friend gives me crap for carrying all the time...

E

Erikbal

New member
I live in a small city with a population of around 14,000. For such a small city it still has its share of crime and we are only 70 miles south of Buffalo and get a lot of thugs that come down here from there. My friend, who also has a pistol permit and owns a glock 19 and a 22, has never carried the entire ten years I've known him. I got my permit last Sept and got my pistol Jan 9th and have been carrying on a regular basis since then, hence a big reason why I bought a small compact 380 as my first pistol. He gives me crap and says it's ridiculous to carry in this small city and uncalled for and that basically I am being over paranoid and there's no point to carry unless I go somewhere where it's called for. I've already told him the whole "I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it" and he basically just kind of shakes his head and laughs. Any of you guys ever deal with this grief or anything? Do you have any friends that ever do this to you? Quite honestly the chances of me ever needing my gun are slim, which I am happy about, but I am not HURTING OR BOTHERING anything or anyone by carrying it when nobody even knows, ya know what I mean?
 
People that matter don't judge and people who judge don't matter, as an old mentor of mine used to say.

Why are you placing such importance on this guy's opinion of you? Follow your heart and ignore him.
 
I would do as I wanted and not let him get to me. The day may come when you bail his hind end out......Never know. Some folks will never understand why you want to be prepared.
 
This is a friend? I might look into getting new friends.

One of my Sister-in-law's gave me grief about it several years ago, said I was paranoid and the odds of me needing it were very small. I asked her if she wore her seat belt every time she drove or just on the days she planned on being in an accident because the odds of her needing it were very small. That flustered her and some of her other siblings goofed on her when she tried to stammer a retort, so she just stomped off. She and I get along by just not talking to each other now.
 
I asked her if she wore her seat belt every time she drove or just on the days she planned on being in an accident because the odds of her needing it were very small.
Click to expand...



Perfect!!! Hahahahahaa :D
 
You choose to carry, your friend does not, to each his own. Ignore your friend or take his advice and stop carrying. To me, the answer is pretty clear.
 
Yes, all the time, especially co-workers, which considering I've spent 10 years working the prison system is especially disconcerting. I learned to simply tune them out.
One time on the way home, while dropping off an officer in a dark lonely parking lot, we saw a van that had followed us for short while drive up nearby in this vast, deserted parking lot. I watched the vehicle while the officer got to her car and left, then pulled out with the van as the other vehicle made a U-turn and sped away. One co-worker said shakily, "Guess you might get to use your gun, eh?"
I said, "Hope not, paperwork is a pain."
And the next day they STILL gave me grief.
There are those who will make fun of you for not behaving the same way as everyone else. Ignore them.
 
My wife (we both are carry permitted) ribbed me about.

"Why do you want to take that thing to a family event anyway? You're not going to need it there."

Well, (I replied) because they are the people I most want to be prepared to protect...
 
Ask him if he has insurance on his car, or life insurance. Packing a gun is the same thing, only you are supplying your OWN insurance. You might also mention that if he feels uncomfortable with a handgun, he should not mock people who are self reliant, and capable with a handgun. I always tell people I am there to protect them, and there is no need to thank me. That usually shuts them up. :D
 
It doesn't really bother me that much and he's my best friend and all. He's not mean about it just thinks it's silly. Then we've got another friend who has over 30 guns and always has at least one pistol on him. It wasn't too bad to get it, I had to pay 5 bucks for the application, call the Sheriffs office and make an appointment and go up there and get my picture taken and finger printed and all and pay 120 bucks then just wait if you get it good if you don't you're out 120 bucks. They said it's normally a 3 month wait but they were backed up, I got mine in about 3 1/2 months. If they have any questions or anything they'll call you and have you do an interview with the under sheriff. I have a perfectly clean record so had no problems. The bigger pain in the ass is when I purchase a pistol the store has to do a background check, then I've gotta drive a half hour to the county sherrifs office and pay them 3 bucks and have them put the pistol on my permit then go back to the gun shop and they'll release the gun to me. The permits are a joke too they're printed on like special paper and when you get a pistol put on it they use a typewriter and type it onto the permit. I'm going to get my PA permit soon too cuz I live 10 mins from the border and it covers other states, that one you walk in and walk out with it and it's under 30 bucks. The one nice thing about NY is it's good for life you never have to renew it, which is how it should be since it's so expensive! Oh and I forgot on the application you have to have 4 character references sign for you, all of mine had permits as well which isn't necessary but can't hurt.
 
Turn it around on him-

Why do you care that I'm carrying?

Are you planning on doing something bad to me and want my guard down?

Does it bother you that i have a gun? do you wish i couldn't carry a gun?

are you intimidated that i carry? are you jealous? are you scared?

Now, none of this is serious, but its a way to make him realize hes being silly. Its like if he found out you wear thong underwear. Might be a bit weird, but its none of his business.

Why do you care what kind of underwear i wear? do you plan on seeing me in my underwear a lot? do you spy on me in the bathroom? does it turn you on?

Same thing. just make him feel uncomfortable that hes so much in your business.
 
Do you keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and have fire alarms on your ceiling? Why? Odds are you will never need them.

Why do common people get trained in CPR? Odds are they will never need it.

Do you know the Heimlich Maneuver? Why? Odds are you will never have to use it.

Do you think a Cnet editor from Southern California would have any need to keep an emergency survival kit in his car so he wouldn't die after getting stuck in a snowstorm with his family in a remote section of Oregon? Neither did this guy, but look what happened to him:

http://news.cnet.com/James-Kim-found-deceased/2100-1028_3-6141498.html

The point is, we all do things to prepare for horrible situations that will probably never happen, and many people fail to make the simplest of preparations for bad situations that do end up happening to them. In the grand scheme of things carrying a firearm is actually extremely easy to do and prepares you for a very large number of possible bad situations. Why not?
 
I believe Clint Smith answered this best saying, "If you carry a gun, people will call you paranoid. That's ridiculous. If I have a gun, what in the hell do I have to be paranoid about?" :)

My sister called me paranoid once and said I must be expecting to get into a lot of trouble if I felt I needed to carry a gun all the time. I explained that if I indeed expected trouble then I'd carry a rifle and take seven friends. Seriously, it just comes with the territory. You gotta ignore and move on. However, under no circumstances should you compromise your convictions to accommodate others' comfort.
 
Some people wonder why I carry.

Other people wonder why I go to church.

Still other people wonder why I sometimes dress up like a 1st Century Roman Centurion.

And of course others just look at me and wonder.

I got em all guessing, . . . life is fun :D

May God bless,
Dwight
 
I got a chuckle out of the seatbelt / insurance type comments but it's really spot on. Now that I carry all the time I'm that much more conscious to stay away from anywhere that I think it's likely that I'll need a gun because I don't want to deal with the paperwork of a defensive shoot!
 
If he's not giving you big bear hugs or watching you undress, then there is no need for him to know. Concealed IS concealed as they say. Just tell him, "Yeah, you have a point" as if you are going to stop, but continue doing what you think is right.

Fly
 
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