Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Do you carry religiously? You may not be as safe as you believe.

Don't you think that drawing your sidearm and racking one in because you deem the situation has become dangerous, absent a need to draw and fire right then and there, would be interpreted as a threatening action by a court? Much better to have it ready to go already, so you can leave it in the holster till it's actually needed to save your life.

That is a reasonable question, one that I cannot answer. I suspect it would depend on the situation and who the court believed.

Again, though, I believe the chance of such an occurrence is vanishingly small, given that I do load a round before entering environs I believe to be dangerous. Maybe on the order of of a person getting struck by lightning when that person heads for shelter when lightning storms approach?

Funny, but I've been there. About 1976. Remember the CCR song "Stuck in Lodi again"? Similar.

+1

Situational awareness and good decision making are always important. Doesn't matter if you are carrying or not.

Having a weapon just gives one some additional response options.

.......and what state that occurred in..

I do not ever not carry, due to the nature of my work and my environment.

I'll go ahead and keep carrying and take my chances armed.

Only those that are still alive can participate in these kind of academic discussions.

When I carry I think I am actually more cautious. Situational awareness is important simply because that weapon puts me in a different set of circumstances. I hope I never have to rely on that CC to get out of a situation. I look at it as insurance though but it does have some things to remain aware of like when you get pulled over for a traffic offense or forget and walk into a place where they aren't allowed.

Religion has nothing to with my carry

One of the big detractors for me about carrying


If you carry a gun, to my way of thinking you gotta be prepared to eat a lot of chit

I’ve never suffered fools gladly, but now that I’m old that too is a problem

If there’s a gun handy I have to act like I’m hard of hearing when some big mouthed jerk wad starts spewing chit

Just shuffle along old man

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t

Fools don't bother me at all as long as they stay out of my face. If a fool says bad things to or about me, I consider the source and really don't care.

Mannlicher,

According to a report from 2015 by the USMS, since WWII there have been TWO "mass murder incidents" that were NOT in "gun free zones".

Mass murderers are COWARDS & they prefer unarmed, helpless, cowering victims, so that they can commit their evil deeds in "relative safety".

Btw, to quote an old MP instructor, who we rookies called "The Polish Falcon": Handguns are just like parachutes.= IF you should need either one & don't have one, you won't need either one ever again.

yours, tex

To All,

According to the Bexar County SO, here in metropolitan San Antonio, a householder STOPS a felony by an armed criminal on their property by using a firearm about ONCE A DAY.
(Over 400 such incidents were reported to police agencies in 2016)

Well over 80% of those incidents end without gunfire & with the felon fleeing the scene OR in police custody. - The most common firearm that is used here, in a defensive action against an armed criminal, is a 12 gauge pump shotgun.

yours, tex

I got my CC permit over a very simple problem. I was carrying a firearm back and forth over state lines to get to my camp on the weekends. In those days I felt I only needed a firearm while I was on the property to protect against coyotes and feral dogs, but transportation was becoming a problem. I realized that by keeping the unloaded firearm and the ammo close at hand, I was probably breaking a law. There was also the problem of being out on the property with a loaded carbine and then having to make a run into town later for groceries. Looking back, there were bound to have been times. CC was the easiest way of cleaning up the problem.

Then I started thinking about being past 50 and still being a walking landform. I've never had a fight as an adult. Probably the biggest part of that is the fact that I share the dimensions of John Wayne age-for-age. After 55, that winning smile and lumbering blot-out-the-sun body probably was not going to keep me out of trouble. Eventually someone was going to stop seeing me as a visceral threat and start seeing me as a potential target. That's what got me carrying. I've tried to carry as much as possible since.

Carrying has made me far more aware of things. I'm much, much nicer when I'm out. I'm always looking for potential problems, and deliberately avoiding them. The last thing I want to do is get into a scrape now and have to pull the pistol to get out of it. I'm still big enough that no one dares try cutting in front of me in line, but now I'm more likely to let some one in.

Yep, which is why I sure wish public schools simply instituted a policy whereby those employees who are authorized by their states to carry concealed may do so while at work. This would eliminate the stigma of public schools being ideal places for mass murderers to build up large body counts before finally being confronted by police.

The Real Hawkeye,

What I would like to see is a law in all jurisdictions that REQUIRES all "public accommodations" to allow concealed carry on those premises by ALL State licensed persons.

A person who can be trusted to carry a firearm ANYWHERE is trustworthy enough to carry a handgun EVERYWHERE.

Personally, I avoid entering any public place that doesn't allow me to carry my Sig-Sauer UNLESS they have armed security and/or police officers on the premises.
(I'm a presiding election judge with my precincts on a school campus & don't mind being disarmed there as the ISD has armed/trained/attentive police officers, who watch our polling place carefully all day.)

yours, tex

Me too. I'm a lot less likely to run my mouth or do anything that might cause trouble because I know where it could end. It's just a higher level of responsibility all around.

At the same time,I'm under no illusion that the gun is the best way to stop trouble. No matter where you are or how you are armed your best weapon is some good sense. You have to have sense enough to avoid trouble,and even more so when carrying.

I find that article to be a complete waste of time.

Don't carry so you get a heightened awareness of your surroundings? If you have to do that, you shouldn't be carrying at all. That is an idiotic notion. As far as people saying "I won't go places unless I can carry" I don't see anything wrong with that sentiment. Sometimes it is based on ignorance because they've never actually been to the place they're discussing but sometimes it is a very logical stance.

Maybe I would go to a game at the United Center and exit the parking area around midnight if I could carry legally. But since I can't, I don't go to the game.

To me there is nothing wrong with a person feeling that way.

Unfortunately we won’t know when we will need one in the chamber. I don’t want to try and remember if today I have one in the chamber or not. I always carry with one in the chamber! If you get surprised and have to grapple with the BG (very real possibility) you may not have that other hand free to rack the slide! If it’s always hot, that’s one less thing you have to worry about!