Does CC heighten your "awareness?"

P

Prof Young

New member
So as a new CC permit holder I don't carry all the time. So far I carry when I go into the city or when I take a long country bike ride and a few other occasions. I've noted that I am almost always conscious of the fact that I am carrying and my situational awareness seems to be heightened. I think I am more vigilant in being aware of my surroundings and who is in those surroundings.

Thoughts and comments . . .

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
Yes, it certainly has for me. I carry almost 24/7 so I wouldn't say my awareness increases only when I am carrying - but in general I have become more aware of my own surroundings over the last several years, which I see as a good thing. Awareness and avoidance (if possible) of potential trouble is the best first defense one can have IMO.
 
It damn well better have a decided effect on your attitude and demeanor, avoiding a potentially lethal situation is just as important as deciding to carry in the first place.
 
Prof Young said:
So as a new CC permit holder I don't carry all the time. So far I carry when I go into the city or when I take a long country bike ride and a few other occasions. I've noted that I am almost always conscious of the fact that I am carrying and my situational awareness seems to be heightened. I think I am more vigilant in being aware of my surroundings and who is in those surroundings.

Thoughts and comments . . .

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
Click to expand...
Yea I think those are all normal feelings. But not to dictate your preferences or ideals, but why only carry part time? I see where your thought process is coming from, that you carry where the need is more probable..But just remember anything can happen anywhere and anytime. There are countless stories such as the south Carolina shooter, the Oregon campus shooter etc. All situations and areas where one would never expect something like that to happen.

Again not trying to tell you what to do, it's your right as much as anyone else when to, but it's worth thinking about. I personally carry 100% of the time unless if I'm going into a courthouse, federal building or into new jersey. I hope never to use it, but don't want to be caught with my thumb up my butt in a situation where I'd need to use it.
 
Yes, my situational awareness expanded when I got my CHL and, although I carry at all times and places it is legal - but not where/when it is not legal, the increased awareness stays with me even when the pistol is not.

Part of it has to do with leaving behind any tendency to respond to rudeness with rudeness. No road rage, no fingers, no outward notice when others act out - just leave. Cowardly? Maybe - but I haven't been in any sort of fight - or confrontation that I couldn't deescalate with conciliatory words - for 20 years. The pistol helps!
 
Prof Young said:
So as a new CC permit holder I don't carry all the time. So far I carry when I go into the city or when I take a long country bike ride and a few other occasions. I've noted that I am almost always conscious of the fact that I am carrying and my situational awareness seems to be heightened. I think I am more vigilant in being aware of my surroundings and who is in those surroundings.

Thoughts and comments . . .

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
Click to expand...
This has been my experience as well.
 
Doesn't make me more aware.

Makes me more careful and keeps me out of gun free zones.

I drive good and don't drink and stay out of bars. I don't go to the ATM at 3:00am

No confrontation either. I just mind my own business and I don't berate the burger worker over an order mistake
I carry 100% of the time.
 
Bob's comment about responding to rudeness is a good one. I'm more polite or simply less reactionary now. In my concealed carry class, we got it drilled into our heads all the horrible legal things that happen when you use your firearm. I'd say the end result that has spilled over into other things is that I'm less confrontational now.
The more interesting thing about concealed carry is that it's like wearing clothes. You don't care about clothes when you're 2 years old. After you've been indoctrinated, you feel naked without clothes. I feel more secure when I'm packing. When I'm not packing, I feel less secure today than before the days I started packing. Now I feel naked when not packing.
 
Andy Blozinski said:
Bob's comment about responding to rudeness is a good one. I'm more polite or simply less reactionary now. In my concealed carry class, we got it drilled into our heads all the horrible legal things that happen when you use your firearm. I'd say the end result that has spilled over into other things is that I'm less confrontational now.
The more interesting thing about concealed carry is that it's like wearing clothes. You don't care about clothes when you're 2 years old. After you've been indoctrinated, you feel naked without clothes. I feel more secure when I'm packing. When I'm not packing, I feel less secure today than before the days I started packing. Now I feel naked when not packing.
Click to expand...
Tangent: The funny thing about clothing is we, as a species, cloth ourselfs so as to be more sexualy selective, which in turn is a result of our intelligence.
 
