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That makes total sense to me. I'll admit when I first got my CHL I carried without a round in the chamber. I had a mentor I really looked up to who had been carrying for a decent period of time. When I disclosed my practice to him he was very blunt with me. He basically said "if you're not comfortable carrying a loaded firearm then you shouldn't be carrying at all." I took it to heart and quit carrying until I shot and was confident enough in myself and the weapon I was carrying. I grew up around firearms (mainly rifles) and my father had revolvers but was not a fan of semiautomatics. As a 21 year old I gravitated to the polymer guns but didn't have much experience with them. Hence the reason I began carrying without a round in the chamber. Looking back I would call myself foolish. We all learn and have our own comfort levels I guess. I have had very blunt conversations with individuals I look up to that have molded my opinions and my carry practices. It's not right for me to portray those opinions on others as absolutes. I apologize to those I have offended. It wasn't my intention. Stay safe everyone. Train hard.I think I understand your point, and I don't necessarily disagree, but my literal mind says that I'd much rather have a gun with a full magazine and empty chamber, if threatened, than no gun at all. I understand full well that you won't always have time to rack the slide, but by the same token you won't always not have time.
When I first got my CHL, a long time ago, I wasn't comfortable carrying with a chambered round (except revolvers, somehow I was fine with that). Then kids came along and I wasn't terribly comfortable carrying at all while juggling diaper bags and little ones.
I made what seemed a logical choice. I knew that if I needed it instantly, it may be useless, but all other times it would still be useful. The extra layer of safety (empty chamber) seemed a reasonable tradeoff for losing the safety of having it available instantly.
I'd been shooting handguns for a very long time, and was quite confident of being able to chamber a round and hit my target in a stressful situation, but feared something bad happening with my kids if little fingers got ahold of that gun. A moment of inattention could have consequences that scared me far worse than a bad guy jumping me, and I really wanted that extra layer of safety that the empty chamber provided. That was my thinking at the time. I still can't fault anyone for feeling that way, other that saying that if you're worried about that happening, maybe you shouldn't carry at all until you can make sure that it never will.
My kids are getting older now, and I've seen the videos of self-defense encounters where the defender survives only by being able to react instantly, so I do see the wisdom in being chambered. More than that, I see the wisdom in training to a level where you're confident enough that you can safely carrying fully loaded.
I was talking to a LEO friend a while back, and said that I didn't particularly like to carry a gun, because of the responsibility. He opined that that was a good thing, and that it was the people who carry without feeling that responsibility that concern him. A huge part of that responsibility is being trained enough to do it safely.
