What caused you to start carrying?

[Intervention]

I'm sure we all know the reasons to carry, but what caused you to one day decide that you needed to stuff this chunk of metal down your pants and carry it around with you everywhere you go. We all wandered around without it for years and apparently didn't die. So what happened?

This is not a debate, more self reflection.

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[huntpotter]

Watching the nightly news made me want to start carrying. Too many crazy things happening to innocent people. I don't want to be one of the victims. It is a matter of personal security for me and my family.

 

[gunfighter]

its my right. That and I am sure people on the news who got shot by some guy that had a bad day, or fired from work, or bout to commit suiside, wished they had a really really big gun.

 

[Spray-n-pray]

Seems like the local news reports more armed robberies and home invasions every day. I pray that never happens to me, but if it does, I want to be prepared.

 

[Dan-Dee Sales Inc]

We own a business and sometimes we have no Police response when the alarm went off.

 

[ohsocountry1]

I am the only male in my family so i feel like a body guard to all of them also no direspect to are police (my brother in law is a cop) but i have had 4 counts were i needed them and they showed up like 15-20 minutes after i needed them not after i called after i needed them. Once i was at my girlfriends and a guy was trying to break in even though he new we were there i didnt have a gun called the police and the guy was lerking around the house at this point. 20 minutes later i called again dispatcher said sry sir we diverted all officers there was a wreck down the street then 10 minutes later he drove buy spotlight on doing about 15 in a cul_de_sac never even stopped at the house. there was myself my girlfriend her mom and 4 kids under 6 i was upset and pissed and realized the first person to count on is YOURSELF.

 

[SavageGerbil]

I'd been meaning to get my license to carry for ages, took the class for it when I was around 20 but wound up putting it off, FINALLY went out and got mine early this year after I started driving back and forth to Grants Pass nearly every weekend, didn't feel comfortable unarmed at rest stops.

 

[jordanvraptor]

I got my permit because it used to make it easier to buy guns. Remember that nice time before instant check when all you needed was your permit? There were also some skinheads around my apt bldg that would give me dirty looks when there were at least three of them in a pack. Now that I live in a better area and don't go out as much in public I have not lost any sleep over no longer having a permit. I'll probably reapply to get one one of these days but am in no hurry. (It expired when I was out of the country and I also moved between counties).

 

[smithmax]

I was riding my suzuki home from work and got boxed in by a motorcycle gang. I decided that it was time to not be completely defenseless.

 

[Chee-to]

I got my permit because it used to make it easier to buy guns. Remember that nice time before instant check when all you needed was your permit? There were also some skinheads around my apt bldg that would give me dirty looks when there were at least three of them in a pack. Now that I live in a better area and don't go out as much in public I have not lost any sleep over no longer having a permit. I'll probably reapply to get one one of these days but am in no hurry. (It expired when I was out of the country and I also moved between counties).

Same here on the insta-check, but it was the little "vatos" that pulled a gun on a very good friends son, in the parking lot at Wal-Mart in broad daylight. One held him at gun point the other little punk hit him from behind with a bat , took his wallet, stole his car, got his car back, but they never found the little immigrants. Anyway I've carried every day since ........

 

[onearmedswordsman]

gun ownership + tired of feeling helpless.

 

[tionico]

after the "election" I realised what's left of our gun rights is now at risk, and decided to begin arming my home whilst I still could, thinking it unlikely they'd be able to find/seize ALL of them should they so choose. Once we HAVE them, its a lot harder game to get them than to make it impossible to GET them. Simple logic. Then I began to study the current laws... and was shocked at just how bad things have got in this regard. I realise that having a CPL would go a long ways toward minimising the possibility of becoming a "criminal" for some minor oversight (getting back into my car with a handgun in open carry.. I am not INSIDE a vehicle with a LOADED weapon, a no-no for a normal citizen, but lawful for a permittee.

Then, read one of Ayoub's amazing books, learned a lot, began studying about handguns, carrying, using, situations, etc... and so proceeded to get some, working on carry methods, etc.

