What Incident Led You Or Significant Other To Obtain A Permit.

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Doublea A

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I'm excited man because my wife signed up for CCW class after 4 years of shooting with her. She has occasionally shot with me during this 4 yr. time frame. She is not anti-gun by any means except that I enjoy the sports more...:) :)

What did it? We both read the story of the PA woman arrested and facing felony charges for carrying a gun without New Jersey permit. I told her that while the particular incident is unlikely to happen to us because I triple check through multiple sources for firearm reciprocity before travelling to or through different States. If the State is hostile to gun owners I don't take chances and therefore leave the firearms at home.

I told my wife that what I feared is the occasions that I leave my firearm in my car for brief moments and she would used my car for errands. I was worried that if an incident happens such as been pulled over by law enforcement and the firearm becomes visible or it is found she will be in trouble because she doesn't have a CCW permit. Even if we get a lawyer and the case is finally dropped, we would have spent thousands of dollars in restoring her freedom.
For a CPA and frugal wife it sounded like a terrible waste of money. By having a CCW permit you prevent this particular incident from occurring. So it wasn't my brilliance but it was the unfortunate incident in the anti-firearm State of NJ which sparked the conversation. I want to know the stories or incidents that have led others in finally taking the plunge into the world of CCW or personal defense.
Thanks
 
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I had been a long time hobbyist/recreational shooter in 2004 when Ohio finally joined in on the wave of concealed carry that was slowly sweeping these Great United States. I can't say that I was very interested in being able to carry concealed on my person, but I was very much interested in how the new laws and concealed carry licensing might affect the way I transport firearms when I would go shooting.

A local gun show promoter had advertised an "attraction" at the next show: a local lawyer was going to address folks for a run-down of the new legislation a few times on a set schedule during the show. So I went and we listened and he told us straight away that the good news was that legislation had been opened, but the bad news was just how poorly it had been written, detailing all the warts and potential pitfalls of the new language. It was a downer, frankly, and I enjoyed the gun show but left with no aspirations to get the "NEW" license.

(for other folks in/around Ohio, anyone approved for the license would be a matter of public record and a few of the asinine Ohio print media outlets promised to print lists of people who elected to get the license, an idea which both angered and horrified me. :mad: There are other major concerns as well.)

Hard work by dedicated folks and grass roots organizations pushed and worked and sweated and helped (and forced) the laws to evolve. We aren't finished, but they are miles better today than back when it first happened. About 4.5 years in, I decided it was time to get my license as well and carrying a handgun concealed on a daily basis became natural to me shortly after.
 
I had been a long time hobbyist/recreational shooter in 2004 when Ohio finally joined in on the wave of concealed carry that was slowly sweeping these Great United States. I can't say that I was very interested in being able to carry concealed on my person, but I was very much interested in how the new laws and concealed carry licensing might affect the way I transport firearms when I would go shooting.
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Things were different for me.

I had been a long time hobbyist/recreational shooter in 1995 when Texas joined in on the wave of concealed carry that was slowly sweeping these Great United States. I was somewhat interested in being able to carry concealed on my person, but I was more interested in how the new laws and concealed carry licensing would simplify transporting firearms when I would go shooting.

Ok. Only a little different. :D

Since then, I've begun carrying consistently but in the beginning that wasn't really the primary goal.
 
Didn't like open carry in the neighborhood as some neighbors would get upset, and too many coyotes, cats, javelina etc., to feel comfortable going walking without carrying.
 
No single event made me decide to get my permit, but a combination of things.

At the time, I was driving about 400 miles round trip every other weekend to visit family out if state. 99% of the time, I was alone, at night, on fairly deserted two lane highways. I'd already had a couple incidents that made me wish I had more than a mag light and tire iron handy.

The neighborhood I was living in wasn't horrible, but there were some recent break-ins and car burglaries (I was often up quite late and would be outside smoking when questionable people would come by). I wanted to be able to legally carry while out walking the dog, working on my cars, smoking, etc.

And, Utah being a shall issue state, I decided that since I was able to get a permit to legally carry, there was no reason not to. One weekend of classroom time, photo, prints, and a processing fee later I had my permit.

Mainly, I just wanted to be able to protect myself with more than bare hands, instead of waiting the 5-7 minutes for the police.
 
