Pivotal Moment...

Maybe some of you can convince why I should carry.

I have been around guns a lot and I shoot a lot. I have the CCW and have never carried except when on a long trip by auto.

In the back of my mind, I know I am pushing it by not carrying. I do not venture out into areas I think are unsafe. On the other hand, what areas are "safe?"

I am 68 so it is a no-brainer that physically I am not up to the task of dealing with a threat from an individual(s) much younger than me.

I am a pretty good shot and I do have the smarts to observe what is around me and avoid areas that look to be problematical.

I have have tried carrying around the house just to get the feel for carrying and just do not feel comfortable with going outside.

I am not sure that I have a piece that would be totally practical for concealed carry.

Given the following choices, what would you suggest for me to carry?

Sig P220 .45 ACP
Sig P226 .40
Sig P229 9mm
Glock 17 9mm
Glock 21 .45 ACP
Smith 5906 9mm
Smith 4506 .45 ACP
Ruger Security Six .357

I have these guns now and shoot all them on a regular basis.

Any advice?

Thanks!!

Geetarman
 
I applied for a license for purely political reasons(to up the numbers of CCW members so OFCC could claim we had so many people).
I carried a little, but not much. I was in college at the time and Ohio was still almost impossible to carry for normal people let alone a student spending time on campus almost every day.

At some point I decided I need to carry at least enough to wear I felt VERY comfortable with a gun on my hip or stop actually carrying all together. As I have become more and more comfortable carrying I have carried more and more.
Getting my Crossbreed supertuck holster might have been the most pivotal moment for me. That was the first time it was really comfortable to carry. I can also easily remove the firearm if entering a prohibited location.
 
Maybe some of you can convince why I should carry.
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Because this guy

For me, it was the day after I was robbed and kidnapped:
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was depending on someone to save his life, and nobody was there to do it.

It happens. Someday it may be your granddaughter who has a gun in her back, and maybe you can be the one that she needs. It may be your wife, your best friend, it may be you, it may be the single mother running the cash register at the stop and rob down the street, and the one thing missing in these events is the one person who may be able to stop what is happening.

Are you an idiot? Please don't bother then. But, if you are the kind of person who could read a situation and know when to intercede and how to do it, our society needs you to carry. Your family does, your friends do, and I do.

Rich miranda (that's right, use his name. It's simple to ignore him if you don't use his name.) was alone, and he was put in harms way by two thugs who probably would have killed him if even the slightest thing had gone differently. I want someone to be there for his kids if it happens to them. that is a reasonable hope.
 
Given the following choices, what would you suggest for me to carry?

Sig P220 .45 ACP
Sig P226 .40
Sig P229 9mm
Glock 17 9mm
Glock 21 .45 ACP
Smith 5906 9mm
Smith 4506 .45 ACP
Ruger Security Six .357
Click to expand...

Personally I'm a glock guy and a HUGE fan of the 9mm, but given that your glocks are full-sized I would carry the P229.
 
Growing up on the farm saw a lot of guns. Dad had one in the truck and tractor, mostly .22s. Uncles on the police dept and cousins too had guns. Wasnt nobody eles to depend on, we took care of things ourselves. Did our own slaughtering, hunting, or just having fun plinking.

We used to take our shotguns to school, was 1.5 miles. Teacher would place them in her closet and give them to us after class. We then hunted on the way home. My brother and I put a lot of meat on our table. We were proud, wasnt smart enough to know we was dirt poor and if we didnt get a pheasant or two we would eat gravy and bread that night.
 
Very soon after my home state of Florida passed shall-issue permitting laws, my veterinary clinic was broken into. Some yahoo put a brick through a window and thoroughly ransacked the place in a largely unsuccessful effort to find drugs and money. My staff found it on opening the office in the morning.

The responding officer asked if I was armed and voiced exactly what was going through my mind - that even if I knew and trusted a client who requested emergency services, I could still walk in on a crime in progress by responding after hours. And that there were plenty of people who valued drugs and money for drugs more than human lives. It doesn't matter that we don't have recreational drugs or a lot of money on site nearly as much as the fact that a certain segment of the population wants recreational drugs and assumes that we have either drugs or money they can use for drugs.
 
Great question for a thread LordTio3!

And the responses so far have been great reading and super informative.

I hope mine will not be too long and boring as I've never told this story to anyone. But the events I'm going to describe made a handgunner out of me.

