Why you carry your handgun

I rarely carry, but when I do I see that as my right as a person on this earth. A right that I was born with. Not a right that was granted to me my anything or anyone.

I do not believe that there is a gun culture. If anything there is an anti-gun culture. I know plenty of gun owners with whom I disagree about any number of topics, including guns. I have not seen that level of tolerance displayed by those who would regulate, and then ban firearms. Good luck with your paper.
 
Also I realize that the term "Gun culture" can be used as a political tool, but I can't think of any better terms for the large population of shooting enthusiasts that are unique to our country.
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I think a better term would "Shooters' Fraternity," or "Shooting Fraternity."

But, to answer your question, I carry strictly for self defense.
 
I only recently started actually carrying a firearm on my person. Why?

Well, I live in CT and I work in Cheshire. My employer lives a couple of streets away from where the home invasion/ murders took place years back. It was a "safe" neighborhood and a nice family, just like where I live with my family. Then there was the Newtown school shootings in CT. While that was going on, my twin kindergarteners were at their school (same age as all those children that were shot).

While those events, along with other crimes, have caused a lot of people in this state to panic and call for stricter gun control.. I had the opposite reaction. I looked at my family and said to myself.. "If my family was in danger and I was there, I want to be able to protect them". So, I started to carry and have everyday since. If I'm awake, then I have a gun on my person.
 
First, it comes from the perspective that there are extremely evil and desperate people in the world that do horrible things to victims. Like it or not, believe it or not, there are selfish/greedy/violent people in your city, town, neighborhood, maybe even on your city block. You pass them every day on the roads and interstates. You stand in line at the store with them. These people are capable of armed robbery, taking hostages, stabbing you, shooting you, lighting you on fire, committing unimaginable violent crimes against you and your loved ones. They'll do it for drug money, thrills, or boredom. Or for no reason at all.

I've seen, and unofficially studied, a lot of victims and their treatment at the hands of their brutal captors... civilians and military alike. I've seen videos of read stories and heard accounts from witnesses of things unmentionable on this forum. But a few examples.

1. Quite town in CT a few years back. A couple thugs followed mom and daughters home, later broke in, beat father to near death, did horrible crimes to the females, and poured gas on the females and burned the house down. For kicks.

2. Last year, a jogger was out jogging and a few bored kids drove up to him and shot him and killed him while he was running. They were bored. That might not be the best example of how a jogger could defend himself with a gun, but you get the idea. I will suggest that carrying a gun makes you start to have better situational awareness. At least that's my experience. I start paying attention more to my surroundings, a term called "situational awareness." You are aware of suspicious slow moving cars with thugs in them. You sit facing doors in public. You observe and watch for suspicious people... So perhaps if this jogger were a person inclined to carry a gun, he might have chosen his route differently, or been more attuned to the slow moving car with 3 thugs all watching him... and evaded.

Any time spent on this subject will reveal horrible deaths and near-deaths by real-world victims.

Also, there are stray violent animals in the world. Stray aggressive dogs. Wild animals in the woods, etc.

Then you see that the common link for most victims is that they were lax in their own safety, lax in their own situational awareness, and almost universally they did not have any effective way to defend themselves. Had most of the victims had a simple handgun with them and some training, they likely would have not been a victim.

I refuse to be a victim.

My safety and security is more important than anything else. The most effective way for me to protect my safety/security is to carry a gun and protect my home with, among other things, guns. Just like you take other preventative measures, both passive and active (seatbelts, lifejackets, fire extinguishers, spare tires, cell phones/911, safety glasses, first aid kit, etc.).

We are a rare culture and 'experiment' in that civilians can own and carry guns. I take full advantage of my rights. For a minimal amount of monetary investment, and training that I enjoy, I have the security and freedom on my hip that allows me to feel safe in a violent and unpredictable chaotic and violent world. ... Down the street, across town, across state, and across country to most states and locations that permit concealed carry.

And I've been in areas where I have been thankful to have a handgun or longgun with me.

Ever see royalty/wealthy people out in public. They are swarmed with professional armed body guards.

Unlike royalty/wealthy people, who have armed body guards, I can't afford armed body guards. So it's up to me to protect myself.
 
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I carry for self defense and defense of my wife and anyone else with me at the time I am carrying.

"Gun culture" tends to be used as a pejorative term to ridicule gun owners as a homogenous group of people focused on gun ownership despite the diversity of their interests and beliefs, including their interests and beliefs with regard to guns.
 
Why do you carry a gun?

1. True evil exist in the world.
2. I have a "God given right" to protect myself.
3. I have an "obligation" to protect all my family members.

How do you define the term "Gun culture"?

1. A phrase used by the "Left" to make all firearm users appear cult like.
2. I prefer to view myself being a "brother in arms" to all my self reliant
brother and sister citizens exercising our," individual", 2nd Amendment rights.
3. The current debate on 2nd Amendment is not about if we have or don't have firearms. It is really about if we live as free citizens or subjects.
4. Our President and the US Congress are not sovereign, the US Constitution is.


