When I am not at work I almost always carry a gun. My reasons are the following:
The police can not be counted on to be everywhere and they are NOT in the crime prevention business. The police investigate and try to solve crime AFTER it happens.
I have a bum knee so I don’t move very well and I can’t run (essentially I am unable to fend for myself in a “fight or flight” situation).
I would much rather have a gun and not need it than need it and not have it.
I used to be one of the “don’t put yourself in bad situations” kind of folks until I learned first hand that you just don’t get to schedule “bad situations” and it really doesn’t matter where you are, bad stuff happens anytime and anywhere.
I understand that carrying a gun is a touchy subject for some, I have a buddy who owns a small business and refuses to arm himself, the fact that he refuses to defend what he works hard for is as foriegn to me as the thought of arming himself is to him.
On my person, no. I do have a loaded revolver in the house though, but I no longer habitually have a loaded gun on me or in my vehicle. I have carried a gun before though, and I have felt the need in the past to be armed (before carrying a gun). I actually found carrying a gun to be too much of a PIA (went from a fullsize Glock 17 all the way down to a small framed alloy Smith and Wesson revolver). I usually use situational awareness and similar tactics like locking doors and windows and parking close to a store entrance during the night time.
I have several guns, mostly recreational or just because I like to collect them. However, I do keep one, a pump shotgun, loaded at all times(except when I’m cleaning it) and in a secure location. I hope I never have to use it, but if I do, it’s there and ready to use at a moments notice. Just like the fire extisgusher.
But in someone has broken into my house, it’s a bad situation and has the distinct possibility of getting worse. In which case, I want to have some way of counteracting it.
No, and frankly I am exactly the guy who would have some hood snatch my gun out of my hand and shoot me with it.
Having said that, I am sincerely grateful to those people who are competent enough to carry firearms. Whatever deterrent effect they have works to my advantage as well as theirs.
It’s no longer an option for me, but when I lived in the States I had no interest in owning a gun for protection, no matter where I lived - I didn’t feel it necessary. When threatened, I always found alternate ways to protect myself and those around me, whether peacefully or violently. A gun is a tool, and usually not a very good one at that.
Nope. Never have-- even after I got jumped by a couple of teens one night when I was coming home from work late one night.
Why? Because it took everything I had once I had those kids on the ground not to kick in their ribs and curb stomp their necks.
If I had actually been walking around with a gun (assuming I knew how to use one, own one, or had ever actually seen one that was not in a police officer’s holster), I might have stopped after I got jumped to pull it out-- which would have been stupid, since I was already in a hand-to-hand situation-- and had it used on me. Or I’d have killed a 13-year-old meth-head. Neither seems like a very good end result.
FWIW, I was jumped on a university campus in the middle of a higher-end neighbourhood.
My pet peeve on internet message boards is unsolicited advice, especially when the person has in all likelyhood already considered the advice. So I apologize in advance for breaking my own golden rule.
About 6 months ago, there was a man at home with his daughter. She came to him and said there was a stranger at the door. When the father answered the door, he was sprayed in the face with pepper spray. They faught and the father made it back to his bedroom where he retrieved his handgun, a semi-automatic of some sort, shot the intruder and the gun jammed. The father had left the magazine fully loaded and the spring was fatigued to the point it would not load the next round. He was “lucky” that the one shot was enough.
Moral of the story, keeping spring loaded firearms loaded all the time is a Bad Thing. Springs should be changed once a month in handguns, and probably a similar time frame in shotguns to assure that they will work as advertised.
HPL is probably well aware of this, just wanted to raise the point.
Took the time to find the story, although they don’t go into the detail I did:
Do you guys realise just how weird this sounds to a Brit?
BTW I have a “gun”. A .177 target air-pistol (even that might be illegal here) which is not capable of inflicting anything more than annoyance to anything bigger than a squirrel*****. It does look mean though, which might persude your causual burglar to leave my property if I pointed it in his direction.
You know what? I’m going to start taking my own advice and keep my mouth shut. Apparently, after looking around, I can’t find a single person on the internets who agrees with what I said. I was going by what my CWP instructor told us. As a matter of fact, I can find lots of people who say that repeated use of a spring will lead to it’s failure much quicker than keeping one fully loaded, which apparently has no ill effect.
That’s a mighty cheap magazine spring there. My grand-dad kept his service .45 automatic loaded for something like 50 years, and the magazine still functions fine.
