Concealed Carry-why do you do it?

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fishnjake

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Exercising my right as a gun owner in the Commonwealth of Virgina, I recently applied for my CC permit. I've survived 45 years without confrontation and have been kicking this around in my mind for some time now as to "why would I carry?"

So, I'd like to ask you all, if you don't mind answering "why do you carry?" If its part of your job such as LEO, please don't reply-no offense-I'm more interested to hear from Joe Citizen.

Am I looking for you to help me answer my own question, I suppose maybe. I've read a good deal on this site and I value your opinions-given what I've read online this seems like the site to ask.

Thanks for your input.

-Fishnjake
 
Welcome to The High Road. You'll find endless amounts of great information here.

You'll get many responses ranging from "because it's my right" to "I live or work in a really rough neighborhood and have had to use my CCW many times and it's saved my life". That's what is so great about THR, it's full of all kinds of folks with all different experiences.

The answer for me, as well as for many here is: Because it's better to have it and never need it, than to really need it sometime and not have it. The thought of that keeps me slipping that S&W J-frame into my pocket every day.
 
Same reason I carry insurance, keep a spare tire in my vehicle, keep an emergency kit in my vehicle, carry a cell phone, carry spare cash, etc. Just in case something happens, I'm prepared.

I hope I never have to shoot anyone and I hope that I waste money my whole life on stupid permits so I can carry and never have to "use" the money I spent.

It isn't so much that something did happen to me, it's if it is going to happen to me. I refuse to be a victim. Criminals prefer unarmed victims.
 
For me the main thing was to make a statement to the new administration!

The way I see it is, the more people that exercise their right to bear arms, the better it is for everyone who believes that gun ownership is a personal choice and not the choice of or government!
 
Because...

  • I can't carry a cop.
  • I have a family to protect.
  • Nobody will exercise my 2A right for me, so I'll do it.
  • Being unarmed has become a senseless notion to me now.
  • When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
  • You never know what will or won't happen tomorrow.
  • Rather carry and not need it than to need it and not carry it.
  • I refuse to be victimized by evildoers.
  • Ounce of prevention.

And the list could go on forever. Some are cliche, but all are relevant.
Rather than type all day, I hope the point has been made.

After having carried daily for so long, I simply don't choose to maneuver through today's world helplessly unarmed.
 
Because if the going really gets tough, all that tough-guy stuff you see in the movies and TV is baloney. Yeah...get in a fist-fight...that's a terrible idea in the real world.

You carry so that, in a bad situation, you have sufficient force available to you to make and execute a safe retreat from a situation that might escalate into violence. You don't carry a gun to equilize yourself. If you find yourself in a beef on the street you need to get out of there pronto...that ought to work 99% of the time. For the 1% when that person is a psychopath or a hardened criminal with criminal intent you need to be able to defend yourself.

I have never had to pull my weapon, never, knock on wood, even had a close call. But I have it with me.
 
Simple really. The Supreme Court has ruled in numerous court cases that the police are under NO obligation to protect you. There are threads here on this very topic - do a search and it should be a very sobering read for you.

Since nobody is obligated to protect me & mine - I accepted the job...
 
Honestly, because I feel like it. I'm


Because violent crime victims always look so surprised on the news. That tells me I should be prepared when I least suspect to be assulted.
Click to expand...


This is a perfectly good reason as well.
 
There are quite a few states.State of mind,being,health,estate,state you live in,state of the union/country and more.Pick one.
 
@ fishnjake,as 45 isn't old to myself,it isn't 18 either.Can you do as well as you could before when it comes to physical protection of self,family or others?I know I can't as I left 45 behind years ago.
 
As an individual i realize that I am solely responsible for my safety,and the safety of my family. The world is a dangerous place, and whether we want it to be true or not, there are a lot of bad people out there just waiting for an oppourtunity to harm someone.
 
You don't really want a complete, unabriged answer.

I have 25 pages of single-spaced essay -- me just talking to myself on the subject. Different parts of the answer go to different people, let me mention just three:

1) "Just in case" is often my first response to the question in the hopes that that will be sufficient.

2) "Because I am superstitious and believe that emergencies that I prepare for will not occur and emergencies that I do not prepare for are more likely to occur.

3) "Because I am too old and too gimpy to either fight or run as I once could, but I still have my pride and independence, and I am too proud and independent to give up my freedom to go where I will, to hide behind walls, and to go out, as gun-grabbers constantly advise us, only in flocks of timorous sheeple — and then only to non-existent “safe places."
 
For me it can be partially expressed as a variation on Pascal's Wager

It may be incredibly unlikely (and this is arguable) that I ever need to defend myself or my family. That is balanced against just how bad it would be if I needed to and couldn't. I'd say dying or having a family member die as a result of that would be infinitely bad. Therefore, even a .000000001% chance multiplied by infinity equals infinity.
 
Because Greatgrandad carried a 1860 Colt 44 in the CW, Grandad carried a Colt Peacemaker 45 when he come out West, Dad a Colt 1911 in the Pacific, but I broke tradition and carry a S&W 640-3 357 mag. It's in our genes to be armed!
 
I CC because I live in the Houston, Texas area. That means that we have to deal with a lot of illegals, Katrina refugees (no offense if you are a good one, I'm not talking about you), and third ward types.

Even if there weren't those issues to be concerned about, I'm of the Pascal's Wager belief as well. I my never need mt gun, but I'm not going to wager my life or that of my family's on it. The fact that there is any crime or violence is enough for me to CC. Until we all live in a perfect Utopia where there is no crime (and no such place exists on earth), I'll CC.
 
Where my trust lies

My trust is in God, not men. The Bible tells us in Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Knowing the nature of man, and this culture in which most things that are evil are called good, and those things that are good are called evil, I choose to carry knowing that one day, there is a chance (however slim) I'll have to defend that which is precious to me, the lives of those I love.

God help us all.
 
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