How many actually carry after permit arrives?

I carry !..its why I got the license

 

I would be willing to guess that most of the folks who post here and who have a license (if they need one) do carry most of the time when it is lawful. People who post here and who have a license are not the norm of the population, however.

Based on the people I know and CHL instructors with whom I have spoken here in Texas, about 15-25% carry daily. The rest do it part time, when they feel threatened, when they travel, or not at all.

A lot of people don't make sense, like those with DLs that don't own a car or that own a car and who opt to use public transportation, etc. Having the license doesn't mean having to carry all the time or at all, but having the option to do so. For those of us who carry all the time, it may not seem logical, but it really is quite logical, especially when not everyone wants to carry all the time.

 

That is my take also. I frankly don't want to carry a gun all the time. It is way too much trouble unless it's is OC. When the threat level increases, I'll be armed night and day. The permit gives you the ability to adjust your carry based on your perception of threat level.

 

Quote:
"i can see no reason NOT to carry once you have the permit, other that going to the hospital (to visit someone), or church on sunday...."

It's legal where I live to carry at church...never mind...perhaps that's another thread...

 

I carry every day. About the only time I don't carry is when at church or when at work on a client's property.

 

Very few people take carrying seriously. To most people their firearm is nothing more than a false sense of security.

Most people buy a handgun, fire maybe a box of ammo through it, don't clean it, stuff some cheap target loads into the magazine (chamber empty of course) and throw it into a glove box or maybe if they are going into the "bad part of town" a fanny pack or purse.

They tell themselves and others willing to listen that they are "armed and protected", However experienced Gunmen that take carrying seriously know this not to be the case.

 

"Gunman" probably needs to be changed to criminal. A sense of security is a good thing even though many of us would be dead if we encountered a real criminal who has no respect for human life.

 

What? I was speaking of people who take carrying seriously.

gun·man

gun·man [gúnmən]
(plural gun·men [gúnmən])
n
skillful shooter: a man skilled in firing guns

Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

"a false sense of security"

You have allready lost the fight. You need to get a better mindset, you can kill your attacker before he kills you.

 

Grin

When my Texas CHL arrived in 1998 (2 renewals since then) within 15 min of fishing it out of the envelope I was putting my 1911 (I only owned 2 handguns then) into an IWB holster, tossing a shirt over it and going out the door. It was a legitimate trip - had to go grocery shopping.

But damn! I felt like everybody was eyeing me when in truth nobody even gave me a second glance. After that day, putting a gun in a pocket or an IWB rig is second nature, like putting on my shoes before I go out the door.

I still have that 1911 - I'd shoot and carry it more if the .45 ammo was in better supply. Nowadays a 642 usually goes in my pocket in summer - and in winter (if you want to call it that in SE Texas) its my G19.

I dare say that CCW work has gotton easier in the 10+ yrs I have been carrying simply because of the proliferation of junk people hang on their belts. People see a bulge appear/disappear under a shirt as you move around and dismiss it as a blackberry/cell/iPod etc. My shirts are extra baggy as I intend that they don't see the bulge in the first place.

 

I've been wondering the same thing. I got certified as an NRA Instructor so I could teach firearms classes and help people get their CWPs. So far I've gotten 4 people through at least one class each. Each of the 4 told me they wanted to get their CWP. To date (about 6 weeks after the first finished the class), none of them have yet finished getting fingerprinted and submitting their CWP application. I think eventually at least 2 or 3 of them will, and one of them may carry regularly as you were asking. So, maybe one out of 4 will carry regularly, maybe, and this was out of people who contacted me saying they wanted a CWP.

So, I don't think your numbers are too out of whack. Carrying regularly, or even always while legal like many of us here do, isn't for everyone. I think just learning the state CWP and deadly force laws "for real" in a CWP class changes some poeple's minds. Not that they oppose carry, but because the reality and responsibility turns out to be "heavier" than they thought it would be when they signed up for the class. It's one thing to imagine yourself blasting away at terrorists and robbers, it's quite another when you learn about all the things you're responsible for and can go to jail for. I do what I've heard of other instructors doing- I tell the students in the class that I'm going to try to scare them into NOT using their CWP, and they should only use it if they can get comfortable with some of the legal aspects that the average non-shooter doesn't know or think about.

