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Conceal and Carry Question
01-21-2011, 05:18 PM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 9,343
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Conceal and Carry Question
Ok... Finally acted on a thought that I have wanted to for several years. I bought me a 9MM for home protection and to shoot at ranges. First 20 years of my life, I was around, shot, and hunted with shotguns and rifles. Last 25 years, nothing so I am taking a handgun safety and shooting class before the bad boy comes out of the box. My state has a conceal and carry law. My question is there any value to having this? I live in a small town and it is pretty safe. Dont feel the need here, but I go to St. Louis frequently to eat out, go downtown, and attend various sporting events. My question is even if I feel trained enough to carry, there are so many places you cant take them. If I leave it in the car, I probably run a greater risk of it being stolen (my car has been broke into twice this past year while being downtown)than I do of needing it. What is my value or benefits in having it? Anyone have any experiences or thoughts with it? I know I could have posted this on a handgun forum (learned a lot from them) but am not a member of any and they seem they would be a little more one sided in their opinions. Thanks!
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01-21-2011, 06:31 PM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 10,252
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I've been all over the world and never felt the need to carry a handgun.
My wife was robbed at gunpoint once, but I don't think having a concealed handgun would have made a difference. BTW, the police easily caught the perps.
Basically, I think if you have nothing of value, you will not be a target.
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01-21-2011, 06:45 PM
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#3
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 14,404
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It sounds like you don't have a desire to be armed (don't see a real need, etc). If you feel that way now, your opinion won't likely change after your training. Carrying a concealed weapon takes some doing--you have to dress right, get a holster you are comfortable with and which can be concealed, etc. I sure wouldn't go down that road just because you now happen to own a handgun. Anyway, if you get "serious" about concealed carry, you might find that a full-size 9mm is not a convenient weapon to carry on a daily basis--they are considerably more trouble to conceal, particularly as the weather gets warmer, than one of the new light .38 revolvers or .380 semi-automatics.
I'd give this some thought as you go about your daily business. Think about the advantages/disadvantages/responsibilities that concealed carry would mean as you go about your daily activities. The courses aren't expensive, so if the idea appeals to you after a month or so, maybe take one.
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01-21-2011, 06:53 PM
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#4
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Independence
Posts: 7,298
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I have the permit but don't carry. Choosing to put somebody down opens a whole new set of problems. Now in my house if a situation requires shooting someone I'll have regrets but it should be pretty clear cut as to whether it was justified. Of course in my house I don't need the permit.
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01-21-2011, 06:57 PM
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#5
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 23,041
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In addition to the inconveniences mentioned by Samclem, I wonder if being armed would make me more likely to take imprudent risks that I would not normally take.
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Living an analog life in the Digital Age.
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01-21-2011, 07:00 PM
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#6
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 18,085
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Seems like a lot of trouble and risk. How about a can of pepper spray or a taser? Generally far fewer legal issues and a lot less risk when you are out and about. Or failing that, maybe a few weeks of krav maga classes?
If you have an intruder in your home, it would be a different story. Although I suspect a handgun would not be the best choice then.
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"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
- George Orwell
Ezekiel 23:20
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01-21-2011, 07:05 PM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,105
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I have the permit but don't carry.
Most important aspect of safety is situational awareness. Simple things like don't letting your gas tank go to less than 1/4 tank so you can choose where you fill up. Moving your head around and looking aware of your surroundings.
I have a Glock 26 that is a great gun but is a commitment to carry. Take a look at the Ruger LCP if you want to carry.
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Sometimes death is not as tragic as not knowing how to live. This man knew how to live--and how to make others glad they were living. - Jack Benny at Nat King Cole's funeral
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01-21-2011, 07:09 PM
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#8
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Waimanalo, HI
Posts: 1,881
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LOL!
Basically, I think if you have nothing of value, you will not be a target.
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A previously unremarked benefit of LBYM.
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Greg (retired in 2010 at age 68, state pension)
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01-21-2011, 07:56 PM
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#9
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: minnesota
Posts: 13,228
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I would never carry in an urban area for many reasons. Risk of accidents. Risk of making a horrible mistake. Risk of the gun being used against me. I don't want to walk around feeling like an armed person; I'd feel like I was a part of the culture of violence. It is not my nature. I'd rather try to avoid unsafe situations to the extent reasonable.
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No more lawyer stuff, no more political stuff, so no more CYA
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01-21-2011, 08:17 PM
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#10
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: LaLa Land
Posts: 4,698
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In most cases having or carrying a gun will just get you into trouble. You can kill someone or someone can take the gun from you and kill you, a loved one or a bystander. IMHO no one needs a gun except the police or the military. This is not the 17 or 1800's where there was no Police or 911, it's not the wild west. I know that people think it's a right but this is a different time. Harsher laws for possession of guns should be passed IMO.
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01-21-2011, 09:09 PM
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#11
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,105
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Incidents of gun violence and self-defense have routinely ignited bitter debate. 12,632 murders were committed using firearms and 613 persons were killed unintentionally in 2007 [56]. Surveys have suggested that guns are used in crime deterrence or prevention around 2.5 million times a year in the United States. [57][58][59][60] The American Journal of Public Health conducted a study that concluded "the United States has higher rates of firearm ownership than do other developed nations, and higher rates of homicide. Of the 233,251 people who were homicide victims in the United States between 1988 and 1997, 68% were killed with guns, of which the large majority were handguns." [61] The ATF estimated in 1995 that the number of firearms available in the US was 223 million.
