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I am curious about this myself. I’m still figuring out where I stand on the open carry issue. There are political aspects, social aspects, tactical aspects, practical aspects. I see pros and cons of each, but still undecided on what to do as a whole. Open carry of handguns is illegal in Texas, so presently the issue doesn’t directly impact me, but maybe in the 2011 legislative session it will come up (it was possible for 2009 but didn’t happen). The questions Lingoe brings up are good ones, and answers would certainly play a part in my personal decision.
On a semi-related note, I figure if it did happen in 2011, it’d be appropriate to buy an STI Eagle 5.0 to celebrate. 😉
Stuff From Hsoi 
Thanks for the linkage… no one has provided anything approximating real facts yet, but I certainly will be keeping my mind open. A lot of the hypothetical situations are definitely starting to look like boogeymen under the bed, though…
I’m very interested in this because these questions really are key questions in a decision to open carry or not (political reasons aside).
I asked a few folks I know that would be the best resources on this matter, and they didn’t know of anything. Bottom line: there just isn’t enough data out there because there just aren’t enough people open carrying, and then enough open carriers getting involved in “stuff.” So it seems if we want data, we’re going to need more people to open carry and allow a lot of time to pass.
So, I wouldn’t necessarily say the situations are boogeymen because they could be real and legit… but I would say that anything up to this point is not backed up by any substantial data.
I certainly agree that the datasets are probably far too small at the moment to draw any meaningful conclusions, but one would think that with all of the talking about the hypothetical situations, there would at least be a singl e instance that precipitated the stories.
Perhaps boogeymen is too strong of a word, but when people are making up stories to discourage others from open carrying, and those stories have no real evidence to support them (that anyone is willing to admit to or has found)… well, if the shoe fits.
I think part of the trouble is that we can’t really study this… it’s not like we can make a control group and try to actually see if anything happens, y’know? I mean, the fact that someone was open carrying might have made some criminal think twice… how can we ever account for that?
My experience with open carry has mostly been one of opinion. I recall reading some story where a lady and her husband walked into some store, saw the shopkeeper open carrying, and the lady and husband chuckled to themselves thinking that the shopkeeper was stupid for open carrying… that he gave up his tactical advantage, he was going to be the first to be shot, etc. etc. etc.. But just prior to reading that story I had read Chris Bird’s book “The Concealed Handgun Manual” and in there he tells of a store owner in Lousiana that open carries and it’s precisely because he does that it keeps trouble out of his store… quite a compelling anecdote for open carry.
So, my feeling right now is that everyone believes their tactical education is the best. 🙂
When it comes to open carry, there’s just not enough data for anyone to conclusively say. So I guess the answer to that is we need more people to open carry.