The Strawstalker, behind enemy lines in Liberal Colorado. Molon Labe!
 
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A simple refusal

First off, I grew up on a small rural farm where guns were considered a necessary tool for hunting and pest control, so I had a very early indoctrination. I'd like to note that at that time there was no negative stigma attached to legal gun ownership and use. They were no more than another tool for everyday life. Many years later I still find it utterly absurd that mainstream media vilifies gun ownership.

these days my primary reason for carrying a gun is defense of self and family.
I simply and consciously REFUSE to willingly place our wellbeing, without recourse, in the hands of an armed criminal.

IMO the term "gun culture" is an anti-gun movement invention, lauded by the media, to espouse a non-existent difference between gun owners and non-owners. Whether or not someone owns a gun does NOT correlate with how they feel about protecting their families. Lastly, the idea that being an unarmed victim is morally superior to being an armed defender is at the very least completely nonsensical to any thinking person.
 
I started c.c.w. in 1982 .
I would feel naked without it.
In 1988 had a major heart attack at 38 yrs old.
Now I an 65 yrs old .
Too old to fat and can't run.
BUT I CAN STILL SHOOT .
 
Hey all. I'm writing a paper for my sociology class on the American gun culture. So to help me with that, I am asking these questions...
- Why do you carry a gun?
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It's L. Neil Smith's fault.

(I know, that's kind of a cryptic answer. The fuller answer is complicated, having to do with personal history.)
 
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So, just to get this into the weeds, I'd like to know how you are going to apply these answers to this paper. I mean, you don't know anything about us, so our answers are all pretty much the equivalent of "this guy I met in a bar said..."
Are we all representative of "gun culture" because we belong to this website? I'd argue that some users use the Tactics forum only and others contribute primarily to the law and civil rights section and some are only here to learn about hunting and firearms. I don't think I go to the competitive shooting forum until biathlon season starts.
Personally, I think that 'gun culture' is a slippery term that is slightly derogatory. Is there an NFL culture? A lot of people talk about that topic at the water cooler. Is there a 'voter culture'? I am pretty sure that there's a group of people that use that civil right pretty regularly.

Lot's of solid answers to this question, but how you apply those answers is the key, imho.

Good luck with your paper.
 
I own because I have the Constitutional right to do so, and I carry because I live in a state that finally did something right by enacting CCW laws. I'm not a raving paranoid, but there are some really bad people out there, and they have a way of doing really bad things when PD is not around, so it's up to me to protect myself and my family.
Regarding your asking about "gun culture" I can only shake my head and say "You really don't get it, do you???" The men that wrote the Constitution and made this country from the ground up ALL believed that free men own guns, slaves don't. I paraphrase Ben Franklin who said to the effect Those who make Themselves into sheep are eaten by Wolves.
Keep on with your research and at the same time keep an open mind and listen to what is in the real word, and hopefully have a long and peaceful life, but above all, Be Ready. Nuff Said.
 
I don't know if it is a gun culture or if it is a group of people who realize life is not like TV. Most times you call 911 to have an armed clerk come out to do a report of what the bad guy did. Too late for the victim.

I am not anti law enforcement, I just realize they can't be everywhere every time. My neighbor had his life threatened by a town dope dealer. The response time for an officer to come out was 3 hours. The dope dealer did not come over the fence with the baseball bat mostly because my neighbor had a Glock 17 in his hand.

Maybe it is a culture of people who have decided not to be a helpless victim.
 
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I've already answered the question, but I want to agree with what DannyB1954 said: I have been in several situations where the police were called, and more than once they took more than 45 minutes to arrive. And this is in the middle of two different major American cities. 45 minutes!?! One of the calls was when my wife called 911 after our neighbor in San Antonio had a home invasion. Luckily no one was home, but if the cops are going to take more than 45 minutes to arrive at a home invasion call, I think maybe we should be prepared to defend ourselves instead of relying on the cops for protection.
 
I haven't been carrying a gun for very long, but I don't carry it on my person at all times. I carry a gun for work, I am a security guard and it's not so much for protection against other people as it is against wild life.

There are black bear all around my area and near where I work, sometimes I do get closer than I'd ever like to be. Normally they are docile, but having a either my .357 mag or .44 mag with me while I make my rounds, just-in-case, is a nice thing to have.

It's only ever loaded while I'm at work, or when I intend to fire off some rounds at some cardboard or pop cans. Otherwise it stays home and remains unloaded, I don't personally feel like I have to carry with me at all times.
 
I carry a pistol because I wouldn't ask someone to do for me something that I can do for myself.

It is not there to protect property, honor, or pride, but only things that really matter: my life, and the lives of my loved ones.

I haven't needed it so far. I might never need it. In an ideal world it not be necessary. In a slightly less ideal world, simply calling the police would result in an instantaneous response that would halt evil-doers. Alas, we do not gain much by wishing for something that never has been, and never will be.

So I carry a pistol.
 
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