TexasCHLforum.com

Coffeenut, I like your viewpoint. I think more people need to know about guns, and about CHL holders. Most people base their entire knowledge off what they see on CNN and take it as God's word. I think all of us need to educate these people. I see far too many anti gun posts on FB and other places where people make the argument that they are 60 or 70 and never needed a gun to protect themselves. What they fail to take into account is that their 21 year old neighbor may not be so lucky. You would think that with a new shooting everyday on the news they would realize that it can in fact happen to them. Reminds me of people that know they have something medically wrong but refuse to get diagnosed as if knowing the truth about something will somehow change the outcome.

Unless you live in a small town and that's the only store in town. Don't give them your business, and furthermore, send them a letter saying why they have lost your business. May do no good, but it some instances they may change their mind. I think this open carry push is going to see more and more people get licenses, just because of all the publicity it has gotten. I'm 30, and have only had my CHL for less than a year. Up until the last couple years I didn't even know about a CHL, and yes I watch the news and I was in the military. I think the media drive will help to let uninformed people know they can legally carry a firearm if they get a license , and many will choose to do so. The more folks we have that are licensed, and refuse to shop in 30.06/30.07 posted places, will start to put a dent in their profits... And to play devil's advocate, it make take a shooting in a 30.06/30.07 zone, or a CHL holder stopping something like this in a non posted zone that gets national media for the liberals to realize their signs don't protect them.

Wow. Huge turn out on this topic. Thanks for all the opinions. I haven't carried much lately as I've put on some weight (whoops), and didn't wanna have to go buy a completely new wardrobe to make carrying semi comfortable. I generally have very good situational awareness as I was a forward observer in the army. I think the time I would be most concerned is waiting in lines to check out at crowded gas stations, walmart, etc, and some idiot trying to grab it off me. I find it all too common especially in gas stations that people in line behind you will literally get 8 inches behind you. Hard to keep track of what all those folks are doing behind you without facing them. I do live in a fairly small town ( less than 10K ) , so I may wait to see what others do. I have no clue how many folks here have a CHL, but I don't wanna end up being the 1 crazy guy in town that open carries.

Thanks for the tips. Unrelated but I was in 1-7 Cav 1CD. I may have to look into a retention device. I had a holster in Iraq for the beretta that has a "button" on it you have to press to unholster it, but that holster was fairly bulky.

Ok, first off I know this has been posted on here before. I tried to search for it , but the search kept telling me "open carry" is too common and I need to try again. Then tried "who is going to oc" and it said I can't use words with less than 3 letters. So I gave up and here I am. I still am on the fence about to OC or not. I think I can see it going a few different ways.
1. You walk into a gas station. A future robber sees your gun and decides to try some place else
2. You walk into a gas station. A future robber sees your gun and decides to shoot you first.

Really hard to tell which scenario will take place. I am sure there are a lot of robbers out there that carry guns but have no intention of using them unless things go south. What's been going through my head, is would the presence of an OC gun deter them or not. I think what I'm thinking is, I'll do a 50/50 approach. Use an outside waist band holster, but still keep my shirt over it. Problem I've had with IWB ( maybe it's just my holster ), can't find a position that is comfortable sitting in the car. I think an OWB holster would solve this. I've also thought about the implication of someone trying to grab your in plain sight hand gun. How do you prevent that short of having a holster strap?