunch up, I knew I was in real trouble right then. I had a S&W M38 Airweight snubby in an ankle holster. I told the guy in a steady voice if he reached for that gun I would kill him. Who knows which one of us would have won a fast draw contest but I guess that sobered the old boy up some as he lifted his hand up and away and said, "No, I'm done." Carrying a weapon isn't a game and can get very real very fast.

Lanyard cord tied off to belt and wpn might help some of these tackleberry open carry types from getting their shyt snatched. Give a lanyard a tacticool sounding name and they will buy em I bet. Called em "dummy cords" in the army. Maybe something like "tactical personal retention cord" in the civilian world would sound really cool to people.

Thats a great idea. Hardly anyone will do it, but its a great, practical idea.

With your last sentence, I do get the impression that you are under the impression that the tacticool cottage industry is civilian driven. By shear numbers, yes I bet sales are greater in civilian markets. But look at any LEO on or off duty in any state on the east coast (Me to FL and inland to INdianna) and there's no doubt as to who the tactitools are.

While in the Police Academy we studied MANY instances of LEOs having or attempted to have their pistol snatched. Retention techniques were drilled into our arrest control section and during firearms qualification. Most police officers shot with their own service weapon get complacent about retention and end up paying the ultimate price. 90% of the officers I worked with carried a backup weapon. Backups aren't there for when your primary weapon is out of ammo, it's there to get your primary weapon back!

I'm 100% for open carry laws. In fact, I open carry when I'm hiking or trailriding when concealed carry is difficult. However, when I'm out in a public place, I just prefer to carry my weapon where a bad guy can't see it!

Elk Country