Pivotal Moment...

L

LordTio3

New member
What was the pivotal moment when you decided that you were going to carry a gun? Was it an occurance, a story, an experience, etc...? Did whatever it was happen to you or someone else? Or were you just born with GSR on your knuckles?

Personally, my second year of college my stepfather was robbed at gunpoint. And just for reference, he's one of those hard-assed old men that you really don't want to mess with anyway; but he doesn't carry a weapon. He went on a beerrun to the usual late night package store in my hometown in Indiana. When he walked in, he noticed a group of "delinquents" outside as one of them asked him something in that inaudible thug-slur that he didn't understand. He ignored them and headed inside. He made his purchase and stayed inside with the owner until he saw them drive away from the poorly-lit, quaint parking lot. He then advised the owner that if they returned and did not buy anything, as they had not before, that he should call the police.

He thanked him and walked outside, accross the parking lot to his truck. Once he got inside the cab and got the keys in it, one of the jerks walked up from where he was hiding behind his truck, opened the driver door and jabbed him with something. He looked down and saw that the guy had a snub-revolver jammed in his side.

He demanded his wallet.

My stepfather gave him the cash from his wallet; almost $300. And the guy took it and said, "Give me your wallet." Stepdad says, "you aren't getting my wallet."
Guy takes the keys out of the ignition and tells him to get out of the truck and he does. He then grabs him by the arm and starts walking him to the edge of the parking lot (pitch black area) where the ground slopes downward into a gorge. As soon as he sees where he is going, Stepfather says, "No F***ing way" and turns around and walks back to the truck with his hands out.

Jerk is yelling wanna-be gangsta drivel about not getting respect or whatever. Stepdad turns around at the truck, points at him and says, "I gave you some money. I don't know if that's enough to buy whatever it is you're going to buy with it, but you are NOT getting my wallet and I'm going home with my beer, right now. Give me back my keys."

Guy looks him in the eye, seeing no fear there ponders this for a minute, puts the gun down, and appologizes for being an ass. He said he just needed to "git lit" and he didn't have any money. Thug-boy then THANKED him for helping and tried to SHAKE HIS HAND before giving him back his keys and running off into the night. Stepdad got in the truck, drove home, drank his beer, and recapped the event, thinking "I guess it could have been a lot worse." -you're darned right it could have been worse. I fully believe that in this perfect combination of victim and criminal, my stepdad being as fearless as he is not going with him and pointing and giving this kid a stern "talking to" saved his life. Probably wouldn't have worked on many others, but he came out alive.

I grew up with guns. Target shooting, plinking, occasionally hunting. But after this happened, I went right over to the PD and asked for my permit to carry and got a weapon to keep on me all day. I really don't see an event like this EVER turning out so fortunate a second time. I want my life in my OWN hands. And that was my pivotal moment, when I decided to carry.

What about you?
~LT
 
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I started carrying shortly after concealed-carry became legal in my state.

There was no single precipitating event, just a realization as I grew up that the police have neither the ability nor responsibility to protect individual citizens, and that I alone am responsible for myself and my family.
 
What happened was that I finally had the finances to get a permit and gun. Nothing violent happened to me or anyone else that I know. I wanted, I had money, I bought. End of story.
 
Mostly because as an American in Georgia I can. :D I do not frequent dangerous areas or live in a high risk area. But I'd rather have it and not need it. If it was an event, it was my now wifes uncle. He took me plinking when I was 17 and I was HOOKED on handguns. (been shooting long guns forever) He always carries and has only drawn once in his decades of carrying. But his good example of responsible carry really inspired me.
 
When I first got my license, I was making trips to the far end of the state on a semi-regular basis. There are some long, lonely stretches of road. If I broke down, I wanted to be able to carry concealed legally if I had to hoof it to an exit. This was before the days cell phones were common. I gradually started carrying more often as other things happened to underscore how you have to be prepared.

First a burglar broke into my house when my daughters were home asleep (he was caught). It made me aware that you never know when something might happen. Second, a thief hid up a stairwell at my office and sneaked through a secured door before it shut as a woman was leaving. He slipped right past a room full of LEO and stole an employee's purse (they caught him, too). It underscored that no place is absolutely safe, not even a law enforcement agency.
 
Nothing earthshaking,,,

Oklahoma passed the law to make it a shall issue thing,,,
I said why not and got my license.

I don't feel the need to carry all of the time,,,
I just like knowing I can when I want to.
 
There has never been a deciding moment. When I saw my first western, I learned that even the most civilized place has a chaotic and criminal element. I found out that this concept is completely true, not some half baked fantasy. People are killed every day by bad guys. You cannot be safe anywhere, and there is no person who can keep you safe. Is there anything I can do to protect myself, my family, my friends, so forth against bad people who want to hurt us? I can keep a weapon readily available at all times and places that are possible, or at least at all times that I feel the greatest amount of risk.

