Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Concealed Carry- Escape or Stand your ground?

I've been following several self defense sites for several years now and my views toward self defense with a handgun have changed significantly due to this.

The discussion on this site and most sites are that a carry weapon needs to be able to inflict a fatal impact or it isn't suitable for concealed carry. I can get behind this to a point- if you are in a situation where you actually have to use a gun to defend yourself the adrenaline is going to be like a faucet being opened up, your hands probably won't be steady, your brain will probably freeze unless you have practiced enough to have muscle memory to go through the motions, and the attacker is going to be advancing on you... in that case you want to end this as soon as possible . And when I am in a season where wearing enough clothing to cover up a larger weapon is feasible I prefer to do this, but....

Most of the self defense types these days advise two things in every case that I have seen- if you have the opportunity, run from the danger as quickly as your feet will carry you- and second, if you have to use your weapon shoot center mass and as accurately as possible even it it takes a little more time to aim and shoot. One or two well placed shots is way better than spraying shots everywhere and not hitting anything except bystanders, cars, etc....

Here is where I have modified my behavior and believe it is worth considering. During warm weather I seldom have sufficient clothing on to conceal my .45 ACP carry weapon so I often didn't carry in those conditions. I felt naked a lot of times and especially now with the homelessness problems and uptick in crime. So I started looking into what self defense really meant to me and basically what I realized is I need to slow down or stop an assailant, but not necessarily kill them. This had a major effect on my outlook on weapons choices and why I ended up purchasing a .380 for a carry weapon. I can carry it all the time and not feel it is going to show enough that I have to worry about some Karen going ballistic on me in public and it will get the job done. I have shifted my priorities to where I feel if I can land a couple shots center mass or in the head/neck area with a .380 or even a .22, it will be enough to stop or slow the attack enough for me to get proper distance or defend those around me. I'm pretty sure dumping a mag of .380 or .22 into somebody at relatively close range is going to give just about anyone a very bad day...

The whole point most of these self defense instructors seem to be getting across is the first objective is to get away from the threat as a first priority. Stopping the assailant and protecting yourself and others is secondary. And alerting the police given the time frame is way down the list once your adrenaline calms down a bit, hopefully...

I know there will be lots of back and forth on this... what do you think?

Just what in the fugg could I get away from?

IF at all possible leave the situation.

If you have to shoot a son of a bitch that same son of a bitch will be a part of your life for the rest of your life.

And, here, we go....

I'm old, with a titanium knee, arthritis everywhere (prolly in the noggin too) and the docs have told me my running days are over.

I may hustle as fast as I can to get to cover/shelter, but at my speeds the "attacker" will likely just hit me in the ass or something before I get there.

I still ain't tellin' whether I have a spare mag. In case I do make it cover, the bad guy's gonna hafta guess too.

Gonna be like a clown runnin' on a ball again?

A full size 1911 is easily concealed when wearing a pair of shorts and a tee shirt.

Avoiding the situation ahead of time is the best tactic. Since that dozen’t work 100% of the time, I choose to be prepared. You can avoid a lot of sheit, however, with a bit of pre planning, thinking, and paying attention to your surroundings. I cannot seem to beat this into my wife’s head. She insists on stumbling through this world completely oblivious to what takes place around her.

Most excellent and reasonable post, sir. Rittenhouse was 100% in the right to do what he did and I'm sure of the couch commandos here would love to have been him, but no thanks, I'd rather run than face having to hire an army of Yid lawyers to defend my ass,,,

I’m too old to fight and too slow to run.

Same thing here.
Bout had to pop some weirdo when we were going out to lunch one day.

Dude came out of nowhere. But she and he both disregarded my initial warning. 2nd warning w hand on gun she stopped and he took off.

Read her the riot act. Doubt it sunk in.

Just being alert should be enough.... im guessing most troublemakers would prefer the element of surprise.

I do avoid going some places, and avoid certain times at " normal " spots to lessen risk.

Guess the 24 hr pharmacy down the road is getting ptetty sketchy. They hired some jabba the hut security dude for the night shift. Hes inside.

Your on your own in the parking lot. Coworker told me he went recently after 2nd shift and was rather alarmed.

Uh.....why not go before work when things are brighter?

Having worked my entire life in the 5 boroughs of the NYC cesspool, I too try to avoid a situation by constantly being aware of my surroundings and adjusting accordingly. My head is always moving, and my eyes and ears are always working. If things look like they are about to get uncomfortable, I will always try first to vacate the area. Distance is always the best defense.

If a schiet storm becomes inevitable and I need to pull my weapon, (I pray I never have to), I'm going all in to preserve my life and/or that of my loved ones.

I'm now retired in Florida. In cooler weather, with heavier clothes, I have no problem concealing a CZ PCR with 16+1 capability. In the brutal hot summers, where a tee shirt and shorts is more the norm, I've turned to a pocket holstered 6+1 .380. I much prefer the 9mm, but like they say, something is always better than nothing.

The .380 will do the job. A couple of torso shots should take the fight right out of them. Just think, the bad guy is wearing a tshirt too, no heavy jacket to slow the bullet.

Amazing how folks want to stay and observe a potentially dangerous situation.

See what happens, whip out the cell phone to video it.

Idiots.

Best to be far away, someplace else.

Good advice here.
My wife is always armed and aware. She even stopped wearing any expensive looking jewelry. No need drawing unwanted attention to yourself. Hasbeen

I carry a 5-shot 357 revolver in warm weather and when I'm wearing shorts.

Im cautious of assuming a single attacker.

"The .380 in your pocket is much better that the .45 Auto back at home in the night stand". My Polish P-64 has a slightly more powerful round than a PPK, and is almost the same size and weight. The only time I've had to seriously consider anything beyond a loud verbal warning was late one night at a well-lit gas station on the bypass loop around Atlanta. I had forgotten to gas up before I got there. A persistent panhandler and his buddy he thought I didn't know was there tried to tag team me, and the guy who believed he was distracting me with his sob story figured out that I was onto his game. I got as far as lifting my shirt tail and getting a grip on my carry piece before they both decided they had business elsewhere, RIGHT NOW!

Avoidance is always the best policy, IMHO. Awareness is a big help to achieving avoidance.

FWIW, my 380 hasn't left the drawer since buying a Sig P365. It conceals almost as easily as the 380, but packs more punch, twice as many times.