Do you do things differently when you are armed?

[Kayback]

I've recently spent some time out of my home country, in a much much safer place than I'm used to.

Back home my normal daily carry is a cell phone, Glock 26 with 13 rounds of Speer Gold Dot, a spare mag with 19 more Gold Dots, a pocket folder and a fixed blade. For the last 8 months I've been living in the UAE, where about the only thing you need to watch out for are the drivers.

But I've been listening to the other expats here with me. Now see above. I know where I normally live is dangerous, no illusions. However the things the guys who lived in the same town as me make me wonder about some things.

Ever since I've been carrying ( A decade now. Woot ) I've avoided conflict wherever I can. I don't get road rage, I don't enter into heated debates. My general response to most things is to walk away, insults, arguments, uneasy feelings, whatever. I walk away.

However I also find I do things the guys I work with wouldn't do. They talk about how they don't go into town at night. Some of the best restaurants are there. I have no issue parking my vehicle in the street and walking down the street, even in the wee hours of the morning.

They don't drive on certain roads, they just don't do some things....

I definately don't think I'm Rambo, I don't go looking for trouble. I just find things aren't as bad as some say they are, and I'M the one carrying the weapons.

Now I was wondeirng if maybe I'm more cavalier than they are because I watch out for myself, and I carry a gun.

I was wondering if anyone else has found themselves doing things that others don't?

KBK

 

[Zundfolge]

Its a common phenomenon called Gun Zen.


I find the same thing. I'm much more relaxed and less easily angered because in the back of my head I KNOW if things get out of hand someone could end up dead. Its a sobering though. Makes you question "just how important is this anyway?".

I do believe, however, that a good rule of thumb to live by is; "Don't go anyplace armed that you WOULDN'T go unarmed."

 

[30 cal slob]

this topic comes up from time to time, and i don't think i've taken the time to respond.

having thought about it, it just amazes me that there are some obvious changes in my behavior that i haven't consciously realized until my annoyed wife nudged me in the ribs. i'll explain.

it's not so much what i do when i'm armed, but where i won't go if i'm NOT ARMED.

mrs. slob loves to go to the big city (NYC) once in a blue moon for a night on the town. mr. slob (that would be me) hates NYC and all its stands for. well, not really. i'm just terribly reluctant to go to a place where my right to protect myself is infringed bigtime, and i find myself unable to have a good time anyways. so why go. (another nudge in the ribs from annoyed wife). so then drag my feet more by checking the expiration date on my lonely canister of pepper spray.

another habit that irks the other half. she wants to go somewhere NOW. i'm like, "wait honey hold on i need to holster my pistol." which is quickly followed by furrowed brow and other expressions of impatient annoyance. this in turn is followed by "you're not going to wear that ugly shirt, are you," to which i sheepishly answer "well i gotta cover my pistol up." and so on.

and it doesn't end there.

mrs. slob wants to take a day trip to town X. mr. slob says "hold on, let me check handgunlaw.us and see if my ccw is good there."

my ribs hurt just typing this.

 

[CoRoMo]

...maybe I'm more cavalier than they are...

Nope, just more confident in your abilities.

 

[Zundfolge]

mrs. slob wants to take a day trip to town X. mr. slob says "hold on, let me check handgunlaw.us and see if my ccw is good there."

That's one nice thing about living out west ... less places I can't carry.

 

[mgkdrgn]

she wants to go somewhere NOW. i'm like, "wait honey hold on i need to holster my pistol." which is quickly followed by furrowed brow and other expressions of impatient annoyance.

Yours must have gone to a different "wife school" than mine. When mine says she wants to go NOW I could =build= a pistol (including machining/casting the frame) before she is actually ready to step out the door.

 

[Guillermo]

To answer your question, now that you caused me to think about it…I am less reluctant to engage someone, in a car or in person when I am armed. The consequences are potentially higher.

Ever notice how the Dog Whisperer doesn’t really train dogs, but he does train dog owners? Same thing applies to your wives...if she is not trained right, look in the mirror.

 

[A-FIXER]

The (awareness) factor is present now in all thing and all times the first time you carry it starts within knowing your not the norm and now with the abiltiy to protect oneself and family... With that much damn responsiblty you better be alert at all time so Yes to me you are a different person now.......

 

[fridayxiii]

I don't carry, so I can't comment on differences in behavior or tendencies when armed vs. not, or of those that do vs. those that don't. IMHO, much of what you describe (taking firearms out of the equation) is due to differences in human character in general.

Some people are more wary of *perceived* risk in a certain city or area of a city, and therefore do not venture there. This may be due to self-confidence, and/or preparedness to deal with the potential for adversity. Some of the will/will not go decision may be due to past experiences, and an individual's ability to cope or act/react. Some is due to rumor or reputation of a city or area. Some people are more natural risk-takers by default, or are much better prepared by design, and therefore will do things others won't.

I think that a hypothetical game or Q&A session evaluating how your choices differ if armed or unarmed might lend some insight as well.

 

[CoRoMo]

Carrying changes the way I bend over, crouch, stretch, etc.
Otherwise, I'm the same ole me.

 

[Duke of Doubt]

I'm pretty careful when I hit the head to TAD, particularly if I'm carrying inside rear waistband sans holster.

I'm also careful entering and exiting cars, and sitting down.

I guess that's about it. Though I have to look out for posted and prohibited areas I may enter.

 

[TAB]

It really shouldn't, but it often does.

One of things people say that I find very dumb is " I won't go there unless I'm armed"

if you need to be armed to go there, don't go there.

