Why Do You Carry A Gun?

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All kidding aside.

I was a Police Officer for 36 years. I’ve carried a gun the majority of my life.

I did all the fun high speed low drag stuff I wanted to do since I was 14.

If an active shooter starts killing people. An innocent person is about to be murdered….If I come across an Officer in a fight for his life and, I can’t do anything. It will haunt me for the rest of my life.

I’m confident I’ll prevail. I’m going to win. But, realistically, there’s no guarantees in life.

If I somehow wind up getting killed anyway, while trying to stop him, so be it.

I won’t have to live with knowing I didn’t try.
 
AlexanderA said:
A recurring theme of this thread seems to be laying guilt on people for not carrying a gun. That's a personal choice and there are pros and cons either way. As a longtime "gun person" I made the choice years ago not to carry. In a way this is very liberating.
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I haven't noticed any such recurring theme.

I personally don't care if "you" ever carry a gun.
 
I carry a retirement weapon as a retired peace officer for much the same reason I started practicing the martial arts as a young man. Being willing to take responsibility for protecting oneself, and loved ones, may reasonably need to be coupled with having the present ability to do so.

I also respect those adults who have chosen not to be lawfully armed for self defense, as that's also their precious right to do so. I don't believe in forcing my moral choices and decisions on others, anymore than I believe others have the right to force their beliefs and decisions on me.

Basically, everything I remember learning about Why & How our country was formed, and the lessons of HS Civics is not hard to grasp, which is why they used to teach such things to children.
 
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I work with quite a few millennials and Gen Z types who have grown up indoors on video games and anime. They are completely cut off from reality and the outside world. I have been confronted multiple times as to why I own firearms and why I enjoy them.

My answer remains the same... "Because evil has been a constant throughout history, and the only effective deterrent against evil violence, is to match it with violence born of morality." My firearm, used by a moral and good person, will prevent further violence by an immoral and evil person. End of story.
 
Trey Veston said:
I have been confronted multiple times as to why I own firearms and why I enjoy them.
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I believe many of us face that question. In addition to my earlier response to why do I carry a gun there is much more to it. I carry a gun simply because I can't carry a police officer around with me. I own guns dimply because I love the shooting sports. My dad loved the game of golf. Following his retirement he played golf when the weather permitted and during Ohio winters would head south to Florida just to continue playing golf. He and his golfing buddies would be up at 6:00 AM loading their cars with their golf gear for a day on the course. Me? Now retired and on a nice morning at 6:00 AM I am loading my truck with my range gear including the guns I wish to shoot that day. I simply enjoy the shooting sports and did so long before concealed or even open carry was popular. I roll my own ammunition and stride for small groups and for many of us we know the feeling we get with those sub MOA groups at the 200 yard line. Additionally shooting does parallel golf in that it takes a high level of concentration and self discipline to be proficient at it. Why some people can't seem to grasp or understand my love of a good range day which is not my problem. The focus here is not about CCW but a love of the shooting sports and I really do not owe anyone an explanation. I also like dogs so I have two of them. :) It was 1958 and I was 8 years old when given my first rifle, a Remington 510P which I still have today. That little single shot .22 started it all. :)

Ron
 
Trey Veston said:
I work with quite a few millennials and Gen Z types who have grown up indoors on video games and anime. They are completely cut off from reality and the outside world. I have been confronted multiple times as to why I own firearms and why I enjoy them.
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I worked 26 years with state government before retirement with hundreds of millennial and Gen Z coworkers who also grew up indoors playing video games watching anime and reading manga (Like Gen X me in my teenage years and in my 20s).

While they were cut off from reality of outdoors (I grew up riding dirt bikes in Mojave Desert/Red Rock Canyon and hiked all over Southern CA mountains with Vietnam vet stepfather with aspirations of joining the Army so I could tell my kids/grand kids war stories too), they were keenly aware of weapons and firearms watching likes of Cowboy Bebop and Trigun - https://quotetheanime.com/recommendations/best-anime-with-guns/

And while I played Quake/Unreal in early 90s and transitioned to Call of Duty/America's Army after my stint in the US Army, many of these millennials/Zoomers were quite familiar with firearms and curious about them. So when they found out I shot USPSA matches and had AKs/ARs/SKS/shotguns along with 1911/Sig P226 (X Files was popular with FBI issue weapon and why I got my German model)/Makarov/Tokarev/CZ 52/Glocks, we had shooting/range days where they got to handle and shoot these firearms.