Carring a concealed weapon does nothing to heighten my awareness. For me it comes down to trust and I don't trust anybody I don't know. I scan the parking lot as I walk to my car. I look for things and people that just don't look right and avoid them and the area they are in if possible.
 
I would say the carrying a gun heightens my awareness of how -I- act, where -I- go and the things that I choose to do.

I would also say that my awareness of surroundings, people and the possibility of "stuff" going down is definitely heightened by the time I have spent in gun forums reading posts... and by chasing down news stories far more than I did in the past.
 
that I am almost always conscious of the fact that I am carrying and my situational awareness seems to be heightened. I think I am more vigilant in being aware of my surroundings and who is in those surroundings.
Click to expand...

I'll bet you are more conscious of possibly exposing or having folks figure out you are carrying.
 
One of the things most professional shooting trainers will teach endlessly is that we do things a certain way and practice them always so that we can do it effectively and naturally when it is time to do them -- muscle memory and force of habit make some actions nearly automatic when you practice them constantly.

Choosing to carry a handgun only "some of the time" goes very much against that style of training or conditioning.

It's one thing if your daily life/work places you in situations where carry is absolutely prohibited or not possible, but I would suggest that you are FAR better off if you otherwise carry all the time you possibly can.

Reaching for a handgun you don't have on you is a situation I never wish to experience. Furthermore... specifically choosing when to carry is really just some manner of assigning "possible" threat levels to the activity. I would submit: that is flawed thinking in a couple of ways because predicting the place, time and manner of a possible threat is a fool's game AND if you somehow had that ability, the answer is certainly not to go armed, it is to not go at all.
 
CC heightens your awareness like the Vornado gets you better gas mileage. Does driving a car heighten your awareness? You may change your behavior when you do it/use it, but it does actually produce any change itself.

Prof Young doesn't sound like his awareness is being raised so much as being selfconscious about carrying as a newbie, sort of like when you carry a lot of cash around. The funny thing about doing it when armed is that you should be doing it all that much more when unarmed.
 
I believe I was actually made more effort to be aware of my surroundings before Wisconsin made CWC legal. That does not mean I am casual about what's going on around me now, but have reduced the circle a tad and subconsciously make less effort to always have an escape. Used to be, I never sat with my back to the door, now occasionally I will.:D I think many folks new to CWC feel a increased awareness because they feel everyone is looking at them and knows their carrying. Then there are some that get the "mall ninja" effect when strapping on a weapon.

Awareness is a good thing, regardless if you are carrying or not. I've found that by noticing those folk at a distance that tend to be rude and avoiding them, makes for a much easier time.
 
All good responses guys. :)

I'm 65 and recently got my CHL because the world had become a rough place. I've been aware long before the gun and I'm just an easy to get along guy. Now that I'm a senior and disabled I feel vulnerable that I started packing.

Situation avoidance is the best thing to do and I've done it for years. Sometimes it'll comes to you and had better be prepared for it.
 
Which came first the chicken or the egg?

I don't know that carrying a gun made me more situationally aware but it did make me aware that there was a lot I didn't know.

So, I started doing research and my research took me to places like THR and a few other forums and I started to read about things like situational awareness and threat recognition and things like getting training and learning how to cultivate situational awareness. That made me more situationally aware.

I actually find myself more aware of what's going on around me when I'm not armed because I tend to feel naked.

On a side note I read an article by (I think) Massad Ayoob several years ago in which he wrote that if you're going to carry a gun you're better off to carry any time you are legally able to do so.

One of the reasons he gave was if you are ever in a shooting incident they will ask you at some point why you were carrying a gun in the first place. When they do it's better to be able to say "I typically carry a gun, today was no different." Than "For whatever reason I thought I might need one today where I wouldn't normally."
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top