I'm going to agree with Navy LT, and some others.
There are ups and downs to both. Be advised on the differences, and what suits you. But also think about contingencies. A knife. An asp. A flashlight. Your <significant other> also carrying and have some practice backing each other up. Hand to hand courses. Train a little, on something other than your trigger finger. That's my opinion. Yes, I have some hand to hand training. I carry all kids of things that can be used as weapons. I've taught my wife and kids some hand to hand stuff too. And for all the people talking about the getting the drop on people scenarios, spend time going places with your friends. In this digitally connected age, get some old fashioned time with your friends. It is more precious than we realize. (I prefer my backup gun to be in my backup person's holster. Way better than an ankle holster if you ask me.)
Please bear in mind that the wall of text that follows is a personal thing for me, but I would like to give you some insight into how I look at the people around me that I don't know and why. I feel it is relevant to the discussion, but if you want to comment on it in depth, please send me a PM. I am not going to discuss large portions of the following in an open thread.
I'm going to add a small perspective that I normally don't ever entertain, but I think that this is fairly relevant to this discussion. This part gets a little long, so bear with me. It might highlight some of the discussion points that have come up. From the other side of the discussion.
I hung around with some bad characters before I became an adult. I didn't get involved with the things that some of my acquaintances did that have landed them in prison, but I watched the drama in real-time. Some of you talk about bad guys, even from a LEO perspective, but I don't think a lot of you actually know any bad guys. I do, or rather did. There is a point to this. I'm not trying to stir the pot here (mods), or offend anyone. I'm not proud of what I'm about to relate, and I have never discussed this with other than a few close friends.
I've been in the back seat of a car when someone tossed me a .380 that he had gotten in a drug trade and they (the two guys in the front seat) were talking about what some good places to rob were going to be. I had the disturbing notion that I was either going to be forced into a) being in the car when it went down b) being forced to be the driver or c) have to risk my own life trying to stop the morons from killing some old lady for her purse. For the record, I was only in the car for a ride home from a church social and they offered me a ride home because my buddy I had ridden with had hooked with a cute girl and was bringing her home. Bad situation, right? I was 15. One guy was 17, his dad was a cop. The other guy was 18, had me by about 6 inches and about 70 pounds. So, I did the only thing I could think of. I pulled the floor plate out of the magazine and acted all stupid. The worst I was going to get at that point was an ass beating. They robbed the poor box at a (different) church that night with an unloaded gun. Did that save the priest from getting shot? Who knows. I do know that they couldn't get the magazine repaired, and that I didn't have to worry about getting my ass beat over it because they got caught. Bringing the poor box back, btw. Criminals are wily bastards, but often prove themselves to not be all that smart. Not much different than the rest of the population.
Those two were in and out of concrete rooms, but last I heard, they had become decent citizens. With records, but decent citizens with a lot of regret for the dumb things they had done.
Another guy, who I had known from the time that I was about 5 years old (we went to church together), was a walking time bomb. I think I always knew that he was bad. Not in the over-awing awesome sense. He was mentally unstable from a very early age. Violent, vicious, and with a propensity for drug abuse. While I wasn't friends with him, we had some mutual friends. And I grew up in a small town, it's hard not to know just about everyone.
He ran away from home, lived for a few months with a friend of his. They made do by breaking and entering, cleaning out houses of small high priced items and fencing them for drugs. They were eventually caught, and while fleeing police in a stolen car, they totaled the car. But, they were juveniles, so they pretty much walked. The other guy cleaned up (for the most part), but the second guy never did.
One day, I ended up talking to him. We were about 17 at the time. He fell further and further into drug abuse. He didn't use a gun early on. He didn't need to. He carried a pretty big folding knife, but never used it in a crime because he clearly knew the difference in the penalties between armed robbery and assault and battery. He was so insanely vicious and insane (second insane added on purpose) that he would assault two or three guys at once, rob them, and be gone. Daylight, alleys at night, whatever. He was high as a kite while we were having this discussion, and he went into a dissertation on how he selected his targets. This is the part that I want you to think about.
He could tell you to within $25 dollars or so what the entire cost of your outfit was. Shoes, pants, belt, shirt, jacket, ballcap, pagers, and the bulge of the wallet in a guys pocket. He knew where most people carried weapons, scoped them for any trace that they were armed. It didn't matter if you were a man, a woman, a teenager, a senior citizen. He would then assess what he thought of their awareness. If he made them for a potential target, he would get set to move.
He would let them go into a store, the ATM, whatever from his car. If they went in, he would get into a position that he could ambush them. He found it amusing that most people would just give up their stuff with no fight. Sometimes, he would even take articles of their clothing. Shoes, jacket, hat, sunglasses, whatever.
Later (this is after I left for the military and is second-hand), I found out that he had lost what little remained of his sanity to cocaine. He moved up to armed robbery because the little robbings didn't pay enough, fast enough, to support his habit. Where before he would only assault if you resisted, he just went straight to assault. He was hitting people left and right, even in broad daylight. He also went to softer targets. Like old people leaving pharmacies. Eventually, he got id'd by an old lady that he beat up at an ATM and somehow got out on good behavior early, and is now back in on a parole violation.
A lot of people have the misconception that criminals have some sort of game plan, fear of consequences. Some do. Some are just outright insane. As much as you train, there is always the possibility that you are going to be outmatched by insanity. You can't train for that. And don't make the assumption that you would spot him in a crowd. Wily. I knew the guy and there were times that I saw him that I couldn't see the crazy that I knew was there.
Guys, that was over 15 years ago, in a small city. Not Chicago or anything like that.
He was the guy that is your worst nightmare. Nondescript. About 5'8", 160-180 pounds. Physically capable of beating two or three guys at once in hand to hand fighting, able to keep going with stab wounds, broken bones, pepper sprayed, etc. And completely insane. You have to think logically. You have to weigh the pros and cons of whether to draw, whether to use lethal force. There are some crazy people out there who don't think in our universe at all. As far as I know, the only thing that ever stopped him was his intended victim getting a good look at him. He wasn't scared of the crimes or the penalty because he was rather confident in his ability to hit you so fast that you would never know what happened.
There are pros and cons to open vs. concealed carry. Think about this one. At first, with the same criminal, the visible presence of a weapon (including spotting a concealed carry) was a deterrent. Later, he was coming regardless. The only thing that gave him pause was people noticing him.
Spending time debating whether open or concealed carry is a personal choice, and varies based on the situation. Keeping awareness of that situation is always the trump card. Presenting yourself as a hard aware target will probably do as much as anything else.
did you see that nik guy!!!!! i never though i would say this but he dosent need a gun!!!!! he looks like he could tear a man in half!