Perhaps the clincher is this, though: I am an avid road cyclist (pedal bicycle, no motor...) and often will take long trips, sometimes multiday, often on rural roads in remote areas. Made me a bit nervous, I've been harrassed by strangers who know nothing of me beyond that I am riding a road bike on the highway. Assaulted thrice (punks throwing things at me whilst riding.. one hit, trying to knock me off the bike with their door... that sort of stupic stuff... Four tuffs in the car, had they decided to come back and "finish the job" I would have been toast. Then I read of a few assaults where gangs of toughs were accosting cyclists coming across the I-90 bridge at Mercer Island... hiding outside the tunnels, assaulting/robbing cyclists. Decided alright, I'll begin carrying. If anyone decides to get up close and personal, at least I'll give them some additional factors to consider. Call the cops? Sorry, by the time they'd answer the 911 call, I could be already bloody and broken. I'd far rather turn the tables, holding the perps at gunpoint until they do get there. I find it a form of bizarre humour that Seattle's mayor, the disgusting Chim Change Nickels, supposedly "pro bicycling" in Seattle, attempted to impose an illegal ban on all firearms in Seattle's public places.. which would certainly have included the bike path on the I-90 bridge. Yeah, I'd have felt REAL safe riding in HIS city with no chance of being armed against all the loonies his city government coddles and accomodates... on the public's nickel.

Now I have begun to get after getting legal to carry in other states into which I travel on business.. Oregon, California ("good luck" as the saying goes) Idaho, Nevada..... thinking about th Utah and/or Florida permit, taking the required class for Oregon's ticket, and exploring some options in California..... I've one contact there who may prove helpful, though I'm not going to be holding my breath on that one.

 

[Insomnia]

Even the cute blond female cop in my town wouldn't fit into my pocket.

Just watch the local news, and I think you can figure out why I started carrying a firearm.

 

[PlayboyPenguin]

I have been around guns all my life. I bought myself my first handgun when I was 21 but only started carrying in the past few years. Which was almost 20 years later. Even when I was in law enforcement I did not really carry off duty. I simply kept my gun in my car.

What made me start carrying was seeing all the instances where many people were killed by one lone gunman. Situations where so many lives could have been saved if only one person had been capable of returning fire. I did not ever want to find myself huddled with my loved ones helplessly behind a potted plant in a mall or other public place hoping to not become a victim of a random nutjob as he marched through shooting. I did not want to take even the remotest chance that I might be in a situation where I could have saved the life of a loved one if I had only been able to fight back but instead sat helpless as they were killed.

 

[shooter]

I started carrying after my wife and I bought our first home in a transitional area of NoPo. We had a few good neighbors, but more than our fair share of shady characters.
The second reason...and main reason...was our daughter. As a young buck I never felt I needed a firearm for protection. I was able to hold my own if push came to shove and I suppose like most guys I felt a little invincible. Once we started a family that all changed. I realized that I was now responsible for protecting the two most important things in my life...my wife and daughter. That's when I decided I would start carrying, and as long as I'm around nobody will ever harm my family.
At first it made my wife a little uneasy and she questioned why I suddenly felt the need to be armed. Now she takes comfort in the fact that I carry and with a little more time on the range my wife and daughter will never be harmed even if I'm not around.

 

[NK777]

I started concealed carrying really for no particular reason at all. I guess mostly because of how screwed up our open carry laws have gotten. I didn't want to have to carry a cop and a lawyer around with me. That would just be way way to heavy.

 

[A2theK]

Hands


I started carrying when I was 16 and started backpacking in strange areas.

 

[sinco54]

Honestly, I met a dude off craigslist who said he was interested in my car for sale.. Had I not been with 2 other friends one which was carrying (weapon wasnt pulled) the dude wouldve attepmted to steal my car or worse. Just got that "vibe" and his body language was saying one thing while his mouth was sayin another. Ever since then Ive been "ridin dirty" lol....

 

[skud_dusty]

Bought my first handgun when some crackhead tried to beat down my door. Police took an HOUR to respond.

Got my CHL after working with my old room-mate. Almost got roughed-up/seriously injured towing cars too many times.

 

[tonyspdx]

I carry, because we live in a bad world, that some refuse to see. We haven't moved pass the human nature to kill each other. I just don't want to be the one that gets killed.