My advice to new concealed carry permit holders

T

Trebor

New member
Here's my latest Michigan Firearms Examiner article on some tips for new concealed carry permit holders.

Advice to new concealed carry permit holders

"As a firearms instructor I get a lot of questions from new Michigan Concealed Pistol License holders about carrying a gun. There is so much to cover that today I’m going to stick to advice on the mental and moral aspects of concealed carry. This applies to anyone, from any state, who has a shiny new CPL/CCW permit and wants to start carrying a gun for self-protection."
 
Not new but....

I've been carrying for a few years now and found the article rather interesting. It's a good reminder.

Thanks for posting.
 
Thanks for the kind words. I'll have part 2 up either tommorrow or Monday. (Depending on when I get everything else done I need to get done).
 
I can't emphasize "get trained" enough. As you mentioned, most state-mandated training is mediocre at best and does not go into the depth necessary to prepare one to use a firearm in the gravest extreme.

My own state has no training requirement, and I'd like to keep it that way. However, there are times that licensed individuals act so carelessly or irresponsibly as to make me consider supporting such a thing.
 
My own state has no training requirement, and I'd like to keep it that way.
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I agree. I'm an instructor and obviously a believer that everyone should be trained. But, I'm also a believer that it shouldn't be mandated by the state. There are too many ways the state can use mandatory training to infringe on individuals rights to own or carry firearms. Heck, just the cost of the training & the cost of the permits is enough to exclude many people.

The majority of the classes I teach are the NRA class mandated for our state CPL license and I still say this.

However, there are times that licensed individuals act so carelessly or irresponsibly as to make me consider supporting such a thing.
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It wouldn't help. We have mandatory training and we still have a certain percentage of idiots who do dumb things with guns. We could make our requirements more strict, or your state could require minimum training, and it wouldn't matter much. A certain perceant of the population are still going to be idiots and no amount of mandatory training would change that.
 
Part 2, "Carry like a pro," is delayed until Monday now. I wasn't able to finish it yet and now have to do some other things before 5 p.m.

Sorry for the delay, but it will be better for the extra time spent and not rushing to finish it now.
 
A certain perceant of the population are still going to be idiots and no amount of mandatory training would change that.
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Oh, I understand and agree. It's just that, once in a while, I get some bozo who sweeps the entire range or cranks one into the floor, then says "I'm licensed!" as some sort of justification. At those moments, the thought seems tempting.

Then there are the three or four licensed folks I speak to every year who admit to having injured themselves through negligent discharges, but that's a whole other story.
 
Good post...+++ on the statement "get some training". I'd recommend, Front Sight, out in NV for their four day Defensive Handgun Training Course. It's first rate and you can find good deals occasionally; recently, I bought four slots in that course for $89 a piece for friends and family. Rod
 
Be responsible – You now have the ability to take a human life and you need to treat that responsibility seriously.
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I didn't like this statement. CCW just allows you legal access to another tool. It might result in a change in the state of mind for some, and so I guess it is not a bad idea, but seems a little bit of a dramatic overstatement to me.

Get trained
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Yes and no. Given the option between spending $500 on a weekend training course and ammo or just $500 on ammo, I think most CCWers would be better off putting $500 of ammo through their gun, especially if they ran some of the drills you can find online for free or DVD. I saw a guy who CCWed for 5 years without firing his glock. I stripped it and there was so much lint in the gun I think it could have made a considerable contribution to a malfunction. I have put at least 1,000 rounds through my EDC and many more through 22s and other centerfires. I personally should probably seek more formal training.
 
Knee-jerk reactions may not be what you are looking for, and knee-jerk reactions are likely not the best way to review anything... but appearances and first impressions do mean something.

My first impression and knee-jerk reaction?

I don't like it when anyone, especially an instructor or anyone from the government, or a noted author who is kept in high regard as an authority calls the license a "permit."

I realize that some states may actually call it a "permit" and might even write it as such on the license. Michigan does not formally call it a permit unless it's listed in some paraphernalia or such. The license IIRC is a "concealed pistol license", not a permit.

As far as I am concerned, it's a license. It shows LEO that I paid my tax, that I qualify for the license and that I followed the rules to obtain their card.

"Permit" makes it sound like they granted me the ability to do it. I don't believe that they did. Call it splitting hairs or starting arguments if you wish.

Bottom line for me is that when I read something written from an authority with regards to concealed carry, and they call it a permit, I've lost interest in it. Mas Ayoob is a professional, an authority and highly respected in his field, and I very much enjoy his work. But his repeated use of the word "permit" grates on my very last nerve.

