Why did you start carrying a gun?

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Cause a day without gunfire is like a day without sunshine. No gun, no gunfire, hence I carry... and because I can.
 
At first just to spite Obama and make use of the concealed permit I bought. Then I moved into a bad neighborhood where I actually legitimately started to feel the need to carry. But after I move I probably won't carry on person much, I'll just keep it in my car, maybe in case of zombies or something lol. It's pretty darn uncomfortable after awhile. Even with good holsters. Especially in summer time.
 
Career interests led me toward guns, which I had never been my entire life despite my dad being a career military guy. Shot my first gun, a Smith & Wesson 686, when I was 19 years old and hated it. Then I learned on a Sig P226 and my first gun was a P220 which I considered an amazing find at 21. I live in the second largest county in Washington and our crime level is quite consistent, and has been for decades, so carrying a gun became a lifestyle, and it still is.
 
45223 said:
At first just to spite Obama and make use of the concealed permit I bought. Then I moved into a bad neighborhood where I actually legitimately started to feel the need to carry. But after I move I probably won't carry on person much, I'll just keep it in my car, maybe in case of zombies or something lol. It's pretty darn uncomfortable after awhile. Even with good holsters. Especially in summer time.
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get a smaller gun lol
 
Grew up with Guns on the Farm , I had either a shotgun,22 rifle or a 30-06 in my truck from the time I was 16. Dad got me a Ruger MK II when they came out in HS. On my 21 birtday I got my first 357 mag then a Ruger DC89 9mm I had other guns but I only got my CCW about 10 years ago once I really realized having a big black Bible and Suit as a Ordained Minister was no longer a guaranty of safe passage.
 
I started carrying because my Uncle Sam bought me the neatest Carbine and 1911 and told me to never be without them. Later as a brand new police officer it was pretty much expected to have a pistol hanging from your belt and a requirement to have it available when off duty. Seemed like a good policy then, a betterone now and my retired ID specifies concealed carry approved so why not!
 
I started working at a gun shop at 17. It was required we carry while working.
 
It's complicated.

The overall violent crime rate in the US is lower than it has been for a long time. Rusty had a great post. Don't let others make and keep you scared. They are attempting to do so for their own monetary/political benefit. Fear and anger are not your friends.

I have been burglarized twice. Far too many of my friends and family members have been victims of violent crimes, including the murder of my cousin. Twice I had to use a handgun to protect a woman I knew: once my ex-wife, and once a neighbor.

I like hunting and shooting. My FiL is my shooting buddy and we try to go shooting every couple of weeks. I enjoy collecting and shooting firearms.

I live in a small town with very little crime. I absolutely can't carry at work.

So I carry sometimes. If I am in a questionable area, if I am out at night, especially if my wife and kids are with me. I keep a loaded 357 within reach at night. We have two big dogs who watch the house while we are gone. Better safe than sorry.
 
Because I felt the weight of responsibility. First for my family, only secondarily for me. To this day I'm sometimes lazy enough that I don't carry if I'm alone... :eek:
 
I grew up around firearms and people who carried. It was natural progression that I do the same, and for the same reasons my elders did.
 
Because I've been victimized most of my life, and because I survived the first such event simply because I was armed. That first encounter with evil allowed me to recognize the value of being prepared for the worst, the unthinkable.

I have since never, and I do mean never been without my self defense weapon.

GS
 
Most of the ranch hands had a hand gun. I started out with a brace of cap guns, graduated to a .22 in Jr High, a .38 and 41 Mag during LEO years. Back to ranching, and a 6" .357 hangin' from the rifle rack in my pickup. Moved to town and down sized a bit, but I've been packin' since I was 6 years old.

Guess I don't know any better.
 
Iggy said:
Most of the ranch hands had a hand gun. I started out with a brace of cap guns, graduated to a .22 in Jr High, a .38 and 41 Mag during LEO years. Back to ranching, and a 6" .357 hangin' from the rifle rack in my pickup. Moved to town and down sized a bit, but I've been packin' since I was 6 years old.

Guess I don't know any better.
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I think you mean you don't know any different. I can't think of any better than armed :)

I'm saying this as a compliment to your experience and your choice. Rock on :)
 
I don't carry often, but when I started I got my CCW permit (required for handgun purchases here) and figured "why not?" Around this time I also started dating a rather small woman and spending lots of time in both the city and woods with her, so I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea for both of us.
 
Why did you start carrying a gun?
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I'm a disabled Vet. As I grow older my disabilities increase.
I'm to the point that while I can get around, I can no longer run.
And would be at an extreme disadvantage in a fight.

