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Diver43
Senior MemberPosts: 12,188 Senior Member
Weird Feeling
Diver43
Senior MemberPosts: 12,188 Senior Member
I returned to work today after being off a few days for the Holidays.
Because of where I work, no firearms are allowed on the property, I departed home without my shield on my hip for the first time in a week.
I started to put the holster on my belt when getting dressed this morning, and realized "I am on the way to work" so instead of departing armed, I put the holster back in the dresser drawer and the Shield in the safe.
Normally Without the Shield I need to wear a different pair of pants or tighten my belt, but hmmm belt went into the same hole, guess I over ate for the Holidays.
It feels weird to need to rely on someone else that is only moments away if something bad were to happen during the day. The way things have been going lately, I am glad that I will be home before dark, even though I know that bad things happen in the daylight also.
Because of where I work, no firearms are allowed on the property, I departed home without my shield on my hip for the first time in a week.
I started to put the holster on my belt when getting dressed this morning, and realized "I am on the way to work" so instead of departing armed, I put the holster back in the dresser drawer and the Shield in the safe.
Normally Without the Shield I need to wear a different pair of pants or tighten my belt, but hmmm belt went into the same hole, guess I over ate for the Holidays.
It feels weird to need to rely on someone else that is only moments away if something bad were to happen during the day. The way things have been going lately, I am glad that I will be home before dark, even though I know that bad things happen in the daylight also.
Logistics cannot win a war, but its absence or inadequacy can cause defeat. FM100-5
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Recoil is how you know primer ignition is complete.
I wish it was that easy.
I work on a Military Property, guards at the gate with randam searches of vehicles. Not worth getting fired and losing a career over, but I do have a lock box in the truck for other places I can not bring the gun into.
Only guns registered on post if you lived on post or hunting/trap shootin on post were allowed and they had to separated from the ammo.
Not worth the chance of getting caught with an unregistered gun. Of course, two gates let out to Jordan Lane and Drake and one of the worst neighborhoods in HSV where you would really need one most likely going and coming.
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
Texas passed a similar law a few years earlier. But prior to this, when I was working for a "Big Awl" consultancy, and they had a "no firearms" rule, I still had my Glock 30 in the center console of my car, regardless. What they don't know ain't gonna hurt them dudes, eh?
It was kinda contradictory anyway, this firm being among the most hated evil Chaney-led bad guys. Yeah.
In my early 20s I started carrying, totally against the law then (the 60s) but due to the circumstances of my situation, I thought it the safer choice. And it turned out to be the better choice, too. I didn't always carry on my person but usually in the car within quick reach.
Then when I moved to DC for a year or so, no gun at all. Back to KC in the late 60s, back to the gun thing, usually a Ruger .357. Then when I took up lifestyle w. my fiancee' and her 2 kids, the gun got locked up unless we were traveling.
Back as a bachelor the gun carrying was again prevalent, till current times. It became routine habit, even before the Texas CHL permit -- it essentially legalized what I'd been doing for years anyway.
Nowadays I generally carry my .357 shrouded hammer snubbie, which fits nicely in my baggy jeans w. a small lightly padded in-the-pocket holster. Sometimes I leave it in the car, sometimes I slip it into my pocket.
As I get older, the places where I might need to carry seems to diminish. I know it's a bit of a fallacy, but hey, parking up front at the Kroger (handicap spot) and buying groceries, I just don't carry then. But heading out to a more remote store or a less sedate shopping or entertainment venue, yeah, I have that .357 just to make sure.
I of course agree with you. I use my Magic 7 Ball for predictions (one of the numbers got lost - it was originally 8).
We all have had several lively debates on this issue, of course. There are factors that slide the possible scale of events up and down. For example, lateness of the hour, place you're going, what sort of neighborhood. I'd figure that Tuesday afternoons, 2pm at a large Kroger in an fairly affluent neighborhood, w. armed security at the door (with big smiles of course, ha ha), I'm pretty okay to head inside and buy a box of cereal and some cat food. And w. my car parked in front, too.
But make this the same store at 11pm? Then I grab the .357.
I realize that this personal sliding scale is chancy but then again, I remember that some folks here in the forum live in such a dangerous environment that they carry TWO handguns with them, and some here find it so dangerous where their homes are that they feel compelled to walk around inside their homes wearing a sidearm all the time.
Thankfully I don't live in that dangerous of an environment. So I don't always carry. But then again, I don't take special precautions to have a gun next to the shower stall, hidden under a towel, when I'm bathing, as some here find it necessary to do. Depends on each person's environment, I suppose.
It has nothing to do with "Environment" and everything to do with time and unforseen events that befall us all....
You really never know when the ax may fall or where or on whom it may fall.
It would be horrible if ones last lament was, oh, if only I had remembered to bring along a gun or two !
There are plenty of good reasons not to carry, I simply would rather carry than be carried because I was not carrying, I may get killed off anyway, but at least I will have a fighting chance and perhaps die fighting !
