Carry overkill

[1MoreGoodGuy]

A few of us dont deal in what ifs but rather what did and what can again. Without going into the details I and my surviving family belong in that group. I will never be that naive again. I have always lived in a very low crime area out in the sticks. Until 2005 I believed the worst thing that could occur here was someone stealing some gas out of a barn if anything.
I was wrong. My family is a member short now because of my comfort level of where I live.
Regardless of where you are or what you think, your life can be changed in less time than it takes to blink your eye. With no warning and for no reason.
I am armed 24/7 in my home or out day or night. At present my carry is a pt 945, its the only pistol I have at the moment. I will be getting more firearms as quickly as I can. What those may be will depend but nothing less than 2 for carry nothing less than 45 or 357 primary and 9mm backup.
My HD is the 45 2 12 ga shotguns with 00buck, 1 223 rife and a 22 lr. The handgun is on me until i go to bed and back on me when i get up. And in holsters in arms reach at night as is the shotguns on my wifes side of the bed. If I cant go armed I do not go period, except the courthouse and then only from my vehicle to it and back to my vehicle.

I do not travel in states where I cannot cc. Call me what you wish. Do I sit at home listening for every bump in the night fearing for my life? No. But I dont sit like a sheep waiting for the wolf either. Ive armed and trained myself and my wife and insisted that my grown surviving children do the same.
If a lunatic visits any of my family again anywhere anytime he/she will not be attacking defenseless victims, but people ready to meet them on their own terms and meet whatever level of violence they bring head on.
As I said a few of us dont deal in what ifs, but what has happened. May none of you ever have to join that group.

Excellent post.

I am sorry for your loss.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[detective]

I'm new to forum and really enjoy reading all the opinions on gun use. I live in rural Idaho farm country and always have had guns in truck or nearby. I read a lot of these posts and don't see the urgency a lot of posters have in having a "primary", secondary and BUG on them at all times.
Then there's the caliber debate of bigger is better. Maybe many posters are from urban high-crime areas, but we just don't see it.
I may be looking at this from a naieve prospective, but many posters are armed at all times as if they were a cop. My rural area hasn't had much in the way of violent crime, and can't think of any of my friends or neighbors encountering it as long as I can remember. Am I seeing this as a lot of people being overly paranoid and maybe some being so jumpy that someones going to get shot?

By the way, I'm not the enemy. I am a member of the NRA, have a CCW permit, and am a huge gun enthusiast, and have pistol in vehicle at all times.

I've read a lot of situations where defensive carry has been a lifesaver, but I think some take it too far. Must be a lot of retired cops posting here, because many posts are written in that perspective....with terms such as "primary,"secondary, BUG, extended gunbattle, multiple assailants,etc. Realistically, guys like me are just regular citizens that want to protect ourselves, and probably have no business trying to "take control of public situations, because we aren't trained in it and really have no authority to do it.
OK, I'm braced to take my medicine with some replies that think I'm way off base.

WON'T BE POPULAR BUT TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION IN WHAT SEEMS THE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE WAY POSSIBLE TO ME:

The more one focuses on the prevention of one danger the more preoccupied in fear the person can become with that danger, and that causes more prevention; but it's now prevention against the fear - not the facts.

At this point it becomes neurotic, neurotic meaning displaced and unbalanced reactions to the actual cause.

You can do things to partially protect from danger. But protecting from fear is impossible because the very preoccupation causes it. I.e, the person is producing the feelings he's trying to protect himself from and every time he tries more to protect himself he grows more afraid.

So, SOMETIMES, with guns. Therefore, a person living in a very safe area carries at home all the time and leaves the house with a massive pistol and 2 extra magazines + an ankle gun. Next year, it will be two ankle guns, left and right and 3 spare mags. And he'll still be the most fearful person in the neighborhood.

I CCW in one set of conditions where there is a realistic increase of danger from the norm, a norm which is quite safe from street crime. Does that mean I'm immune in these other, more "normal" conditions. Course not. But the stats are the same then for me being a victim of street crime as for almost any random event happening that no one thinks of or bothers themselves much about: getting hit by a train at a crossing, catching a terminal staph-like infection from holding onto a railing, being killed by a flash-flood from a nearby river (that never has had a flash flood) or just getting hit by a car crossing the street. Anything can happen anytime and you'd drive yourself insane constantly attempting protection from it all. So you make a leap of faith, keep an eye out when appropriate, and enjoy your day.

