Why do we carry, anyway?

[Snowdog]

Reading some recent posts, a particularly intriguing thought crossed my mind.

I suppose we all have the same idea as to why we carry, however I feel we all draw a different line when it comes to our perspective responsibilities inherent to concealed carry.
When we tuck our handguns securely into their holsters before heading out into society, just what are we expecting to do exactly? What are we prepared to do if the balloon goes up?


Do we play hero and dashingly foil a robbery?
Do we prevent the continuation of a stranger-on-stranger assault?
Do we become involved with an evolving domestic dispute unfolding before us?
Do we prepare in anticipation of an offensive assault against armed villains by discretely carrying several firearms?
Do we prepare as if the least is enough?
Do we even feel secure with what competencies we were originally content with?
Do we feel the need for 5 rounds, or do we need 50?
Do we take the tacit oath of an auxiliary police of sorts, or do we carry in order to protect our own tails?

Having given this some thought, I've come to some conclusions.

I've come to the realization that I carry for strictly defensive purposes. Perhaps this explains why I carry a K9 and spare mag, a Benchmade and a cell phone.

This also brings me to understand that in all reality, I probably wouldn't bother to foil an armed robbery, as long as it seemed to be going smoothly. Subscribing in the philosophy that to engage an armed robber may actually increase the likelihood of injury to innocent people, I have no immediate desire to play the part of the protagonist for the chivalrous sake of it....

Perhaps I'd make a lousy hero.


Though I'm certain I would become involved if I felt that actions were absolutely necessary to prevent imminent injury to others,
ultimately, I believe I carry to protect only myself and family.


I'd like to hear some thoughts on what others may feel is our personal responsibility when we carry. What do people expect of us, and what do we expect from ourselves?

[TallPine]

My first responsibility is to soil my underwear.

My second responsibility is to make sure the undertaker or doctor doesn't get to see that. :)

[cheygriz]

Because it's better to have a gun and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

As far as playing hero, well there are idiots in every walk of life.

Using a weapon (any weapon, gun, knife, club) is an extreme measure that should be done only as a last resort to prevent the death or severe injury of innocent persons.

Rambo resides on the silver screen, and should remain there.

[WESHOOT2]

I wear guns to protect me and mine if backed into an unacceptable corner; otherwise I prefer to the "run screaming the other way" method.

I moved to Vermont for precisely that reason.

[Nero Steptoe]

I carry for the sole reason that if I'm fortunate enough to flush a covey of DemocRATs, I can get off a few shots.

[El Tejon]

As the wise man in Tejas (well, for now) sez, "you cannot save the world; if you're lucky, you may be able to save your family and yourself."

Walter Mittyesque dreams of behaving like Batman and seeking to combat crime with swift karate chops are for the untrained or the tiny fraction of a percentage point that are "natural fighters" who think nothing of the consequences of their actions.

To answer your questions:

-we do not play hero, we play witness;
-we do not jump into fights in which we are not party;
-we do not jump into domestic disputes, we are not armed marriage counselors;
-offense? you're kidding, right?
-we prepare for the worst;
-we never feel secure in our competency, we do not play "what if", but "I am losing";
-we pray that the number of rounds is 0;
-we raise the hue and cry, we are not stranger rangers or Batman.

[critter]

TallPine:
(1) I LOVE your answer!
(2) You are EXACTLY correct!

[riddleofsteel]

I am Riddle of Steel.

My legal name is Malloy, of the clan O'Molloy, county Offaly, Ireland. My ancestors, descended from Neil of the Nine Hostages, lived by the sword and the dirk. Our stretch of Ireland for over forty generations was called Fircall and we were its rulers. An eleventh century text reads; The princes of Fircall, of the ancient sword, are O'Molloy. The steel was our ally and companion in a wild and dangerous land. Steel in hardened Irish hands protected us while we tilled the soil and raised our cattle. When we warred with other clans we killed and sometimes died, again by the steel. When the English came we fought with the steel until they overwhelmed us. Afterwards we had to hide our swords and concealed the carry of our dirks and knives. Carrying and training with weapons, the pipes, native songs and even Gaelic itself was outlawed. When guns and powder came to our land, in secret, we mastered and added them to our belts. We fought for 300 years against an occupation army on our island. They called us traitors in our own land for not swearing allegiance to an English king or worshiping in an English church. Officially, we were an unarmed population standing in defiance of the most powerful-armed empire on earth. In truth, with guns and powder, bombs and knives we fought and struggled until we freed most of Ireland.

