Open Carry 1911

[pistolepete]

I was working in uniform on the 4th of july.Large crowd buying fireworks. A Guy was livid that I was carring a 1911 cocked and locked. He wrote down my company name annd kept insisting I was carring in an unsafe manner.(phase 2 retention holster on duty belt),He kept saying OW POT A. IT took me a while I had never heard that acronym for OPOTA.Claimed he was a range officer in the Military.Wait till he trys to report me.

[color of law]

I was working in uniform on the 4th of july.Large crowd buying fireworks. A Guy was livid that I was carring a 1911 cocked and locked. He wrote down my company name annd kept insisting I was carring in an unsafe manner.(phase 2 retention holster on duty belt),He kept saying OW POT A. IT took me a while I had never heard that acronym for OPOTA.Claimed he was a range officer in the Military.Wait till he trys to report me.

What county and what company? I presume you work for a security company, correct?

[pistolepete]

Yes,but I do not want to divulge specific names or locations.

[Bama.45]

We'll if he knew anything about firearms, he would know that the 1911 was designed to be carried cocked and locked. And that is the safest way to carry a 1911.... It's how I have always carried mine.

[BobK]

Wonder if he outranks Col. Cooper in his own mind . . .

Maybe he has developed his own 17 basic rules of gun safety.

[SMMAssociates]

I was working in uniform on the 4th of july.Large crowd buying fireworks. A Guy was livid that I was carring a 1911 cocked and locked. He wrote down my company name annd kept insisting I was carring in an unsafe manner.(phase 2 retention holster on duty belt),He kept saying OW POT A. IT took me a while I had never heard that acronym for OPOTA.Claimed he was a range officer in the Military.Wait till he trys to report me.

Pete:

I did OPOTA in 1967-1968. Maybe the second or third such class in this area, right after the State decided that it was necessary. (Private Security.) At the time, it was the same class for "regular" Officers and us rentals. (That has since changed.)

We always called it "OH POT A", but I don't remember even using that term at the time. Lots of guys use "POST" - I forget what the acronym means, other than the "PO" part meaning "Police Officer"....

Sounds like the guy has no idea what "Condition One" is for.... A "range officer" for the last few years might refer to Beretta experience, which is a little bit different.

The real issue is whether your company knows about the 1911. Para's LDA line was largely created to keep Chairborne Rangers happy about 1911's - Condition One is about the only way you can carry one with a round in the chamber, and the hammer is always down. If you know the LDA, you can see whether it's cocked or not, but the average person - including many gun owners - won't notice.

Please let us know if this continues.

Regards,

[Brian D.]

Claimed he was a range officer in the Military.

Probably all sorts of firearms the guy knew little to nothing about then. My dad did some of that while in the Army circa early 1950's. He knew his way around anything that got issued and the soldiers had to go qualify with, but that was the extent of his knowledge, pretty much. Wasn't until his kids got some interest in shooting several years hence that he refreshed and improved his firearms acumen.

A range officer who works shooting competitions in the civilian would be a different matter. As a group most of us are pretty versed on all the types of firearms we may see used in the matches. But if someone showed up at the IDPA match with a Webley-Fosberry semiautomatic revolver, I would be out of my depth helping the owner clear a malfunction or whatever.

[SMMAssociates]

Brian:

Actually, that Webley's pretty simple. But NEVER take the sear assembly out of a P3-AT....

(It's actually pretty simple, too, but about as non-intuitive as I've ever seen in any mechanical device except for a Para LDA ....)

(The Para's not too terrible, either, but when one of the "assemble it like this" pics has a critical part shown backwards.... )

Dad learned how to handle about anything that one Soldier could carry before WWII (probably never saw a Garand, though). But he wasn't quite up to changing light bulbs. Fortunately, I was.

I had an uncle who was an instructor. He hated guns.... Another uncle was in charge of a warehouse full of captured German and Italian guns. Instead of shipping a few Lugers home (which, by now, would have put his six kids through college), he just turned over his keys to the next guy when it was time to go home.... A couple fries short of a Happy Meal....

Both of these guys (and, come to think of it, their older brother and my mom) are deceased. Mom wanted to shoot with me, but was too frail to handle the stairs down to the range. The "hated guns" guy was friends with a local Neurosurgeon who gave him a bunch of deactivated guns for his kids to play with. We found 'em in the closet ....

Best joke, though, is my little sister. Obama-voter.... She was dating a guy who was part of some kind of sporting goods store, and he gave her (or tried to) some Airsoft guns....

Back to topic - a 1911 in other than Condition One is just an expensive club.

Regards,

[schmieg]

I was in a training session a few years back. The range officer told everyone that they had to fire the first round double action. I was firing a 1911. One guy raised a holy stink about me not firing the first round double action and nothing anyone said could convince him that I wasn't cheating. Guess I was by using a superior firearm.

[MyWifeSaidYes]

oh-pote'-ah OH POTE A

oh-paht'-ah OH PAT A

oh-pott'-ah OH POT A

Let's call the whole thing off.

[pistolepete]

PS He was also concerned that I was carrying to many extra mags (2 In a mag pouch on belt).

[BobK]

PS He was also concerned that I was carrying to many extra mags (2 In a mag pouch on belt).

Sounds like he would also like all firearm ownership limited to the elite few . . . like himself.