Carry reasons?

[cold dead hands]

What made you decide to carry? Was it a specific event in your or a loved one's life? Did crime escalate to yuor discomfort? Security "blanket"? What made your decision to "be packin' heat"?

Me, my home was burgled by the kind of people who dealt in the meth trade and to my shame they got my firearms. I knew there was a possibilty that they might get ballsy and decide to not worry about my being at home since I could be attacked with my own weapons. Inside the house didn't scare me, but what if I was outside and unarmed? So I signed up to be a carrier.

thanks for your time

 

[Werewolf]

I grew up in the 50's. A different time. We didn't lock our doors to home or auto unless we were going to be gone a day or more. Neighbors gladly looked in on things when we were gone.

They didn't have metal detectors in schools, didn't need 'em. If you were bad you got your butt busted - male or female. If you were really bad or bad too often then you got kicked out of school. Didn't have kids wanderin' around with guns off'in their classmates.

Gangs? Gangs were something that happened in scumhole cities like LA, NYC, Chicago, Boston, etc.

The police were peace officers not members of paramilitary units itchin' to try out their newest toy.

The 2nd, 4th and 5th amendments still meant what they said.

Drugs were done by low lifes and there was no room for them in our schools or our neighborhoods. I don't know where the dopers hung out but I never saw one 'till I joined the Army in '71.

One day I woke up and recognized the fact that the world we, I, live in today isn't the same as it was when I was young. I harkened back to what I was taught in the boy scouts re: being prepared - always.

Soon there after I got permission from a government I no longer trust, that has become too big, too greedy and too power hungry, to carry a concealed weapon. And I do every day, every hour and it's within an arm's length when I'm sleeping.

Sad really - but times change and so do people and the tools they need to stay safe.

 

[thexrayboy]

I have seen far too many victims of violent crime. Many crippled or disabled for life due to violent attack. I have dealt with many a violent offender, both in custody and free. There is a small subset of society that has no values, morals or conscience. They will rob, rape, steal and kill at will if nothing exists to stop them. Because I know for a certainty that evil exists I know for a certainty that I must be prepared to deal with it if it confronts me.
That is why I carry.

 

[TexasRifleman]

I live in Texas. Here we ask why you WOULDN'T.

Never occurred to me that you needed a reason to, just that you'd need a reason NOT to.

 

[Wolfpackin]

Multiple reasons:
1)I spend a lot of time camping and fishing in black bear & mtn. lion country. After watching too many When Animals Attack" type shows I thought it can't hurt to carry a gun.
2)Recently, a woman and her family were picnicing in an area I fish two or three times every summer. Long story short: a crazed transient started yelling at them claiming they had littered on his camp site. The family tried to leave the area but the lunitic pulled a gun and started shooting hitting the woman in the head and killing her. Hmmm, I think I need a gun.
3)I work nights and routinely I'm the first responder to intrusion alarms at private residences.
4)I have less and less faith in humanity and now I have a family to protect.
5)Because I can! (...and I used to live in a place where I couldn't)

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Why would you not carry?

In Viet Nam, we had Armed Forces Viet Nam (AFVN) Radio -- as in "Goooood Morning, Vieeet Nam!"

They had all sorts of "commercials" -- "take you malaria tablets" and so on. One very clever series was for the In-Country R&R Center at Vung Tau. All those commercials ended with the same three words, "Bring your weapon."

Good advice. I've followed it ever since.

 

[psyopspec]

I carry in case I'm at the Abercrombie and Fitch store in the mall and one of the A-rabs comes down with SJS.

Really, it's just a general feeling that it's much better to have and not need than to need and not have, combined with how embarrased I would be if I or someone I loved were killed while unarmed due to hoplophobia.

 

[hit or miss]

I travel for work. The area I travel, while being primarily rural is getting chock full of illegal immigrants, dopers, scum and gang types. That said I also live not far from a mental hospital and a prison which also deals with sexual predators who are free to walk around the grounds as long as they stay in bounds. Kansas enacted the CCL last year and I also wanted to show support to the good people who went to the mat for our rights. Also, "Because I Can". Check out the crime statistics by county, you'll be surprised what doesn't get into the local lib rag.

 

[Moondoggie]

Very much what Werewolf said.

