Today we had the Open Carry Fishing event. This time around, I was the event coordinator so it was my responsibility to contact the city attorney’s office and ensure the police were informed of our group meeting. The CA was thankful that our group was considerate enough to always call his office and he was more than happy to help us out.
The event started at 10, and it was a nice day to fish. A bit of a chill in the air, but my jacket wound up on the ground (you can see it in the pic) because the sun was warm enough. I wore my Para Gun Blog 45 in my Blackhawk! Serpa holster (it was the only OWB holster I had).
Funny thing happened while openly carrying in a state that normally does not allow it – pretty much the same thing that happened last event I was at, which is to say nothing.
There were several people who asked if we were cops. We said that no, we were just normal citizens and explained how §790.25 section H had an exception for people fishing, hunting, or camping. Most of those people happened to be CCW holders and were surprised that they too could OC. We only had one gentleman who questioned us who wasn’t a gun owner. I handed out a few flyers too.
The vast majority of people though simply either didn’t notice or looked and went on. There were no calls to the cops, nobody accosted us, and I didn’t see anyone see us and immediately turn around.
Now, I did have one small child who, as he was walking by pointed at my pistol and said “Mommy! He has a weapon!”. She said “Yes he does” and then commented on how we were fishing. She let him watch for a minute or two then went on their way. They stopped again on their way back as we were in the middle of the pier so the little boy could pet Scott, the Wonder Dog.
Some of the carriers brought their families. There were several small children there with us although I couldn’t get my girls to come. Hopefully next month.
We’re planning on possibly getting a small banner and printing out brochures to hand out soon as well as looking at holding the event on the St. Petersburg pier which has a lot higher foot traffic.
After the event was over, I met up with a gentleman who bought my Nikon D2H. He happened to be a photojournalist for a local news station and he was interested in the event when I told him about it. During that time, I had to put on my jacket to cover up as I was no longer going to, actively engaging in, or leaving from fishing and I was sweating up a storm. Nonetheless, I will be contacting him for the next event so we can possibly get some media coverage.
And while we had 10 or so, the Melbourne event had over 100 people show up!
Open Carry – Not scaring the populace each and every time.