As for me and the OP… I don’t really feel any pressing need to get my CHL (concealed handgun license) or carry a gun. I do however, own 38 special and 9mm pistols, 2 large-bore rifles (8mm mauser and mosin nagant), a 12 gauge and a 20 gauge shotgun, a 22 rifle, and a 22 pistol.
I inherited the 38 and the shotguns, and I got the rifles because I’m a bit of a history buff and enjoy shooting old military weapons- I’m going to save up for a M1 Garand at some point, and maybe even an Enfield later on.
Basically I have little fear of getting robbed/shot/etc… but I do enjoy going to the range with my father, brother and friends and shooting holes in paper.
I personally do not possess a concealed carry permit, though I intend to shortly. Unfortunately, none of my current handguns (a Para P13-45 and a Beretta 92d) are small enough for a male of my size to carry comfortably. Once I have the money to purchase a small frame revolver or a smaller auto that I feel is suitable (that is, something reliable in a caliber no smaller than 9x19 – I’m really hoping for a Sig P229), I will obtain a permit and carry as often as possible.
That said, I consider carrying a firearm at all times a healthy precaution to take not only for safety but in order to preserve the right to do so. It is unfortunate that firearms are becoming an anarchronism in this society, and people are becoming increasingly frightened at the sight of an individual carrying a loaded weapon (I know, as I have occassionally carried my Para Ordnance openly).
I also always have my Mossberg 500 loaded next to my bed.
Crafter_Man, I am curious as to why you keep you FAL loaded as a defensive weapon. I can understand that such a weapon is an appropriate tool for self-defense in the case of a riot or anarchy, but as the owner of a firearm with similar capabilities (PTR-91, a G3 clone) I would never, ever use mine inside my home. Hell, I wouldn’t even use one of my AKs inside.
For the record, I am not disputing your right to use your FAL for defense, only asking why you prefer it to something that won’t punch through four or five walls.
Why is it a ‘healthy precaution’? Do you feel that your life is in danger?
As I said, this is not a debate thread; so I don’t want to get into ‘should we be allowed’ questions. There are plenty of other threads for that. But as I said, I’ve lived in places that were, while not particularly ‘dangerous’, at least not as ‘safe’ as many other places, and have not felt the need to have a firearm ready to use for defence. And I’ve been in places where people are often told to avoid (e.g., downtown L.A. in the wee hours, South Central L.A., Inglewood, San Pedro waterfront), yet I’ve never felt the need to carry personal protection.
So avoiding the contentious issue of whether people should be allowed to carry firearms or to even have them in their houses, and ignoring freedom of choice issues as well, do you feel that the risks you encounter every day warrant a firearm for self-defense?
I really, really suck with firearms. So, no, I don’t feel the need for one.
For home defense, I feel I would be better served with any of the following:
Short sword
Pepper spray
Stun baton
For legal reasons, the stun baton or the pepper spray would be better choices, although I would imagine I could get results quicker with a short sword.
If someone is actually in my house, they’re within 21 feet, and according to established law enforcement opinions, blade trumps gun under 21 feet. <1>
I actually keep no weapon-only tools in my house, although I used to keep a pipe wrench under the bed when I lived in a less savory neighborhood.
I actually have two guns in the bedroom: an FAL and a Mossberg 500 shotgun. The gun I grab will depend on the situation. If I sense it’s a lone burglar breaking into our house I’ll grab the Mossberg. If JBT’s are breaking down our door I’ll grab the FAL. If I haven’t a clue I’ll grab the FAL (more firepower).
I should also mention that we live in a very rural area, and I can’t even see the nearest neighbor’s home.
I have a CCW and very rarely carry. When I moved in with my SO, I decided to keep my pistol unloaded and up out of reach of the two grandchildren who live with us. So, it’s pretty much useless for a defensive situation, I’d have to get it down, locate the ammo, load it, then… Most situations you need a pistol you don’t get that sort of time to produce it.
Fortunately, the Bedroom is full of sharp objects designed for swinging through miscreants, so I don’t lose much sleep over having mothballed that particular defensive tool for safety’s sake.
I almost didn’t renew my CCW, but then did. 8 hrs classroom time, a requalification shoot, the paperwork, and about $130. $50 to the state, $80 for the renewal class. Arizona is hardest on it’s CCW holders.
