Am I Disappointed In Myself?

Open carry has been legal in Florida for almost a year and I still have not open carried.

I've always been a staunch advocate that it should be perfectly legal, while conceding that it's prolly not the smartest plan.

Not as dumb as some people have made it out, but I like the element of surprise.

Lots of stores have "no open carry" signs up.  They don't care if I conceal carry.

That's a balance of rights I can live with.

I should do it once just to say I have.

I think I will wait until it's cool enough to do what I call semi-concealed carry with an OWB holster and a Hawaiian shirt. 

Retention

Lots of gunwriters extol the virtues of pistol retention and gush about holsters that will help with the task.

But I appear to be the only pro-gun advocate even talking about lanyards.

Actions

There's some who're not getting this gun ownership is a right thing about carrying and protesting.

It's not owning a gun that's a problem.

It's not carrying a gun that's a problem.

It's what is done with that gun that could be a problem.

If someone is screaming about their grievances while their gun stays in its holster, no problem.

Waving that gun around while screaming...  Problem.

In fact, let's put an etiquette tag on it:  If you're protesting or at a rally with a firearm, keep your hands completely off the gun.  If you cannot carry it without touching it, don't bring it!

That's just manners. 

Really Sad

Got this message on Facebook:

This is a gun range.

No open carry.

Blink blink blink

Sooner or later, a gun range has to trust you with a loaded firearm that is not concealed.

But I am fed the fuck up with gun shops, shows and ranges who don't seem to trust anyone with a gun that's not sanctified with a badge while they simultaneously pander for your money to sell guns, ammunition and

HOLSTERS THAT ARE FOR OPEN CARRY! 

For fucks sake.

Found On Facebook

From the NAGR Facebook feed.

How are you supposed to tell a threat from someone going about their life?

Gonna answer your question with a question.

Are they being threatening or going about their life?

If they are going about their life, then you're fine.  This will be 99.99999999999999999999999% of the gun owners you see open carrying.

Even if they are carrying at you.  Which isn't actually being threatening with a gun, it's just being really blatant and obvious that they ARE carrying a gun.  Technically they aren't going about their lives, they're carrying a gun openly as the only thing they are doing.  Ignore them.  They're attention seeking and don't feed the trolls.

A threat will be pointing the gun at people.  Probably followed by shooting the gun at people.

A decent rule of thumb for the people who are scared of open carry is, "if you wouldn't freak if a cop was carrying like that, then you shouldn't freak if a citizen is carrying like that."

Unpossible!

Once again:

The possession, use, or storage of Weapons or Firearms is strictly prohibited on all [Brown] University Property and at [Brown] University-sponsored events, except as authorized under this policy.

There cannot have been a mass shooting at Brown University because firearm possession, use and storage has been prohibited.

Do not repeat the lies of the mass media.

Or, maybe, just MAYBE, gun free victim zones are the problem and not the guns.

I don't recall any mass shootings since Texas legalized campus carry.

Signs

I have seen, on the doors of a couple businesses, a sign that says:

"Don't open carry here."

Guess how much trouble this has caused.

Go on.  Guess.

Did you guess, "zero problems?"

If you did, you were correct!

I think I might switch back to normal shoes since the blood in the streets looks like it ain't gonna happen.

Like every other place that legalized open carry...

Chicken Little

I have just stopped following the Associated Calibers Podcast Facebook group.

Unfriended a couple of people there too.

The constant warnings about what will happen if someone actually exercises their rights and how that will doom us all was old back when Miggy still lived near Miami.

I'm sick to death of people who're supposedly all about freedom and liberty balking at the idea that you can exercise your freedoms in a manner they wouldn't.

Apparently, I did not get the memo that I was supposed to stop liking things that they disliked.

Case in point is a couple of people open carrying at the local sheriff and seeing if the sheriff will break the law and harass them.

The cries of doom that this is not helping are, almost literally, insane.

But; is it actually hurting?

Because they cited Texas as a place where open carrying at people hurt gun rights in Texas.  They do not, of course, cite any examples.

They cite California as an example of a place where open carrying hurt gun rights in California.  They alluded to an example that I recognized.  Sped up the process is probably what happened rather than caused open carry of long guns to be banned.

We get the internet here in Florida too, you know, we can use our choice of search engine to check on what happened after people open carried in front of cameras.

I keep having to make this post because they don't seem to remember that what they're scared of never happens.  Isn't odd that it's so often in October?

Green: Permitless; Yellow: Permit Required/Restricted; Red: Forbidden

 

(Help a blogger out!  Rather than complain the map, that I didn't generate, is wrong, link me to an updated one!) 

Compare that map with the one from 2019.  I'll help you out and tell you that the only place that got worse in the past six years was California.  California gets worse without triggering events, so we can't use them as a barometer of what causes things to get worse elsewhere.

Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island stayed the same with their restrictions.

But look at all the states where it got better!

Despite Open Carry Texas.

