Another concealed carry failure happened that might have been prevented by open carry. In this rare event, a concealed carry weapons (CCW) permit holder was robbed of his defensive firearm. He was pistol whipped to the head before he could draw, indicating that his attackers did not wish to draw attention with a shot, and/or they did not wish an obvious murder. It is likely that if the victim had been openly carrying his firearm, the robbers would have chosen less dangerous prey. From uptownmessenger.com:
The victim, a man in his 40s, was near Henry Clay and Coliseum around 9 p.m. Monday, Dec. 22, when he was approached by two attackers who hit him with a gun, according to the initial NOPD report. They then “put him face down on the ground, frisked him, and stole the victim’s concealed weapon,” the report states.No discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of open and concealed carry used to be complete without the obligatory theory that open carry was more dangerous. It has been asserted that a criminal will target the open carrier because they are armed. Here is an example from freerepublic:
Why would anyone want the bad guy to shoot him first?Fortunately, the gun culture is becoming educated in the matter. People now realize that open carry promotes tactical deterrence. There have been two known instances where open carriers have been targeted, but they are very rare. The other side of the coin also occurs. As in the above case, concealed carriers are targeted because their attacker(s) do *not* know that they are armed, and the attacker(s) sometimes win.
Both cases are rare, though my reading makes me suspect that concealed carriers are targeted more often. True, they have surprise on their side, but it does not help much if their attacker(s) successfully carry out their own surprise attack first, as happened in this case.
As always, situational awareness is more important than merely being armed, but a gun and situational awareness works in cases where situational awareness alone does not.
Animal predators chose prey that they can overcome with little danger to themselves. If they fail in the victim selection process, they get selected out of the gene pool. Because predators rely on multiple victims, their cumulative risk is much higher than that of each individual victim.
This is the same reason that most criminal predators chose unarmed victims; prison surveys confirm this fact.
Certainly, surprise can be on the side of a concealed carrier. Whether they will be able to utilize that surprise is a separate issue. What the open carrier loses in surprise, he gains in tactical deterrence. Most criminals do not want to attack an armed victim. It is one of the reasons that attacks on police are relatively rare.
While concealed carriers lose tactical deterrence, society gains strategic deterrence. Robbers have more uncertainty about who may be armed.
Both methods of carry have advantages and disadvantages. Law abiding people should be able to chose which works for them in whatever circumstances they find themselves.
I use both methods frequently. I am blessed by living in the state of Arizona, so I have both legally available to me in most situations. With a little luck, the great state of Texas will join Arizona in 2015 by restoring the freedom to openly carry arms that was restricted during reconstruction. If Texas restores legal open carry, the number of states that ban open carry will be reduced from six to five.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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open carry is never going to happen
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