As a long-time Carry Permit holder I am armed most of the time whether in town, in the woods, or at home. If I won't go to the gas station or the 7-11 without being armed, why the heck would I even consider heading into the woods for days without being at least as adequately prepared for the unexpected.
I just spoke two words that are meaningful to me.
Be "prepared". A good lesson learned from the Boy Scouts.
"Unexpected". That means you don't know you have a problem until it's upon you. Then there isn't time to get prepared.
A few years ago an older gentleman friend (about 80) of mine and member of my church was taking a long walk on a deserted country road. He was viciously attacked by a pack of feral dogs. He tried to fend them off with his walking stick.
He couldn't move fast enough and they got him down. He was finally able to fish an old Harrington & Richardson Bulldog snub-nose 38 S&W out of his pants pocket and start firing. He got slugs into two of them and the pack ran into the woods.
A rural mail carrier came along and gave him a ride to the nearest house where an ambulance was called. He got a whole bunch of stitches. He more or less recovered okay, and passed away about four years later. He was sort of mentally broken after that, though. In his younger years he was a pretty tough guy, having worked for years as a lumberjack, and this experience took the starch out of him.
The dog pack had been causing problems for nearby farms. A posse, of sorts, was formed and the pack was found and eliminated.
My feeling is that if I am armed I have choices. I can choose whether I want to have my hand on it, ready to act. I can choose whether to present it or not. And ultimately, I can choose whether to pull the trigger or not. If the gun is at home in the safe I don't have any of these choices.
I guess you can say that I am Pro-Choice when it comes to guns.
Brad is welcome to make his own choices.
