Open carry in a gun shop

[PA1749]

I've been in a lot of gun shops and I noticed that the employees always open carry. I asked a friend of mine who has, let's say, "specialized training" what he thought of this practice. He explained that it was not a well thought out practice. He went on to explain that if someone was serious about getting the guns out of the shop, the people wearing exposed firearms would be the primary targets and the first ones to get taken out. If someone quickly cases the store, identifies who is armed comes back out, two or three armed assailants walk in, mark a target, pull and fire, the workers wouldn't even clear their holsters. I never thought of it that way, but it makes sense to me.
Maybe concealed carry and shooting the perp after his hands are full would be a better plan. Thoughts?

[streaker69]

There have been a couple of instances where some genius thought it would be a good idea to try and rob a gun shop. I believe in every instance it ended up with the genius having extra holes.

[ungawa]

Your friend sounds "special," alright.

[Shodan]

Nothing gets a new buyer more excited to purchase a gun than seeing all the cool OC'd guns close up.

[knight0334]

There are very few incidences where the victim was picked because he was visually armed.

However, in nearly all other incidences the victim is chosen because of the belief that he isn't armed.

Whether you are visually armed, armed but concealed, or unarmed - if they already have their guns drawn you've already lost and are subject to the perp's intentions.

[TaePo]

Bad Guy process:

1) look for people (employees).
2) look to see if they are armed with open carry.
3) shoot at person.
4) person still there? shoot again.
5) find next target.


Employee process:

1) see or notice person with gun unholstered.
2) draw and shoot at said person.
3) is person still standing? shoot again until no threat.
4) any more targets?

The only situation that would be worse case is if they started shooting everyone regardless. But even then, they would want to get the armed people first which will slow down their plan of action.

Also, there will be more than one employee so it would be unlikely to be successful.

If I were a crook, I would wait until the OCer left or go elsewhere. I would want easy pickings unless I want to commit suicide. Otherwise, I would have a job and be willing to work and wouldn't be robbing people.

[ungawa]

Hoe many people are unarmed in a friggen gun shop? My guess is very few, including all employees and customers.

[TaePo]

There are very few incidences where the victim was picked because he was visually armed.

However, in nearly all other incidences the victim is chosen because of the belief that he isn't armed.

Whether you are visually armed, armed but concealed, or unarmed - if they already have their guns drawn you've already lost and are subject to the perp's intentions.

To silence the critics, I always wanted to do the following experiment(s):

Using paintball guns, have three 'banks'. One has a mix of OC, CC, no carry patrons. Another has CC, no carry patrons. Third has no carry allowed.

The experiment can be run with or without one guard in each scenario. The number of robbers can be varied.

If successful, the robbers get x dollars each. If unsuccessful, each robber must pay x dollars each. The money should be a significant amount.

Which bank will they choose?

If we varied the reward for the most difficult bank scenario to be highest, how much higher must the reward be for robber groups to choose that venue over the easier venue? In other words, what must the risk to reward ratio be?

Any people in psychology or experience in scientific experiments available to set-up the test?

[OldSchoolPC]

TaePo.... huh?

[ReconLdr]

I've been in a lot of gun shops and I noticed that the employees always open carry. I asked a friend of mine who has, let's say, "specialized training" what he thought of this practice. He explained that it was not a well thought out practice. He went on to explain that if someone was serious about getting the guns out of the shop, the people wearing exposed firearms would be the primary targets and the first ones to get taken out. If someone quickly cases the store, identifies who is armed comes back out, two or three armed assailants walk in, mark a target, pull and fire, the workers wouldn't even clear their holsters. I never thought of it that way, but it makes sense to me.
Maybe concealed carry and shooting the perp after his hands are full would be a better plan. Thoughts?

The way I see it is:

1) If the employees are OC, it deters crime. Bad guys choose their victims by comparing the risk vs reward. Robbing/attacking a visibly armed person(s) is risking their life for a few guns. Realistically, they will only get one trip out of the store so they are limited to the number of guns they can carry in that one trip.

2) If the bad guys aren't deterred by OC, they are either true Bad Asses or they are really stupid. In this case it wouldn't be a good day for anyone involved.

Personally, I think your friend with "specialized training" shouldn't talk about something unless he has facts to support his opinion.

ETA: His "opinion" is just as valid as mine and guess what???? Neither of us is completely correct and neither of us is completely wrong.