Dr. John Lott on open carry....

**GunLawyer001** · September 15th, 2010, 06:13 AM

He's the author of More Guns, Less Crime, and makes some interesting points (that I wont cut & paste, go to his site and give him the traffic):

http://johnrlott.blogspot.com/2010/0...pen-carry.html

He makes some sense (OK, he always makes a lot of sense), but he doesn't address the issue of OC'ers having the effect of increasing the number of law-abiding people who decide that carrying guns is acceptable. It's not necessarily a zero-sum game, that every person who OC's is one less concealed carrier. I think it's possible that every OC'er who handles himself politely and matter-of-factly, could create an additional CC'er, maybe several.

I don't see the mechanism whereby the bad guy knows who is carrying a concealed weapon. It seems to me that seeing occasional open weapons, accompanied by a basic awareness that concealed carry is also a legal option, would make criminals more worried about armed victims.

**MischaBurns** · September 15th, 2010, 07:24 AM

I would say he fails to address that because he has likely never experienced it. It sounds to be that he CCs, always, which means he hasn't had experience with the general public's reaction to an aremed non-LEO.

Maybe if he spent a year OCing, he'd modify his argument somewhat

**knight0334** · September 15th, 2010, 08:33 AM

Originally Posted by GunLawyer001

He's the author of More Guns, Less Crime, and makes some interesting points (that I wont cut & paste, go to his site and give him the traffic):

http://johnrlott.blogspot.com/2010/0...pen-carry.html

He makes some sense (OK, he always makes a lot of sense), but he doesn't address the issue of OC'ers having the effect of increasing the number of law-abiding people who decide that carrying guns is acceptable. It's not necessarily a zero-sum game, that every person who OC's is one less concealed carrier. I think it's possible that every OC'er who handles himself politely and matter-of-factly, could create an additional CC'er, maybe several.

I don't see the mechanism whereby the bad guy knows who is carrying a concealed weapon. It seems to me that seeing occasional open weapons, accompanied by a basic awareness that concealed carry is also a legal option, would make criminals more worried about armed victims.

Yep.. The openly carried guns would serve as a reminder that the populous is armed, then the lingering thought of not knowing who all is armed presently would then serve as a deterrent.

As much as folks like to bicker about OC vs. CC - we need both in society. ...it just takes a bigger set of ballz to OC than to CC.

**timdennis** · September 15th, 2010, 10:33 AM

He makes some good points and i have a lot of respect for him. Saying that I notice this direct quote "criminals will leave the open carry person alone and then wait for someone that is unarmed". I think your primary concern is personal safety not keeping"Society" safe. His comment pretty much indicates that OC does have a positive effect on personal safety. In addition using his logic anyone around,near or proximity to someone OC would be safer. Imagine if everyone or at least a huge percentage OC. Wouldn't that be great.
My personal opinion is that those that OC are at the forefront of the 2Amend. issue and it takes a lot of guts to do it. I can't praise them enough.

**Yellowfin** · September 15th, 2010, 10:38 AM

OC'ers being left alone means some crime that would have taken place never does. That in itself is a gain we don't have otherwise.

**Elmar** · September 15th, 2010, 11:00 AM

Its a lot of opinion but I don't see it backed by any evidence. His book was interesting because it provided the evidence behind the claims - here he has only claims.

He also conflates the action of policing and OC with civilian OC. His position is also weakened by the fact that populations do not all OC or all CC if available and having a few people OC in a crowd does not mean that all other targets are not also carrying.

There is a great gulf if real world application to his opinions in that small piece.

**rikilii** · September 15th, 2010, 11:07 AM

His argument might make sense in a jurisdiction where only OC is legal, but the presence of OCers in jurisdictions where CC is also legal would only seem to impress upon criminals a greater risk of encountering an armed victim.

**DennisPA** · September 15th, 2010, 11:12 AM

I don't agree with Dr. Lott at all OC is a much bigger deterrent the CC ever will be. Criminals are not going to look at stats. All they are going to do is play the odds, and as much as we don't like it the odds are most people don't have a defensive firearm in there home and much less carry one daily. Until the criminal element starts seeing large amounts of armed citizens on a daily basis, or they start going funerals of there criminal buddies on a weekly basis. There are not going to change there vocation.