{"id":238,"date":"2010-02-28T17:29:41","date_gmt":"2010-02-28T23:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/gazette\/2010\/02\/28\/100228_uoc\/"},"modified":"2022-04-13T12:28:00","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T17:28:00","slug":"100228_uoc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/2010\/02\/28\/100228_uoc\/","title":{"rendered":"Unloaded Open Carry (UOC): What’s the Point?"},"content":{"rendered":"

George over at Sleepless in Midland<\/a> has run across an interesting tidbit: it’s legal to openly carry a handgun in California as long as it’s unloaded. At first glance, this seems like a senseless legal right. As I mentioned in a comment on George’s post, carrying a hammer would actually be a better choice than an unloaded gun in a self-defense situation.<\/p>\n

But then I ran across the FAQ on the California Open Carry<\/a> website, where we learn that it’s also legal to carry ammo at the same time; it just can’t be loaded in the firearm. This considerably evens the playing field, given the speed with which one can pop a loaded magazine into a pistol, with a little practice.<\/p>\n

Of course, laws and lawyers being what they are, the definition of “loaded” is subject to, um, nuances<\/i>. Read this discussion thread<\/a> to get a feel for some of those subtleties.<\/p>\n

I’d be interested to know how often people exercising their right to UOC in California get stopped and inspected by the police to ensure their firearms aren’t loaded, and how strictly the definition is applied.<\/p>\n

In Texas, anecdotal evidence suggests that Concealed Carry Permit holders are generally treated with beneficent respect by law enforcement officers (I’ve never had a chance to prove this myself as I’ve never had an encounter that required me to present my permit to an officer). The CCP is evidence that the holder has passed a background check, and has been trained not only in firearm use, but also in the legalities that accompany it, with the implicit assumption that holders and peace officers are, so to speak, on the same team. I wonder if California police have the same attitude toward UOC?<\/p>\n

My guess is “no,” as UOC appears to not be accompanied by any training requirement or background check. In fact, here’s what the aforementioned FAQ has to say:<\/p>\n

You may also have encounters with law enforcement officers. You must be prepared for this. Know all the laws.<\/i> Carry the flyers and memos with you. Many Open Carriers carry personal voice recorders to record their police encounters. You may be detained. You legally must allow police officers to inspect your firearm to ensure that it is unloaded (where applicable per 12031). You may even be arrested. This shouldn’t happen if you follow all the laws, but from many of the experiences shared on the OpenCarry.org forums, it appears that many police officers do not know or do not understand the law<\/i><\/b>. Remain patient, and if you can, share with them what you know. If however you are placed under arrest, immediately stop talking<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

If you are unwilling to accept this risk of false arrest, or are unable to bear the significant financial burden for your legal defense, then don’t Open Carry in California.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George over at Sleepless in Midland has run across an interesting tidbit: it’s legal to openly carry a handgun in California as long as it’s unloaded. At first glance, this seems like a senseless legal right. As I mentioned in a comment on George’s post, carrying a hammer would actually be a better choice than… Continue reading Unloaded Open Carry (UOC): What’s the Point?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-firearms","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9860,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions\/9860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}