Well, yes, it does depend on the environment you're in. I'm quite grateful that I don't live in such a dangerous locale that I need to carry two handguns or wear my gun on my waist all the time I'm home. I know that there are certain hazardous neighborhoods in the country where such prep would be necessary, and that's scary. But we've had members here post info that they actually do have to keep that level of defense, because their home is in that dangerous a locale.
I totally understand the "ax may fall" meme, but I live according to what I hope is common sense. For example, I don't keep a gun beneath a towel next to the shower (I remember one member saying that he did this). I just don't live in that dangerous of a neighborhood, where the breakins and home invasions are so prevalent that the member feels that fearful even while taking a shower.
Yeah, I keep a .45 next to my recliner where I relax and write and watch the tube, and another .45 next to the bed and my computer desk. But I don't feel the need to have a gun within easy reach every moment that I'm home, bathroom or kitchen or whatever.
But don't get me wrong -- folks who live in a far more dangerous locale than I do? Of course they feel the need to keep a gun holstered on them all the time they're home.
I am just not paranoid. For me to think that I need to be carrying 24/7 even while I'm home, to have a gun ready to grab from the shower or if I'm in the kitchen getting a Pepsi? Sorry, no. I've talked about this before, but it's in the math, where the term "approaches zero as a limit" applies -- that is, the chance of my getting home-invaded while I'm on the throne is so small that the chance is zero. Is there a chance? Sure. There's also a chance that a meteorite might hit my car. But I also don't take out a meteor strike insurance policy, either. The math just doesn't support the risk. Same that I don't wear a meteorite helmet.
I know that sounds silly but it's the way I see things -- I judge risks and act accordingly. For example... Yesterday (Jan 1) my girlfriend and I were driving back from Walgreen, and about 100ft in front of me, a guy driving an SUV sails right through the stopsign we were approaching (our direction had no stopsign). If I'd have been a few seconds ahead, he'd have likely plowed into me. This really did happen. Now this is a real occurrence, and if I were going to "be ready for the ax to fall" I'd just quit driving, since there is a real, genuine chance that a driver will run a stopsign and hit and hurt me or my gal. There's a "Chance" it could happen.
But the chance is small when you consider the miles people drive each year. If I were to try to totally try to remove ALL chances of danger in my life, I'd go nuts. I'd be paranoid. I'd be living in bubble wrap. And I'd think I had to carry a weapon all the time, regardless.
Not that I ignore potentially bad situations. For example, my car alarm decided to go off a couple weeks ago. My car's parked beneath a stairway and balcony overhang, next to an interior brick wall, and sometimes the alarm gets triggered when a loud car or truck passes, and then the stupid alarm keeps re-triggering itself for 2 or 3 more cycles due to the reverb echoes. But it might be a thief. So when the alarm triggered, it woke me up and I headed out, .45 in one hand, LED flash in the other. I saw that nobody was outside my door and then I popped out, ready. So yeah, I am prepared. I just don't walk around my home with a gun in my hand all the time. Hey, on any instant of any day, someone could smash into my home, so maybe I should keep that gun in my hand? Makes typing and using the bathroom difficult, but hey...
I also do what I need to do, and since my sidearm is in a holster on my side constantly, that includes most places I go.
Criminals used to brag about "Going to Mayberry" a place with a low crime rate and few armed citizens and a tiny Sherrifs department to rob and pillage.
When I lived in Maryland, a man tried to push me into my apartment, I had a 1911 in my back pocket and was able to convince him to leave.
I have been through a lot and feel I am alive because I never espoused that logic of not carrying simply because I felt the threat level was low.
A person can convince himself that the odds are very good that his life won't intersect with that of a violent criminal, but the fact is that it does happen occasionally. So, the odds are in favor of a normal citizen never having to defend his life or family, but the possibility that it can and does happen cannot be ignored.
In my case, and I suspect in many other people's cases, I usually do arm myself, because I have been in a few situations where I felt genuine fear that something violent might be about to happen, and I might not have the means to deal with it. Fear is an emotion that I haven't felt often in my adult life, despite a few altercations here and there. So, when it does happen, it makes a lasting impression. There is an ebb and flow to emotional behavior, so sometimes I backslide, and sometimes I over-compensate.
It is true that the chance of having a confrontation with a violent person is indeed small, and I further reduce that number by avoiding situations, however, I see a trend in my area that is a bit alarming to me.
Most people know me around here, but there seems to be a growing crop of crazed drug fiends that fear and respect nobody, these folks have killed a few people and some have been killed by the Police.
Even the various law enforcement agencies see the wisdom in allowing law abiding people easier access to CCW permits, when in the past they did not even accept applications.
This...we have the same situation here...Response times for the Sheriff is completely dependent on where the deputies are in the county...30 to 45 minutes being the norm. Something we willingly accepted when we moved out here. While crime rates are way lower and different than when we lived in MI, there are still some bad actors out here. Our carry habits HAVE changed however...when we lived in Battle Creek we went armed in our own home...thankfully we've been able to dial that level of readiness back some.
