Since I have been licensed to carry I find that I was carrying "most" of the time. I didn't carry in the house, and if I had to run out for a quick trip to the supermarket or gas station I didn't always stop to get my carry gun. But despite living in a "good" part of town, I have become more and more aware of just how much crime is taking place all around me. I get a daily email from Crimemapping.com and whereas I used to go days and days without any report of any crime within the two mile radius of my home, I never now go a day without an email.
Home burglaries and car break ins seem to be happening more and more often. Now I carry all the time. Even if I just step outside to bring the trash out, or let the dog do her businesses, or check the mail or whatever, at least a j-frame with +p ammo is in my pocket. Even first thing in the morning, when I let the dog out and I'm in my pajamas, I stop long enough to get a gun out of the GunVault by my bedside before I unlock the front door. Maybe I'm getting paranoid, maybe I am just more conscious that as I age I become a seemingly easy target for thugs who just see an old guy with a gimpy gait, but going from "mostly" carry to "always" carry has given me a bit more peace of mind.
This has turned out to be (in my opinion) a very strange thread with some very strange answers! For example: We live in a '
good neighborhood ' too; but that didn't prevent my next-door neighbor from being ambushed and shot in the chest, five times! (I think it was a drug deal that went bad; or, maybe, there was a woman involved? I don't know; I don't care; but the event occurred at around 2:00 o'clock in the morning, and was much too close to my own home for comfort! The investigating authorities have, also, never apprehended the shooter; but they did come to the house to reassure us that it was some sort of '
personal dispute'; and we didn't need to worry about any kind of anonymous, late night, neighborhood '
thrill killer'.)
Nor did our '
great neighborhood' stop some enormous, filthy dirty, (I assume?) '
street vagrant ' from walking very quietly and very quickly into our home! He stopped a moment to look at my very attractive wife. Then he saw me, and realized that I was both helpless and on crutches. Next he began to move '
like a bullet' straight at me until — at the very last moment — our two (superlatively well-trained) Pit Bulldogs woke up and proceeded to completely change the guy's mind about whatever he had planned for me! Where were my guns that morning? They were all upstairs in the master bedroom. (Great place for them, right!)
Years later, one evening, my wife asked me to empty our overflowing kitchen garbage container. So, at around 9:30 PM, I grabbed the garbage bag and began walking out of the house to go to the farm dumpster which was located about 100 yards from our front door. Just before I walked out the door, and almost as an afterthought, I picked up my EDC pistol and tucked the paddle holster into my waistband. If I hadn't I wouldn't be typing this right now because two local meth dealers were also at the dumpster that night; and, when I announced my presence and asked them what they were doing, they attacked me! From literally, '
out of a very quiet night ', at my home, and on my own property they attacked me!
I'm an older man who, perhaps for reasons known only to God, continues to be, unobtrusively, very fast and very accurate with a handgun. If I hadn't taken my EDC pistol with me, that night, on what was supposed to be nothing more than a domestic '
garbage run', I honestly believe that those two fellows would have hurt me very badly! Physically, I was no match for either one of them; and, just before they attacked, they had correctly sized up my inferior physical condition. Until the bigger of the two men began to reach for the Glock he was carrying behind his belt buckle (What an idiotic way to carry!) neither one of them realized that they were, so to speak, '
in over their heads'; but, without a pistol of my own, there's not the slightest doubt in my mind that they would have worked some sort of atrocious evil against me!
Is the above three incidents enough for ya! (They were certainly enough for me!) Still there's more: One afternoon I was sitting alone, and all by myself, in the isolated parking lot of a local state park. A white van suddenly pulled in; and, oddly, with the entire large lot to park anywhere in, the van's driver parked right next to me. This was when I noticed that the driver was a middle-aged male who seemed to be, both, very upset and, perhaps, even enraged about something. Couldn't have been me! I don't gamble, drink, or fool around with women; so, whatever he was upset about couldn't have had anything to do with me, personally — Right? No, wrong!
For reasons I will never understand, all of a sudden like, I realized that I had become the focus of this man's mystifying personal rage. Why? Perhaps for no other reason than I was there; and I was available for him to vent his rage against. (I don't know?) Anyway, he glared at me for a few minutes, and until I began to constantly watch him, back.
Suddenly he opened the driver's door, and walked around the back of the van where he stopped to glare at me some more. As he reached inside the van's side cargo door, I remember thinking to myself, '
What's he got in there?' when, all of a sudden, I saw the butt of a gunstock in his hand. Why me? Why me! I didn't know? I'll never know; but he had to be stopped; so I stopped him. I do remember that he appeared to be every bit as surprised as he was furiously angry when he realized that I was armed, and not the least bit nonplussed by his weird personal behavior!
The point is that nobody ever really knows when one of these events is about to occur. You have to be ready all of the time in order to be prepared for that one uncommon event that might very easily end up by suddenly (and, perhaps, inexplicably) costing you your life. At least in my own experience: These dire life-threatening emergencies will, quite literally, come at you '
from out of the blue'; and, more likely than not, you won't be expecting anything bad to happen until AFTER your attacker is, all of a sudden, right there — looking you in the face!
As for what I think of post #13 above? That long '
laundry list' of dire consequences and legal problems incumbent to a successful incident of self-defense, are all things that only a living survivor can experience. Life isn't perfect; and justice isn't always fair. My own thinking on this subject is,
AS LONG AS I KNOW THAT I'M '
RIGHT WITH GOD ', MY ACTIONS ARE IN LINE WITH BIBLICAL TEACHING, AND I HAVE NOTHING TO FEEL EITHER PERSONALLY ASHAMED OF, OR MORALLY GUILTY ABOUT THEN I'LL BE GLAD TO STAND TO ANSWER FOR WHATEVER IT IS THAT I HAVE DONE; AND I WILL ENDURE WHATEVER LIFE AND/OR TODAY'S, TOO OFTEN PERVERSE, LEGAL SYSTEM DECIDES TO THROW AT ME.
There are physical cowards; and there are moral, and intellectual cowards, too. An honorable, a 'righteous' man, should always strive to hold onto his god-given moral fortitude! (After all, this is
exactly how soldiers are taught to defend their countries — Yes!) It's your life, a gift from God; and either you will respect and appreciate it, or not.
So, show some moral fiber, let's see that intellectual courage, and go ahead and hang the laundry list of troubles you might get into. Remember: Life isn't always fair; and men aren't always just; but, still, this is what we're, all, supposed to be. So set the right example and '
let the cards fall ' where they will. (If God won't condemn you for whatever it is that you might have done, then, you're going to be '
home free' anyway!)
My own best advice on this topic? Don't disrespect, by either word or deed, the precious gift of life that God has given you! '
For what doth The Lord Thy God require of thee except to do what is right, to cherish mercy and justice, and to walk humbly with thy God? '
* All of the rest is '
fluff and folderol '; none of which will allow a man to '
stand in the judgment' or save a man's soul.
In this regard and, especially, in a split-second CQB pistol gunfight where TIME is of the extreme essence, you have to prepare yourself to take action well in advance of the event, itself: Your conscience has to be correctly trained; your physical skills need to be precise and well developed; your emotional responses must be very well disciplined; and you truly need to be able to advantage yourself with the useful virtues of PRIOR KNOWLEDGE AND ADVANCED PREPARATION in exactly the same way that each and every one of today's world governments seeks to do in their daily management of both people and social structures.
Any personal behavior that is less than this is to be, in a very real sense, intellectually naïve and physically ill-prepared for how: life, circumstance, and daily living (and/or risk-taking) occur in the real world.
* Micah 6:8
