Hello all, I just wanted to share with you my first open carry encounter with a LEO. I thought it was an interesting interaction. I was at the 7/11 in trenton at west road and grange. Every time I go there, there are two officers inside seemingly just hanging out, talking with the cashier, drinking coffee, etc. Whenever I go in there, they don't pay attention to me. OC'ing or not. Today was different. When I pulled into the lot, (I was with one friend and a family member, 3 of us total) the officers were joking around with the female driver of an SUV parked two spaces down. We walked in, bought our items and upon returning to the vehicle....the senior officer did the old "double-take" in my direction. I stood outside the vehicle talking to my friend because I knew the officer was going to approach me. I thought it'd be best to give him the fair opportunity to do so before I entered the vehicle. But he just stared at me. We made eye contact a few times but he said nothing. I decided that it was time to go, opened my door and sat down. Before I even closed the car door the officer said something to me about having a cpl. I didn't catch it so my response was, "what was that, sir?" He says, "you know, even though open carry is legal, you need a cpl to get into your vehicle with it. Otherwise it's a crime." I replied, "I know, I have one." At this point I realized that through his eyes, I very well may be breaking the law. He doesn't know. So I decided to voluntarily offer up my cpl and ID to help put him at ease. It worked...he glanced at my cards and asked why I chose to open carry. I informed him that I'm a member of MOC and that "this is what we do in order to educate and desensitize the public to the practice of open carry." His reply was "wow...well have a nice day then." His partner (still chatting with the SUV driver) turned asked if everything was ok. The officer I spoke with told him all was good and I returned to my vehicle and left without further issue. A great experience and I think it shows that open carry is becoming more accepted at least in the law enforcement community. I don't believe that encounter would have gone down like that only 5 year ago. Anyway, thanks for reading guys. Keep doing what you do, we're making history here. I'll be keeping you updated on my OC experiences in the future. Until then, keep calm and carry on.