We were also locked in combat with another enemy we could not defeat. Instead it killed us by the thousands, the tens of thousands, the millions. Famine killed and scattered my clansmen to the distant corners of the earth. It was brought on by generations of absentee English landlords raping the land, English taxes, and exportation of shiploads of food to England while the Irish people starved. On the tiny plots of our land the English lords rented us we grew potatos. It was the only crop that could support a family on such a small area. When the potato crop failed, we starved. No steel could save us, not sword, nor gun, nor plow.
.
During the time of British occupation some of my clan came to America. We brought with us the steel. My great-great-great-great grandfather settled in the mountains of central Virginia. Law there was mostly what you made of it. Those who were strong and knew the steel and lived and prospered; those who were weak or unarmed died. Our family grew strong farming, hunting, trapping and fishing. We used the steel during the Revolution to free this land from the hated British. With powder, ball and blade my forebear secured the freedom for me I would not have had in Ireland. Again in 1812 we beat back those who would usurp that liberty.

My great-great-great grandfather came to the piedmont of North Carolina in a flat bottom boat on the Dan river. He and his family took a grand adventure and gave up everything to live by their wits in a new land. They used the steel to defend against bandits and Indians. At that time the foothills of our state was a wilderness. From this wilderness he carved an 800 acre farm with sweat, sinew, courage and steel. He carried a brace of pistols and a knife as part of every day life.

My great-great grandfather went to war to defend the freedom he had come to cherish in our hilly wooded land. Yes, he owned a slave or two, but what he fought for was the freedom to live free and conduct his own affairs as he saw fit. In this war we learned that not all thieves of freedom come from other countries. Any federal government , British or American, that intrudes on the lives of its citizens uninvited cries out for resistance. The thought was, we had traded one tyranny for another. Hundreds of thousands of Americans died for what they believed was this just cause. He had lived his life free with the steel as a tool of war and of peace. He was one of the best shots in the county. His exploits with a knife also survive in family documents. When he returned from the Civil War he carried his brace of ivory handled six-guns and a large knife until the day he died. Best accounts state he was never afraid to use them. At his death they hung on a belt on his bedpost.

My great-grandfather moved to town to take advantage of the new industrial boom. To the city of the new age of steel he had brought the steel of our ancestors with him. We still have the revolver he used to defend himself and his family in this new urban wilderness. His son, my grandfather, was the first generation of my family that never went armed. An overprotective strict mother raised him. His education was the tea party and the textbook, not the woodlands and the steel. Maybe he was a product of the times. Laws had been passed that forbade the carry of weapons in cities. For the first time in history Americans were learning to look to the government for their needs. When he was in his thirties he was murdered in an alley by two thugs over $20.00.

My father is also a stranger to the steel. He was raised in that same city by his mother with no father. To him the steel was something to be taken up in war and then turned into a plow during the peace. To my knowledge, the first weapon he ever owned was obtained as collateral for a loan to an employee. Uninterested, he later gave it to my sister. However, luck of the Irish has been with him and he still lives.

As for me, far removed from the green Irish hills, I have again taken up the steel. The gun and blade are constants of my life. Through them I reach back across the generations to a distant skin clad chieftain on a shaggy Irish pony griping the hilt of his sword, to a Revolutionary soldier loading his musket as the redcoats cross the field toward him, to the settler on the eastern frontier feeding and protecting his family, to the Civil War soldier sitting in the mud at Sharpsburg with the pungent smell of burned powder in his nose, to my grandfather laying in a stinking alley his blood on the bricks.

You ask me why I carry the steel?

