People who carry concealed are frightened..

[Fletchette]

...the person is most likely in favor of banning guns. Ask them if they are "frightened" of other citizens who carry guns. If they say 'yes', respond that so are you, so that is why you carry. If they say 'no', then say it does not matter to them.

 

[SuperNaut]

Are people who have hammers afraid of nails?

 

[stevereno1]

I'm not as scared as a rape victim, or a gang beating victim is while they are being hurt. I also am not as scared as a would be attacker is after he has been shot by his intended victim.

 

[Unisaw]

Who is more frightened, the law-abiding person who has decided to be unobtrusively prepared or the person who insists that everyone must be disarmed?

 

[230RN]

Thanks, Len S., for my new sig line!

 

[sm]

From the perspective of those indoctrinated by Tyranny in believing the State will take care them, or if all guns were destroyed, and only Police and Military had guns...life would be safer as persons would no longer have fear:



The great masses of the people ... will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one. -Adolf Hitler




All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those toward whom it is directed will understand it... Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise. -Adolf Hitler



The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed the subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty. -Adolf Hitler

 

[Jeffreii]

You must have heard that one from my dad! - He thinks you are scared and just trying to show off how macho you can be with guns.

I would put it this way: I prefer to thwart and abolish evil. Not surrender and succumb to it. Let peace and goodness prevail, not evil. To do such would not be even hinting that one would be scared of it, but rather, be condemning it.

That type of thinking probably stems from those who don't really understand enough of what is going on. Just like some bumper stickers that read "war is not the answer" the same usually say "guns are not the answer" either. They jump to conclusions quite quickly and with little to no real knowledge of truth about the situation. Technically speaking, they actually are correct. The aforementioned are not the answer. Peace is the answer. They are the solution. I usually have to remind the folk that a solution is what is used to derive an answer to a problem. Put another way, Peace is the answer, Evil is the problem, and the solution chosen by many people is to CCW. The gun is the chosen way to answer to evil and derive the solution of peace. "Fear" has absolutely nothing to do with it at all.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind

My speculation as to why they conclude one is scared: If one lacks understanding, they would feel you were on the other side. However, knowing you would obviously not be there (you having a gun, but knowing you are not evil, but one that desires righteousness) they would create a fallacy by linking that you must just be scared. However...


Remember: Trying to logically figure out the actions or minds of the ignorant would almost as hard as trying to understand a woman. Don't even try or go there. You simply will not win. Period.

 

[catfish101]

Things have changed alot. A person can make a living stealing and if they do get caught nothing is going to happen to them for the most part. I friend of mine got broken into and got about 15 guns stolen. The police weren't even going to fingerprint anything but he kept complaining till they did. They told him if you run across any of them let us know and we will look into it. They aren't going to bother because there is so much of it going on that they don't have the time or man power. Another guy I know got a bunch of tools stolen. He found them latter that day at a pawn shop. Got them back had to figure out who it was on his own. The kid got 60 days probation. A couple thousand dollars in tools. The kid will be back at it again.

I live next to one of the prisons in KY. I know alot of guys that work there and my mom retired from there. They will all tell you that alot of guys in there have been stealing their entire lives and when they get out they will be doing it again. They may be in for drugs but never got caught stealing. Somebody gets your info runs acouple thousand dollars worth of stuff on you. You will get your money back but they won't even look into it.

Times are getting tougher now with fuel prices. Stealing is going to keep going up and nothing will be or can be done. You have to protect yourself and your property. Maybe the fact that you may have a gun will deture a thief because the fear of the law isn't.

You can't even stop and help a person on the road anymore without the fear they have a partner waiting to jump you and steal your vehicle.

People can say what they want about gun owners but the gun owners may be the only people that have anything before to long.

 

[mljdeckard]

Like Clint Smith says; "I'm armed and trained. What is it I should be afraid of?"

I'll take it a step further. Not only do we put on our seatbelts out of caution, but when we are CONDITIONED to always having a seatbelt, having worn one for many years, when for some odd reason you are NOT wearing one, how do you feel? You feel BEREFT of the protection it provides, regardless of the liklihood of you ever using it.

Yet, if I am conditioned to carrying a gun, and for some reason I can't one day, and I tell someone I miss it, I'm being paranoid.

 

[ArmedBear]

What's wrong with being afraid?

If you're in a dangerous situation, but don't recognize the danger, you can easily end up dead.

Being irrationally afraid can be a very bad thing. But being irrationally unafraid can just mean you're ****-face drunk.

Fear itself is a natural reaction to certain situations. Evolution favors those who can feel rational fear, since it drives self-preservation.

 

[Jeffreii]

Like Clint Smith says; "I'm armed and trained. What is it I should be afraid of?"

That almost sounds like pride - and that would be almost as bad as being fearful as they would let their self-claimed 'superiority' get the best of them. Just because you are armed and trained doesn't really guarantee anything. Better odds if the opposition is less, but if you let all of your self pride go to your head you severely weaken yourself. You lower your guard because you are too sure of yourself.

 

[SuperNaut]

By "pride" I'm assuming you mean arrogant?

Nothing wrong with being proud.

 

[mljdeckard]

Take some training from Clint. THEN see if you think his 'pride' is unjustified.

 

[Snapping Twig]

It's elitist psychobabble delivered by over educated fools in the mistaken belief that they know more than they do.

There's an excellent article in the back pages of Dillon's Blue Press this month about just such people.

The tragedy of it all is that they co-opt so many innocent people into their web.