I carry a large knife a lot of times. I carry a handgun a lot of times. I have handguns and rifles available to me in my home. When I am faced with a threat, I will act on it.

At this point, I don't have a ccw permit, and I don't carry on my person. I'm not at that point where I feel threats in my community that justify strapping on a pistol whenever I leave home. I do, however, carry in my car.
 
I guess really, it seems really alien to me that someone actually has that "pivotal moment" of realization that there are dangers and that they are exposed.

Sort of like seat belts and helmets. You either get it and wear them, or you don't get it, and don't wear them until something scares you into it.

I work with disabled people. You would be amazed how many people there are in just my work load that didn't get it about helmets, seat belts, "brown acid," so forth. I don't think any of them carry concealed weapons, so they still don't get it, you know?
 
Where I live, it is illegal for law abidding citizens to carry. Only criminals (hoodlums, politicians, and police) carry guns. The rest of us are at their mercy.
 
Where I live, it is illegal for law abidding citizens to carry. Only criminals (hoodlums, politicians, and police) carry guns. The rest of us are at their mercy.
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tell me about it! where ya from?
 
Mine is not about bad guys.

It is about wild dogs, feral hogs, poisionous snakes and injured deer.

I live in a remote area with only a County Sheriff Office over 20 miles away. The county is 600 sq. miles and less than 10,000 humans. My residence is on a 40,000 + acre lake with coverage in three different counties. There seems to be more country churchs than any other structure including barns. Mostly good neighbors and friendly nods of honest hard working folks.

With a concealed carry, I can have a gun in a glove box, under a seat and/or in any hidden from view location in my vehicles or boats.

I could actually carry a gun, but I wore and carried a gun way too much while serving in the military. For almost the same reason, I do not wear a hat or headgear even while fishing. LOL I hate to see men wearing hats indoors even if it is just a baseball cap. Never could understand such an uncivil act. You always had to remove your headgear when entering a building in the military. My Mom and Uncle Sam taught me better manners.
 
Last year. I'd taken the Concealed Carry class with my husband and brushed up on my firearms skills so that I felt safe living in a house that had a loaded gun around. Then I thought about whether I really wanted to shell out the hundreds of dollars for a gun, ammunition, and training for myself. I don't live in or go to places where there is a high risk of meeting an armed criminal who wants to do me harm. I'd lived almost 48 years without ever owning my own gun, although I shot rifles competitively in junior high and had grown up around them.

But I realized that I'd grown increasingly uncomfortable with the "ban all guns" crowd. I'm a human rights activist, and had watched for two decades as people in various parts of the world tried to reduce violence by disarming the public. It rarely worked, and commonly just left innocent people unable to resist when the predators struck. :/ This was true in Xugoslavia (think Sarajevo, etc), Africa (think Darfur), much of Europe -- and increasingly -- in parts of the U.S.A. where guns were heavily restricted or banned. I also believed that the Second Amendment meant exactly what it said, and was horrified by what I saw as a creeping tendency among civil libertarians in this country to ignore it or deliberately interpret it away.

The best first line of defense against a government that wants to usurp a right is to *use* that right publicly and refuse to back down. So I went ahead, sent in my paperwork for my CCW, and acquired my first (and so far only) carry gun. A year later, I carry any time I leave the house unless I'm going somewhere where it isn't legal (which is rare). I practice shooting regularly, and have reacquired many of my teenage skills. I find I'm also more aware of what goes on around me, and have actually thought about and have plans in place to handle any remotely probable type of attack I might face. Oddly, I like this "me" better. I don't think I'd voluntarily go back to not carrying.
 
After being a gun owner since the early 80s

and after spending 23 years as a gun owner in CA and IL, I moved to TX about six years ago.
All of a sudden, as a gun owner I was a citizen who could be trusted and not a subject to be viewed with suspicion.

After waiting the six months, I got my TX CHL, and have been carrying ever since.
 
I used to work for a downtown bank (mechanical maintenance) and was often called in to "fix" whatever broke, folded, spindled, or got mutilated.

"Downtown" then, they rolled up the sidewalks around 5:30 PM, . . . leaving it to the thugs, thieves, ladies of the evening, and drug dealers.

I made sure I had help of some kind when I went on one of those runs, . . . especially if it was dark.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
Nebraska has only had concealed carry since 2007, but there was an incident in November 2008 that got me to thinking it might be a good idea to go armed. :D
 
What was the pivotal moment when you decided that you were going to carry a gun?
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For me, it was the day after I was robbed and kidnapped:

Rather than re-type it or link to it, here is a copy of what I posted in another thread here on TFL:


My experience being robbed and kidnapped

This happened in my hometown of Bell Gardens, California. It was December, 1992. I was 18 and home from college for the holiday.