Please accept this critique in the spirit that I offer it-- not as a slam to you, your words or your work, but just as a point of view you might consider when addressing armed, law abiding citizens with squeaky clean records, lifestyles, and the legal licensing to carry handguns concealed on their person.
 
I, too, think there is a distinction between license and permit. it's like a drivers license - you have to show you can actually drive the car safely to get a license. It's not a permit that allows any one to use a car, training or no. A library card is a permit, a handicapped parking sticker is a permit. I think a lot of people seem to think they should be allowed carry a gun regardless just becasue they happen to live in this country. It IS a big responsiblity and n wouldn't want just anyone walking around packing a gun, even if they weren't a criminal.

My CC trainers here in Wisconsin were pretty miffed that the legislature, which initially had some specific training required for a license (and, yes, that is what it is called here) had pretty much reduced it to nothing. For a lot of people it already was pretty much nothing since they allowed a hunters safety class to qualify as training. To me the mental and physical aspects of carrying a loaded handgun in public are vastly different than carrying a rifle out in the countryside. Even the hunter saftey instructors all agreed that the training they provided was not meant for CC purposes.

The trainers I had made a big point at the end that that everyone should make sure they really knew what was involved with using deadly force before they started to carry a gun. As they said, it is a life-changing event to shoot someone, mostly to the bad.
 
Sevens,

I hadn't considered the distinct connotations between "license" and "permit".

That's something I'm going to think about some. I'm not sure if I'm going to change my usage yet, but it is something I will consider. At the minimum your point is well taken.

I do realize that different words have different connotations and shadings of meaning. Personally, I've eliminated the use "civilian gun owner," etc, when trying to distinquish between "regular folk" and the police in favor of "private citizen gun owner" or "armed private citizen."

I made this change because I don't like the "us vs. them" connotations when the police call everyone else "civilians" so I specifically decided to no longer use the term "civilians" myself unless I'm refering to EVERYONE who is not in the military (police and private citizens alike).

I know not everyone agrees on this (especially police), but just wanted to show how I understand how you are concerned with the difference in shadings between "permit" and "license."
 
Well, I certainly can't ask for any more than that! ;)

As for the license vs. permit nomenclature, I suppose you could ask yourself what is gained or lost by committing fully to one or the either? Or, to put it another way... what is lost if you eliminate the use of the word "permit" and simply stick to the term "license." ?

With regard to the different groups of people... I can see where you are coming from in not wanting to propagate an "us vs. them" kind of mentality. But in many of the discussions we have, it's of extreme importance to very clearly define the groups as misinformation or lack of clarity doesn't result in hurt feelings... it results in penalties on a wide scale.

Around my local forum, many of us refer to that group of people with "LAC" or "LAC's", or 'law abiding citizens.' LEO, LAC, BG, these are abbreviations that we use quite often.
 
Part 2 is posted now:

Advice to new CCW holders: Part 2 - Carry like a pro

"This is my second article on advice for new concealed carry permit holders. The first article covered the mental and legal aspects of armed self-defense. This article discusses the more practical aspects of concealed carry.

Many students in my Michigan Concealed Pistol License (CPL) classes, overwhelmed by the vast choices in guns and carry methods, ask me to cut through the clutter and give them the secret to “The Right Way” to carry a handgun.

I tell them, “Carry like a pro.”
 
Double +1 on the "Be non-confrontational" section. I see too many folks on these sites saying that they carry a gun legally and "nobuddy bettar mess wid me" or words to that effect. A permit to carry a gun is not a permit to shoot down anyone who happens to be a nuisance at the moment. If you engage in confrontation, even if you never draw your gun, you may well lose your carry permit (too "hot-headed"), or be seen as an armed attacker of an innocent person (even if the other person started the argument).

Another piece of advice from me is that if you carry a concealed gun, conceal it! Someone seeing your gun can panic and attract the attention of police or another armed citizen, with unpredictable results. You are armed to defend yourself and your family (and perhaps other innocent people). You are not armed to make a statement, get in people's faces, display your gun to prove how macho you are, show your political beliefs, or stand up for your "Second Amendment rights." You may use your gun for defense, not for bragging rights.

And you are not Superman, out to right all the wrongs of the world. Law officers are trained when NOT to use their guns as well as when to do so. You cannot call time out and ask for an upstairs review after you shoot an innocent person, or start a gunfight in which someone (maybe you or your own familiy member) dies.

Jim
 
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