 

[Markbo]

Let's take the emotion out of it. It is hard for both sides. Don't all these really good examples like seat belts, fire extinguishers, condoms, CCW firearms, etc have something in common?

Yes. It is risk assessment. I don't stick my bare hand in a fire to pick up a pretty glowing rock because the risk of being burned is quite high. Am I afraid of fire? No. Neither am I afraid of everyone on the street. I am simply making an informed, rational, logical and correct decision to mitigate my risk. I argue that if you don't - YOU are being very foolish and use denial as your ally that 'probably nothing will happen' so there is no need to prepare for it.

These same people have NO situational awareness are the dumfounded cry babies you see on the news who have been purse snatched or robbed or car jacked because they could have known... they could have been proactive instead of reactive and they chose not to.

I choose otherwise. When someone uses this lame argument against you - and make no mistake, anyone who thinks it is OK to disarm the people are against you - try to be as factual as possible and don't get sucked into an emotional argument.

 

[Baba Louie]

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force.

Essay authored by Marko Kloos, erroneously attributed to Maj. Caudill

Frightened? Of being a victim of an armed criminal who may or may not take my life on a whim and who doesn't give a tinkers damn about me or mine?

Interesting concept. Projection perhaps. Having been a victim once or twice and my daughter a victim once, I now prefer being prepared. I'll be frightened afterwards, maybe. Possibly.

 

[Jaenak]

Sorry for the vague reply but people who carry to an extent do and to an extent do not have more fear than the next guy. The fact that you have a gun on your person and know how to use it does tend to calm you and absolve any present and lingering fears but a person does generally have more fear than the next guy when he makes the decision to carry just because he sees there's a reasonable chance of something bad happening and he's scared of the possible outcome so he decides to carry out of a desire to change that scary outcome. When it comes to being afraid of a possibly horrific outcome to a possible event, a person who does NOT carry is generally less fearful than the person who does, otherwise that one person would carry just like the other guy does. However, when entering into an uncomfortable situation, the person who does not have the gun on his person is generally more insecure about the uncomfortable situation than the person who does.

In conclusion, both sides of the argument are correct to a degree but not in totality.

 

[tblt]

I carry to protect my family.I only carry by myself when I go on trips otherwise I don't bother.

 

[fearless leader]

Quote: "To be safe is to never be secure." - Benjamin Franklin

 

[fearless leader]

To bad Alan Keys isn't getting any more press than he is. I read where he feels it is an American Citizen's DUTY to carry a firearm.

 

[highfive]

I don't carry a gun out of fear but is more than just in case scenario.. like when people ask me, Why do you carry a gun? I basically tell them, when you get into your car do you wear your seatbelt? They said yes, and I answer and because you are wearing your seatbelt do you go driving around looking for a crash? "No" But you have it on, just in case.

And right there the argument ends, they begin babbling and argument is over. Its not fear is a precaution. as for me, my 2 cents

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Unafraid

Interesting that Clint Smith's "I'm armed and trained. What is it I should be afraid of?" quote should be interpreted as arrogance.

I am good with knives. Long experience coupled with training in the basics. I'm not afraid of knives nor any of the jobs they do. No pride. Just certainty and confidence.

I have been driving for more than forty years. I can handle bad weather, bad roads, cliff-side trails, mud, traffic, freeways, and all manner of parking. And do it from either side of the road -- a gift from my time in the UK. Very little scares me on the road -- or off it, come to that. No pride. I just know exactly what I can do with a car and exactly what the car can do -- and what its limitations are.

I used to be scared of guns and the people who owned or carried them.

Now, with some experience, some practice, and some training, they don't bother me, I own them myself, and I've become comfortable with my abilities and aware of my limitations. One day I'll carry daily. And when I do, I'll do it knowing both my abilities and weaknesses, and the capabilities and limitations of the gun itself.

With certainty comes confidence and the reasons for fear -- the mysteries and the scary unknowns -- are removed.

And, as far as the original premise goes, given the amount of safety equipment in my daily life -- hey, just in my car alone for chrissake -- I must be chronically terrified of . . . hell, all kinds of stuff.

By the way, have you ever noticed that confident, self-assured people tend to frighten timid, self-doubting people -- just by their presence? All manner of social devices are used to cover it, but cowards are intimidated by the very presence of those who are sure and in control of themselves.

Ask me how I know this.

I was that coward.

 

[1911Tuner]

What I am after here is to figure out why someone would believe this statement to be true

It doesn't really matter why. They believe it. That's all they need.

"My mind's made up. Please don't attempt to confuse the issue with facts."

Or, like my wise ol' gran'pappy once told me:

"Once a man is locked onto an idea or a woman...no matter how wrong or how bad...there just ain't much you can do to shake him from either one of'em."

 

[Rshooter]

I wish to commend Jayb's Why The Gun is Civilized post. That is one of the best descriptions of guns I have heard in a long, long time.

Unfortunately I agree that Clint Smith's "I'm armed and trained. What is it I should be afraid of?" is mis-informed. Just because I am armed and trained does not mean that I do not assess my situation the same as if I was not armed. Massad Ayoob has been assailed and called a coward for saying that you should do everything to avoid a fight when armed. In my opinion he is one of the premier judges of when and how to conduct yourself when CCW. I recommend his book The Gravest Extreme to anyone who has not read it.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

I was asked by a friend at work a few years ago if I was afraid and that's why I carried a gun. I told him no, I'm not afraid because I carry a gun.