Despite Florida Carry's fishing events.

Despite the naysayers and gloomers.

You suck at this, stop making predictions. 

It's MY Store After All

Publix used to have an ad motto, "Publix, it's YOUR store!"

Well they're sure making me feel at home with allowing open carry.

Kudos to them!

I still haven't seen anyone open carrying.  Anywhere.

Good Policy

I have a friend who's law enforcement adjacent in Pinellas county, home of Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.

They inform us that Pinellas has added an "open carry" response for calls from people seeing people openly carrying.

The deputy is instructed to drive past the area of sighting to confirm the carrier isn't brandishing or doing something stupid and if nothing dangerous is happening...

Just drive past.

Don't stop.

Don't hit the lights.

Don't talk to the open carrier.

Don't even slow down.

This, my friends, is what winning looks like and I rather like it.

That said:

We're in for a week of people pushing the limits intermittently and randomly.

1. Nothing has changed about where it's illegal to carry.  If it was illegal to carry concealed there last week, it's illegal to open carry today.

2. If a business doesn't want you open carrying, and they tell you to leave.  Leave.  Leave immediately, do not pass go.  Say you're sorry (even if you aren't).  Refusing to leave is armed trespass and that's felony territory.

3. Don't open carry without some sort of retention!  It also behooves you to find a class teaching about retention!

Ankle Deep

Picked up some firewood and today was the same as a week ago.

This despite the legalization of open carry in Florida.

Blood is not running in the streets.

People are not having running gunfights over minor traffic altercations.

Dogs and cats are living together.

Almost as if ALL of the naysayers were wrong.

Again.

He Makes Some Good Points

For me the entire point was never to open carry, but to get sheriffs like Judd off my ass when my conceal fails because they can't understand brief and unintentional.

But making open carry illegal because it's tactically unsound?  Fuck off.

Open Carry

People are going to be doing it after the 25th when the ruling becomes final and the orders are published.

All of the laws about conceal carry become laws about all carry.

So where you can and cannot carry in Florida will not change.

The sign on the door of a business has no legal bearing, but the ownership can ask you to go elsewhere and they can trespass you if you refuse to go.

The legalities are simple.

Now the important thing if you're going to be open carrying.

DON'T BE A DICK ABOUT IT!

Just because you can, doesn't mean that you should in some instances.  There's nothing requiring you open carry either.

This post is not about the debate over if open carry is a good or desirable idea.  You want to have that debate, Blogger will let you make your own blog where you can chatter on about it to your heart's content.  I might even make one my own.  My reasons for wanting OCW have more to do with having the right to choose if I do or not rather than a strong desire to exercise that right.

Slinging up your AR will be legal, but it will also be rude.

Use your best manners!

Also use some damn common sense about toting openly.

The main problem with anyone being able to see your gun is everyone can see your gun.

If we could assume the best of everyone, we wouldn't be carrying a gun around at all, would we?

Just like riding a motorcycle and assuming that everyone is actively trying to run you over is the safest way to ride:  Assuming that everyone is trying to steal your gun from your holster is probably won't steer you too far wrong.

Get a holster that retains your gun.  Make sure it's made for your gun.  Generic retention holsters often don't retain some guns that fit.

Get one that will stay on your belt if someone tugs against the retention.

Make sure that belt will stay on you too.

Sharif Don't Like It

The sheriff of Pinellas county, former president of the Florida Sheriff's Association, Bob Gualtieri, has been a staunch opponent of open carry for as long as I can remember.

His opposition is why I know who he is.

His most recent response makes it clear he's very unhappy about the 2nd amendment defense up in the 1st DCA striking down 790.053.

Florida’s First District Court of Appeal (DCA) held this week that F.S. 790.053 prohibiting the open carry of guns is unconstitutional. There are two very important things that people in Pinellas County need to know about the court’s decision.

First, under law, the decision is not effective for 15 days after it was issued and it was issued on September 10, 2025. That means the law prohibiting open carry is not yet affected and open carry in Florida is still prohibited. Nobody should now open carry in Pinellas County. Second, this was a decision by the First DCA and Pinellas County is under the jurisdiction of the Second DCA, and the Florida Supreme Court.

There is a previous decision by the Florida Supreme Court holding the statute prohibiting open carry of guns is constitutional. As a matter of well-established law a lower court, especially one in another district, cannot overrule the law established by the Florida Supreme Court. We must consider whether the Supreme Court’s prior decision is the law in Pinellas County.

We are working with the Florida Attorney General, the State Attorney, and others to determine the scope of the First DCA decision and how to proceed come September 25, 2025, the effective date of the First DCA’s decision.

Our job as law enforcement is to follow the law and not make the law. We will follow the law and respect statutes and court decisions. However, we have to know “what” the law is and where it is applicable before we can decide “what” and “how” we enforce the law.