That was me a few years ago, actually. I got my permit after 9/11 and didn't use it as a CWP for several years. (I always had a pistol in my car, but in FL you don't need a permit for that anyway). It took me a couple of years to "get it" and evolve my mindset and habits into what they are now. I don't see why most people wouldn't do similarly.

 

I carry concealed everywhere it's legal, and have ever since I was permitted, even when I'm at home. I was carrying at a wedding today. My wife and kids knew, but they would think it was abnormal if I wasn't, and they give it no more thought than they would to whether I have my wallet and car keys.

Les

 

i would carry more with a smaller gun.... also need a better holster..(IWB) but gun show next weekend so ya never know what may happen....

 

Five days a week I work at a prison and can't even keep a gun in my car trunk on prison property. On Saturday, I work my p/t job as an adjunct at a little college in an urban area. I can't carry on campus and leave my gun unloaded in the car. On Sunday, I go to church. Once again, I can't carry in church in my state and have to leave the gun in the car. Most of the rest of the time I carry but the remaining time is so small as to be insignificant. I mostly carry when out dining with my wife and friends or taking some other form of recreation. In short, I am armed a very small percentage of the time. Its a Pity really as I would prefer being armed nearly 24/7.

 

If I am with my family, I am armed. If I can't be armed, I don't take my family there. When on my own, I carry fairly often, at least five days a week to work (I work in a ratty neighborhood in Cleveland, Oh.)

I carry to church every Sunday, shopping, vacations, I've tucked a pea-shooter into swim trunks to go to the Municipal pool. My family's safety is not about to be compromised because some idgit decides to whig out and I left my piece in a drawer at home.

 

That a boy!

 

I don't even need a permit to carry...But I have a permit anyways...AND I carry anyways

 

Circumstances allow me to carry nearly all the time - so I do.

 

i got my LTCF permit in march 2009 i been carrying 24/7 since got 4 more years to happy carrying!

 

Glock 36 - 24/7 where legal

 

Carry Permit

I carry selectively. I'm from a state where open cary is the rule, and now live in a state where concealed carry is the rule. I got my permit, and carry whenever I am in a location that is prone to violence.

 

I carry when I can, but I am still in college and a good portion of my day is spent on campus. So my gun ends up spending more time then I like in my car.

 

I teach the class to get a Michigan Concealed Pistol License about once a month. I've had hundreds of students go through my classes.

In the class itself many of them tell me that they don't plan to carry or only plan to carry part of the time. A few want a permit so they can carry while hunting without having to worry about if their pistol gets accidentally covered with their coat. Others only want to carry when they go "someplace dangerous." (I try to correct that notion as best can...)

Some students want the permit because of the other benefits it offers. If you have a Michigan CPL it makes buying a handgun in Michigan easier. It also adds some additional legal protection when you are just transporting a handgun, even if it's not actually on your person. Those are all valid reasons.

For the students who get the permit because they have at least some interest in carrying a defensive handgun there are still obstacles to every-day carry. Michigan law severely restricts where we can carry handguns and many students work at one of the locations where carry is prohibited by law, not just by company policy. Other students work at places where policy restricts carry and don't carry for fear of losing their job.

And, for many people, concealed carry becomes a novelty that quickly wears off. Carrying a gun all the time is a bit of a pain in the *** and some people start carrying and give it up when they find it uncomfotable or inconvenient.

I do know that I have students who make the commitment to carry and who carry every day, or close to it, and at least try to be armed at all times where the law (and sometimes their employer) allows. I'd say that's about 1/3 to 1/2 of my students and I can't be any more precise then that.

 

I'm going to carry at every opportunity when my permit arrives.

I paid good money for the class, then the permit. It would be a waste of money not to.

Besides, I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

 

I attended my CHP class with eight of my buddies. Of those eight, only one of them actually got his permit. Him and I both carry daily (Been very good friends with this guy since gradeschool and I happen to be the person that got him into shooting/hunting and such). The other seven never turned in their paperwork or anything.