The CCW course insures you know where you can and cannot carry as well as how to respond to an officer should you be stopped and questioned. Go to the BCI for the most current laws. Packing.org is also a great place to start for links to local government laws. It is however up to you to know the law. ex. the law states you can not carry in a govt bldg. This includes the Post Office. It also says when you have a CCW permit, the firearm is to remain concealed. There is a bit of a gray area though. Should you carry on the belt for instance and say you bend over to pick something up and the wind blows your shirt up a tad and your weapon is exposed, that wouldn't be considered brandishing. If you go up to your buddy and want to show off and pull your shirt back to say look what I have, then that's another story. It comes down to common sense.
If you get pulled over and you only give the officer your DL and not tell them you hold a CCW, they'll find out as soon as they run your DL and that may not be the suprise you want to give them. I react this way, I place my hands on the steering wheel in plain view and wait for the officer to ask for my license. I then tell him/her where my license is like "my license is in my wallet in my pants pocket and that I also hold a CCW and that I am either armed or unarmed". If I'm armed, I tell them where the firearm is and wait for the officer to instruct me on how to proceed. For me it's been calm. I was asked to provide both my license and CCW and after a check was allowed to move on.
Never draw your firearm unless you are in a situation where you are prepared to use it. Recently in the middle of the day in Draper, the owner of Totally Awesome Computers pulled his weapon because some residents had stopped him for racing down their streets. He got out of the car and because one person held up a rock, he drew on them. Not the correct choice. While I was in Charlotte NC, I was surrounded at night in a mall parking lot by 5 gangbangers who wanted my wallet. They continued to circle me, one had some shiny weapon in his hand and tried to back me in a dark area. After I told them several times very loudly to back off and I don't wan't to hurt you, I pulled my jacket back placing my hand on my holstered sidearm and that was enough to get them to give me space to leave. There is a requirement of retreat you have to follow and only you will know when or how far you can go before being pushed to that line. You have to assess the threat and make sure you have done everything possible to get out of the situation before resorting to producing a firearm. Something else is some states allow the use of a firearm to protect property. Utah does not.
There is so much to know that I wouldn't even attempt to cover here. Go to a CCW class with a certified instructor and get the most current and correct information. Carrying a firearm allows for greater protection but also carries it's liabilities. My work takes me all over the country and since my firearm goes with me, I always read up on the local laws of the city and state I'm going to before I get there. If I fly a different airline than normal, I always call to ask for their procedures for transporting firearms.
Hope this info helped.