If one is constantly around a huge amount of violent crime, it's different. Then CCWing the huge pistol etc is a real reaction to a real condition.

Best thing is to act in accordance with reality for guns and defense - and that is different person to person.

(Good question!)

[akav8er]

In response to Ghost1958's post. I'm darn sorry to read that (putting it mildly). I pray to God that none of us are ever put at such risk we have to make the decision to take a life, just as I pray the majority of citizenry become aware of the risks of being unprepared and defenseless. God Bless!

[acepilot]

We pilots have a saying, "It's better to be down here wishing we were up there than being up there wishing we were down here. Changing that just a bit for this thread, "It's better to have extra firepower along and not need it than needing extra firepower and not having it along."

[BadHabit]

It's up to you. I live in a nice area of a nice town. Problem is, sometimes trouble takes the bus and comes to my neck of the woods.

That reminds me of a documentary I saw last week on how cities (in this case Memphis) were tearing down section 8 housing and giving the families vouchers to go live in "nicer" areas of town. The crime followed.

[oakchas]

This posting has gotten 9 pages of response... and none from me... until now.

No Gun
No knife
one knife
more knives
one gun
one mag
more mags
more guns
more mags
pepper spray
flashlight

Carry what you want... within the limits of the law in your area.
Carry what makes sense to you... within the limits of the law in your area.
Carry as often as you want... within the limits of the law in your area.
Carry where you want... within the limits of the law in your area.

Just carry.

Or if you don't want to carry... frame your permit and put it on the wall, you don't need it.

[velo99]

I am comfortable with what and how I carry. I carry the same way 365. Nothing extreme but enough to cover all of the bases, I hope. I carry insurance on my house and vehicles. My weapon(s) is my BG insurance policy.

[kerberos]

No such thing as "overkill"...

Once you reach the point of "kill" that's it...

Unless you believe in zombies I guess...

Anything that a law-abiding citizen decides to carry and remains legal gets a from me!!!

[Mike1956]

The original poster hasn't been around for several days, and has put up a total of three posts, all within a half hour of each other. I don't think he is really paying attention.

[oakchas]

The original poster hasn't been around for several days, and has put up a total of three posts, all within a half hour of each other. I don't think he is really paying attention.

That's okay...

Talk amongst yourselves...

[Fitch]

Welcome to the forum... I must say I am not too surprised to see posts like this right out of the gate from new members... You are either:
1. A troll
2. A concerned CCLH that wants every CCLH not o be burdened with so many guns on them
3. A "Call Of Duty" gamer that thinks all CCLHs have primary, secondary, and a BUG = "overkill" in the game.
4. A CCLH who is trying to justify carrying more than one gun.

Or, option 5, he could be exactly what he says he is. A country boy wondering why all the city kids carry so many guns.

I sometimes wonder why people carry so many guns - I've read about people on here with two guns, two knives, and some sort of spray. If I thought that's what I might need, I'd move to where I didn't think that.

I have quite a few carry guns, but I can count on one hand the number of times I've carried more than one, and those times were just because I'd gotten a new pocket pistol (LCP one time, P238 the other), wanted to try it out, but didn't trust it enough to leave the Glock home.

I live in rural south central PA. Crime is a third below the national average - the closest town, 5 or 6 miles away, averages one murder every two or three years. That said, someone shot up an Amish school and killed a bunch of innocent kids not too far from here. There are nut cases every place. So I carry all day, every day, every place it's legal. Sometimes it's an LCP, sometimes it's a Glock 36, or Glock 26, or Glock 19 (I haven't carried the XDs or Glock 17 yet). I carry as much gun as I can comfortably hide, and one spare magazine. We keep the doors locked. We don't answer the door after dark if we aren't expecting anybody. I don't answer the door unarmed. My home defense weapon of choice is a 20-GA pump shotgun loaded with 3" magnum #2 buck. But my Glock 19 with night sights and rail light is in the bed side safe.

The first thing I do when I get in my car is lock the door. I sit in the seat that gives the best view of the entrance at the table we get in restaurants. When I can I pick the table. I scan parking lots looking for something unusual when we leave the mall, or the store. My wife is used to it by now, she scans too.

Once we saw a group of young men sitting in a car looking at us. We went back in the mall. When we came back out 15 minutes later they were still in the same car, but in a different location farther from where I car was parked. I was packing, wasn't sure they were bad. We walked to the car with our heads on a swivel looking for a surprise attack from another direction. I had my right hand free and jacket unzipped. Nothing happened. We got in the car and locked the doors. Then we took a breath and got out of there.