I carried legally and illegally for a long time in some unfriendly places, like NYC and Chapel Hill, NC, where getting caught would have meant at least losing my firearm, at worst spending some time in the do-right. That was during being a LEO (in NYC, where they don't address out of state leos in an accepting manner) and after (in Chapel Hill.)
Now that I can carry in the places I go ordinarily, I simply don't. I don't know exactly why I chose this path.
:roll:
Of course, you can live a life in fear, put lightening rods on your automobile and get roll bars for your motorcycle, buy a rope latter for escaping from second story windows and you'll no doubt feel safer. I'd rather risk the almost infintesimal chance of being in a gun fight to the paranoia that impels me to carry a weapon.
I'll carry one if I feel like it, but I won't accept eye rolling for my choices. Nor will I roll my eyes at yours, however it may seem to me.
You carried a gun for a living, I would think it was second nature by now, why don't you carry daily:uhm:. I have had 3 situations in my sleepy burb in 15 years that a gun was a good thing to have but not needed, I carry always.
Or not carry one if it's their choice. But I don't play the lottery either. I don't have the statistics to prove it, but I think you stand a greater chance of winning a lottery than defending your life.
My brother in law is older than I, lives in a suburb of Detroit, and has never even owned any kind of gun in his life. He's seemed to do OK with this for something like 80 years.
Oh, I carry one in my car when I go on trips, depending on where I'm going. When I do, I lock my car when I'm not in it. And if I lived somewhere like Jackson, MS you bet I'd carry one. Or even in the suburb of Detroit. But not in Watkinsville, GA. The chances of getting shot are by far the greatest of getting shot by someone you know, so I don't hang with people who are likely to shoot me.
As I sit typing this, I have two pistols within reach, not that (again, statistically) I'll probably need them, but if you read the Armed Citizen reports, most SD needs happen at home or at a place of business. If someone were to mistake my home for one worth Invading, I want to be ready.
Edited to add: I just don't see carrying as a duty, which apparently some apparently do.
Your statement is moronic, not you choice.....also, I'm an anonymous person on the internet, I'll roll my eyes if I want, suck it up buttercup.
The vast majority of carriers will never be placed in a situation where they will actually need what they're carrying. Most people who carry are more situationally aware. Most carriers follow the 3-Stupids rule.
Sometimes none of that matters, sometimes bad things happen to good people in good locations. We had a past forum member (DRFEAFA?) who was attacked in his suburban home by a gang of thugs with ball **** hammers. This was a man who had been a shooter his whole life, and carried on a fairly regular basis, had guns in the house......and still, he and his family were severely injured in their "nice neighborhood."
Saying "I don't want to be inconvenienced " is a perfectly legitimate reason for not carrying a gun, "my neighborhood is safe" is not.
I'm morbidly obese, I'll probably die of a heart attack or stroke by the time I'm 50, ya know why I don't exercise and eat healthier.......It sure as hell isn't because I live in a neighborhood that has a hospital with a really great cardiac center. To tell people that would not only be dishonest, it's also just dumb. "I live in a safe location" is just as dumb. You've got a pretty good chance of not being attacked it you're Michael Collins in 1969, but everyone else is still pretty much fair game for the thugs and miscreants out there today.
There are very few thugs and miscreants in my neighborhood, so few in fact that the instances of stranger on stranger armed attack hasn't happened in several years...in my county.
To increase your chances of survival, you'd do better to lose weight than to carry a gun, or perhaps do both, I don't know where you live, but that's your choice. Yet you ignore a greater threat or morbid obesity when it's in your power to do something about it yet you criticize my choices? Life's a bunch of choices, and I'm all in favor of choice. You've made yours, I've made mine. What's your problem of accepting my choices?
So "safe" is a degree, the lowest degree: safe, safer, safest. My neighborhood and my county is safer. None is safest.
Great gun is the Kahr.
Once again, there's nothing wrong with not carrying.....absolutely nothing. If that's the choice you've made then more power to you, and I have absolutely nothing against it.
It was your justification that I disagreed with, the "I live in a safe neighborhood" line.
I avoid something that could potentially save my life, because actively participating in the practice is actual work and it inconveniences me and my other daily activities.
Me and being healthy/you and carrying......the line fits either one, and notice how there is no mention of "neighborhood" in sight.
Check it out, words like paranoid, fear, extreme emotions are used to describe the carry of a utilitarian instrument, a firearm.
Now, in my small experience, I have saved my life enough times with a firearm, maybe I do not have many guns now, but I always have at least a handgun anywhere I happen to be.
Look at fire extinguishers, I love em ! Spare tires, tools, spare parts, why? When do I need em? I have used fire extinguishers to help people many times, and my guns have saved me many times.
You took exception to my pushing my preference for some model firearm, yet here you espouse the same views as the anti gun folks, ridicule people that carry.
Well make fun of me, I will carry and live........