This is directly attributable to the fact that in order to get a CCW permit you have to identify yourself to the police, often get photographed and fingerprinted, and go through a background check. As a rule criminals do not stand up and say “Hey, here I am!”
Couldn’t agree more.
Let’s say I’m walking down the street and I see a guy beating up his girlfriend, and that he is clearly overpowering her. Should I get involved? Should I pull my weapon, point it at him, and demand that he stop?
No. Way. I will walk in the opposite direction and call the police.
Pulling my weapon in this case would be stupid and very risky.
I don’t think it was your FAULT, but I do wonder where you were to have these things happen. Just because it sounds so foreign to my experiences.
Someone upthread talked about driving alone in rural areas late at night. Makes sense to me. Or maybe if I were - I don’t know - a building inspector or tradesman in high crime areas. Or carrying valuables or large sums of money.
But I came to the realization some time ago that I could avoid the majority of potentially dangerous situations by simply avoiding certain areas/situations - which my lifestyle allows me to do pretty easily.
I’ve given this quite a bit of thought. Studied martial arts including knives/sticks for a number of years. Only carried a blade briefly, and never had occasion to use any of my fighting training other than awareness and avoidance.
Everyone I know who carries thinks that Zimmerman’s big mistake was getting out of the car. Why initiate a confrontation when it’s not necessary, and when you know that if things go wrong a fatality could result (because you are carrying a lethal weapon)?
But that’s the point. Zimmerman no doubt thought he was doing a good thing with his neighborhood watch gig, helping to keep the neighborhood safe - and he was, right up until the moment when things went horribly, horribly wrong. And now his life is screwed, regardless of whether or not he goes to jail, because he lacked the judgment to avoid becoming involved in a situation that didn’t directly concern him.
If you’re going to carry, you need to remember to leave playing cop to the actual cops. If you can’t do that, you need to get rid of the gun before it wrecks your life. As someone said up thread, there are no winners in a gunfight, so do your damnedest NOT to get into one!
I don’t really know much about the Zimmerman thing, but based on my impressions he was absolutely wrong and yes a good example of a bad CCW holder. He seemed to seek out confrontation rather than avoid it. Zimmerman is sort of the exception that proves my point - the media would love to cover more stuff like that if it existed, but the rate of misbehavior by CCW holders is very low.
Our front door was kicked in during dinner in a very good part of town. ( Tulsa, OK. Not anything like Chicago or Detroit. )
At a stop sign while driving. ( Attempted car jacking with intention to rape my date. )
While doing survey work standing on a public street.
Situational awareness is always good but it is not a guarantee…
A couple were when I was in a rough place. One I did not know was rough before entering.
Stuff happens…
YMMV
I entered the thread to make this point, but **Sigene **has stated it very well. Even in Texas there are myriad ways to run afoul of the law when vehicles and weapons interact. As an RVer, the law still seems vague on whether the weapon is in a home or a vehicle. Ditto when I use my boat to spend the night at an island. Is the weapon legal while the boat’s moving? Should it be in the truck or the boat while trailering it somewhere? The license cuts thru the legal questions, imo.