Open Carry Sucks! Here's why...

I know that is a brash and big statement to make and we may offend some folks who are fans of open carry...

But let me explain why.

If you are Open Carrying, you are obviously not doing it just to look cool..Right?

It has to be for self defense otherwise why bother?

Well if that is the case, you are at a massive tactical disadvantage.

There's a reason why ex NAVY SEALS such as Shawn Ryan Concealed Carry 

There's a reason why ex Army Rangers like John Lovell also Concealed Carry.

I am sure we can agree they probably know a bit more about tactics, self defense and gun fighting than we do (unless you served in Spec Ops and have a different perspective in which case, cool let us know your thoughts in the comment section below)

But for the average Joe concealed carrier, we can probably learn a thing or two from them. 

If they wanted to rock their 1911 loud and proud open carrying, I am sure they would.

But they don't....And for good reason.

So let's look at our Top 5 Reasons why Open Carry sucks!

1. Being a target 

If I am a bad guy and I walk into a business to rob the place and I see Joe with his 1911 in his leather OWB Holster, guess who's the first guy to shoot / disarm / attack.... Joe!

He is a massive threat as he has a gun and now my focus and attention is right on him.

This could have been prevented if he wasn't screaming to everyone "I HAVE A GUN" by showing his hand to anyone and everyone by open carrying.

This is poker and you want to keep your cards close to your chest. 

Some people take this so serious, they not only Concealed Carry, they also try not to dress "Tactical" looking, when concealed carrying as they want to blend in and become a Grey Man 

I want to be the LAST person anybody would suspect has a gun. I want to look as average and plain Jane as possible. 

So if they go to those lengths to not only Concealed Carry instead of Open Carrying but to also be a Grey Man and take it a step further, that says a lot.

Open carrying is much worse than walking around with a MOLLE Tactical looking backpack with patches all over it in an active polo tucked into a 5.11 tactical pants with a tactical belt, a paracord bracelet, Leatherman tool clipped into to his pocket, wearing Trail Hiking boots screaming "I am Mr. Tacticool, I am concealed carrying Mr. bad guy". 

2. The Drop

If someone has the drop on you, you can't draw a gun on them.

Meaning if a gun is pointed at you it's already too late, you could have the fastest draw in the world and you're still not going to beat someone who has the drop on you and their finger on the trigger pointed right at you.

You lose 99 times out of 100, It's just a very bad idea. The 1 time you might win is if they had a malfunction or couldn't hit the broad side of a barn door, I would prefer to not take my chances.

Here's a video of someone drawing on someone who had the drop on them. As you can see here it's a bad idea -

 

3. The Element of surprise and waiting your turn 

When there is a robbery, quite often bad guys come in guns drawn pointing at anyone and everyone, so if you are concealed carrying - they don't know!

You are just a normal person caught up in the robbery, they don't know to ask you to hand over your gun. You can't draw on them as it's too late, they have the drop, but if they look away you have a window of opportunity to launch an ambush counter attack. 

You have to wait your turn in the fight, wait for the opportunity, the distraction, whatever luck comes your way. 

Launching a counter attack, is something that happens quite often in defensive encounters just like here in David's Story -

 

 

The attackers peripheral vision is approximately 170 - 180 degrees max, so if they have their back turned to you, you have a second or two to get your gun out and into the fight before their 180 degree cone of vision comes back your way, which is why a < 2 second draw to first shot is a good standard to practice to.

4. Being disarmed 

If you think Open Carrying is "a deterrent" think again. It makes you a massive target.

Cops have no option but to open carry on duty and there's many cases where they have had people come up behind them and try to steal their gun. It is more frequent than you think and there is plenty of examples of this, just like these ones -

 

Another shocking example of this here where a female officer is sneaked up on and has her gun stolen, right from her holster.

 

Most cops have a level 3 retention holster with a thumb safety for a reason. This is why level 3 is so important for cops, this guy tries to steal this officers gun and fails to steal it due to the level 3 retention - 

 

 

I can almost guarantee your open carry holster does not have level 3 retention.

Perhaps they will just ask you to hand it over at gunpoint or maybe they will wrestle with you for it whilst dealing out some violence like above. 

So if a bad guy will try to steal a cops gun, they won't think twice about stealing yours buddy. You just armed a criminal and now your own gun is pointed straight at you. 

Our last but not least reason why we hate Open Carry is..... 

5. You look a bit of an insensitive douche - "But I'm exercising Muh 2nd Amendment rights"

Yes I know, we get it, we are too, but there's a better way to go about it.

Believe it or not, not everyone is comfortable around guns, you don't want to be an asshole and make people in public around you scared and wonder, is this a good guy with a gun? Or is he about to go into this store and shoot up the place?

They don't know you.

Not everyone knows your intentions when you walk around with a gun on display, you are not a police officer in uniform so how do they know you are the good guy?

Also in an active shooter scenario - The cops show up on the scene because shots are fired, they see you with a gun in a holster parading around, you could be the guy who just finished shooting and just holstered your gun. You are now suspect #1 with guns pointed at you and one wrong move could get you shot.

Conclusion

So is all of that enough proof to make you think twice about Open Carry? 

Those are just a few of the main reasons why we think Open Carry sucks and why we highly recommend and advocate for Concealed Carry.

It's what makes Concealed Carry such a beautiful thing, all of those things could be prevented if you just opt to Concealed Carry over Open Carry.

Don't get us wrong, outside the waistband holsters have their place - At the range or for concealment with cover garments, just don't show your hand if you are carrying for self defense!

I am sure there are even more reasons, so if you have any leave them below!

If you found this article useful and have any thoughts of your own on the topic, again please leave us a comment in the section below.

We really appreciate and welcome all feedback and as always, thank you for reading!