Why do YOU carry??

[shamanjp]

I have just recently gotten my CCW. I decided to carry because of some close calls I have had. Also because of what I see in the news on a daily basis. Not only the crimes but also how long it takes our under funded police to arrive on a crime scene. I have been told by police that they can not take action until a crime has been committed. I understand this, but by then it may be too late for the victim. I don't want to live in fear and feel helpless.
I hope to never use my weapon.
May it only serve to bring me peace of mind.
If I am forced to use it to defend myself and my family, I accept that responsibility.
Peace.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[dpesec]

I think Edmund Burke said it best - "All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing".

[idtruckman]

I had some major surgery and can not run or defend myself like I used to. And like Davebum indicated - A cop is to heavy to carry!

[Paymeister]

Scripture indicates I am to protect and provide for my family.

[Tom G]

The last time I needed a cop he was an hour away. Had no ccw at time but did have gun in the truck. It saved our hides.

[usmc3169]

I refuse to be a victim to lifes circumstances - I do everything I can to protect my family and those people around me.

Simple answer to complex question

[preachertim]

did nt know I had to give a reason? Well Now that I think about it is probably because I watch the news and belive the stories about Zombies. No wait let me try again. The 2nd Am allows me to. Maybe Because the cops are somewhere else when the BG is in your house. I don t have enough time for all of them but there are a few .

[wjh2657]

Have you ever had a nightmare where you know you are going to die and you can't do anything? You can't run and you can't scream?
I do not want to be in that circumstance where I am about to be killed and I could have done something to stop it if I had been armed. Short of that circumstance, my gun stays holstered. I am safe in my manhood and I don't hate anybody enough to want to kill them.

[jmiked]

Variation on a theme here. Because my knees are in too bad a shape to carry a Cop.

[batpot]

my primary concern: road rage.
...not mine, other people's.

2 incidents really got me motivated to take the plunge...
In one instance, some guy apparently thought 50mph in a 60mph was fast enough, and took offense to my passing him in the right lane. After the pass, he speeds up, and blocks me from passing an even slower car, and then slows down when I drop in behind him. When I go to pass him again, he speeds up again, throwing the middle finger and yelling, and starts merging over as I pass, and nearly runs me into the guard rail.

Thankfully I was able to get out of there before anything really bad happened, but I realized that if he had run me into the guard rail or off the highway, and we ended up immobilized on the side of the road, I was going to be in an extremely vulnerable situation with an obvious raging lunatic.

In another incident, I saw the aftermath of a fender bender on the highway, and witnessed the driver of the front car pulling a baseball bat out of his trunk...not a good situation for the inhabitants of the rear vehicle to find themselves in unarmed.

[jowgafist]

Protection

[snowdoctor]

all cliche's aside...I carry to protect myself and my family. It is right as an American, and one that many are willing to give up...I am not.

[GreenHorn]

I am one of 4 owners of our family business.
We have anywhere from 800-1000 employees in 3 states, Mo. Ar. and In. Recently several people have been let go after making threatening statements about shooting other employees with thier gun or "going to go and get my gun out the car and fix you" kind of crap.

The last guy happened to be let out the back door as to not "Parade" him in front of the whole factory while being escorted out by LEO's. They put him right in front of my office door for a few moments and he managed to give me "the look" before they hurried him out. He knows I am one of the owners.

We work in the middle of everything yet it is like we are in the middle of nowhere because of the odd area we are in. The east bottoms of KCMO. In order for the LEO to get here in a timely manner he would have to be cruising by out of shear luck when the call came in. We are boxed in by 2 different rivers and bordered by the worst of the worst crime ridden areas to the north and east.

Lots of sheep and beaucoup wolves and very few sheepherders.

[oldie]

Every one of us that carries is part of a "Well regulated militia"!

As a senior, I am a target. A a CCW holder, I am not a victim.
Very happy I live in Florida!

[Krockett]

I carry because, just maybe my fiance is right !!!! And if anything was ever to happen I would never want to say___________ happened and I did nothing and some one I love died/was injured.

Krockett