Why I don't open carry

Open Carry is more trouble than it's worth if you ask me.  I live in Beaverton, Oregon, where open-carry is illegal anyways.  Open carrying, is in my opinion, provocative.  I don't carry a firearm to make a point, nor do I make a point that I am carrying a firearm to the public.  I carry a firearm to protect myself.  My firearms are all named and they get referred to in public by their names, "Walter," "Colt," "Marrianne" and so on. As in, "Did you bring Marianne with you?"

When I was a police officer, I found that my life on duty was often difficult because people knew who I was and saw the uniform.  I much prefer to go unnoticed. Anyways, here's a citizen who's open carrying rights were violated by the police.  All I can say is, I prefer not to spend time in a court of law and I don't do anything to end up in a court of law.  Now, a citizen has an entire city in an  uproar by the police department threatening citizens who exercise their rights.  This is exactly why I go low-profile.  Even though I'm an ex-cop, I understand the police perspective, but I've also seen police abuse their power, and I would rather just go about my business.

On the other hand, citizens like the patriot who was cited above are those who keep Americans aware of their rights and keep us from descending into de-facto law.  However, I know you're not going to win against a police officer by yourself arguing because they have this thing called "backup" and it involves an entire city, a county if they need it, and additional federal officers and such and a slip of your finger and you move the wrong way and you can end up dying of lead poisoning. 

From the law enforcement perspective to the open-carrying-citizen:  You better be prepared to defend that firearm on you.  You can buy holsters that won't allow someone to swipe it from you and that can only be drawn straight up by you.  The open-carried firearm makes an inviting target for someone to grab and makes you a target. The way the firearm is carried above, looks cool, but is difficult to defend as someone can come at you from behind and swipe it.  I might recommend a shoulder holster or moving it to the side or front for better protection and control.  You need to be trained in how to stop someone from taking it from you. You don't want your firearm being taken from you and used on you.  Having it out in the open only gives people time to plot, plan, scope and prepare to do so.  You have to be scoping a place out and aware even more of people's proximity and position in relationship to you. Also, people have strong reactions to a firearm.  Some people are actually scared of them and I don't have time to be a therapist to some neurotic hysterical gun-hating mess and would rather just get my business done. Other people want to talk about it and even the conversation can be a set-up to scope out how competent you are  All reasons why I carry concealed.  On the other hand, if an entire nation carried openly, I think some things might become more civilized.  But for the time being, I don't have time to spend in a court of law and on the dirt because of some ignorant rogue police officer and time facing jail.  I carry concealed, I accomplish my main purpose with less hassle and still exercise my rights.  (If you're in California though, hell, I'd carry openly there because you can't carry concealed).

Here's this again if you've missed it.