Cokeman
03-07-2007, 22:50
I read this on another board. These are the first two posts in the thread.
Poster #1
My wife and I took some friends to lunch today in a down town Salt Lake City restaurant. This is a popular restaurant frequented by many of the yuppie liberal crowd so common in Salt Lake. I of course had my SA 1911 A1 GI on my right hip and 2 extra mags on my left. I took of my coat and sat at the table. There were 5 of us, and I sat with my gun and magazines in plain sight for well over an hour and no one seemed to notice.
I was sitting with my left side toward the main part of the restaurant and our waiter always approached us from that direction. Things had gone well and our very friendly waiter was still talking to us as I stood, turning my right side to the waiter and retrieving my coat from the back of my chair started to put it on.
I had my left arm in my sleeve and was about to insert my right arm in the other sleeve when our obviously alarmed waiter blurted out, "You've got a gun!" I said, "Yes would you like to see it." and I held back my coat so he could get a clear view. His next question was, "Are you a police officer?" "No just a citizen." was my reply. Then I showed him my permit and explained to him some of the things required to get the permit. By this time he was becoming more relaxed and finally I could see the light go on and then he said, with a note of understanding in his voice, "So your trained." My wife was the one that responded to this statement as she told him smiling, Yes you don't have to worry if there is a problem when he is here because he's got your back.
With a little time and patient understanding we helped to educate a young man who obviously knew very little about guns. His demeanor was vastly changed when we left, from the startled exclamation when he first saw my gun, to a much more relaxed one. This was a teaching moment and I think it went well.
I want to thank so many of the long time posters who have shared their own experiences and thus helped me to so I could be prepared to help others.
Poster #2
Open carry of a loaded firearm is legal in Utah if a person has the Concealed Firearms Permit. The CFP allows a person to carry openly wherever it is legal to carry concealed, because the law makes no distinction between open and concealed carry.
Poster #1
My wife and I took some friends to lunch today in a down town Salt Lake City restaurant. This is a popular restaurant frequented by many of the yuppie liberal crowd so common in Salt Lake. I of course had my SA 1911 A1 GI on my right hip and 2 extra mags on my left. I took of my coat and sat at the table. There were 5 of us, and I sat with my gun and magazines in plain sight for well over an hour and no one seemed to notice.
I was sitting with my left side toward the main part of the restaurant and our waiter always approached us from that direction. Things had gone well and our very friendly waiter was still talking to us as I stood, turning my right side to the waiter and retrieving my coat from the back of my chair started to put it on.
I had my left arm in my sleeve and was about to insert my right arm in the other sleeve when our obviously alarmed waiter blurted out, "You've got a gun!" I said, "Yes would you like to see it." and I held back my coat so he could get a clear view. His next question was, "Are you a police officer?" "No just a citizen." was my reply. Then I showed him my permit and explained to him some of the things required to get the permit. By this time he was becoming more relaxed and finally I could see the light go on and then he said, with a note of understanding in his voice, "So your trained." My wife was the one that responded to this statement as she told him smiling, Yes you don't have to worry if there is a problem when he is here because he's got your back.
With a little time and patient understanding we helped to educate a young man who obviously knew very little about guns. His demeanor was vastly changed when we left, from the startled exclamation when he first saw my gun, to a much more relaxed one. This was a teaching moment and I think it went well.
I want to thank so many of the long time posters who have shared their own experiences and thus helped me to so I could be prepared to help others.
Poster #2
Open carry of a loaded firearm is legal in Utah if a person has the Concealed Firearms Permit. The CFP allows a person to carry openly wherever it is legal to carry concealed, because the law makes no distinction between open and concealed carry.