Spotting

D

David Scott

New member
Just for grins I have spent the last couple of weeks trying to spot people carrying concealed. The average non-gunny would not have read most of the ones I spotted, though a couple of them needed a refresher on true concealment.

Florida is CCW heaven. I have spotted carriers in Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Lowe's Hardware, the grocery store, on a car lot, and in restaurants (the waitress at IHOP had what looked like a Kel-Tec P32 clipped to her apron). In a seafood place I spotted a minister, complete with "dog collar" and crucifix, whose jacket caught on his chair for a second, flashing an IWB holster and what looked like a Glock or Kahr from the brief view I got. (How can a church that values mercy issue its ministers black shirts and jackets in Florida? :) )

The convenience store clerk at the corner is packing, and I don't blame him since that store got robbed a while back.

When I stopped by the bookstore to buy gun magazines (I don't want my name on subscription records that can be confiscated) the 50-ish lady who rang up my purchase saw the Taurus Millennium Titanium PT111 on the cover and asked me if they were any good. I told her I'd heard the new ones were OK, and she reached under the counter to discreetly show me a four inch Colt Python, and said it was so heavy it was ruining every purse whe put it in.

No big point to this story, except that any bad guys thinking of trying it on down here better stay home! Don't you just LOVE IT? :D
 
Very interesting post. I felt like I was going on a very pleasant Sunday drive down memory lane. However, with regard to ... <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by David Scott: ...any bad guys thinking of trying it on down here better stay home! ...[/quote]... watching the evening news on TV, it seems that there are still a lot of bad guys "trying" a lot of things with regard to rape, mruder, armed robbery, car jacking (there was a car jacking less than 10 minutes from my home the other day).

But again, thanks for the entertaining post.
 
Very interesting post indeed. I live in SE Texas in a county that, statistically, has the highest per capita number of concealed carry license holders in the entire U.S. The funny thing is, and this post made me realize it, I have NEVER seen a concealed weapon on anybody, or noticed a weapon printing on someone, or even heard of someone that saw either. You would think that, given the number of CHL holders in this area, you might occasionally hear stories like "There was this guy in the grocery store and when he reached over to pick up box of crackers, I saw a gun in his jeans", or "Did you see that pooch in that ladies shirt? - it looked like a gun", or something to that effect. But nothing. This tells me a couple of things - 1)People are very cognizant of their responsibility to keep those guns CONCEALED at all times, and/or 2)I am not very observant. I will however, keep my eye out in the future.
 
The problem with CCW in Florida, though, is that in the summer it is hard to wear enough clothes to carry concealed effectively. For me, standard summer garb is shorts and a t-shirt. It is nearly impossible to hide much bigger than a Keltec P-32 or similar.
 
Funny thing is, HCI hasn't updated their web page FAQs regarding Florida's CCW law:
http://www.handguncontrol.org/research/progun/ccwfaq.asp#florida

The initial increases in homocides (which naturally inflates the numbers by including good-guys & gals and cops JUSTIFIABLY saving their own skins) represents the "learning curve" the goblins had to climb--a time when they turned to tourists in rental cars who were guaranteed to be UNARMED.

But there's NO reporting of stats past 1993, and the trend was DOWNWARD for three years in a row by then.

Do I sniff some dishonesty here?
 
FUD, I know a lot of bad guys still get rowdy down here. The also get shot a lot more than they would in New Yawk City. I see the newspapers and TV too, and it's less "thug guns down unarmed innocents" and more "armed citizen shoots punk in self-defense". Just proves my theory that the habitual criminal is stupid at the core.

RockJock, maybe the reason you were not seeing them is you were not specifically looking for them. As I said, a casual observer would not have made these people. I did it as kind of a sport, but I know what to look for and I was deliberately trying. A few of them made it easy, like the girl in the store opening her purse and revealing a snubbie while she dug for her credit card. Of course, I do not know how many of the people I spotted actually have CCW permits, I just know the odds of it are netter here than in California.

Chad, Florida is hot, but I find a denim or fisherman/safari vest is not unbearable. A Ruger P95 in a Bianchi 7/7L holster conceals under them. You can always use a "Florida Holster" -- a belt pack. I suppose a Pager Pal would be OK under cargo shorts and a T shirt. Given a choice, I'd rather have a bit of discomfort and a major caliber, which is why I think my next buy will be the new Taurus Millennium mini-auto in either .40 or .357 SIG. Compact, light, and 10+1 rounds of goblin inhibitors. I could wear that in the pocket of khaki slacks with a decent pocket holster.
 
David, I wasn't disagreeing with you. One of the reasons that I moved down here from a more restrictive community was because of the CCW laws.
 
One can count me in as a soon to be toting good guy! I am in Orlando. Crime is everywhere. We gots Rapes and Murders and Carjackings. I see a lot of people carrying with a "Florida Holster". I also remind myself that a lot of women have a roscoe in their purse. More people carry than you think.

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Shop Smart! Shop S-Mart**** That's right I'm a gear whore and proud of it***
 
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