TexasCHLforum.com

This post: http://ingunowners.com/forums/carry-iss ... ost6300358
is by an Indianapolis police officer who is relating his experience with investigating criminal disarms (successful and unsuccessful) while open carrying and concealed carrying. He notes key factors in both OC and CC gun grabs.

Go read for your self, but he makes an interesting point about gun grabs happening within a certain area, and that most people who OC (or otherwise) don't travel in those areas:

You can swim in a pool with a bloody pork chop around your neck your whole life and never have a problem. Might be different in the ocean, though.

That's why I wouldn't go walking around South Dallas after dark, or the "Wards" in Houston, OCing, CCing, or otherwise. Yeah, for me personally, there are "no-go zones". I'm not looking to engage in an armed confrontation, I don't get paid to do that sort of thing. The manner in which you carry should be situational, and situational awareness should be words to live by.

I didn't go read the article but it sounds like the same kind of sentiment about wearing a Rolex in Houston back when I lived there. People were being carjacked and being robbed of their watches. Some took their chances and wore them anyway. Others locked theirs in their safe. Some wore them on their right arm instead of the left. Others kept theirs in their pockets until they got to where they were going.

Life has risks and people have different levels of risk tolerance. Same goes with carrying a gun. Everyone needs to make their own decisions.

I remember those days...lots of us took the risk of the big fine and carried protection

I see this as a problem with many untrained/uninformed people who choose to OC. I think most will probably go about life with no issues but some will eventually have one. The ones I'm thinking of are those who use a cheap holster that has no retention with a regular every day belt. By nature of the belt not being made to support the added weight of a pistol, the holster tends to twist the belt and pull the butt of the pistol away from the body. Perfect scenario for someone to just come up behind them and snatch the pistol out of the holster. Even a simple thumb strap probably won't slow down someone too much from grabbing a pistol in that scenario.

Last time I was in New Mexico I saw a little woman, maybe 5' tall, carrying a Ruger LCP .380 in a cheap nylon holster with no retention. What was even worse was that it was a right handed holster but she wore it on her left side. I'm not sure if she was left handed and too cheap to buy a proper holster or that she felt that a cross draw was better for her. I commented to the guy I was with that all someone had to do would be engage her in some kind of face to face conversation, and then reach down and grab the pistol right out of her holster.