How do you feel when you CC?

I remember the jitters when I first started carrying. Trust me, no one's looking at you. You'll get over it. Carry all the time, and you'll almost forget you're carrying.

I've been stuck in CA the last month or so. After a over a decade of carrying, it's hard to adjust. Ever have your wallet drop out of your pocket your wallet and panic a little when you realize it's missing? The first week in CA I kept putting my hand on my empty front pocket to check thinking I dropped a gun somewhere. :eek:

Then I'd remember I'm in the land of the hippie. Peace. :rolleyes:
 
Feeling "nekkid"

I have to carry. I carried for over 30 years on the job and when I retired and no longer had 30 pounds of duty belt, handcuffs, spare mags, baton, radio, and a Sig P229 I actually walked crooked. My back hurt and I couldn't sit in the car seat straight. In honesty, after all of the years of carrying I still feel awkward when I first leave the house. I make a lot of efforts to keep my weapon out of sight. I don't want to stand out if trouble starts. I remind myself that if anything bad does happen I can't pick up the mic and call for backup and that I am really just a private person now and I don't have to control the area around me. The gun is never to first step in police work and it can't be in civilian life. It is there to save your life or the life of someone else, period. If you are discreet nobody will ever know you're carrying and that's how it should be.
 
I've been carrying for three years now, and while it felt a little odd at first, you quickly get to the point where you forget you are carrying. The only real change that came about from carrying, which has stayed with me, is in increased sense of caution and awareness. I'm more aware of of what's going on around me. I watch things. If I hear someone walking behind me, I look. If I see someone that appears suspicious, I go out of my way to avoid them. Although I carry, and am fully prepared to use the gun if I have to, I really don't want to have to use it. This is a case where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If the average criminal sees a person, walking upright, looking around, paying attention, they are likely to go looking for easier prey. They much prefer the lady who's walking through the parking lot, head down, texting on her cell phone, while juggling her purse looking for her car keys.
 
How do you feel when you CC?
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I feel nothing.

I've been carrying a gun professionally in one manner or another all of my adult life. They're a normal thing for me.

I was a little more self-conscieous about it when I carried in an OWB holster because the muzzle was constantly getting exposed. But now that I carry strictly IWB I don't give it a second thought.
 
carrying has given me a new sense of calm, I'm actually not so quick to fly off the handle anymore. In a way, I feel that carrying is an over all improvement to my demeanor.
 
There have been some helpful comments made on this thread. Thanks

I've been semi carrying for a few months now and I do feel different when I don't carry. I don't carry to work,sporting events,church or any place that I "know" something isn't going to happen. Yes I feel silly saying that, if I had the crystal ball and could see the future I would avoid those places altogether. I'm playing the odds here.
 
CCW

Red Dog; Don't take this the wrong way. I won't challenge your list of places where you don't carry but I want to add this. I have carried concealed, on and off duty, for over 38 years. I carry wherever I go because there is absolutely no way to know when it might be a good idea to have a weapon with you. Even your own home is no longer safe...I have knowledge of dozens of home invasions where having a gun at hand would have saved lives. And if your home can't be safe against violent crime where can you be safe? I have a personal friend who lives in one of the safest of neighborhoods and in a comfortable home who was a victim of a home invasion...He and his wife were sitting around one morning when an escapee ran out of gas on a nearby freeway and who then came through the woods and walked right in and picked up a handgun the homeowner had lying openly and then he took my friend and his wife as hostage. My friend was brutally assaulted and tied up and sat on his own couch. BAD MISTAKE for the escapee since my friend managed to slip loose and grab a S&W snubby he had concealed in the couch cushion. He then shot the crap out of the criminal and ended that foray. As I sit in the den writing this and having coffee and my wife works around the house I have at hand a nice little S&W M-640-3 loaded with .357 mag Glaser Safety Slugs. The odds are stacked solidly against you if you cherry pick places where you think you won't need a weapon. If you truly won't carry everywhere you go I honestly suggest that you get into training for any of the "empty hands" martial arts disciplines you can find. You might end up having to get close and touch for that to work whereas a firearm will give you standoff capabilities but at least you'll be better prepared and if the monkey does back into the electric fan you won't be sitting on your hands wishing you had something to use.
 
I have been carrying since 1987 and feel naked if I don't have the weapon on my hip. It has become part of me and I seldom know it is on my side.:D
 
i've had a c/c permit for 40 yrs. i am very conscious as to when and where i carry and i do not broadcast in any way, shape or form that i am carrying. how do i feel--well--less vulnerable. i am basically a homebody--you won't see me out at 2am. i am also a realist--as i get older, i recognize that i appear more of a target for something bad--hence i carry more often (pocket seecamp 32 mostly). it isn't the most powerful man stopper--it's strictly defensive. i also carry a colt officers model 45 in colder weather.

recently moved to sc and got my permit there. kept a ct permit in force and will soon apply for a fl. permit. so--how do i really feel--good!-:D
 
I don't carry to work,sporting events,church or any place that I "know" something isn't going to happen.
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You "know" nothing is going to happen at church?! You haven't heard of the shootings at several churches in recent times?

I carry at church. I know of at least two others who also carry at my church. And it is not a large church. The pastor knows it and he approves.

No place is completely safe anymore. You never know when some scum will, for whatever reason, decide to start shooting. And they choose places like churches and schools where they don't expect any armed resistance. They know schools are "gun free zones". You notice they seldom if ever try it at police stations.

I carry at home. As I type this I have a gun in my pocket. And two others are strategically located around the house.
 
I feel about the same - maybe a little more reserved.
I see carrying a gun as something like wearing a seat-belt - a little bit inconvenient, and only a necessity if something's gone horribly wrong.
If carrying a gun makes you feel significantly different, I'd question whether you should carry a gun at all.
 
Frankly,it's there for the .0000000000001 percent chance I might need it.

Feels good to have it with me but guns don't amaze me much anymore so it's just a tool to me.
 
"normal".

I carry all of the time, everywhere I go. Keys, wallet, cell phone, emergency cash, Ruger SR9c + spare mag, and a Kershaw Clash (I carry a SOG Trident Tanto on my 'weekends').


The only time I feel any kind of excitement about it is when I realize that I have time to sneak in a range trip. My carry pistol is a LOT of fun to shoot.
 
How do I feel?
Very safe.

I carry pretty 24/7 unless im going to no carry zone, base/post office/church w/a school/voting.

Chuches I go to don't have any schools in them so I am pleased. Other wise I don't think I would go out that late, we start at 8 and get out around 10 then theres clean up and usually dinner afterwards at local restaurant. I don't get home till like 1 on church nights.
 
When carrying a gun I usually feel busy trying to keep aware of what's going on around me so that if something bad happens I can get away from it so I won't have to use the damn thing.
 
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