first oc today

[fatherofthree]

After weeks of reading and learning here on pafoa and a quick print of the flyer and training paper I decided I was ready. It went great I went on a long walk thru the city with my s&w 9mm on my hip in a basic holster. No one called the police or anything, although I did get a few stares and one guy actually drove by stopped his truck and turned around and drove by me again probably assuring himself that what he saw was was real. I'm glad it went well and thanks to everyone here that put all the great info here

[priell3]

Congrats on going OC.

[mpan72]

Good for you. It is not for everyone but I believe it helps when people see a normal everyday joe with a gun.

[ungawa]

Good for you.

I really doubt you got that much attention. I never do. Sometimes we think people are looking at us because they see our gun when it's not the case.

A couple years ago I had a guy smile at me and motion towards me to walk over. I walk over and he is grinning and pointing at my gun like a fool. I say, "What?" He gets even more excited.

He's not pointing at my gun. He's pointing at a live 2-1/2 foot lizard on his chest that is clinging to his sweater by its claws. In my defense, it matched the sweater very well. But not only does this guy not see my gun, I don't see a 2-1/2 foot lizard hanging on his chest.

[Statkowski]

Welcome to the dark side.

You'll notice the more you do it, the less self-conscious you'll feel.

[sprrdhawk44]

Excellent. I strongly suggest getting a retention holster.

[fatherofthree]

Thanks everyone and as for the holster it has a strap the goes around the pistol and clips on so the gun won't come out. I'm sure there are better options than this tho. And your right I was probably just self conscious

[poconojoe]

Congrats!! Its been one year for me. Never had a problem.

[Emptymag]

Typically I wouldn't say this, but in your case, due to where you live, I'm not sure what to say.

When I OCd around my neighborhood I didn't care that the decent people saw it, but I had reservations about the thugs seeing me carry. That could go a few ways:

a. They may think nothing of it.
b. They may think "stay away from that crazy motherfucker - he's got a gun!"
c. They may say "Let's take that gun off that bitch and shove it up his ass."
d. "Dude down the block has a gun and nobody's home - who's coming with me?"


That said, congrats. It's good to be an American.

[Shadowline]

Welcome to the world of open carrying. It may take a bit, but sure enough you will eventually realize 90% of the public doesn't notice a gun on your hip, 9% thinks its bad ass, and 1% are dicks. You'll also realize that you are doing a pretty important thing for the 2A supporters. Just remember to behave as if you don't have a weapons strapped to your belt, and be your normal self. It'll get easy quick.