A few recent OC events

[ViperGTS19801]

Since I've been called an attention-whore lately and have been told that the only reason I post my OC encounters anymore is because I am trying to "divert attention away from from the fact that I'm a sellout" (oh please ), I figured I would save up all my encounters and post them all at once when I had the time to sit down and hammer out a new thread. Between spending two weeks sitting on a civil jury in Norristown and trying to get all my crap moved into my new apartment, I've been rather short on time lately, and haven't been out-and-about as much as usual.

While on jury duty, I generally went out during the lunchbreak, stopping off at the security desk to retrieve my 1911. While I was on the phone with PiP and walking down Main St., a guy sitting in his workvan rolled down his window and beeped his horn at me.

"Hey man, I have been having this argument with my friend - is PA an 'open carry state?'"
"Yes it is!"
"So what do you need a license?"
"To make things simpler - then you can carry concealed, in a vehicle, in Philadelphia, and during a State of Emergency. If you're thinking about getting your LTCF, do it - it makes protecting yourself much less hassle!"
"Do you get harassed a lot for open carry?"
"Sometimes, but for the most part, people don't usually notice."

On the same walk, but on my way back to the courthouse, a small car actually pulled over, and the driver rolled down the window.

"Hey!"
"Can I help you with something?"
"Open carry!" He gave me a big smile and a thumbs-up sign.
"Thanks!"
"No, thank you for doing it and exercising your rights! Do you get hassled a lot?"
"Are you familiar with the Philadelphia issue from a little while ago?"
"Yeah, where that guy was held at gunpoint for OC."
"That was me."
"No shit! Have you had problems since?"
"Not too many - it seems like the right people are getting the message about what's legal now."
"Alright, well, you have a great day!"

And he drove off. Put a smile on my face, that's for sure.

Later that day is, if I recall correctly, when one of the security guards bitched at me for making him do his job.
---
I've been in the process of moving into a new place that's much closer to work during the past couple of weeks, as well, and a part of that is going food shopping. As such, I spent about 45 minutes in the local Acme putting together the basics of my pantry and refrigerator. Just the way it's supposed to be, there wasn't any harassment and no one said anything about the OC, but it was a little bit different after I paid over $200 for groceries and went out to the parking lot.

As I pushed my cart over to the car, I heard sirens in the distance, and they seemed to be getting closer. Then I heard another siren coming from the other direction. Ignoring it, I loaded my car and took the empty cart to the little metal bin across the aisle. As I was getting into my car, I noticed an Upper Providence PD marked cruiser slowly driving through the lot, on the end opposite the Acme, cutting across the lanes of parking spaces.

I sat down in the car, and noticed another cruiser from the same township slowly driving up the main lane right in front of the Acme, in the opposite direction of the first. As I pulled away, those two, as well as a third cruiser with different markings, had all pulled up to the front of the store, parked in the Fire Lane, and were in the process of walking into the store with what looked like a Sergeant or other higher-ranking officer. They were looking around suspiciously as they walked into the store, talking to each other.
---
The next day I had to stop and pick up a couple things I had forgotten the day before (butter, primarily), and I noticed the same guy working the Customer Service counter as they day before. I asked him what all the hubub was about at about 6:00pm the day prior, and he motioned towards my firearm. "A customer called the police on you for open carrying." Because, you know...a guy pushing around a cart of very specific groceries, minding his business, and happens to be carrying a gun, is so obviously a threat.

One night last week, PiP and I went to the Blue Monkey in Catasaqua for Karaoke night and a bite to eat. I OCed into the place and no one seemed to notice or care, and we sat down at the end of the bar together to order a couple drinks and some wings. A little while ago I made the decision to not OC in bars on account of the possibility of other people being drunk and stupid, and deciding to go after the guy with the gun for grins and giggles, but I had forgotten about that since I haven't been in a bar in a while. Anyway, after we finished out wings and a beer, I went to the restroom to wash my hands. When I came back out and sat down, one of the "bouncers" (they're so cute) came over and told me "You can't have that in here." I asked him if it was causing a problem and he just parroted that "you can't have that in here." When I asked to talk to the owner, he said, "The owner's here, but there's no negotiating - you can't have that in here." I was clearly talking to someone who was working as a bar bouncer for a reason, so I went out to the car and secured the 1911 so as not to cause a scene. On my way out to the car, a man was holding his young daughter (maybe three years old) and standing by the entrance, I am pretty sure I heard him say, "Thanks, man" to Mr. Bouncer Guy as I walked out. I was pocket carrying a S&W .380 anyway, so instead of turning it into a problem, we just paid for our food and left. I never got to sing, but this did remind me of my decision to not OC in bars due to the idiocy of some drunks.
---
When PiP and I were on our way down from the Lehigh Valley to my new apartment, we stopped at Forman Mills in Allentown to have a look at running clothes, as we'd like to start training and exercising for the Color Run coming up and the Tough Mudder in Vermont next August. I heard on the radio about their sales last week, so I figured, why not check it out. We went in, 6-year old girl in tow, and browsed for a few minutes. PiP and her daughter went off in one direction and I hit up the basketball shorts section, and not five minutes into looking around, a large bald black man named Art came over.

