A few things have changed and many people's attitudes towards OC and carry in general have improved since my last visit to Mackinac Island. I will try and give a brief synopsis of the vacation the wife and I took up north and to the island last weekend for those that might care and in the hopes it may encourage others to OC more. I did have one bad incident due to someones bad parenting. (read below)
My original thread 07-08-2012, 12:09 PM can be found here.
http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/showthread.php?104600-OC-vacation-experiences-in-Mackinaw-and-the-UPWe left our house Friday morning to head up north for the weekend. The trip up north was mostly uneventful little to no looks and no comments. We made several stops for food, gas and bathroom breaks.
Our first stop was in Marquette for some unscheduled repairs to the car. Spent a couple of hours in the dealership and a sales guys said "Nice Glock", I cringed and replied "It's a Sig." We had a conversation for about 10 minutes about carrying and he said he wished he could carry at work but they do not allow it. Spent the night there after some uneventful sight seeing around town. Walked into the motel OCing asked for a room, no problem.
In the morning off we went we stopped in Eagle Harbor at Jampot for some delicious jam. I was a little hesitant about OCing around a bunch of monks on church property but figured it's a store open to the public and no signs were seen so if they didn't like it they would say something. Not a word was said to except "Hello sir, may I help you." So with that I bought 2 extra jars of jelly besides what the wife wanted, they deserved our support. Thanked him paid for our stuff and back on the road.
Our journey continued to Copper Harbor, upon arrival we discovered there was some sort of BMX event. The village had 3,000 BMXers all over. Heard a few "Hey, check out that guys gun.' by some of the people as we passed by but no one said a word to me. We visited several stores a bought a few souvenirs.
On the road again to Houghton and Michigan Tech.I stopped by a branch chapter of the fraternity I am a member of. Once in a while I like to drop by various chapters while traveling. I had never OCed whiled visiting a college chapter house before and figured once again the worst they could do is tell me to leave or put it away, it's not like it's UofM after all. Parked our car visited the brothers and not a negative word was spoken about me carrying. In fact several of the brothers inquired about how they go about OCing back home. Until they could get their CPL.
Next stop St. Ignace. We got a hotel luckily. It was Sunday before labor day. We had no reservations and most everywhere was packed with the bridge walk the following day. Walked in OCing got the room no problem.
Here's where a very frightful event that has NEVER happened to me before in the 20+ years of carrying occurred. The wife wanted a soda so off to the vending machine I went. It is located outside the office door. It was daylight and quite a few people were still checking in. I deposited my money hit the button and down came the can. I reach down for the soda and it was jammed in the anti-theft door. This was gonna require a little more effort. I leaned over and was getting the can unstuck when I felt a hard tug on my firearm. My heart stopped, adrenaline kicked in. I quickly spun around putting my hand on my sidearm I was just starting to release my retention holstered weapon preparing for the worst case scenario. Upon rotating I saw the individual trying to grab my gun. It was a kid about 9-10 years old (old enough to know better). I instantly pushed back on my sidearm re holstering it in the retention position. It hadn't yet cleared the holster yet.
I was stunned, It took a moment for what just happened to set in. I yelled, at quite a loud level "HEY you NEVER grab a person's gun, that's a great way to wind up dead or in jail." There were 15-20 people standing around in the parking lot. Everything stopped, every one looked at me and the kid. The kids mother (who was too busy drinking beer and chatting with her friends to watch her kid) heard this and ran over screaming at me "You shouldn't be carrying a gun A$$hole." I was speechless for a second or two thinking to myself. WTF?? your kid grabbed my gun and it was my fault for carrying one? I responded "Yes, I should, I'm required to." (for the protection of myself and my family) she countered "Not unless your a cop." I could tell where this was going. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not, it's doesn't matter. Know that if I am, I could arrest your kid immediately for what he just did." Meanwhile the kid who jumped back about 5 feet when I spun around was just standing there snickering at me. His mother upon hearing that statement her son could be arrested grabbed him so hard she may have dislocated his shoulder. He started to scream as she was literally dragging him away now yelling at him instead of me. Situation was diffused at this point as far as I was concerned, back to my room without another word being said as rapidly as I could.
I have never had anyone grab my weapon before more or less a kid that was old enough to know you shouldn't do that. I kept thinking did I do something wrong? Usually I have pretty good situational awareness, having carried for so many years, had I slipped being momentarily distracted by the errant soda machine? When I made it back to the room and told the wife what just transpired, she hit the roof, told me I didn't do anything wrong and complained about bad parents for the next 2 hrs. LOL
Off to Mackinac Island the next morning, Labor Day.We used Star Line Ferry again to get to the island because of the positive experience I had last time. Unknown to me they had updated their policy on the transport of firearms. I declared my firearm while getting my tickets with no issue. I was told to declare it to the Capt. before boarding. So I told the dock worker I was transporting my Sig which I was OCing. The Capt. came over and asked if I had a CPL. I replied yes but I'm OCing and a CPL isn't required and showed it to him. I was surprised when he said "OK, just keep it in your holster you have a CPL." Curious I asked "It's ok for me to keep it during the voyage? I had to clear and surrender it last time" Then he told me the story of a past incident over a year ago where a passenger who declared his firearm but didn't unload and clear it before giving it to the Capt. of another ferry and the Capt. pulled the trigger and discharged the gun (not sure if it was onboard or dockside) So their new policy is if you have a CPL just show it and you get to keep your firearm on your person during the voyage. If you don't then you have to lock it in a closet on the ferry without and crew handling it. He said they are trying to conform as much as they can and make it a easy as possible for people. I thanked him and shook his hand.
We arrived on the island. While walking down main street an older gentleman yelled "Hey you", I kept walking. "You, the guy with the gun come here a minute." I though, Oh great here we go again. As I walked over to him, he extended his hand and shook mine and thanked me for carrying. He was a Korean war vet who was an avid supporter of the 2nd amendment and was happy to see people carrying. We briefly talked about OC then he thanked me again and I was back on my way. The rest of the days excursions were uneventful except for an Arab family with women wearing full burkas not wanting to get on the same carriage with me and the wife. The few words of their conversation I caught I believe they thought I was some kind of federal agent following them (My son suggested I should have talked into my sleeve occasionally strengthening their belief). The wife and I had a great time. I kept my Sig on my side for the return ferry ride to the mainland.
We stayed another night in St. Ignace at a different hotel, then ventured back home the next morning with no problems.
The UP is an awesome place to go to and the residents seem a lot more desensitized to OCing then down here. I encourage everyone to OC on their next vacation.
I apologize for the long-windedness of this post but I hope it helps others to learn and diminish any fears or concerns they may have about OCing. Yes I did post on the OTHER forum as well. I am trying to encourage others to OC more as well so I hope this reaches some that don't patronize the other place.
Hevy