But I consider those, and a hundred other small acts of observation to be sort of the minimum situational awareness - armed or not. My first goal is to see a situation developing and avoid it - get out of Dodge. Next best, see it developing and be prepared with some sort of plan before it goes critical. The plan might not work, but the brain is engaged and having done a quick what-if might respond better when the situation changes. Worst, having to react to a total surprise. I don't like surprises so I keep my eyes open.

My personal opinion is that, for a civillian, being alert, keeping the eyes open and avoiding a surprise is worth more than having a secondary gun, backup gun, and the uber cool fighting knife.

But, I'm just a little old man. What do I know?

Fitch

[1911_Kimber]

The original poster hasn't been around for several days, and has put up a total of three posts, all within a half hour of each other. I don't think he is really paying attention.

He sure got a lot of responses... Sort of rattling the cage to see what falls

[Mikel]

well, I don't think most people who carry everyday plan to get into a gun fight. It happens and wouldn't you feel horrible knowing you had the chance to save lives if you had only armed yourself that day? I know I would. It's the same feeling when I pay my auto insurance; I hope I don't need it but it is there if horrible things happen, and they do every day across our country.


The best actual response I have heard to the question of "Why all of the guns?" was "Because I can."

[Truckinbutch]

I've lived on the same farm for 59 of 62 years . Situated on a 2 1/2 mile 1 lane county road that shortcuts 2 major roads . The farm sprawls across a mile and a half of this frontage . My 85 year old father lives by himself at one end of the farm and I live on the other . It's a favorite cutoff for drunks avoiding the main roads and various undesirable miscreants bent on thievery of one form or another . The next house up the road is a drug house .
My home , that I've lived in for the last 43 years , has been robbed 3 times . It is situated at a 90 degree turn with a very deep
ditch that the drunks and druggies fail to negotiate several times a year . Some are reasonable and I get a tractor and pull them out . When they are belligerent I call LEO .
LEO's here are friendly and professional and understaffed . Avg response is 45 minutes at best . They know me and who the good guy is when I call . They've been here twice over shootings (another two stories).
Between the situation in my location , predatory animals molesting livestock , and my Dad living alone I never know what time of day or night I'm going to have to deal with a problem .
A 5 shot .38 snub is within arm's reach of me 24/7 . I always carried a Colt .45 auto until 3 lbs of pistol got to be too heavy
and too bulky to conceal .
Daytime on the farm has me strapped up with the .38 and a scoped 7mag .
Night time call outs require .38 , .45 , and a 12 gauge loaded with oo buck.
My choice of armament isn't dictated by paranoia . It's from experience .

[pittypat21]

WON'T BE POPULAR BUT TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION IN WHAT SEEMS THE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE WAY POSSIBLE TO ME:

The more one focuses on the prevention of one danger the more preoccupied in fear the person can become with that danger, and that causes more prevention; but it's now prevention against the fear - not the facts.

At this point it becomes neurotic, neurotic meaning displaced and unbalanced reactions to the actual cause.

You can do things to partially protect from danger. But protecting from fear is impossible because the very preoccupation causes it. I.e, the person is producing the feelings he's trying to protect himself from and every time he tries more to protect himself he grows more afraid.

So, SOMETIMES, with guns. Therefore, a person living in a very safe area carries at home all the time and leaves the house with a massive pistol and 2 extra magazines + an ankle gun. Next year, it will be two ankle guns, left and right and 3 spare mags. And he'll still be the most fearful person in the neighborhood.

I CCW in one set of conditions where there is a realistic increase of danger from the norm, a norm which is quite safe from street crime. Does that mean I'm immune in these other, more "normal" conditions. Course not. But the stats are the same then for me being a victim of street crime as for almost any random event happening that no one thinks of or bothers themselves much about: getting hit by a train at a crossing, catching a terminal staph-like infection from holding onto a railing, being killed by a flash-flood from a nearby river (that never has had a flash flood) or just getting hit by a car crossing the street. Anything can happen anytime and you'd drive yourself insane constantly attempting protection from it all. So you make a leap of faith, keep an eye out when appropriate, and enjoy your day.

If one is constantly around a huge amount of violent crime, it's different. Then CCWing the huge pistol etc is a real reaction to a real condition.

Best thing is to act in accordance with reality for guns and defense - and that is different person to person.

(Good question!)

Preparedness ≠ Fear