I Chose Open Carry, and I’m Glad I Did

I chose to open carry yesterday and it was absolutely the right choice.My brother just bought a chunk of land and he’s been trying to convince the neighbors it’s not an abandoned chunk of woods for them to play on anymore. We originally started open carrying out there because of some wild dogs, but that’s an afterthought of late.Yesterday I went with him to put up some very clear, unmissable No Trespassing signs in a couple of mowed paths a neighbor had made illegally. He already had cameras up and had pics of the guy trespassing. My brother hasn’t argued with this guy before, but he knew the guy was spoiling to start something ever since he tossed the guy’s tree stands onto his own property. So he asked me to come along in case the guy took issue. We finished getting the signs up, and we’re walking back to the truck when this neighbor confronts us from the edge of the property about putting the signs up. Curses us out a blue streak, hollers about the tree stands, and waving an axe around. He was 20-30 yards away from us and staying behind the signs, so we were just watching him and letting him have his say. Finally we had enough, told him to shove it and stay in his property, and started to walk away. At this point he starts charging us up this path, saying he’s going to kick both our asses and whatever. I put my hand on my gun, that had been clearly holstered on my right hip the whole time. He finally got the message right before I needed to draw it and stopped. He yelled and cussed a bit more, then retreated back across the property line. He then lifted his shirt and insinuated he had a gun too, then backed up enough that my brother and I could walk back to the truck without feeling like we were turning our back on a dangerous person. When we got back we called the sheriff and made a report, because of course this won’t end and he needs a paper trail if this gets out of hand.To the point of the title, I’m glad I chose to open carry out there. I didn’t have to draw on this guy to stop him trying to fight us. He got the message without my having to do anything. If I’d been concealed carrying I don’t think he would have gotten the message until I was pointing a gun at him. If I’d had to do that this might have gotten a whole lot more complicated. via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/3h1sXLe