In addition, throughout my career in the military and life in general I've come to realize that I have a tremendous propensity for being in the wrong place at the wrong time through no fault of my own.

I also have a genetic marker or some other such deformity that designates me as the "S#!t Magnet". Some lowlife clown feels like going on a rampage among 300 total strangers it's a total certainty that he's going to zero-in on ME. It NEVER fails.

I'm getting too old to roll around on the ground hooking and jabbing with some bum, and I'm not inclined to run away. If it comes to a situation where only one of us is going to be left standing, I plan on it being me. I have no desire to start anything with anybody and I have no hero/Rambo complex. I prefer to keep my options open and being prepared for anything is the best way to do that.

When someone questions why I want to carry a firearm I tell them that I also carry a fire extinguisher in every car and I'm not a firefighter, an arsonist, nor a pyromaniac.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Americans should never need reasons for exercising our civil rights.

 

[Pumpkinheaver]

Why? I ask you why not? That's like asking why I exercise my other freedoms like speech or religion, because I can.

 

[BADUNAME13]

It has never occured to me not to.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Americans should never need reasons for exercising our civil rights

.

Amen!

Requiring citizens to give reasons before they can carry is like requiring them to give reasons before they can vote.

 

[bogie]

squirrels. the kind who can read your thoughts. and now they know that i know that they know that i know that they know, so i keep the bullets wrapped in tinfoil.

rodent. it's what's for dinner.

 

[The Deer Hunter]

I can't carry yet, but I think i would just carry to be prepared. I dont get threats, and my community is pretty much well-to-do but you never know.

And the fact that its constitutional.

 

[RevolvingCylinder]

tinfoil

They still sell the stuff in St. Louis?

I don't need a reason to carry just as someone doesn't need a reason not to carry.

 

[murph50]

+1 on what werewolf said.
I too grew up in the 50's--times have changed a bit.
I moved to my current residence in 1983. House is now paid off and I don't feel like moving.
In 1983 this area was pretty nice--middle class--blue collar type place.
That's changed.
Now it's gangbangers and illegal immigrants.
My wife is 100% disabled and bedridden. She always has a firearm within reach and I am armed all the time-- period.
I do have a state of the art alarm system installed but LE response time is not always good plus I've learned in my years on this "rock" that if you what to do something right--do it yourself. I don't like to rely on others.

 

[m1009]

Carry cause then I can protect myself...

The police are never there when you need them, so I carry because at least then I can defend myself if anything should happen. Being female, I'd have a rough time 'battling it out' with an attacker, so I need that extra muscle the pistol will give me! (plus, I do target shoot and get plenty of compliments on my aim ) If I had the time and money, I'd go to a combat school, but sadly, doesn't look like it'll happen anytime soon....

 

[Ala Dan]

Several Reasons

At age 21, I was excercising my rights as a free, law-abiding U.S. citizen.
Later, required by my departmental S.O.P.; now self preservation as the
U.S. crime rate soars~!

 

[ezypikns]

After hearing story after story...

of innocent people being robbed and executed by criminals, I decided that if I had any say in the matter, neither myself or my family would be helpless victims. The police simply can't be everywhere at once.

 

[Happyshooter]

I did six years in a national guard MP unit, including a year AD doing LE work.

About 1/2 of the unit was Detroit police, Wayne (Detroit) Sheriffs, other near Detroit departments.

Many of them didn't even take the trash out without a gun and all of them could tell you stories of excactly why that was. After a bunch of people with reason to know give you the same advice about society you should listen.

 

[glockman19]

Three times someone attempted to break into my home. The last time I was home with my wife sleeping. I asked the officer responding what I could/should do, he said, "get a shotgun." I said what kind, He replied, "Get a Remington 870 12 gauge." I went out and bought one.

 

[Rattlesnake]

Really, it's just a general feeling that it's much better to have and not need than to need and not have, combined with how embarrased I would be if I or someone I loved were killed while unarmed due to hoplophobia.

Because I can and for the last year or so I've been employed wiht a jail and am now a state police officer.

 

[xd45gaper]

because I can. one saturday i was like damm i want my CWP just because i can get it. so i went took the class and got my permit!! people ask me why i carry and i tell them "because i can"

 

[mica]

I don't watch enough movies to be 'packin heat' but I do carry a gun everyday.

Why?..................................