Cond. 1 Vs. Cond. 3
I gotta ask...did any of those agencies...or the US Marine Corps for that matter, teach you to carry in anything other than condition 1 while on patrol?
Anyway, if you feel safer carrying in Condition 3...have at it. If magazine loaded to 75% makes you feel better, knock yourself out. If you think you can blade with a tango drawing on you, more power to you. If you are confident that multiple tangos in the dark...while you are moving...is no problem, right on.
I know that for me, it's C&L and 7+1 for my carry 1911.
Going on patrol with the Marines is not the same as walking your dog.
Of course, going on patrol, your weapon is locked and loaded- but you are EXPECTING to engage. You are LOOKING for the enemy, actively searching for them, or expecting to counter an ambush, etc. You are talking to other assets that might have spotted the targets you are TRYING to engage. Walking down the streets of America, there's little comparison. Hell, I remember stumbling drunk through the meanest streets of Washington D.C. near "8th and I" when I was stationed there, in little more than a t-shirt and a bottle of Jack Daniels in me- at 4:30 a.m., just trying to get back in time for morning P.T. Big difference between even our meanest streets and Fallujah.
I'm sorry, but I just don't have that much adrenaline, and intensity when I'm walking my dog in Lake Mary, FL.
You guys each have your own areas of expertise, and I truly do respect that as I mentioned earlier, but a few of you make me nervous, like you'd be more comfortable in the Old West, where anything more than a mouse fart will get you drawing on a tango down Main Street. Realistically, I'm going to anticipate a level of escalation in most confrontations.
The way I see it, there's only 2 ways a gunfight is going to go down on the streets:
a.) Less than lethal threat graduates to lethal threat with some level of warning.
>>>During such an escalation, I will have the ability to draw down, chamber a round, etc.
b.) Total surprise situation with a baseball bat to the head, or a thug with a pistol pops out from behind the bushes, aiming his weapon at me. He's got his muzzle to my face before I know what happens-
>>>In such a case, having a round in the chamber isn't going to help me one bit. Knowing that I have a round in the chamber might even sway my decision to draw when perhaps I really shouldn't. Those of you that think you're quick enough to draw when someone has a muzzle in your face, good luck with that. I'm a super-quick summammabich, but I'm not going for it unless the sun, the moon and the planets align, and the Spirit of the Lord gives me a gentle nudge to go for it.
Creature, I think you might be running my comments all together, and out of order, and they kinda' lose their context if you do that. I'm not talking about moving, blading, palm-heeling, ninja-rolling, and taking down multiples at night. I'm talking about the way it goes down in the street. Mugger comes walking with his buddy towards you at 3 a.m., asking "what- up- man", or "what time you got". My hand goes to my piece- but I don't draw down. My comments are something like "you got 3 seconds to get the **** outta here".
REAL LIFE SITUATION:
My father (58 years old, former Ranger) was driving through downtown Miami a few years ago in a rental vehicle. As is a common tactic, a car full of scum-bags rear-ended my father's car at low speed, while he was momentarily stopped at a stop sign. He saw the 3 or 4 guys moving around inside, and knew he'd likely be a victim. In a split second, he jumped out of the car, shoved his hand inside his jacket (LIKE HE WAS GOING FOR HIS WEAPON) and raised his free hand out, palm up, Al Pacino style. "What's up?" he was yelling to the guys. They spun their 20-inch rims, and drove off, cursing my dad, but not ready for a gunfight. He bluffed his way out, got back in his car, and left.
Not only did he NOT have a round in the chamber, he didn't have a piece, period. My point is that the credible threat of force is just as effective as force in most cases. While I'm certain he was lucky this time, its also important to note that this happened during a period of time in FL (recent) history where a number of Canadians, Europeans, and northerners were bumped like this, carjacked and subsequently KILLED in an identical set-up.
Carrying concealed is not the same as Marines on patrol, or a State Trooper flagging someone on I-95 with shifty characters behind the wheel. Unless you guys are walking the strip through bar-country with your pieces at 3:30 a.m. Then, yeah, I might chamber a round.
Just walking down by the beach in the afternoon, or whatnot, there's no way I need a round in the chamber in Wal Mart.
And I hope I never accidentally step on any of you guys' toes in Denny's at midnight. The way some of you guys talk, you've got trigger-pulls lighter than the 6-oz. sirloin.