I ask you why were laws passed and kept on the books for almost one hundred years that choked my right to carry it? This right my clan has cherished for over a thousand years. A right secured for my family and me by the blood of patriots. Why does the same intrusive federal government we bled to rid ourselves of now seek to disarm me? Why is there American soil I can not tread upon armed? Why do honest Americans fear the steel?

http://yerfrockethellhound.com/3803.gif

[Peetmoss]

I think that is one of the truest statements I have ever heard.

[Billy Sparks]

why do I carry?

To protect, in order:
A) myself
B) my wife
C) her kids, my grandkids, my folks


The rest of you are on your own. After 20+ years in volunteer
Fire/Rescue/EMS I REALLY am very good at getting away from
things that might make me need to testify or be involved.

[10-Ring]

1. To protect me & mine
2. To help protect others if possible
3. Be a damn good witness & let the pros do their thing.

Being a chicken at heart, I'm not actively looking for problems/trouble. But, I want options to get out of trouble if put in that position.

[dairycreek]

than to protect me and mine from harm. That's why I carry and that, for me, is the bottom line. No other reason - none. Good shooting;)

[DE44mag]

Why carry?
BECAUS I AM A FREE MAN WITH THE GOD GIVE RIGHT TO DO SO!!!!!!:what: :banghead: :cuss:

[ajacobs]

Like most people who have posted hear I cannot fathom getting envolved in things like stranger on stranger etc. It is for me and the people I am with. But I am not so certain that I could stand by while someone else was getting hurt. Yes my preference is to run away screaming as weshoot2 put it. I don't know though if a situation was escalaiting that I was not an imediate party to, if I can get envolved. I hope I never have to find out and if I do I hope I do the right thing. Now what the right thing is still a debate in my own mind.

I had a good friend who has drawn her weapon twice. Once when the place she worked was getting robbed. Now everyones first thought is just give up the money and I agree with them all though non of us were there so I don't know what the right thing to do was. The guy ended up having a finger in his pocket. She had already given him the money and he was acting very disturbed. She wasn't so sure that that was all of it as he was very adjitated and kept asking for more money.

The other incedent involved a man beating his wife in an almost empty parking lot as she was comming out of a place. She called the police first of course. Repeadily told him from a distance that the police were on the way and he had better stop. How long do you stand buy waiting for the police to come while a guy continues to beat his wife?

While neither of these scenerios I would have thought I would have acted I can't be sure becuase I wasn't there.

I guess the best answer to give is becuase I want to be prepared.

[Skunkabilly]

Keeping up with technology. My caveman club is passé

[Hkmp5sd]

"As long as there is a weapon in mine, my fate does not rest entirely in the hands of another."

[DeltaElite]

I carry to protect myself and family from harm.
No other reason.

[Standing Wolf]

I carry a concealed .357 magnum revolver whenever I leave the house because my life and property are of great value and irreplaceable, and being a member of Homo sapiens, I have an inherent human right to defend both.

[Weezer]

I'm going to carry to protect my family and I. But to be honest, part of the reason is because I just like being around guns.

[WESHOOT2]

I made a promise to my wife that I would come home safely every night.

I will admit to interceding in events not of my making, but this is my First Rule.
THEN I run screaming the other way..........:scrutiny:

[Stevie-Ray]

I've wanted a CPL for years now, probably ever since my wife became very ill. For 23 years now, I've felt as if a target were painted on our backs, leaving us at the mercy of the dregs of our society, simply because we cannot run from trouble as normal human beings can. Let's face it, the best way to stay out of trouble is to not be there when it happens. Normal legs can sometimes provide you with that comfort. Not an option for us. I wanted a fighting chance against the human refuse that would see us as an easy mark. With my experience in guns and a CPL, I now leave home with a safer feeling. And it feels better than it has for years. I am extremely protective of my wife and of myself, and Heaven help those that would seek to deliberately harm us.

My worst nightmare used to be dying on my knees with a bullet to the back of the head. This is one of the most disgusting acts of cowardice by criminals, and I refused to ever succumb to this, swearing I'd die on my feet going after the SOB's throat. Now, of course, the scum had better be faster and better.