"Excuse me...do you have a badge?"
"Sorry?"
"Do you have a badge to go with that gun?"
"I don't need one. Who are you?"
"I'm Loss Prevention and Security." He took out his wallet and showed me this cute little tin badge that said 'LOSS PREVENTION'.
"I'm sorry, is there a problem?"
"You can't carry a gun in this store unless you're a cop or something."
"Really? Why is that? Is there a problem?"
"No, not really...we just don't allow it."
I sighed. "Alright - I'll just take my money to one of your competitors."
"That's fine."

I told him I had to find my better half before going anywhere, and Art followed me like a friggin' shadow (creeped me the hell out) until I found PiP and the little one. PiP just rolled her eyes (although was glad to be leaving...Forman Mills is ghetto as hell in the first place no matter where it is) and we headed back upstairs. I told her to go out to the car while I got corporate contact info.

Art split off and went to the back office to get me said info, and I followed him a few seconds later. As I approached the office, he was talking to his supervisor, and didn't know I was within hearing range.

"...and he said, 'fine, I'll just shop somewhere else with my money,' and came upstairs with me." His supervisor made an acknowledging grunt. "Now I'mma have to write this shit up..."

At that moment, he turned the corner and saw me standing there.

As we walked towards the door, I couldn't help myself.

"So, not to be argumentative, but, help me to understand the logic here."
"Only police are allowed to carry in this store."
"O...kay. That doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, but I guess it's not my place to say. Whatever...you can ask me to leave for any reason and I'm happy to respect that."
"So do you have an open carry permit that lets you carry like that?"
"I don't need one."
"Yes you do."

I stopped walking. He stopped a step and a half ahead of me.

"Excuse me?"
"You need a permit or something to carry open."

Mentally, I shook my head. I explained to him what the truth is, but I might as well have been talking to a brick wall for all the good it did; he didn't care. He just wanted me out, and out I went. I plan on calling Forman Mills' corporate this week, just as a matter of course, to find out the real scoop. Either way, I don't plan on going back again.
---

Finally, yesterday afternoon I had to stop by the office after hours to grab an IP address from a device I was configuring at night. I parked in the driveway, the on the hazards and dashed into the office to get what I needed. Less than 30 seconds later, I was on my way back to the car, when someone who lives across the street calls out, "Hey, you got a badge?!"

Had I not been in a rush to get home, I'd have stopped and said, "I don't need no stinkin' badge, esse!" Unfortunately, all I got out was, "Nope!"

[phillyd2]

So you posted this to prove you are not a fan of attention? Well done!

[ViperGTS19801]

So you posted this to prove you are not a fan of attention? Well done!

No, I posted this to share the encounters I've had lately with the other people in the firearms enthusiast community who might be interested in hearing about them. The first sentence of the post was a joke. [/pointingouttheobvious]

[mollymayhem82]

So you posted this to prove you are not a fan of attention? Well done!

[ViperGTS19801]

We see you trollin'...

[PrettyInPink]

Geesh, you try and save thread space and post you encounters all at once and still get slack for it

Anyway, I can't go anywhere with you, I swear! I can never say that my days with you are boring. Certainly keeps me entertained. But you always handle yourself very well. And as long as you can out up with my eye rolling, I can handle leaving places. Until it starts affecting my prime places to shop and eat, then we got ourselves a problem

[longcall911]

No, I posted this to share the encounters I've had lately with the other people in the firearms enthusiast community who might be interested in hearing about them. The first sentence of the post was a joke. [/pointingouttheobvious]

Whore / not a whore? I don't know and I don't care.

I *do* enjoy the stories!

[God's Country]

Is it me or does PIP need a shave?

[41800216]

So you posted this to prove you are not a fan of attention? Well done!

lol seriously? Plenty of other people post up about their OC encounters, and they don't get flak for it. Viper does the same thing and you call him out on it?

I, for one, enjoy reading these. They're learning experiences for everyone! Thanks Viper for sharing!

[phillyd2]

lol seriously? Plenty of other people post up about their OC encounters, and they don't get flak for it. Viper does the same thing and you call him out on it?

I, for one, enjoy reading these. They're learning experiences for everyone! Thanks Viper for sharing!

Yeah seriously. But I did not give him flak for his silly oc adventures but just his reasoning for posting a few here. He said is was a joke and based on his history I more than believe it.