Of course they enjoyed shooting guns to actualize their video game/anime/manga dreams in real life and many of them went onto becoming gun owners later in their lives.

And when progressive liberal feminist LGBTQ anti-gun coworkers asked why I was into guns, I asked them what they would do if gang bangers kicked in their doors because they got the wrong house (Sad but true reality for several CA cities I lived in) and raped/killed home owners/occupants even though they cooperated as gang initiation because calling 911 won't help them at that moment.

When I told them my house was broken into three times with me confronting the intruder once (And believe me, you fight like you train) thanks to my martial arts/Army training, apprehended the intruder until police arrived; other coworkers told stories of being burglarized/robbed.

So when anti-gun coworkers got depressed/anxious because they knew crime/victimization happened in the same town/city we both lived in (Gang bangers don't discriminate whether victims are pro/anti-gun), I would use a pencil laser pointer as gun barrel and demonstrated "point shooting" by putting red dot within an inch of anything inside the office (Door knob, light switch, etc.). When their eyes got big and smiled, I told them gun ownership is "self defense rights issue" and offered to teach defensive point shooting taught to me by my defensive shooting instructor who taught PD/SD SWAT teams starting with "Natural Point of Aim" then moving onto 4 hour instruction on point shooting outlined here - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/flinching-drills.864546/page-2#post-11416785

Many of anti-gun coworkers ended up becoming gun owners and when new anti-gun coworkers end up talking about guns with other coworkers, they tell them, "Talk to John and he will teach you to shoot with your eyes closed". :oops::rofl: ... And I reach for the pencil laser pointer.

One of three agencies I worked for surveying hospitals/health care facilities had large district office in Bakersfield, CA (We occupied the entire floor of high rise building) ... full of progressive liberal feminist LGBTQ anti-gun coworkers but in the heartland of gang banger home invasion robberies. Most were not happy that I shot USPSA matches and had guns (I was actually thinking about moving up to shooting 3-gun at this time as 3-gunners kept inviting me to their stages and I actually ran a stage using pistol only and managed to hit popper launched clay pigeon on my third attempt but I was impressed how fast they shot and reloaded their shotguns). When I returned from a week long survey one day, I was met by coworkers with tears in their eyes because someone they knew got victimized and they wanted me to take them to the range and teach them to shoot.

When I inquired why, one by one admitted they all knew somebody who were victimized and latest victimization was the final straw.

I ended up taking the entire office to the range and taught them abbreviated natural point of aim/point shooting. They all got guns and some of them even CCW permits. I helped district manager finalize her master's degree multi-media project and she is an avid runner/jogger. She now runs with Glock 26 strapped to her person, everywhere. Carry permits in California? Yes, this was around 2008 when prisons were releasing inmates in preparation for prison closures. Local police chief and sheriff went on camera annually to discuss limitations of departments' resources and budgetary constraints (Police response was slow stretched thin) and promised gun permit issue to address rising home invasions and Kern County went onto issue record setting number of CCW permits.

About this time, my sister bought a new house on 5 acres in Redding, CA near VA home/air port and since BIL worked away from home often, she was worried about her and children's safety. After being spooked by someone trying to break in, she came down and we went to the range and she shot all of my pistols. She is 5'6" with small hands. One that she liked the best was fullsize M&P40 with small grip insert and she later went onto shooting matches with it outshooting most male shooters. When they moved to Denton, TX for retirement, she goes, "They open carry freely here!" and I told her they were Texans now and should do what Texans do but I did buy them his/her conceal carry pistols (Taurus G2C) as house "moving" gift.

These are some of reasons why Californians and now Texans carry.
 
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