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"Just going to the store" carry

12K views 114 replies 84 participants last post by  Ramsey 
#1 ·
First let me say that I include myself in this observation. It's 8 PM and you need a pint of ice cream. You're already wound down from the day so you pop the little carry caliber in your pocket and jump in the car. But with the street lights already on, you may be heading to highest level of SD requirement/exposure of the day. The parking lot of the local convenience store, at night, is a classic place for trouble. Probably more so than walking the parking lot at work. And yet many of us are less prepared than we were 12 hours before, ordering a biscuit for breakfast. In truth, I'm far enough out in the sticks that the store is already closed at that hour but you get my drift. I wonder why we do that?
 
#2 ·
While I can't think of a legitimate reason, I can say I am guilty of this same thing. I took my dogs out for a walk around midnight with only a kel tec vs the G22 and 2 blades I had earlier in the day.
 
#23 ·
I won't stop living and exercising my given right to ice cream because of the possibility of crime. What kind of life is that? I won't seek out high crime areas but I won't be a prisoner in my own home after dark either.
 
#4 ·
Biscuits for breakfast and late night ice cream... your biggest threat may not be anything a gun can help.

But to your point (that I do get), convenience does sometimes trump preparedness, I suppose. I don't do any pocket carrying, so I tend to take a compact over a sub-compact anyway, but you do make a good point.
 
#59 ·
....convenience does sometimes trump preparedness, I suppose. I don't do any pocket carrying, so I tend to take a compact over a sub-compact anyway, but you do make a good point.
we're all human, and Brad 426 is right: sometimes convenience does trump preparedness. Some people argue that the best CC gun is the one you always take with you. If you're training sets you up with a primary combat handgun and holster rig everytime you step out of the house, then you will always be very well-prepared. But if you're laying on the couch with shorts and a wife beater, watching football and decide you need to pick up something quick, you may not take the time to get in your primary CCW gear. In this case, if you grab a small 380 and slip it in your pocket, it's not great, but it's better than unarmed... It's a calculated risk...
 
#78 ·
Always cranky. Particularly cranky for the last 4+ years as I watch what I thought was a great country become a shell of itself. I am allowed to be cranky since I am old; I could not care less what anyone thinks about me--it does not make any difference in my life. Someone is upset, tough--it is not going to change my telling anyone and everyone what I think; if I disagree with you or think your comments are stupid, I will tell you so--none of this nanny government crap where I have to consider "your feelings". If I am proven wrong, I will admit to it and apologize. I'll stick with my friends and my family. G-d bless svg and stay safe.
 
#6 ·
When I get home from work and change guns, I don't worry about it. Of course the gun I carry at work is a 7 shoot .45. The gun I carry the rest of the time is a 15 shoot 9mm.
 
#7 ·
I rarely stop at a convenience store for other than gas, and even more rarely at night. But if I armed "for the ocassion" I'd have an AK slung over my shoulder.
 
#8 ·
Your situational awareness depends on your environment.

You are not defending against a hypothetical convenience store. You are defending against the one you are going to. In this case, substitute "convenience store" with market, mall, restaurant, or any other place you frequent.

You know the clientele, passersby, level of danger that exists at each place and at each time of day. Arm accordingly.

In my case, I'm getting ready to get some breakfast provisions right now. I'm not arming because the threat probability is as close to zero as is possibly imaginable.
 
#11 ·
I dropped my bug pocket carry 380 a while ago. If I go armed (always and everywhere I can) its my G23 with spare mag.

Same gun, same position, same holster. Like my signature says, put it on getting out of bed with my pants and take it off when I get back in bed.
 
#12 ·
1) We have to live our lives. I try to keep my head on a swivel, but we're human, and we cannot be "on" 100% of the time.

2) I carry the same caliber all the time - .38. I don't have a "little carry" (but some people would call my j-frame a "lttle carry." So be it.) But even if I did, e.g., a .380 - I wouldn't sweat it.

3) I try not to worry about the little things. I spent the first 40-some years of may life not carrying and I survived just fine.
 
#13 ·
I am guilty of that type of thinking. I always carry where legally allowed to do so; generally even when I am home for the day I am pocket carrying. It is way easier to just go to the store with the gun I am already carrying, than to pop on my Glock 19 in an IWB holster for a 5 minute trip to the grocery store.
 
#15 ·
I don't have a "just going to the store carry" gun. If I am out of bed then my Sig P220 in on me. I just don't see a lot of reason for downsizing. If its necessary to carry then it will be my normal EDC.

But you do bring up an interesting point about the tendency to think some things are mundane and don't require the same amount of awareness. It's something we should all work to avoid.
 
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#16 ·
personally i do not pop a small caoiber in my pocket to run to the store, it is something i feel will be sufficient, or i would not have it, which is usually a airweight 38 / and a speed loader, which is what i tend to carry a lot anyhow....if you feel the gun you pop in your pocket leaves you under-protected, you should remove it from your carry list....and possibly from your inventory....just my way of thinking....
 
#20 ·
I carry the same gun for the "quick trip to the store" that I carry that I carry any other time.

It isn't very time-consuming to strap on my Dale Fricke Archangel and horizontal mag carrier vs dropping a mouse gun in my pocket.
 
#22 ·
I understand what you are saying svgheartland. I do pocket carry my Airweight when I don't want to change to my jeans, belt, suspenders, long- tailed shirt, to cover my EDC. I am still armed, so I feel reasonably confident should anything arise I could defend myself. My city crime rate is very low, so I don't feel too worried. However I do still maintain good SA. Call it lazy or complacent if you wish, but it's reality for me.
 
#24 ·
Myself, I don't alter my defensive strategy simply because I'm going to the corner store for a "pint of milk," as if that makes things any safer because of an otherwise mundane product or brief duration of the trip. If the time, location and/or other conditions warrant being armed and prepared to a given degree, the "milk" doesn't change that.
 
#26 ·
Something I posted recently about printing and open carry on quick trips, I just pop on my Galco OWB and don't worry about printing since OC is legal for me and I know all the LEOs. Lazy, yes! But I don't care!
 
#27 ·
Summertime and warmer weather is a huge factor for many in how we carry off duty or as a concealed permit holder...It should not be that way but I think that is why people do it.
 
#28 ·
I either have my .38 or my 9mm all the time. I have to say i am not as careful around my little town as I am everywhere else and this is probably not a good thing. I do keep in mind I didn't carry for the first 49 years of my life and I am still here. The Good Lord does look out for fools. :0).
 
#30 ·
Oldnfat, I personally believe a snubbie to be a fine carry for most situations. Not all, but most. The one you've got is better, etc. so most of the time that's what I'm carrying. What made me post this was the ubiquitous "what's your favorite carry?" posts. In those threads I'll read "I carry my bayonet mounted, bored out Uzi with 3 bugs and a Bowie knife taped to my inner thigh, but if I'm just running out to the store I drop the fill-in-the-blank in my pocket". I don't know where those guys are this morning.
 
#81 ·
But, you don't have to worry about violent attack at a 7-11, their corporate policy is NO carry in their stores. While I don't know about Florida but all the ones in Oklahoma are posted with NO Weapons signs, so all the evil doers have to turn around and leave, after all THEY HAVE A SIGN, and it WILL protect you.
 
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