Simple prudence, really. I keep fresh batteries in my smoke detectors, and I carry a day's provision in my vehicle. Authorization to carry a firearm if needed follows that logic.
 
I think what Tom said. I believe a lot of people were conditioned or born that way to make a half way decent attempt to be somewhat prepared. No one particular incident inspired my old lady to want to carry and get additional training. In fact she was :eek: an anti-gun lady when I met her.

In all other aspects of life she was a fairly prepared, organized person. She was deathly afraid and intimidated by firearms. After being around me, and being supportive of me shooting for years she finally asked to hold my dad's old hi-standard. I explained calmly how to double check that it was clear for herself, and she held it. After that a LONG time later she loves her little sig 938 and life's good. Now no one's afraid... Just calmly prepared.
 
No incident. In my state it's illegal to transport a firearm from the home to a shooting range, so I had to get a permit if I wanted to go shooting.

Okay, so maybe you could say the "incident" was the purchase of my first handgun.
 
No special reason for me, but my wife's Ah-haa moment was interesting.

We both work as civilian volunteers with our local Sheriff's dept assisting with missing/lost persons searches and with natural disasters. Because of county policy we are only allowed to assist in our county or neighboring counties and for the most part are not allowed to be armed if we are in uniform. The Sheriff has the authority to arm us, but I don't see that happening.

http://www.floydsheriff.com/?page_id=611

We have earned a reputation for being pretty good and often get requests from other LE agencies for our help. Unless called out by the Sheriff we don't go in uniform, must use our own vehicles and can carry if legal to do so in the state where we're working.

Earlier in the summer we were looking for a suspected suicide victim in Jacksonville FL. Local LE had 2 other open missing persons cases, suspected murders, they gave us information on as well so we were really looking for 3 sets of remains or crime scene evidence.

The team we were working with were assigned a huge abandoned trailer park to search. We were told at the command post that there were a lot of homeless people living there and it was a high crime area with lots of drug activity. We were told, if you have a gun and a Florida permit to carry. I did. We had no issues other than explaining to the homeless why we were there, but my wife was highly concerned and told me she was ready to get her permit afterward.
 
I drive a lot in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, sometimes North and South Carolina, usually late at night. Having a gun in the car, with the chance of ever having to use it without a permit was just too much legal risk for me.
 
One day while hiking I got attacked by a turkey. Not even kidding. Well, it wasn't really an attack. More of a half charge and then run the other way. I assume I was around its nest or something. After that I decided to get a carry permit so I could have a gun on me while hiking. Its not as much for turkeys as it is other animals and the turkey situation just made me realize I needed to keep a weapon with me.

My wife, on the other hand, recently decided to get her concealed carry permit because she just started working as a social worker and the majority of her clients are mentally unstable in one way or another.
 
Long, long ago, in a place far, far away....

What Incident Led You Or Significant Other To Obtain A Permit.
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For me, the incident was a four car collision (with a fatality) in the late 1960s. We were in one of the lovely early 60's tanks, a two ton Buick (steel dashboard, no seatbelts or safety glass). I can still remember how proud my Dad was of the fact that it was the first car we had that he had actually paid off (Mom used to joke that Dad traded cars when the ashtrays got full, :D).

We were very lucky. Dad gashed his arm on the horn ring (15 stitches, and if you remember what a horn ring was, you're older than you think, ;)), Mom broke here nose on the rearview mirror (break away mirrors were still years in the future), and us kids in the back seat were bounced around, but unhurt.

How did this lead to me getting a permit? Well, Dad was a gun collector, of sorts, NRA rifle & pistol instructor, gave Hunter Safety classes, etc. He had a "large" handgun collection (SIX pistols, which was a lot, by the community standards of the time, and place.) State law required a permit to own handguns, and for any carry. AND, the guns were listed on the permit, by maker, caliber, barrel length, AND serial number!

As a result of that accident, we learned that. if something had happened to Dad (killed in a wreck, for instance) since no one else in the household had a permit for the guns, they would have had to have been surrendered to the police. State police would hold them for a given number of days (I no longer recall if it was 30, 60, 90, or what) and then destroy them. Local Sherriff would hold them the same, except that if someone in the household applied for a permit, they would hold the guns until the application was approved, or denied. 5 sets of fingerprints, 4 photographs, 3 character references, and investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies for the permit, so it took a while....