[GunNut]

I leave the house because my life and property are of great value and irreplaceable


You really got to think if your property is worth the potential of going to prison.

My live or the lives of my family, I will certainly do what it takes to protect us.

My truck, TV, computer, etc are not worth the grief and attorney bills to protect with deadly force.



Why do I carry?

1. Protect myself and my family.
2. Because I can....


Steve

[.45Ruger]

I carry to protect myself and my wife. I have no illusions that I am a hero. The only thing I could see myself using my gun to stop besides a direct threat to the life of myself or my wife would be an an abduction of a child. Children have no way to protect themselves so I believe it is up to us to protect them.

[Blackhawk]

My wife convinced me that she couldn't survive without me.

[dfariswheel]

Today, the pistol is strictly a back-up to the modern main defense weapon....The cell phone.

Bad guys simply haven't learned how to operate in an environment in which there is no delay between starting trouble, and calls being made to the police.

EVERYONE has a cell phone, and few people are shy or afraid to use them. People may not want to get involved in a possible physical situation, but phone calls are easy, and anonymous.

The days when you could start something and be long gone before the police got the word are over. Criminals are in the same boat as the Old West outlaws who couldn't deal with the telegraph and telephone getting the word out over a wide area, or the 1930's "motor bandits" like Bonny and Clyde, who learned that you can't out run a radio.

The pistol is for those times even the cell phone just isn't fast enough.

You don't jump in and start waving a gun, you just turn away, push the speed dial for "911", and let the police do their job.

The gun is like a fire extinguisher. It's only to be used to cool things off until the fire department gets there.

[blades67]

I carry because the animal stalks me. I have seen the animal and I am here because I stopped the animal with the guns I carry. I have protected my family from the animal and I will do it every time the animal comes again.

[Jack19]

Two reasons:

1. I carry because people sometimes behave badly and, in my experience, I can't always avoid them when they do.

2. I owe it to my family to come home safe, every night. I believe in the worth of my life.

People who choose not to defend themselves, who value their lives so little as to think it worth less than the actions of the bad guy, frankly, make me sick.

[Ala Dan]

Greeting's Snowdog and Other's-

Each time I strap on my "Shootin-Iron", I'm prepared to do
what ever is necessary to "save my bacon"; or the bacon
of loved ones. I don't get my "kick's" trying to play HERO!
However, if I happened to see a citizen in imminent danger
of his/her life; most likely I would get involved, ONLY
to the point of stopping the threat! And if that meant using
deadly physical force; then so be it.

You asked, "Why get involved"? Cuz the perp's next victim
could be you!

*FootNote- My lifetime has been spent upholding the
Constitution of The United States, and protecting its
citizens within. Why should I change all of a sudden?

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, Life Member

[Detachment Charlie]

First, to protect myself and my family.
Second, for shooting dangerous and delicious animals.
Third, to keep the King of England out of my face.
-With full apologies to Krusty The Klown, The Simpsons:D

[Boiler_G]

I am with you Snowdog! Those are my thoughts too.

[spacemanspiff]

i am not rambo.
i am not a hero.
i am not a vigilante.
i am not a knight saving a damsel in distress.
i am not a terminator.
i am not a badass.

i am armed because human life is worth protecting.

[TheFrontRange]

Like everybody else here, I like guns. Like many here, I live in a state that allows CCW and if at all possible I'll always live somewhere that allows it. I carry for the defense of my family and myself and I believe I would intervene defensively on behalf of another as long as doing so did not endanger my family in any way (picturing some sort of event occurring while out-and-about when I say that).

Sometimes that proverbial "right person with a gun" is in the "right place at the right time" I suppose. As CCW'ers we don't (and/or perhaps shouldn't) necessarily seek to be that person, but we are prepared to fill that role if we're called upon.

[Monkeyleg]

For those of you who've said that they would shoot to save the life of someone other than wife or family in, say, an armed robbery situation: what happens if you shoot the BG, his muscles contract, and he winds up shooting someone?

