Says Kielma, this thought from an avid blogger and Tactical K Training and Firearm Supporter. His or her thoughts.

From my reader. No, it does not. I live in Appalachia. You can go to Walmart at any given time and see 2 to 3 people carrying a sidearm while they're shopping. Most people conceal carry.

When you open carry, you give up your element of surprise.

Most of the people that I have seen open carrying in my state typically have poorly made holsters that offer no retention. Anybody can just walk up and remove the gun right out of the holster.

I have concealed carried for most of my life. Nobody ever knows I have it on me.

Think about this, if you were a motivated criminal then you walked into a store who would you shoot first? The person who is openly carrying a firearm or the person that you don't know is carrying. I think that answer is obvious.

Having said that, I'm just theorizing at the end of the day. I spent my entire career as a police officer and none of those things were ever really an issue.

I worked in a large city that had a lot of crime, but it was mostly theft-related like shoplifting. I never saw a citizen pull their firearm out and use it in self-defense other than things like burglaries and home invasions. Never at a store. I know it does happen, but it happens very rarely. I didn't see it in my entire career.

I do a lot of traveling. I've been all over the United States and I carry everywhere. I've never had to pull out my firearm off duty either.

All that aside, you're still not doing yourself any favors by open carrying a firearm. Nobody's impressed by it and nobody's thinking you're a hard ass. Keep it concealed so that you get to keep the element of surprise in the event you ever do have to use it. Once again, probably not going to happen because with the amount of gun owners we have in the United States, the chance of ever having to pull your firearm in public or about as likely as you getting struck by lightning.