Once we have had an opportunity to fully consider the scope and applicability of the First DCA’s decision, we will publish guidance to the public on how we enforce or not enforce F.S. 790.053 in Pinellas County. We will do so before September 25, 2025, but in the meantime please remember, the open carry of guns in Florida is still unlawful.

I think he's trying to hang his hat on the 4th DCA decision that went to the State Supreme Court that affirmed that the ban on open carry was OK.

The big difference in the two decisions is that the one from the 4th DCA was about the State constitution.  The one from the 1st DCA is about Federal restrictions on government.  The more recent decision cites the primacy of the Federal Constitution over mere state law. 

A 1st DCA ruling on the same grounds as the 4th DCA decision would be a split within Florida and be restricted to just the 1st.  Pinellas (and me) are in the 2nd DCA.  That split would need to be decided at the state supreme court level.

Again, that's not what happened. 

Besides, I love watching the RINOs lose in court. 

Hopefully A Nothingburger

On my side of the fence, I'm happy and optimistic about open carry being legal.

I've got, like, 30 states that have legalized it after once banning it that have nothing really bad to report on my side too.

Harvey expresses worry that someone will open up on a special needs kid for being curious about an openly carried firearm.

I don't see that happening, but...  It's something to be aware of.

Something I had not been considering, to be honest.

Neither of us plans on carrying open, but it's nice to not have to worry so hard about accidental exposure.

I did catch her quoting some of our fellow special needs parents on stuff that just isn't so.

I was a little surprised that many of our fellow parents are so lefty and anti-gun.

Toed the Florida Sheriff's Association line about how this will just make things easier for gang bangers to do crime.  The reasoning there has always been specious.  They don't like losing their fishing license, and let's be honest: They weren't doing a great job stopping gang bangers from doing crime with that line of harassment available.

This Sure Looks Like Something

Court Strikes Down Florida's Ban On Open Carry!

Link to the decision for those who speak Lawyer.

Anthony Sabatini's reaction on X. 

I've long held that open carry should be legal and stood against the people who were OK with banning it because it wasn't a good idea.

Liberty includes the freedom to do stupid things...

But my real support of open carry began with jurisdictions closer to Miami who are prosecuting conceal carry failures.

The legislature in Tallahassee has attempted to keep that from happening twice since I've moved to Florida, to no avail.

In those places, if a cop sees a gun you're either open carrying or brandishing; even if it's the wind that flips open your shirt for a second revealing the holstered pistol.

THAT is what made me an advocate of open carry, not that I think it's wise or preferable to do so; but to take away a justification for The State to mess with me when I'm not hurting anyone.

My attitude about taking away justifications from the cops started when I rode motorcycles, progress through owning a hot rod and matured when I kept odd hours.

I detest the cops fishing expeditions.  Letting them fish means they're more apt to go for the law abiding for something minor than be where they're needed. 

Open Carry

I want my right to open carry back.

I am also unlikely to exercise that right.

There's lots of good reasons to keep it concealed and many reasons to not advertise that you're toting.

Those reasons are not the point.

I am being denied a right.

That alone would be enough, but the people who are politically powerful and denying my that right are dishonest about it.

The consistently fail to compellingly communicate why I shouldn't be able exercise my right.

They very rarely cite the reasons I alluded to above.

I reject, out of hand, "officer safety."  That bat has been used to beat me too many times.

Very often the spokesweasels for the police and their professional organizations bring forth the hoary old, "It will make our jobs harder."

So?

I think it's within a citizens rights to demand that their civil servants life be made more difficult.  Did you ever think of that, Sheriff?  That we WANT you to work harder for the vast sums of money that your agency consumes?

But does it really make their jobs harder?

I guess it would.  If open carry is legal, then they can't just arrest everyone without the Seal of the King* on their chest they see with a weapon.

Ever notice, while they are not citing the solid reasons to not open carry I allude to near the top of this rant, cops, deputies, chiefs, sheriffs, police unions and law enforcement organizations and lobbies never advocate for LEOs to stop open carrying?

Wearing of arms, historically, is a badge of rank.  A divider between the nobility and the commoner.

Well, Sheriff, there ain't no nobility in a Republic; or rather we're ALL noble because we're all sovereign.** 

This is all about political power and elitism.  If I can openly carry, then they aren't special.  They are not elevated above me.

The truth of the matter is they are beneath me.  They're supposed to be working for us not telling us what we can and cannot do.

*Badge
**Not to be confused with the Sovereign Citizen Movement

This Could Be Good

I am cautiously optimistic.

But I doubt it will head where I want.

M7/M9 Universality Check (Continued Some More)

Czech TT-33 Tokarev fits!

The Czechs call their Tokarevs Cz-52.

Ruger P95 fits!

I continue to be impressed with this holster!

Other entries in this series here and here.

Alone

At the time of this writing, I believe that Florida is the only state with "constitutional carry" which also bans open carry.

Odd that.

I wonder how the other 27 states are keeping the blood from flooding the streets and how the cops manage to function with open carry making their jobs harder.