[TheFrontRange]

People who choose not to defend themselves, who value their lives so little as to think it worth less than the actions of the bad guy, frankly, make me sick.

I was pondering similar thoughts yesterday while bike-riding with two of my kids. So many folks in this society of ours are so afraid of guns, of weapons of almost any kind, to the point that they attempt to project that fear and loathing to ALL of us, trying to cast those of us who choose to arm ourselves in the most negative light possible. So many rightfully hate violence and crime...but feel that the only solution is to deprive the citizenry of the most effective means by which they might defend themselves from that very crime and violence.

I'm know I'm preaching to the choir here...but how frikkin' sad that picture really is. Jack19's comments were just right on the money.

[TheFrontRange]

For those of you who've said that they would shoot to save the life of someone other than wife or family in, say, an armed robbery situation: what happens if you shoot the BG, his muscles contract, and he winds up shooting someone?

I don't know...what if YOU are the one he winds up shooting? What if BG has a pal around the corner out of your field of vision? There could be what-ifs listed by the dozens, I guess.

It's all a risk, one that the BG initiated at the onset of this hypothetical scenario. At the risk of sounding callous, that would be tragedy if anyone innocent got shot during the course of this...but it doesn't negate the need for someone to stand up and try to stop it if at all possible.

Just my .02...I have neither "been there" nor "done that," so my perspective is based only on my own musings on this type of thing.

[spacemanspiff]

what happens if you shoot the BG, his muscles contract, and he winds up shooting someone?

were you 100% convinced that the BG was putting lives in danger to begin with? if not, why are you shooting?

[Monkeyleg]

To answer of a couple of questions regarding my last question (geez, I'm starting to sound like WJC here): in my old neighborhood, the grocery checkout clerks got held up pretty much on a weekly basis. I didn't carry back then and, even if I did, it's unlikely that I could have found a spot where I had both cover and knowledge that BG #2 wasn't lurking.

But, let's say I found that magic cover behind the Twinkies display. BG #1 has his shotgun aimed at the head of a 17 year-old checkout clerk. If I shoot BG #1, while he has his shotgun trained on the head of the clerk, what's to prevent his muscle reflexes from pulling the trigger after he's shot?

Sure, this is all conjecture, but it's conjecture that everyone should think about. If your shot causes the BG's finger to splatter that clerk's brains all over the store, who's the DA going to come down on? Not the dead BG.

I'm not advocating an "isolationist" stance; I'd just like to hear opinions from those with more experience and/or thought.

[Jaco]

To shoot back next time.

[22luvr]

I have a God-given responsibility to protect those closest to me: my wife, children, my family. Having lived 57 years on this planet and never having been even close to a life-threatening assault does not mean it cannot happen today, tomorrow, or soon.

Having said that, and knowing I've never been put in the place of having to use deadly force, could I? If an assailant turns on me or my family, yes, without reservation.

[Onslaught]

Originally, I began carrying solely to protect myself from a violent schizophrenic "Radio DJ stalker" who was bigger than me :what: and was always threatening to shoot me. But ever since alchohol and good judgement made him think that the Krystal burger across the road was worth stepping off the curb in front of a semi truck, I don't have to worry about him any more... :D

I used to do a little "bouncing" when I was younger, but I keep my nose out of other people's problems these days. Now I carry to protect my daughter and my wife (in that order). Anybody else... well, you shoulda been carrying like me! ;)

[CZ 75 BD]

As the florida permit application says "a license to carry a weapon is not a license to use it". Not for protecting property, only human life.

[charleym3]

1. To preserve my life and health.
2. To do the same for my family.
3. To do the same for strangers IF and only IF it is totally obvious to even a blind deaf moron that the stranger is in jeopardy.
4. To prevent or terminate a rape.

To borrow from Dennis DeYoung "I'm not a hero. I'm not a savior. ... We all need control." and from the Master Yoda "Control, control, you must learn control!". ;)

I intend to be invisible unless I absolutely must get involved because sure as hell as soon as I discharge a round, my life will be forever changed and not for the better. Even if it's a totally righteous shoot, I'll end up in civil court. The decision to shoot must be life and death.