Mom applied for her permit the next week. I applied for mine, when I got old enough to do so, and so did my brother, when he came of age. All Dad's guns got listed on all our permits.

A decade later, grown up, and living on the other side of the country, I got my CPL (Concealed Pistol License) in the much more gun friendly state I still reside in. Two sets of fingerprints, filled out the form, paid the fee, and got it in the mail a bit less than 3 weeks later. I got it at the time, not because I carried, or was interested in doing so, but because having a CPL meant that I didn't have to go through the state's waiting period. (this was long before the Brady bill). No permit, 3-5 day wait, with permit, take it home after paying for it, the same as any rifle or shotgun.

Have had one ever since...
 
I got a CHL when Texas first began the program, so that at long last I'd be legal after three decades of not being legal.
 
Denver neighborhoods that I worked in combined with district pd's comment " we can't protect you" Got my CC when they first came out. By the grace of God, hasn't been out of leather!
Dan

Like Art, I carried a number of years and pd just looked other way....they knew me. Just decided to go legal!
 
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When Texas passed the CHL law a friend at work told me, "Come on, let's go take the class and get our CHLs!"

I told him no, I had no desire or reason to schlep a pistol around with me - but on second thought sure, it would be neat to have the license, and not that much of a hassle or cost.

So we took the class, got the licenses, and that was that.

Then one day my wife and I were in the grocery store and walked by the in-store bank kiosk. There had recently been a news story about a robbery and shooting at a similar kiosk at a nearby store, and I thought to myself, "I have a license to carry a pistol, a pistol I could carry, and no reason not to. And dying helplessly, unable to protect her should the need arise, would be the height of ignominy."

So I started carrying everywhere I legally could, and have since.

She has guns at home, can shoot, has dispatched animals that needed to be dispatched, but still has no interest in carrying off the property. Time will tell.
 
In 2007, I left a perfectly well-paying job to go out and start my own law practice. I rented an office in downtown LR, and a parking space about 2 blocks away. Anyone who has ever run their own business can attest, I had to work a whole lot of pre-dawn mornings, and late, late nights. I spent my days dealing in divorces and criminal defense, and then had to walk two blocks to my car after dark. Now, I don't think that downtown LR is any more dangerous than downtown of other similarly-sized cities, but like any city, we have our share of thugs and vagrants, so that walk wasn't always very comfortable. I started thinking about getting my CHCL.

I eventually had to close the doors on my firm, and I took a job as a gov't attorney. That meant that my job was going to include traffic court prosecution and "nuisance abatement." The traffic court prosecution isn't too bad, though some defendants get a little testy when I ask that they be given 6 months for their 15th offense of Driving on a Suspended License. The one that made me nervous was nuisance abatement. What is "nuisance abatement," you say? It means that I sue the owners and operators of drug houses and other establishments of ill repute. . . . I usually write them a letter before I sue them.

"Dear Mr. Crack Dealer, my name is Spats McGee, and I understand that our SWAT team raided your house approximately six weeks ago . . . . "

Yeah, it was time to start carrying.
 
Well... Nothing exciting for me. ( thank God)

But in Minnesota you have to have a permit to purchase to buy a hand gun.
This permit is good for one year and has to be renewed in person at the court house ( sheriffs office).

I live in the far NW corner of the county and the Sheriffs office is in the far SE corner. Real pain in the butt to have to go there every November.

A CC permit also acts as a permit to purchase and is good for 5 years.
So its a gas savings option :-)
 
In 1988 Washington State had a 5 day waiting period for handgun purchases. This waiting period was waived for holders of the state issued concealed weapons permit.

Being an impatient man...
 
For me it was the fact that in MA, you have to obtain an LTC to purchase any handgun or "large"capacity rifle or shotgun. I won't bore you with all the semantics that our gun hating politicians inject into the laws that only affect noncriminal people. Suffice it to say if you wish to own guns that aren't bolt, lever or pump action, go for the LTC.
Sadly the wife has no interest in pursuing any type of license. I wish she would, the small city we live next to is becoming a small version of much larger cities. Daytime shootings and such seem to be increasing.
MA just passed a law that allows people without an FID or LTC to posses defensive sprays. So the wife, 18 year old stepdaughter and my mother will be receiving some as gifts soon. Perhaps a little training with the sprays will awaken them and they will obtain firearms permits at some point in the near future.
 
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