open carry meaning: definition, quotations

open carry

nounalso spelled open-carry

US The practice of openly carrying a firearm in public.

In most places, open carry is relatively uncommon compared to lawful concealed carry. Open carry has long been a norm in Arizona, and open carry advocates in many other states today are seeking to renormalize the practice.2018, Nicholas J. Johnson, David B. Kopel, George A. Mocsary, Michael P. O'Shea, Firearms Law and the Second Amendment: Regulation, Rights, and Policy, 2nd edition, Wolters Kluwer, →ISBN, page 736:
Open-carry laws, it’s often noted, wouldn’t allow Black people to wander through the supermarket with huge guns slung over them and the confidence they could impose on others this way; […]2022 May 30, Rebecca Solnit, “US mass shootings will continue until the majority can overrule the minority”, in The Guardian:

verb

To visibly carry a firearm in a public space.

The police said that his gun was "plainly visible", and they seemed to imply that he was open-carrying.2012 July 31, Mike_Fontenot, “Re: So Much For CC Permits”, in rec.guns (Usenet):
Everyone in the crowd conspicuously open carried a weapon, making sure to let everyone around them know that they were packing.2019 April 18, Thomas Harper, Incarnate: Essence, Thomas Harper, →ISBN, page 115: