Don't Carry

[sh39]

Don’t Carry

This is what the little voice inside my head keeps telling me, along with my wife who is terrified that something bad could happen “Don’t Carry”.
One of the reasons that I bought a gun, and took the CCW class was to feel safe going to a crime-ridden area where I own rental property. I had an experience that opened my eyes, and decided that I should have something to protect me.

While taken care of some business at the property, I found myself outside the unit talking to a new tenant when 3 young man started coming directly at me in what I thought was a threatening posture. Unfortunately today our youth are starting to mimic the “ganster dress style” and it is very hard to distinguish between the Bad & Good.

Thank God nothing happen, it appears that one of them was looking for a place to rent and had heard that the unit was available. Who knows if it was true, they could have gotten cold feet.

Now that I have my conceal license I have yet to carry. A little voice says to me!!!!!

Don’t do it: Why?

1. It is to dangerous something could go wrong
2. You never been robbed or attacked, you risk the clerk hollering, “He has a gun”. Then what? You could go from law abiding to a felon…
3. There are many incidents where people have been robbed or killed even when carrying. The element of surprise was in the criminals favor
4. We just had a wonderful Deputy in Ft. Lauderdale lose is life and his back up wounded, after a routine traffic stop, and according to all reports the deputy followed procedure, except that he was not wearing his bullet proof vest. Regardless of that the point, those poor souls never had a chance to un-holster their weapon to fight back. The BG came out firing…..
5. The little voice says? Don’t Carry

Please help me…….What say you? I know that many of you have served the nation to protect our freedoms, and others protect our lives day in day out. You have experience carrying either in the military or LEO. So this is may be second nature for you.
But please help this poor guy that needs to overcome his fears…

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Ben Hennessy]

I'm sorry but to me it sounds like you are not in the right state of mind yet. I do not mean that as an insult at all. But my fear would be if you had to draw and don't shoot because you are in fear of what will happan, the BG might take your weapon a way from you. That will make it harder on my family and everyone elses family.

[Huzar]

If a little voice inside your head says don't carry, then don't. Like the other poster said: if you're not ready for it there is nothing that anyone can do about it.

What you can do though is ask yourself if there is something that can convince that voice: is it extra training? extra range practice?

I'm a recent permit holder and since I got the permit I have carried every single day I was outside. Since I started the process for the permit I have tried to hit the range once or twice a week and while I won't have 2" or 3" groupings I can hit the target in the COM without any problems. I approach it from the perspective: what would happen if I didn't have it and I needed it.

Anyways: what I think you need to do is sit down, relax, and do some serious thinking about all the what ifs and such. Once you do that, you will probably reach a decision: carry or not carry with the reasons behind them as to why.

[Tubby45]

[QUOTE=sh39;236144]Don’t Carry

Don’t do it: Why?

1. It is to dangerous something could go wrong
2. You never been robbed or attacked, you risk the clerk hollering, “He has a gun”. Then what? You could go from law abiding to a felon…
3. There are many incidents where people have been robbed or killed even when carrying. The element of surprise was in the criminals favor
4. We just had a wonderful Deputy in Ft. Lauderdale lose is life and his back up wounded, after a routine traffic stop, and according to all reports the deputy followed procedure, except that he was not wearing his bullet proof vest. Regardless of that the point, those poor souls never had a chance to un-holster their weapon to fight back. The BG came out firing…..
5. The little voice says? Don’t Carry

QUOTE]

1. It is more dangerous being unarmed.

2. If you are legal to carry, you are not breaking any laws. I don't understand the question.

3. There are even more cases where UNARMED people have been robbed. Situational awareness will help to prevent an attack.

4. First off, there is no such thing as a routine traffic stop. There is nothing routine about anything in police work. Second of all, that is the reason you need to be equiped and prepared. Get a gun. Get training. Learn how and WHEN to use it. Then carry it.

5. Don't listen to the little voices unless they tell you to stay home and clean your guns.

[Redneck Repairs]

Ill suggest that you go beyond the state mandated training and attend a reputable shooting school such as LFI run by Massad Aayub . It seems to me that part of your problem is lack of confidence in your abilitys with the weapon , and part a lack of confidence in your ability to read the situation(s) you may encounter. I normaly wont go out on a limb and reccomend a specific school , but IMHO LFI is a premiere orginisation that has courses directed at the newcomer to ccw .. not just covering shooting , but tactics , and laws as well .. They seem to me to be more oriented in getting the ccw holder off to a well balanced start , rather than just teaching them to shoot.

[ron8903]

First, don't carry if your not comfortable.

Second, sign up for all the self defence classes you can.

3rd , go shoot you firearm, the more you shoot-the more
you will get used to it.


And then get more training in ccw.

Good luck,stay safe.

[SixBravo]

Agreed. Good answers. You will read around here that the proper state of mind is necessary for your safety and those you encounter day in and out. A qoute that I have seen in someone's signature is "Owning a gun and calling oneself armed is like owning a piano and calling yourself a musician" or something to that effect.

I hope we aren't coming across as too hard on you. We like to encourage as many people to carry as possible. HOWEVER - being safe about it is THE most important thing and having a proper mindset for it is a huge part of that. I, as the other posters suggest, would say that it would not be a good idea to carry until the mindset is achieved.

I would say that the best thing you can do to improve your mindset is to watch the news. Play "What Would I Have Done" with some of the crime stories you see on the news. We post a lot of thoeretical scenarios up to help us keep our minds sharp. But you are on the right track. The first step is to realize that you are, ultimately, the only one who is responsible for your own personal safety.

[SIXTO]

I'm with ron, training, training, training. And when your done, train some more.

There is no shame in not carrying, if its not for you I'd rather you didn't.

[pogo2]

1. It is too dangerous something could go wrong.
You need to practice with the gun and follow proper safety procedures so you don't have an accident. Risk is a tradeoff, and the risk of not having the gun is greater than the risk of having it.

2. You never been robbed or attacked, you risk the clerk hollering, “He has a gun”. Then what? You could go from law abiding to a felon…
If your gun is concealed the clerk can't see it. And a nervous clerk seeing your holstered gun wouldn't make you a felon - you haven't broken any law and only a court can make you a felon.

3. There are many incidents where people have been robbed or killed even when carrying. The element of surprise was in the criminals favor
Carrying is not an invisible protective shield. You have to be very alert and spot the trouble coming. And the criminal won't have all the surpirse on his side, as he doesn't know yet you are carrying, giving you some potential surprise also.

4. We just had a wonderful Deputy in Ft. Lauderdale lose is life and his back up wounded, after a routine traffic stop, and according to all reports the deputy followed procedure, except that he was not wearing his bullet proof vest. Regardless of that the point, those poor souls never had a chance to un-holster their weapon to fight back. The BG came out firing…..
Not relevant. You are not a cop and nobody will attack you because of a uniform or fear of arrest. Cops have special risks to face because of this.

5. The little voice says? Don’t Carry
Ignore little voices and use your reasoning ability.

[retsupt99]

they are speaking about your lack of self-confidence.
Get into some classes...good advice...
Practice a lot...

Is a gun dangerous...why, of course...if it wasn't, I wouldn't carry one!

1.) Robbed by a merciless thug who means you much harm, and you have no weapon = dead!

2.) Robbed by a merciless thug who means you much harm, and you do have a weapon (you've trained with...) = not dead, hopefully...!

Sorry, I can only provide a guarentee with #1...

With all due respect, don't carry a weapon unless your confidence meter goes into the 'ready...willing...& able' zone!

OMO

ret

[jowgafist]

2. You never been robbed or attacked, you risk the clerk hollering, “He has a gun”. Then what? You could go from law abiding to a felon…

I never had a fire in my car or house either but I still have fire extinguishers at the ready. I'm with everyone else, you need to train more with your firearm and get comfortable with it. My girl was the same way when I started carrying 7 years ago. She wasn't anti but more scared of guns than anything. But through the years she found out that guns don't go off by themselves. She wants to take a ccw class now and wants to go looking for a carry piece.
Train. Train. Train.

[Euclidean]

1. It is to dangerous something could go wrong

Getting out of bed in the morning is dangerous too. Heck going to bed is dangerous.

Life is the condition that you may die at any second.

In any event, it is scary to realize that you are responsible for preserving your own life. It's not a thought most of us are naturally comfortable with, but it's reality.

With minimal training and experience, it really is possible to do this, and despite the lies you are told, you are not in more danger. You're still you. Do you constantly do stupid things on purpose? Probably not. You don't become less cautious or less aware for carrying a gun.

2. You never been robbed or attacked, you risk the clerk hollering, “He has a gun”. Then what? You could go from law abiding to a felon…

I sincerely do not understand what you're afraid of here other than perhaps apprehension at not being able to conceal well enough. I can empathize to some degree, but to be really honest it will soon pass once you get used to it. Start with a small gun and work your way up to a big one if you have to.

It's a confidence thing. It really is. When you and your gun learn to work together, this apprehension will go away.

I've never been made. Ever.

3. There are many incidents where people have been robbed or killed even when carrying. The element of surprise was in the criminals favor

I suppose that could happen, but I look at it this way: I may very well walk out of this building today and be shot in the head from 600 meters away and never know who killed me. It could happen anywhere at any time. I could be shanked coming around a corner. I can imagine a million different ways to die that I couldn't do anything about.

But you know what, that's useless thinking. Ordinary people can and do fight back against their aggressors all the time. Millions of times a year according to some estimates. I don't think negatively about things I can't control, I think about what I can control and I think my life is worth something and I should make an effort to preserve it.

4. We just had a wonderful Deputy in Ft. Lauderdale lose is life and his back up wounded, after a routine traffic stop, and according to all reports the deputy followed procedure, except that he was not wearing his bullet proof vest. Regardless of that the point, those poor souls never had a chance to un-holster their weapon to fight back. The BG came out firing…..

That is terrible, but forgive me for being blunt here, but it is irrelevant.

5. The little voice says? Don’t Carry

Please help me…….What say you? I know that many of you have served the nation to protect our freedoms, and others protect our lives day in day out. You have experience carrying either in the military or LEO. So this is may be second nature for you.
But please help this poor guy that needs to overcome his fears…

Guy, I'm a public high school math teacher. My idea of heavy combat is pushing my way through the holiday crowds at Walmart.

But my life isn't worth any less, and I have taken it upon myself to achieve some modicum of skill. I won't pretend to be the best shooter or handgunner or competitor or whatever, but I've made it another part of my life. I'm my own warrior just as I'm my own cook and my own chauffeur.

It's great that there are professional warriors and professional cooks and professional chauffeurs, we need them all, but there's nothing magical about what they do that only some select group can study it.

And finally, this is America. You do whatever you want to. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. For your own sake I'd encourage you to pursue this interest, take a basic class or two, and I think you'll see it'll be fine in time, but if you do all that and still don't feel any better, it's your life, live it on your terms.

[katmandoo122]

I cannot believe no one has said this:

CARRY TO WALMART!

This is a proven method for getting over the the carrying worries of a new CCW permit, practiced by 87.9% of members of this board (the other 12.1% refuse to go to Walmart based on their no-ammo stance).

Carry a little at a time until you realize you can carry all the time.

I was the opposite from you: I got my CPL so that if I ever needed one (i.e. if my wife got a stalker), I wouldn't have to wait. I hadn't planned on carrying every day. Now I realize it's like only wearing your seatbelt when you go on long drives or only using a condom when visiting Haiti...there's danger everywhere when you least expect it.

So, after a while, I started carrying everyday and don't notice anymore.

[P95Carry]

Too late to the thread to offer any further useful comment - it has already been covered by many - admirably!

[sh39]

I joined the Forum because of this reason “Our goal at CombatCarry.com is to be a resource for those who have made the decision to legally obtain a concealed carry permit (CCW) or otherwise have an interest in CCW”.

I must tell you that I find it a little over the top for some one to say that I might be a danger to him and his family, because I wont shoot and the BG is going to take my weapon away, therefore make it harder on him and his family.
Comments like that to me are irresponsible. And I feel violate the spirit of the discussion.

I appreciate everyone’s input and advice, not only to this post but also to all others that are here and serve has a resource for people like myself that are interested in CC. I have learned quite a bit.

Before I got my license to carry I bought two handguns, have taken, several training classes, have spent hundreds of dollars on ammunition and training time at the local ranges. And will continue to do so.

To share with members of this forum some of my thoughts, looking for some support and suggestions on how they overcame their concerns, maybe it was a mistake.

I don’t take this responsibility lightly and before I go running to Wal-Mart and buy nachos, you bet I am going to be ready.