The Husband and I were planning on participating in the non-event a day early while at the Palouse car show. But, we all know that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Grocery shopping was going to follow the car show, but it was delayed by a day. I went out by myself to Wal-Mart and Winco and open carried the entire time. Though I did not get actual action shots since I was going about my business as usual and therefore had no camera. However, I did get a shot before I left.
Wal-mart was a complete non-event with maybe a look, but then again I always smile and act pleasant whether I am openly carrying or not. Win-co for the most part was a non-event. I was going about my business choosing bacon when a gentleman rounded the corner and almost immediately said something along the lines of “ now that’s cute” in reference to my .357 snubbie safely secured to my hip. A very long conversation ensued and sadly the man has a lot of misguided knowledge. To be nice, I listen to what he had to say.
This man felt that concealed carry on the person was much better than open carrying or even purse carrying, which is what I normally do as I don’t have any other option for the time being. He wanted to make sure I knew the dangers of open carry with respect to someone approaching me and removing my side arm and using it against me. As I open carry with a Bianchi AccuMold® Belt Slide holster, I would know if someone were to try to take it and act accordingly. As for purse carry, the man mentioned razor blades being used to slice the purse straps and stealing the purse before you even knew what happened. My purse happens to be a backpack style and I think that would be rather difficult to remove when actually worn as a backpack as the straps would be harder to slice without slicing the person carrying it. There were many more things he mentioned, but I don’t really feel like going into all that detail.
I think he was a little disappointed when he learned that I was married because he is looking for a girlfriend who shares his interest in guns. He asked me if I knew any single ladies around who are interested in guns. I don’t and as he had a mullet, I’m not sure many woman would go for him, even if he is super nice.
I ended up getting home much later than planned and the husband was actually worried that he was going to have to bail me out of jail. Usually my grocery shopping trips last about an hour and a half including drive time. This one, however, lasted almost twice as long because of the man at Win-co being excited to see a woman out carrying a firearm.