Open-Carry vs. Concealed Carry

With the decision out of the Supreme Court in what’s commonly referred to as “the Bruen” case, recognizing that it’s unconstitutional to limit or restrict handgun carry permits to those “with good cause,” several anti-gun states have pushed through packages of gun control laws. It appears that they are testing the waters, putting any and every restriction into the law that they can think of, and then seeing what gets through the “sniff test” in the courts. New York did that, was immediately sued by several pro-gun groups, and found out what they could get away with. Maryland did the same thing and just recently had an injunction put in place to prohibit enforcement of certain parts of their new law. That said, one part that is still in place is the section that prohibits open carry and redefines concealed carry to include wording such that the concealed weapon may not cause any recognizable bulge or imprint. Previously, the Maryland permit to Conceal and Carry included open carry.

Before going further, please allow me to share one outlook that has been espoused across several decades: That it is concealed carry that should be restricted, and open carry should be embraced in every walk of life. The idea that if everyone carrying a gun did so openly, general society would see so many guns that the fear of them, or the stigma attached to seeing someone with one, would go away. Doing some quick research online, current numbers indicate that, on average, one out of every seven American adults is licensed to or is carrying a gun daily. One in Seven.

Think about that statistic the next time you’re at a restaurant, the shopping mall or a sports event where you didn’t get searched/go through a metal detector on the way in. Take a look around and consider how many concealed weapons there are if one in every seven people around you is armed. Recognize the fact that such has been the case for years if not decades and you’ve never felt threatened, even if as a result of your ignorance.

Getting back to the discussion at hand, it’s long been held that if a weapon is properly concealed then there is no sign of it at all. The person carrying said weapon also does not perform any behaviors that give away the fact that they are armed or where the weapon is. Most of us who have been in law enforcement were trained not to give away where we were carrying our handgun off duty, and we were trained to look for those same behaviors in others. People who are carrying concealed often touch, nudge, adjust or otherwise give away the presence of their handgun. Carrying a concealed weapon that you then call attention to is ill advised.

That said, while most of us make a good effort and are usually successful at concealing our handgun properly, there are those times where you can’t avoid having it print, etc. If you’re carrying a full-size gun outside your belt, you can wear long t-shirts, shirts, vests, etc. but if you bend over, the barrel or bottom of the holster still might be exposed. It’s not ideal and often completely unintentional, but also, quite often, unavoidable without extreme modes of dress or concealment.

Many argue that simply carrying Inside the Waist (IWB) solves that problem because the bottom of the holster and the end of the barrel remain concealed by the pants. Still, under the current Maryland law, if that barrel or holster prints through the pants material and isn’t otherwise covered, the weapon isn’t properly concealed, and the law is violated.

No matter how you wear, carry and conceal your gun, the law has to be understood, as always, that there is the letter of it and the intent of it. It’s good intent to not want to “scare” the general public with a concealed weapon that is seen because it’s not properly concealed. It’s also mandatory to understand that a properly concealed weapon is usually not 100% concealed 100% of the time. Miscellaneous imprinting, minor exposures, etc. are sometimes unavoidable. Keep it in mind from both the person carrying perspective and the officer enforcing it perspective. At various times, you’re one or the other or both.