 

[InRemorse]

I carry all the time. Should someone begin to threaten me or attack me in a safe place (I don't go to unsafe places) I know I can wait their anger out and stand my grounds. This makes me relaxed. I don't seek trouble and I don't want trouble. I know my rights.

When I'm not armed, which never happens, I want space around me, which makes traveling and social activities stressful. Where ever I go I see tons of potential threats, more so when I'm not armed. For me, no gun, no future. Therefore, gun on, gun oiled, one in the chamber.

 

[Kleanbore]

No, except for one thing: I watch the speedometer just a little more carefully.

I avoided bad areas before and I do so now. I avoided confrontations before and I do so now. I always tried to be polite and I do so now. I never ventured out to investigate noises before and I don't do so now.

if you need to be armed to go there, don't go there.

I guess that won't work for the police or the Army, but for the rest of us, that's very good advice indeed.

 

[wrs840]

I'm 50, been shooting since I was a young kid, live in the sticks where shooting is part of life, and can open carry in my agricultural/residential zip-code with few, if any, taking a second look. I've only been concealed-carrying 24/7 for a couple of months, though. It took about two weeks to get to the point of feeling fully natural. Now, since I'm in North Carolina, I've found myself feeling ill-prepared, and resentful toward my State's laws, when I take my wife to a restaurant where alcohol is served, or my kids to a piano and violin recital that happens to be at a public school, because State Law says I can't have a 442 in my pocket. Like Nugent said: "numb-nuts are telling me where, how, and if", I can be prepared for one of my most serious responsibilities.

I can't quit going where the law decrees that I can't go armed. If I go armed anyway, and get made somehow, I lose my CCW permit.

How does one mentally resolve this?

Thanks,
Les

 

[Kayback]

Carry better.

Honestly about the only "no carry" signs I listen to are the local equivalent of Federal laws. (I say local Federal because I don't live in the USA).

Goverment buildings and the like I don't carry guns into. (Normally they forget to say anything about knives )

However a whole bunch of us have moved to the UAE, Abu Dhabi to be exact. And everyone who comes here spends the first month or two saying things like "It is amazing how you can walk around in the streets after dark and not feel afraid" or "Isn't it amazing how you can walk into an alleyway and not get mugged?".

And while I do agree with them that walking around in condition white is fun and rather liberating, I haven't ever been mugged back home. I don't feel I need to carry weapons to fend off the badguys, I carry weapons IN CASE I need to fend off the badguys.

Does that make any sense? Like I said in another post I'm having trouble expressing myself recently, damn right shifts!

I don't strap on all that hardware and practice every second weekend because I need to use those tools and skills every day, I just want to have the tools and ability if every really need them.

I find that by watching, being aware and knowing I can defend myself if I ever need to lets me walk around a little free-er than my friends did.

I dunnoe, it just seems like they embraced their victimness and were happy to live as prey, until they could leave the country.

I also avoid really bad parts of town, and I won't walk into an alley either, no sense in walking into a trap is there? But my definition of bad and accessable parts seems to differ from theirs.

KBK

 

[Dravur]

I definitely gave up doing cartwheels.

I do tend to change my behavior while carrying... But I have carried a long time... maybe I change my behavior when not carrying...

 

[Guillermo]

if you need to be armed to go there, don't go there.

I must disagree w this. Let us say that you want to go to an area, say a warehouse district, that does not have much traffic. It is perfectly reasonable to not go unarmed. Or to that pawn shop in the embattled neighborhood that has good prices.

Should you not go because the risk goes up? I think not.

We should CONSTANTLY judge risk/reward ratios. Just because you are unwilling to go into an area unarmed does not mean that you think the chances are you will have to use your gun. Only that the chances have increased.

I live in Austin which has relatively low crime for a city of its size. There is a street corner in which thousands of people pass every day safely. But I will not go into that neighborhood unarmed. Why, because if my car were to break down (or I were to get into a traffic accident) there I would MUCH prefer to have my sidearm.

To assume that "if you need to be armed to go there, don't go there" suggests that wearing a sidearm is an expectation of needing it. I disagree. I wear a sidearm when the possibility increases that I will need it...not the expectation.

 

[Kayback]

I carry all the time. Even if I'm just going to the corner shop. Not because I feel I need to be armed to safely make a milk run, but because I always want a firearm with me. I walk around my own house with my Glock on my hip. Again not because I need to be armed to go to my house, but because it is quicker to draw it from my hip than my safe if I need it.

But that statement was more or less what made me make this post in the first place. I don't feel I need to carry a gun to go to these places in town, after dark. The guys I work with seem to think you do.

I was wondering who's point of view is more valid. Theirs, in their un armed, not going there experiencing it themselves state, or my armed, going to the place and not finding it nearly as scary as they say it is state.

 

[MB308]

I have carried illegally and legally since I was 21 (23 years, sigh). I have watched others who are new to carry, and veterans of carrying. The thing I have noticed is that most everyone who is carrying is more at-ease and avoids conflict. I have also noticed that those that are carrying are more confident, and troublemakers tend to avoid someone who is sure of themselves.
As for any difference in myself, I go where ever, when ever, with or without a weapon. As others have stated, I just don't go where I expect trouble no matter my carry mode at the time.

 

[SomeDude]

I like the term "Gun Zen". I think that accurately describes the calm demeanor while carrying. It's that feeling of "I don't want trouble because I know what it could lead to."
I don't think you can have the mindset that one area is more of less dangerous. I think you need to have the same vigilance anywhere you go. Two years ago I bet there wasn't one person who thought the VA Tech campus was a "dangerous" place. Anything can happen anywhere.