My dad had me go to Food4Less to pick up a few groceries. It was almost exactly 10 PM when I went into the store. I walked out about a half hour later. The parking lot was moderately lit. I’m not sure if there was any security or not.

As I walked toward my car, I noticed two Hispanic gangbanger-type guys, walking in my direction. They were very close to each other, touching elbows in fact. I sensed they were acting oddly, but didn’t think much of it. We passed each other without incident, and I just assumed they were headed to the store. I did notice them make a sudden change of direction just after we passed. Again, I dismissed it.

As I reached the car, I opened the door, sat down and put the bag of groceries on the seat next to me. Suddenly, I felt cold steel against my left cheek. I knew it was a gun, held by Bad Guy #1. He told me to scoot over. I did. Then he told me to get in the back seat, which I did by climbing over the seat. BG#1 then told BG#2 to go around and get in the back seat with me. When BG#2 got in the back seat, I saw BG#1 insert a magazine into the gun. He then handed it to BG#2 and said, “If he sees my face, shoot him.” I took this as my cue to look at my lap, and only my lap. BG#1 started the car and drove out of the parking lot. I had been kidnapped.

As we drove, I prayed. I was not a Christian then, but I believed. They methodically took my wallet, cash, jewelry, watch, even the groceries. The ride was only about five minutes but felt like hours. I only ever looked down the whole time. I felt the car pull into a driveway and stop. BG#1 said, “We’re getting out here. Wait five minutes before you leave. If anyone comes looking for us, we’ll go and kill your family.” He had my license, so it was a valid threat. Then they left.

I waited about three minutes before looking up. I half expected them to still be standing there, but they weren’t. I got in the driver seat and left. When I got home, my dad saw my empty hands and asked me where the groceries were. I told him I had been robbed. I went into my room and sat on the bed, shell-shocked. I just stared into space. I’m not sure I could even process what had just happened. It took me about 15 minutes to even shed tears.

17 years later, I’m still stupid, but I have learned a few things along the way. I will try to list some of the more basic here:

* I should not have gone to the store at 10 PM.
* I should have consciously parked in a well-lit area.
* I should have been much more aware of my surroundings and alarm bells should have gone off when the (eventual) BGs were acting weird.
* I should have turned right back around and into the store if I felt something was not right.
* I should have been scanning 360 degrees as I walked into the lot.
* Once I noticed the BGs change direction, I should have done the exact same thing, turn around and walk back into the store.

For the record, I am half Mexican and a sometime (as a teen) gangbanger myself (albeit a wanna-be one). In Bell Gardens, gangbangers were a common sight. Their mere presence was not cause for concern. But I did miss the very obvious signs that something was not right.

I never did call the police. There was too much risk, I felt, for the death threat to be realized. They had my address and I had never gotten a good look at their faces anyway.

This experience has colored my life. I am much more conservative and “law and order” than my peers, and I think it is because of this. Further, I strongly believe in the right to carry which, while not the reason I left California, is one major reason I didn’t return.

Most importantly, I have learned that I was in “Condition White” that night. I don’t generally use the terms “Condition White”, “Yellow”, etc., but I now understand their meaning. Never again will I be that unaware. I don’t blame myself, though. I was just a child. I fully believe the Lord protected me that night, and I thank him for it.

I have posted this here hoping that you, or someone you love, can learn something from it and be safer.
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I got a CHL like 20 years ago...simply because when I asked what was the best way to carry a gun up to the woods or the range to go shooting...no one with any authority gave me a good answer...

It seems that any police officer can deem any firearm in your car, no matter how unloaded, how far away, or how boxed up...as concealed...

Getting a CHL gives a big middle finger to the police officer that decides to search you car, like on cops, finds nothing, but wants to make a big deal about there being a gun in car...it ends the argument...there is no wiggle room or interpretation on his part..
 
There wasn't any epiphany for me. I carry a lot of useful things either on my person or in my car. At some point I added a firearm to those things because it made sense.
 
I was 2 or 3 and my father carried a gun when left home and was still wearing it when he came home. It just seemed like a good idea and the natural thing to do. He was a state trooper, but his cousin was a county sheriff and my grandfather carried an Iver Johnson .32, and my great-uncle Ed carried a nickel plated 1884 S&W .38 break top, my aunt in Baltimore carried a .32, and etc. Guns just were. Like pocket knives and hats, seemingly everybody had one.

So, in summary, the pivotal moment for me was when I was born.

John
 
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