Did I deter a crime?

Good Guy With a Gun
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I went to Jack-in-the-Box for lunch. It usually is not busy, except the drive-thru. I eat in and usually watch videos on my phone while eating.

Somehow, I ended up uncovering my weapon. It’s Oklahoma where the 2A is fully respected and we are a Constitutional Carry state so I can carry concealed or open with or without a permit.

Several people come inside, and my situational awareness was up for the most part. My hearing is not the greatest so I am limited there. These three males come in. I presume they are friends since they came in at the same time and sat at one of the elevated community tables. Shortly thereafter, an elderly man comes in. He sits to my left about 20 feet away. None are acting weird so far.

Every gets food.

Two of the three men are having a conversation they are definitely wanting to keep private.

At some point, I refill my drink and one of the two sees my firearm. He looks at his buddy and says something, of which I can not hear. I didn’t even hear what I call speech fuzz, which is where you can tell someone is talking by sound, not just mouth movements, but you can discern what is being said. It’s like listening to Biden speak. You can hear him, you can’t understand him at all.

The two men leave, and the third guy walks over to me and says, “I think they were going to rob you or this place. But they saw your gun and left.” I was surprised because I had still not realized my weapon was exposed.

I carry a 1911 A1 0.45 caliber. The man talking to me says the one guy told the other that the white man with the phone has a “big” gun. He must be familiar with these 1911’s or something. Or just was able to see how physically large it is.

I informed the manager and encouraged he does not remove concealed or open carry folks because it is free security.
I understand the tactical advantage of concealing your firearms, but I would also argue there is also a tactical advantage for open carry. the choice should be yours and if your state is not a constitutional carry state, keep lobbying for it.

Castle Rock v Gonzalez says the police have no duty to protect you - the individual. You and you alone are responsible for your protections and safety.

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Was the third guy with the other two when they entered JnB or did he just overhear what their plan was?

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They came in at the same time. It was obvious the two were together, but the third guy, I am unsure. They were sitting close enough, I thought they were all together. If they were, I wonder what his motivation or tactic was to come and talk to me and the other patron - who was also armed but totally concealed.

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Maybe?

I’d take the main feedback as “am I really concealed?”.

My opinion is that if it’s going to be a detectable firearm, whether that straight open carry or a less than perfectly “concealed”, is that it needs to be in a multiple-active-retention holster. One like on duty LEO wear in uniform.

I hate open top, nothing but friction, guns people think are concealed but then others can tell it’s there…it’s just so easy, physically, to jump in from up close and pull a gun right out of an open top holster like that

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All my holsters have a retention system of some sort. One is mechanical, release by the trigger finger and it also allows the trigger finger to align on the side of the weapon. Others are tension with the tension set as strong as it can be and still retrieve the weapon in a situation - keeping in mind when something is happening, I will have adrenaline to assist in its retrieval. One I bought that I don’t use has no retention capability and another was too weak.

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First, I carry concealed and used to really worry about exposing my EDC, but now I don’t worry so much about it. I’d rather it not be seen but if it is, so be it. To your question, what ever they were up to, they weren’t interested in doing it when there was am armed citizen sitting there so to me, you may have deterred a crime.

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Even if they knew each other, guy #3 may not have been so interested in a robbery.

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Like I say, open carry does what it is suppose to do. Let others know that if u think u want to do bad things, then think again.

Imagine if those guys did not see his EDC then the situation would have been different…

I stand by my conviction open carry does defer crime…

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Whatever happened (likely can’t prove for sure, but you were there and I’ll be glad to take your word for it) you didn’t get hurt and no one else did. Well done. Good on you for being in the right place at the right time.

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Thank you for sharing your experience. Stay safe and watch your 6!

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I believe you did deter a crime.

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Another situation where the presence of a firearm in the hands of a person lawfully allowed to carry such prevented, or should we say, altered the actions of individuals bent on doing possible harm to innocent people. Well done. It just goes to prove that the presence of a firearm in the hands of law abiding citizens can prevent crime without the need to use them. Amazing how loud guns speak without saying a word.

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It’s possible you deterred a crime. But there are a lot of hoplophobes out there so it is just as possible the sight of a firearm scared them off and sent them looking for another lunch spot.

I’m not making any judgements here. I personally prefer to conceal carry mostly to avoid attention from potential threats but partially to avoid upsetting overly skittish folks as well. But the hoplophobes do need to learn that there is medical treatment available for their condition. The presence of a holstered firearm under the control of someone who is presenting no other threatening cues is not something people should be freaking out about.

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People should be no more afraid of a responsible-acting individual carrying a holstered firearm as they would be of that person driving a car. Someone bent on killing people can cause terrible destruction with an automobile, yet people walk out into an intersection, keeping faith that the approaching car will actually stop for that red light and the driver won’t intentionally or unintentionally run over them.

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DustyChalk.

I know I’m going off the original topic here, but to your point about healthy fear versus.

Funny anecdote below:

Heard a story of a man out fishing in an area where there are black bears. He was alone. He had stacked up his gear on top of one another, it must have been about 3-4’ tall of different gear, including his tackle box.

He turned away to adjust his lures, when he heard some loud sounds directly behind him, he said he jumped and screamed in fear, and for two seconds in his mind, he was getting ready to punch a bear.

But once he turned around, he noticed it was his gear that slid and fell onto the ground just behind him, some of it tumbling down a hill.

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Well, glad everything turned out OK. You were cognizant of your surroundings, but unaware of your own state of readiness (i/e/ unaware that your pistola was exposed - likely because you apparently go concealed carry or open carry willy-nilly). How close did you have to get to them to refill your drink? What is/was your state of readiness/plan if two or all three of the suspicious guys had jumped you to get your gun? Do you have unarmed combative skills? Carry OC?

IMHO, if you became/were uncomfortable, you should have left immediately, which brings me to another point: Where were you sitting? Were you close to another exit, or did you have to go by the dudes to get out? Things to ponder.

I’m with you on this point, though, I should get some hearing aids, too.

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I love the way they say the cops aren’t here to protect you yet when you protect yourself they can’t wait to toss you in the hooskaw, so I guess we’re supposed to just let some non working tweeker kill us or something .

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I was never uncomfortable. I do not carry willy nilly, but Oklahoma is a Constitutional Carry state, open or concealed, your choice. With or without a permit, also your choice. My pistol became exposed due to my shirt tail snagging on the seatback. If any or all of them jumped me, I would have relied initially on my hand-to-hand combat skills taught in the US Army. If they’d reached for my weapon, they would have been sorely disappointed and most likely would have regretted not updating their life insurance plans. They were in between me and the exit. They left before me, which is when I thought things were odd, since they arrived long after me and left before me. They did not take their order to go. I do not carry OC.