Therefore I feel a gun helps "equalize" me.

There's a saying "God created all men, but Sam Colt made all men equal"
 
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I carry because the gun I carry is going to be more useful in the holster on my hip than laying in the safe at home should I ever need one. Still hope that I will never be needed, but better safe than sorry...
 
I started carrying back in the 1980s due to drug gangs and sellers tried to take over the neighborhood. Local law enforcement and Federal agencies colluded together and took care of the problem. It took several years to take care of the problem.

Since these were violent people I took precautions to guard myself and the family.

Still carry to this day.
 
Why I started carrying a gun...

In 1974, I was a young pilot flying the U.S. Mail in old twin engine airplanes (Beech 18's, for the pilots on this forum!) for a small private air carrier, but under a government contract. I was told by my boss to get a pistol and carry it when I flew the U.S. Mail runs; while not required, it was apparently "tradition", commonly still done by Mail Pilots at that time, and was "strongly suggested" by my boss and peers. I did not grow up in a gun owning family, and knew virtually nothing about guns. But I got a CCW permit, and went out and bought my first handgun, a Colt .25 Jr Pocket...... Not exactly the best gun to defend against gangs of Mail Robbers, but I just wanted something small and easy to carry, knew zero about firearms at that time, and wanted something that would at least comply with the instruction to be armed that I had gotten from my boss. Of course, I did take it out to the range, which was fun and which led to interest in buying and shooting other firearms, and from there, a lifelong association with shooting activities. All started out because of the requirement (in earlier times) and later, tradition of, US Air Mail pilots being armed while flying the U.S. Mail.
 
I started to carry when I worked for a major manufacturing company & took over 3rd shift operations. Within 4 .months I had dismissed 3 employees and broke up a couple of drug rings within the company. One employee confided in another manager there had been threats on my life and he notified the personal manager who told me although the company had a policy of no guns on the property if I carried they would not ask. I carried a model 36 & once inside the secure plant would lock it in a.cabinet. I also carried a 12ga pump in my vehicle. Nothing came of it and several months later the ring leader when to prison. That ended that carry. After retiring I worked in a gun store and carried a p32 as did all the employees. I now seldom carry unless I am in the woods and then only a 22 or expect to .me in an uncomfortable place.
 
1965 - I was 14 / carrried open on the family 300 acre farm
Central Wash. State. According to state law at the time with the
parents permission it was legal to carry on family property

It was my first handgun, a S&W K-22 Model 18 took a lot of
cottontail rabbits, an occaisional rattlesnake and it made
coyotes run faster. heh.

Randall
 
Visiting and vacationing on BLM land. Some of these places can be dangerous and the crime rate is virtually unknown.
 
In my early teens there were formative moments with neer-do-wells at school and on the streets who felt the need to exert their will and dominance. If you looked down and took the abuse while turning away there didn't seem to be any great consequences. Refusing to submit was considered an act of aggression.

The same people who were already far stronger and tougher, people who would easily ruin me in a physical confrontation (then and now) had no issues in further exerting their strength with disparate levels of force. Knives, guns, sticks and chains. Parents didn't help, teachers didn't help, law enforcement didn't help. Their advice was to deal with it. Don't stand up for yourself. Just deal with it. The early days of "zero tolerance"...

And I did deal with it. Right up to the day I got stabbed in the leg. It occurred during a textbook incident where someone threatened me and I didn't think they would go through with it, so I stood there practically motionless as it happened. I just didn't believe it would happen.

I was nobody. I had nothing. I wanted nothing. I was no threat. I just didn't want to show my back anymore.

For a long time I carried the guilt of my pacifist upbringing for not being able to diffuse the situation. I kept the last incident secret from family. Violence could always be avoided. My father often reassured me that in his own childhood there were struggles where he suffered his own slings and arrows without retaliation. It took years to swallow the lump in my throat. Keeping it a secret and living with myself for doing nothing, for failing to act and then failing to react, wore heavily on me. It still does. It's the kind of thing that is embarrassing even when no one sees it happen.

Many people have lived through worse. This was just my moment awakening. Feeling like a victim made me ill inside and out. Seeing people today claim victimhood status and taking pride in the power of that label is astounding. Nothing has ever made me feel worse. It was ~20 years ago but that incident and the ones before it helped to shape my reason for carrying a gun today. It's for me. For my security. For those near and dear to me.

Carrying a firearm is a burden but it's not nearly as bad as the ultimate consequence of not carrying one.
 
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