[cool45auto]

To protect myself and my loved ones if need be. Also just because its a right that far too many people ignore.

[cisco]

I just saw on one of the "most amazing police videos" a real life situation that did make me think. For some reason one of this guys friends was making a video of this. Here is the scene. A real bully type guy had made it his daily job to beat the crap out of this unfortunate individual. One day, the victim, had finally had enough and got himself a pistol. The time came when the bully came over to pound on him again. The video was running, the bully came over beating on his chest announcing what was going to happen. He did not have a weapon, only his loud mouth and fist. He made a move on the victim and the victim pulls the pistol and blam, blam. Down goes the bully, not dead buy dying. What happens. The bully dies and the guy that was getting the crap beat out of him goes directly to jail. The guy speaking for the police said it would have been better to call the police to take care of the situation than to take the matter into your own hands. Now the shooter is not being beaten up by the bully but by inmates of the jail he is in. So if a guy that is bigger than you comes over on a regular basis and beats the crap out of you what do you do? If he is just using physical force to pound on you and you are unable to protect yourself would you just take the daily beating? Sure, after it is over you can call the cops. What would they do? This guy that was being beaten may have known that if he called the cops and they arrested this bully he would be out of jail someday and then he was going to be in for a real beating. The police could not be with the victim every minute of every day. So the beatings continue. He used the gun. I saw the results. If that is the way it works, I guess to move out of the neighborhood or learn to run real fast carrying your gun with you may be on your mind.

[charleym3]

Based on that story, arrest was the proper action. He really should have called the police first and several times befor executing the bad guy. It may be extenuating circumstances, but it sure sounds like murder to me.

[Jaco]

The question you have to ask in South Africa is: "Is just drawing this handgun worth going to jail for?" And that means certain gangrapes and coming out HIV positive, if you are fortunate to come out alive.

[coonan357]

I have my reasons and rather not post them in a public forum :scrutiny:

[Ryder]

There are thousands of evil people walking among us.
To many of them you are less than nothing.
If you ever face this you will know why you carry.


U.S. MOST WANTED (http://www.fugitivehunter.org/usmostwanted.html)

[Kahr carrier]

Just in case,Hopefully You dont have to use it ,but if you do it is there ready to go.Better to be ready than a victim.;)

[philupcolt]

I.m sure that all states abide by the same principle that the use of deadly force is only justified in order to protect yourself, or another , against deadly force.
No matter what the circumstances, you are going to have to prove your justification , if you shoot someone. The above even applies to law enforcement.

[foghornl]

Something in the wedding vows about "love and honor". If I fail to protect my wife [and self] from those that would rob,rape,murder (in no particular order) then I have done neither.

[M1911]

I carry because evil men do evil things, something that I learned up close and personal at age 13.

[oogee]

I live in Israel …

Regrettably that sums up the reasons :mad:

I hope all we do with our guns is to punch holes in paper...

[Bobarino]

i carry for the same reason i wear a seatbelt when i drive. it gives me at least a chance of walking away from a potentially deadly situation. however, i am an advocate of the turn a run solution whenever possible. i don't seek to get in a wreck just because i wear my seatbelt, and i am certainly not going to be proacvtive in using a firearm.

another reason is, carrying a gun gives a person more defensive options for when the SHTF. i would let myslef, or a clerk get robbed, but not shot. WA state law says a person may bear arms for self defense and the defense of others. i would have to hear words like "i am giong to kill you right now." or actually be shot at before i ever draw a firearm. by then it could be too late though, who knows.

a more personal reason for me to carry is that, i've worked hard and suffered to maintain my life, having survived cancer at the ripe ol' age of 20. six years of chemotherapy etc, it was a difficult battle, but i won, and i feel i've earned the right to live and i'll be damned if i'm going to let someone take my life away from me without putting up the most varacious fight i am capable of. same goes for any of my loved ones.

Bobby

[M1911]

I live in Israel …Yes, oogee, you do carry for the same reason that I do. May the good Lord watch over you and yours.