I tired to search for a thread about this but it came up with far too many mismatched results...
Have you ever been 'made' by someone else when you are out only to have them "freak out" and make a scene? That is a big concern of mine and I don't want to be at Wal-Mart or Target and end up with some misinformed person screaming "He's got a gun!". If this happens, how would one handle this? I'd imagine it would put anyone in a squeeze...
-bw
*NRA Endowment Member* | Veteran Vote Adam Kraut for the NRA Board of Directors - http://www.adamkraut.com/
If it did, I'd try to remove myself from the situation if possible. If not able to remove myself, I would ask the person to calm down and explain that I had a license to carry the firearm.
Don't worry about it. This topic has come up numerous times. I think only one actual report of this happening. If you are concealing properly, it won't happen. If you accidently expose your gun you are still okay if you have your CHL. If someone freaks, it's not your problem.
Put yourself in the position of you seeing someone with a gun and you start yelling and screaming. People are going to look at you weird, not the other guy.
No, it has not happened to me. If it did, I would just walk away with a confused look. If they followed me I would probably find a store manager. It's not a likely occurance for a few reasons.
1)They don't know if you are a police officer
2)If they suspect you are a BG, they are probably not going to draw attention to themselves.
3)It's unlikely you will get 'made' as most people are oblivious to what's going on around them.
People freaking out at the sight of a gun is extremely rare to the point of being a myth and if it were to happen it is most likely to happen in places like Berkely, California.
Anygunanywhere
"When democracy turns to tyranny, the armed citizen still gets to vote." Mike Vanderboegh
"The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." – Ayn Rand
One option would be to respond with the Mozambique drill and say that the person going crazy caused you to fear for your life. This would serve as a deterrent to others who may want to make a scene under similar circumstances.
it's socially unacceptable to be ahead of your time.
L'Olam Lo - Never Again
If you are dressed respectively and wearing a holster and not a hoodlum you should be fine. I red somewhere the difference between good guys and criminals is that good guys wear holsters.
ML "Act your wage"(Dave Ramsey)
CHL Class-2/16-17/08
Paperwork submitted-2/22/08
Application received by DPS-2/25/08
PIN received - 4/17/08
Processing application - 4/18/08
Application Completed - license issued or certificate active - 5/7/8
Received Plastic - 5/10/08
Just this past weekend I was in an Academy with wife and kids. My wife asks me to reach up high to pull down a shirt off of a display rack. I'm pretty sure that I exposed part of my pistol concealed beneath a t-shirt as I stretched to reach. Just as I realized what I might be doing, I looked to my right and met eyes with a young female employee. Our eye to eye contact told me that she most likely had seen the pistol. I played it cool and continued talking with my wife and playing with the kids. The young lady meandered around going about whatever it was she was doing, smiled a couple times but never acted any different toward me.
Whether she saw or not...who knows, but I'm quite sure she had the opportunity.
The only other time I can think of when I might have been made, was in a crowded restaruant lobby waiting to be seated. I bent over to pick up one of my kids and the butt of my 1911 printed through my t-shirt. No one was the wiser except maybe this young guy with a crew cut with his date. He became fixated with my strong side as I caught him glancing a couple of times. I nodded as if to say, "Hello," he nodded in return, I repositioned my body strong side away from him and we minded our own business. I had him pegged for LEO, military or fellow CHL, but who knows.
The point is this, if you carry long enough, you will most likely find yourself in a situation where you think someone may have seen you print or even fail to conceal. I think MOST people, except for a few nutjobs, will process the totality of the situation and not be alarmed. Body language, eye contact, hand gesturing, and presence of company all go a long way in helping us determine friend or foe.
There are many times someone may have seen my pistol or the outline but I never had any problems.
Back in February or March when it was still chilly, I was walking into a restaurant and a gust of wind blew open my jacket. I know someone must have seen my pistol but nobody ran away screaming, nobody gave me the evil eye, and nobody said anything.
smyrna wrote:
The point is this, if you carry long enough, you will most likely find yourself in a situation where you think someone may have seen you print or even fail to conceal. I think MOST people, except for a few nutjobs, will process the totality of the situation and not be alarmed. Body language, eye contact, hand gesturing, and presence of company all go a long way in helping us determine friend or foe.
Very well said!
If you have good body language and eye contact - they typically will not freak out. However, if you "freak- out" because you think they saw it - they may "freak-out"...
“If you try to shoot me, I will have to shoot you back, and I promise you I won’t miss!”
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