I sort of hijacked this thread a bit (although it didn’t seem to be going anywhere). But it got me thinking: how many people here have been in situations where they thought: “shit, I wish I had a gun”, or thought in retrospect that a weapon might have improved the outcome?
I’ve been all over the world, walked in some very iffy neighborhoods by accident and on purpose, but I can honestly say that in 64 years I’ve never been in a situation where I wished that I had a firearm (other than when in a war zone). I routinely carry a pocket knife for mundane tasks, and used to carry one for work as an electrician. There was only one time when I got myself into a rather precarious situation where I thought I might need the knife for protection, and actually had it out and open.
Additionally, I’ve never seen anybody pull a concealed weapon to defuse a dangerous situation. I did see somebody pull a pistol out of his boot in Guatemala City, but he was drunk and waving it around. It scared me, but if I had pulled out my own weapon (or if anybody else in the bar had), it would have deteriorated very quickly.
Good God No! If I had a weapon, and was stupid enough to pull it out in a “difficult” situation I see only the following outcomes:
I kill someone. I would be a basket case thereafter.
I get killed because I escalated the confrontation by pulling out said weapon.
There is no reason for me to carry. There is no good reason I should carry.
That said, if someone was hurting my family I would not need a weapon. Besides, a gun won’t pull their innards out through their eyes like I would.
Actually, when some guy was throwing lit cigarettes on car tops in traffic, including mine, and I confronted him, he came at me with a knife and a gun would have been kinda handy then. Other than that, yeah, it’s possible it only would escalate the situation.
we attended a concert in the city and got a little lost getting back to the metro…it was so scary bc we were in a notoriously bad part of the city in the middle of the night. my husband normally has his conceal carry in a low profile holster but since we were at a stadium for the concert, he couldn’t take it that night.
thankfully nothing happened to us, but I would have felt a lot better if he would have had his weapon on him.
Being in a sketchy neighborhood at night and wishing I had my gun with me would imply that I left the gun at home. Why would I want to disappoint my mother like that?
I stupidly followed my friend into a really bad situation with her roid-ragey boyfriend. He was frothy mad and threatened to kill us both. I gave serious thought to stabbing him but concluded that he was much too big and angry for that to end well.
If I had been armed I would have emptied the gun into him.
However, had I been carrying, I never would have been in that situation. I find the old “an armed society is a polite society” is very true. I am never more polite and keen to avoid conflict than when I’m armed. I would kill to protect myself or others but I really don’t want to.
It’s selfish of me, but considering that roid-boy didn’t kill us, I’ve always been grateful that I wasn’t armed that night.
In an “outdoor living” context I’ve wished for a gun countless times over everything from danger to the desire for a snack.
I’m not sure I understand: nobody threatened you and nothing happened? Doesn’t seem to warrant wishing for a weapon. Or perhaps I was too vague about defining “situations”.
at the time, i didn’t know what was going to happen. i was afraid and therefore wishing for the comfort that a conceal carry brings.
if you’re talking about situations where you’re in a confrontation and wish you had a weapon then no, my situation wouldn’t be what you’re looking for.
i’m sorry you feel being in a ghetto neighborhood and feeling afraid doesn’t warrant wishing for a weapon.
Someone once attempted a carjacking against my grandpa decades ago. He calmly reached for his gun he always kept near his side, and pointed it at the fellow from his hip, and told him that he’d be holding on to his truck that day. The guy freaked out and left. I have no idea if the story is true, and my grandpa has a raging hard-on for the NRA, but the way he was reluctant to tell the story, and I only learned about it from another family member, I don’t doubt it. A gun kept my grandpa from losing his truck that day.
No. Never. And I live not too far from Chimera’s north Minneapolis neighborhood. (He mentioned that in the other thread.)
I’m like you, **Chefguy **- I’m honestly a little bit baffled by people that feel safer when they’re armed. I’m just not that afraid of my fellow man and my neighborhood, I guess. I fall inline with those who think that pulling a gun will just escalate a situation instead of defusing it, apparently.
I’m not sure why you would feel sorry that I’m not afraid of something that hasn’t happened or that might happen. Or was that just you sulking? I’ve walked in Harlem and I used to live near and walk in SE Washington, DC, arguably two fairly dangerous places. I lived overseas for many years and walked around dubious areas of major cities in both Europe and Africa, mostly unintentionally. We often walk in NE Portland, which is considered a high-crime area here. I don’t go looking for trouble, but I have a high sense of security and safety and avoid obviously iffy streets and situations. While I’ve been uncomfortable in some places, I’ve never been frightened to the point where I wanted a weapon available. I think it’s sad that you feel afraid for little reason.
Snickers: I’m not at all baffled by people wanting to carry a gun, and I have zero problems with concealed carry, even if I don’t subscribe to it.
Nope, like the OP I have been all over the world, including some actual war zones and I never once thought that if I had a gun, it would make things better. One time in Iraq, I was stuck in traffic with a guy outside my car, armed with an AK-47, screaming at me in Arabic. If I had gone for a gun, I would be just a grease stain on the side of the road in downtown Hillah.
I’ve had exactly one situation where I wish I had a concealed weapon and did not. I’ve had a few situations where I needed one and I had one and it definitely was definitely for the better that I had a weapon as I was able to resolve quickly escalating situations that otherwise would have resulted in people getting hurt or killed. In those cases, they were ones where someone had brandished a weapon and threatened to use it or had actually initiated violence and in so having my own weapon was able to straight up avoid a confrontation in cases like the former and end the confrontation more quickly and safely for me in the latter.
Obviously, it’s not going to do any good in a situation where someone is just generally carrying a weapon because you’re in a war zone or is wantonly brandishing it out of inebriation. In those cases, it will probably just provoke an attack from someone who is just trying to fear or attention. It will, however, be effective if they specifically target you, or someone you would defend, as the aggression is already initiated and you can either potentially scare them off or pre-emptively protect yourself.
But in the two specific cases I can remember, one was where a group of people jumped my friends and me, and another was where someone came to my home with a gun and death threats against my family (FTR, neither of these situations were my doing). Those aren’t situations where passivity will result in a favorable outcome. Had I been unarmed in the former, likely my friends would have been hurt a lot more than a mild concussion and a couple slashes between them, and in the latter… who knows.
As for the one case where I’d wished I had one but didn’t, I was on vacation in Puerto Rico and a guy ran a stop sign almost hitting me in the process. Naturally, I honked at him, as I’ve done a thousand times before and since with no incident. However, this time, he immediately slammed on his breaks, almost making me rear-end him. He popped his trunk and got out a bat and aggressively came toward my window. He was just posturing, and after a little cursing and a few swings coming close to the car, he turned around and got back in his car. In that position, for at least a couple seconds I wasn’t sure what his intentions were, I’d have felt a lot more comfortable knowing I could have defended myself had he decided to initiate any violence. As it was, had he decided to start swinging the bat wantonly, there was nothing I could do. It also scared the hell out of my then fiancée and I’d have liked to have made her feel safer too and, well, I didn’t hear the end of it for a while.