Canadian couple gets an education

**PennsyPlinker** · October 31st, 2008, 10:19 AM

It seems like there is hardly a Friday morning goes by anymore without an OC story to tell. This one is especially pertinent given some of the acrimony displayed in another thread. The theme is carrying around people who are going to be offended, shocked, scared, or whatever. Mrs. Plinker and I arrived for our Friday morning breakfast, and as usual the manager put us with our favorite waitress. As she was filling our coffee cups, she exclaimed about a story she had been waiting all week to tell us.

Last week was as many other weeks. We were there eating breakfast, and I was carrying my gun openly. Unbeknownst to us, the couple who were sitting directly behind me were Canadian. As soon as we were out the door, the waitress said, she was called over to their table.

Is he a cop!?!

Can he just carry a gun like that out in the open!?!

What if some nutcase comes up and just yanks his gun out of its holster!?!

No, yes, and I don't know, were the responses.

She went on to tell them that carrying a gun openly here in Pa was legal, and that lots of people owned them and carried them one way or another. The only place where she was unsure was when it came to the nutcase yanking my gun away from me. So I showed her the retention feature of my holster, and explained that anyone who carried openly needed to have some sort of retention to prevent just that scenario. I also explained about situational awareness.

She said she wished that they had asked their questions while I was there so I could answer them for her. I told her that people with their attitude almost never ask the gun owner questions directly, because he might get mad, pull out his gun and shoot them for daring to even ask! She knew that was nonsense of course, but I think that is the case with people who are petrified of guns. The Canadians went on for a little while about the presence of weapons out in public like that. Her final comment was that it wasn't really a big deal. She told them she had just come back from Ecuador and everyone down there carried machetes.

What a girl!

But to come back to my allusion to the other thread, this is how it gets done. We carry our guns, we educate those around us, and they in turn will start to tell others they meet. It doesn't always work that way, but it doesn't always turn into the worst case scenario either. Two people went out the door after encountering a man with a gun, and they did not get shot. They also learned that it is legal, and not all that uncommon for Americans to carry weapons. They also learned that they might not want to go much further south in their travels, especially if they have a thing about large knives too.

**ByAnyMeans** · October 31st, 2008, 02:25 PM

Great story and a positive considering how other people's attempts to educate people turn out. It's unfortunate because although there are defensive advantages to open carry there is also the chance it gives you to educate. Some people can donate to organizations and vote for 2A positive politicians but they can't do more. When you open carry it is a conversation starter that can give you a chance to provide education. Unfortunately, this chance is non-existant when talking to the irrational.

**XD40coyote** · October 31st, 2008, 08:57 PM

Today I was chatting with a guy who has this cool antique store in Railroad PA in York co, and he was saying that he made 4.00 last week with his store and whatnot, and we were talking about the economy( he has a "real" job besides the store, which isn't open often). I mentioned how gun stores were doing very well right now LOL, and he tells me the 3 guns he owns and some other gun chitter chatter, and I said that "in PA you can do this legally", as I took my jacket off and OC'd for a couple seconds. He wasn't fazed at all, and said " yeah as long as its not covered up", which I figured meant he knew you didn't need a lisc to OC. I put the jacket back on and said " I do have a conceal lisc though". Totally cool guy and it impressed me that though he isn't a total gun person ( very very casual gun owner, meaning he really doesn't do anything with his guns) he knew about OC.

I could have OC'd yesterday at the one restaurant I was going to have the OC lunch at, but it was cold yesterday and I didn't feel like taking my light denim jacket shirt off. Was hardly anyone there and these 3 local good ol boys probably would have been all excited had I OC'd LOL. They were already eyeing me, if you know what I mean...