Gun politics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In an extensive series of studies of large, nationally representative samples of crime incidents, criminologist Gary Kleck found that crime victims who defend themselves with guns are less likely to be injured or lose property than victims who either did not resist, or resisted without guns. This was so, even though the victims using guns typically faced more dangerous circumstances than other victims. The findings applied to both robberies and assaults. [90] Other research on rape indicated that although victims rarely resisted with guns, those using other weapons were less likely to be raped, and no more likely to suffer other injuries besides rape itself, than victims who did not resist, or resisted without weapons. [91] There is no evidence that victim use of a gun for self-protection provokes offenders into attacking the defending victim or results in the offender taking the gun away and using it against the victim. [92]
Kleck has also shown, in his own national survey, and in other surveys with smaller sample sizes, that the numbers of defensive uses of guns by crime victims each year are probably substantially larger than the largest estimates of the number of crimes committed of offenders using guns. [93] Thus, defensive gun use by victims is both effective and, relative to criminal uses, frequent. In a largely approving review of Kleck's book Point Blank (1991) in the journal Political Psychology, Joseph F. Sheley argues that Kleck sidesteps the larger political problem of the role of gun culture in contributing to the spread and effect of violence in the United States. [94
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Sometimes death is not as tragic as not knowing how to live. This man knew how to live--and how to make others glad they were living. - Jack Benny at Nat King Cole's funeral
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01-21-2011, 09:09 PM
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#12
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gone traveling
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 3,864
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Don't ask, don't tell.
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01-21-2011, 09:10 PM
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#13
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Anchorage
Posts: 731
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Many people have guns in this state, including myself. I use them for wilderness only, for scaring away bears. A gun is a nuisance to keep clean and oiled. Most shootings here where people get hurt are accidental, and many are children. Some are off-duty military, so training alone does not cut it. If you keep the gun locked away and safe, which you should, then it's no use if you have a break-in in the middle of the night.
When I lived in the roadless wilderness, once a man did come up my trail and kind of threaten me with his shotgun (waved it in my direction). I could tell he was unstable. I had a revolver on my hip, but there was no way I would have tried to use it on him (I found the thought repulsive, and I would have likely missed anyway).
Life is not a John Wayne movie.
Take a self defense course, get your body in shape, and carry a cell phone. If you're really worried, I second the emotion of carrying a Taser and/or mace and/or pepper spray.
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01-21-2011, 11:03 PM
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#14
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lawn chair in Texas
Posts: 14,183
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Having never shot at anyone, I speak from no experience. But I think the actual act of shooting someone, or engaging in a gun battle, is entirely different from water cooler talk about "the right to bear arms".
The recent shooting in Tucson is a good example. Lots of scuttlebutt about "if the people were armed, someone could have stopped the shooter". Possibly. Or, someone could have returned fire and killed another innocent bystander, or could have become the shooter's next target themselves, or could have been shot by a LEO...
Nonetheless, I operate under the illusion that I could shoot an intruder in my home. And I might or might not be packing.
Do you feel lucky?
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Have Funds, Will Retire
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01-21-2011, 11:24 PM
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#15
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,391
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HFWR
The recent shooting in Tucson is a good example. Lots of scuttlebutt about "if the people were armed, someone could have stopped the shooter". Possibly.
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Maybe you are on to something here:
I suspect if everyone attending political rallies were armed then the discourse would be much more civil.
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01-22-2011, 01:48 AM
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#16
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Dryer sheet wannabe
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Redding, Ca
Posts: 15
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dex suggested a Ruger LCP if someone needs to (and is legally allowed to) carry. As retired law enforcement I carry the LCP .380 with a six round clip, and it is small enough to comfortably conceal without any problem. If I should need more than the six rounds the LCP clip holds, I'm gonna hightail it out of that situation in a hurry anyway...
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01-22-2011, 03:38 AM
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#17
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,032
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 73ss454
This is not the 17 or 1800's where there was no Police or 911.
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I'm not here to start a gun argument, but I do always find this argument interesting. If somebody is intent on doing you harm, chances are pretty good that calling 911 isn't going to help you. As my sister the cop tells me "if somebody wants to kill you, chances are we will get there in time to draw the chalk lines"
As far as the shoot in Tucson, most people that I know who carry don't do it to protect the general public. They don't carry to replace the police, or carry out vigilante justice, just to protect themselves and their family. For them the gun is a last resort when the first choice is getting the hell away.
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01-22-2011, 04:06 AM
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#18
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Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,346
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I'm retired from law enforcement and haven't even bothered to qualify to carry under the LEOSA. I just don't see the need. Every city has places that it is better not to be at certain times. I just don't go to those places at those times.
A handgun is simply a defensive tool I carried at the time, and that I carry to and from work now (armed security) but I have no desire to lug the thing around when I'm off.
The plain fact is, when someone is pointing a gun or knife at you (at close range) the time is long past to be fumbling with jackets, holsters and all that. This was demonstrated repeatedly in training.
So to me at least, the value of carrying it is negligible.
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When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
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01-22-2011, 04:14 AM
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#19
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: midwestern city
Posts: 4,061
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Same for me. I have never owned a gun and never will.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Walt34
So to me at least, the value of carrying it is negligible.
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Very conservative with investments. Not ER'd yet, 48 years old. Please do not take anything I write or imply as legal, financial or medical advice directed to you. Contact your own financial advisor, healthcare provider, or attorney for financial, medical and legal advice.
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01-22-2011, 04:14 AM
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#20
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 812
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I have a permit but don't bother to carry. I like having the permit because it allows me to transport the gun in a "concealed" location in my car (under the seat) when I go to the range or otherwise travel.
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