I grew up in a very rough cotton mill town. Back in the 1970's, My Dad was a district manager for Wyeth Laboratories, a large pharmaceutical company, now owned by Pfizer; he was pretty much posted there. So I was there too, of course.

In HS and college I dated quite a few girls who lived in various parts of town, some at the country club and some on the west side of our city. I enjoyed them all.

(BTW, the reason nice neighborhoods are always on the east side of town is because architects 100 yrs ago designed them so the more affluent folks could drive to and from work with the sun at their backs.)

There were lots of drunk, tough guys out late at night in souped-up cars looking for trouble. This was just SOP in our town and especially so on the west side, near the hospital where my best girl lived.

One night about 10-11 PM, I was taking her home and made the huge mistake of taking a shortcut.

We pulled up a steep hill to a 4-way stop sign. As soon as we stopped, I realized we were in the middle of a gang fight.

About 15 white guys vs. 15 black dudes, drunk and hepped up on drugs.

6 of them got in front of my car as several others approached my door and my girl's passenger door.

One insane man jumped onto the hood of my '74 Chevy, shouting and giving us the finger.

This seemed like it was happening in slow motion.

I floored the gas pedal and the young miscreant on the hood caught onto the area of the hood where the windshield wipers are. His buddies got out of the road pretty damn fast. I would have run over them, after all :)

So we are driving through this mayhem with a drugged and/or drunken assailant screaming and rolling back and forth as I tried to shake him off the hood of my car.

Finally, at about 30 mph, I shook him off and was happy to see him go flying into the street behind us.

We got to my date's house and I immediately told her Dad what had happened. He was a tough WWII vet who'd been in the Pacific for 4 years.

I was pleased when he told me I'd done the right thing. He called the police and asked if they knew anything about a fracas at the location at which we'd been accosted.

The cops replied, "Yeah, actually: one guy is in the hospital just now!"

Sorry to be so long-winded. But the next day, I got my Dad to help me buy my first pistol, a Colt Series 70.
 
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Nothing at all bad happened to me. About a year after I bought a house I wandered into the local gun shop to check out the range. I had plenty of guns, but really only went shooting around the start of deer season, and then only because dad likes to spend some time making sure his .30-06 shoots where he wants it to. Then I started going to the range every week, and noticed that they taught the necessary class the first Monday of every month. I signed up and took the class, and continued to hit the range every week while I waited for the paperwork to go through.

One day a nice lady named Dana called from the Sheriff's office and told me I could come pick up my permit the next day. I went down, picked it up, came home and put on a holstered G19, and went about my day. I've carried it every day since, except at my daughter's school or the post office.

Why did I do it? Because it's my right as an American, that's why. I've always liked guns. I've always enjoyed shooting. And as a kid I always planned on carrying a gun as an adult. So now I do.
 
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?
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I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure I was born with it.

I had a "Red Ryder" at 5 years of age, and a Sheridan 5mm pellet gun at 6. My dad gave me a Win 37 20 gauge shotgun at 8 years of age, and I started shooting handguns when I was around 10. When I was around 15 or 16, I bought my first handgun; a Ruger NM Blackhawk in .357 mag.

By today's liberal standards, I was a pretty warped kid, but shooting kept me out of a lot of bad stuff. Drinking and drugs were never a temptation, because I knew they wouldn't enhance my abilities, and I also knew that I'd lose the trust I'd earned from my parents.

To me, hunting jackrabbits or coyotes with a rifle or handgun was far more fun than anything else I could imagine at that time.

From the time I started driving at 16 years of age, I almost always had a loaded handgun in the glove box, and oft-times a rifle behind the seat. That aspect of my life transfered into every-day-carry without much trouble.

But...how do I say this...carrying a firearm, for me, isn't just a "self-defense" measure. I use my firearms for various things. Most of the time they're used for varmints, hunting, targets, and plinking at this 'n that. If I ever need a gun for self-defense, I'll almost undoubtedly have one with me, but that's really not the "only" reason I carry one.

Daryl
 
Sounds like a good spankin' was in order?

Daryl
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It's hard to explain without sounding bias, I thought he was going to pull a gun on me, and I had nothing but a bottle of Wild Turkey and my car key's in an empty parking lot at 2am in Vegas. There's no reason some Getto punk should be be-lining it for me one on one, I'm at a 6'1" 225lbs Italian looking dude.

If he shoots me, I dye, and he's out on the streets three years later, and I'm still dead.

After that, he walked past me and goes for some other cars to see if they are unlocked. I think he sized me up and thought better, and I was digging for my car key to get to my gun in my car.

