imported post
gotarheels03 wrote:
Really? because the CCDW laws use the term "hidden from common observation." I think a pistol uncovered in an IWB holster with the butt and at least 1/3 of the slide hanging out would be commonly observed as a handgun. It'd be pretty difficult to mistake it for something else.
Well, to "conceal" something means "to prevent disclosure or recognition of" or
"to place out of sight" or as you quote "hidden," which means "being out of sight or not readily apparent" (in a word: "concealed") ... basically NOT being able to see the gun at all. For those of us w/ a CCDW (which does not include me), that means completely hiding the firearm from everyone's sight. No problem. That's the whole point of the CCDW permit - to be legally allowed to totally conceal your firearm.
Contrast that to "open" which means "
completely free from concealment
:exposed to general view or knowledge." Note the key word in that definition:
COMPLETELY free from concealment. Completely, like totally, absolutely NO doubt that it ISN'T trying to be concealed.
And that's where trouble lies: to an officer, your gun in the IWB holster with only the grip showing is NOT being carried openly (i.e.
totally out in the open), and therefor you'll be arrested for trying to conceal a deadly weapon w/out a permit. Which means bye bye to your right to keep and bear arms (at least until you're off of probation). Face it: just having the grip of a gun sticking out of your pants (even in an IWB holster) looks the same to an officer as some punk walking into a liquor store carrying his gun just stuck down his pants....
So, from what I understand about the laws and definitions, and from talking w/ LEO's from the City, County, and State, we only have two choices:
1. Get a CCDW permit, and carry totally concealed
2. Don't get a CCDW permit, and carry totally open.
There is no in-between. It's 100% either or.
Your interpretation of the law and definitions may vary, which is fine, but I'm trying NOT to get tossed in jail over a technicality which may or may not be working in my favor. And ignorance of the law is not an excuse with this stuff.
I'm not trying to sound like the guru of OC/CC laws or holiert han thou; I'm just going by what I've been told by the entities that matter: AG, Wilmington Police, NCC Police, and DSP. The NCC Police are the ones that told me you can't carry openly in a IWB. It has to be totally OWB, totally in plain sight.