I drive away saying I have to get my CCW.

If you were there, you would have understood, homeboy!
 
Homeboy? Where'd that sorta language come from, anyway?

Sorry amigo; I meant no disrespect. I do realize that a kid with a gun is a legitimate threat, and a kid might actually shoot you quicker than an adult would, not fully realizing the consequences.

But I still think a good spankin' might be in order for a cocky acting 12 YO.

Like I told you in the response to your PM, the only 12 YO I've ever heard of here that tried to rob someone was armed with a pellet gun.

He went into a convenient store and tried to hold it up. The store clerk took it away from him, spanked him good, and then she called the cops to come get him.

There was a kid about that age nicknamed "Spanky" for a few years after that, and I sorta wonder if it wasn't the same kid. The embarassment of it alone should have been enough to keep him from trying it again any time soon.

But you do what you have to do to defend yourself homey.

Again, I meant no disrespect except towards a 12 yo kid that would try to rob someone.

Daryl
 
But I still think a good spankin' might be in order for a cocky acting 12 YO.
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LMFAO!

People think as if kid's have been shooting people as of 1987 or so, when it's been happening for much longer before that, and you can't even discount a child on the offensive against you with a gun.

That's why you see the LEO shootings of the youth's over time, and not starting in 1987, it's been happening way (WAY!) before 1987.

TBS, the way that kid approached me, and if I had a gun, I would have certainly been ready to draw because I actually thought he might have a gun and draw.

You just had to be there to see!
 
When I was 18, I was working in a convenience store. I was robbed at knife point one night and wasn't too happy to have a knife stuck in my back. So I did the only thing someone of my demeanor and immaturity does in that situation. I fought the guy off, getting stabbed and sliced a couple of times, until I could get my knife out. I then went to town on the guy. He was arrested that night at the ER about six miles from the store and about 45 minutes after I had left from getting eight or nine stitches.

Two months later, while waiting for his court appearance, he came back to the store with a gun. He didn't shoot me, but he got my full attention and cooperation. He obviously wasn't very bright either. He was arrested again about two hours later at his house after a short stand off.

In court, he swore he would come find me and kill me once he was out of prison. He got put away for 10-20. I've not seen that guy since then, but I was determined to own and carry a weapon after that. About four months later, I joined the Army and off I went.

I've owned various weapons for the last 21 years. I'm just now to the point of wanting to always carry simply due to how badly I perceive society and many of the kids that are growing up today. America is quickly losing her respect for each other and their inhibitions about violence. I will be prepared if that tendency should come to affect my family and I.
 
Well when I heard about all the stabbings and armed robberies a couple towns over I thought it might be a good idea. Also when I realized there is no such thing as a fair fight anymore. These days people are too quick to start a confrontation over nothing, they are also too quick to pull out a knife or come at you with some sort of weapon. I know of too many cases where a simple fight broke out and either someone got stabbed or 3 of the guys buddies jumped in and started beating them senseless. Growing up in mass ill be the first one to admit that a large majority of the people here are "mass-holes". Someone eventually will start a fight with you as hard as you try to avoid conflict. Ive seen too many people minding their own business and out of nowhere some drunk a-hole suddenly wants to fight them.
 
I'll spare you all the details, but ... Without thinking it through whatsoever, I intervened in what I though was a vicious mugging but was actually a domestic assault being carried out in public.

Thanks to another intervening witness, a good bit of luck, and a bad guy who wasn't overly keen on a high-stakes game of "what hasss it got in itsss pocketsesss", I came through it unscathed. Afterwards, I decided to get (1) a few more brain cells and (2) a CCW permit.

That, and make sure to carry my cell phone more.
 
Elvis,

They strapped bombs to kids in Viet Nam. It's nothing new.

I watched two LEO's once lay two kids out in the middle of Az Hwy 92 about a half mile from where I'm sitting right now. One of them tried to back into a patrol car.

They saw it as a threat, no doubt.

In the end, it turned out to be two 12 YO kids joy riding in their parents car. They'd missed their turn, stopped, and backed up to do the turn. It happened that Jeff was behind them at the time, and he had to back up to keep from being hit. He lit 'em up, and those two kids got laid out in the highway at gunpoint.

I do not underestimate the potential threat a kid may offer, but I'd still rather give one a butt whuppin' than have to shoot one.

Not that I wouldn't defend myself, but I sure wouldn't like to have to do it.

Daryl
 
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