Why CC?

[Ala Tom]

I just got my Alabama Pistol Permit which is essentially a Concealed Carry permit. But my purpose was simply to be able to carry both ammo and handguns in my car from my home to a range. Right now, I don't even need to carry the ammo. I carry an empty gun to the range, buy the ammo and shoot it on the range. Then I return home with the empty gun. There are provisions in the Alabama law that allow that as well as allowing the transportation of a new gun to my home without the Pistol Permit. But I figured the combination of a range and an ammo store might not be permanent so I applied for the permit.

I intend to use a pistol for home defense and need to be able to practice with the pistol. But I see no need for Concealed Carry at this point in my life. Being retired I can mainly do what I want and don't have to do the things that can be dangerous.

I'd like to hear what reasons some of you have for using your CC license and what experiences you have had as a result of carrying.

Many decades ago I played in a band that finished after midnight so I had to walk several blocks to catch a bus in the cold carrying my two instruments. I stuck a .32 in my coat pocket. Those instruments were my most expensive possessions and my means to a livelihood. Just a decade ago I liked to go wandering in the woods with my camera gear shooting nature pictures. Then it dawned on me that I was carrying $10,000 worth of stuff into the middle of nowhere. I met some interesting people in those woods. Fortunately, they were all nice. I stopped doing that before my luck ran out. These days I don't plan on doing those things.

 

[Dr_B]

I carry mainly for two reasons:

1. I like handguns. I like having one around and I like shooting it on a regular basis.

2. Although I live in a relatively safe community in northern Idaho, people are people and bad stuff happens. So I carry for self-defense. A small gun in town and big one in the woods.

Where are in you Alabama? I lived in Birmingham several years ago. I was robbed once on a running trail in Homewood, and I also knew a student who was murdered just south of the UAB campus. I didn't carry when I lived there, but in hindsight I should have. I've also lived in Memphis, TN for over a decade and I always have something with me when I visit there.

 

[txhoghunter]

1) Bad things happen to good people
2) I would rather be safe than sorry
3) And a variation on #2, it is better to have a gun and not need it than to need it and not have it.

(at least these will be my reasons to CC once I hit that age in my life)

My experiences carrying a handgun on my body are limited to when I am on the family farm. The only time I have had to use it was when I had an aggressive feral dog get between myself and my vehicle. Without that gun on my side, the end result would have been much worse for me (and possibly better for the dog).

 

[Nushif]

I intend to use a pistol for home defense and need to be able to practice with the pistol. But I see no need for Concealed Carry at this point in my life. Being retired I can mainly do what I want and don't have to do the things that can be dangerous.

Well, I'm not retired but I do have the license for similar reasons.

To me guns are mainly a hobby that happens to work well for self defense, so I keep taking those classes and carry when I feel like it. My town and neighborhood is pretty darn safe and if I ever felt threatened it'd be a new thing for me around here. the worst thing that prowls these Oregon streets is the occasional pot-head who asks for some dope. I just tell them I don't do it and walk off and they say "Seeya later, dude." Talk about dangerous conflict.

However, when I go to towns I don't know I do sometimes carry, or when I feel like having my favorite hobby implement close at hand ... but I see where you're coming from. I don't *need* to carry. I just like doing it once in a while. My main reason for a permit is basically this:

1. I like handguns. I like having one around and I like shooting it on a regular basis.

 

[mljdeckard]

One thing you said makes me want to comment. You said that you 'don't have to do the things that can be dangerous.' Well, the rest of us don't either. If anyone is going into a place or activity that we consider to be dangerous, the solution is not to put on a gun, the solution is to not go there in the first place. We don't carry because our lives are in danger, we carry to make them safer. We frequently compare carry guns to other safety equipment most people use. You don't wait to buckle your seatbelt until you know you are about to be in an accident. You don't put batteries in your smoke alarm when the house is already on fire. We carry because we DON'T KNOW when something bad will happen.

 

[ForumSurfer]

But I see no need for Concealed Carry at this point in my life. Being retired I can mainly do what I want and don't have to do the things that can be dangerous.

I've seen regular old, mundane life turn into life changing experiences. I carry to be prepared. If I knew where all of life's danger were, I would avoid them and not carry. Sadly, life happens. It happens to good people in good neighborhoods. It is more of a mindset than a security blanket.

Edit:: I conceal carry because I feel I have the right to be armed and it is no one's business if I am.

 

[Ala Tom]

When you are young regular work will often require that you walk alone down unsafe streets or drive with money around various parts of a city (I did that too). For many years I got my pay as cash in an envelope - several $100 at a time - and carried it through busy traffic to a bank in a shopping mall. I didn't think of that as particularly dangerous but I did it very regularly and would have made an easy target. That is one way that present technology has helped a lot. For the past 20 years all our income has been electronically deposited.

My concern about CC is that I have not had any classes dealing with how to handle various situations. These develop regularly in daily life even in my sheltered situation. Not long ago a man shot his ex wife in a Wal-Mart parking lot in the middle of a day. How often do we go to a place like that? What would we do if we walk into a situation like that? What could we do?

I figure leaving the gun home means I don't have to make such a decision. Yeah, I know. Maybe I should pop for a course.

 

[ForumSurfer]

My concern about CC is that I have not had any classes dealing with how to handle various situations. These develop regularly in daily life even in my sheltered situation. Not long ago a man shot his ex wife in a Wal-Mart parking lot in the middle of a day. How often do we go to a place like that? What would we do if we walk into a situation like that? What could we do?

I figure leaving the gun home means I don't have to make such a decision. Yeah, I know. Maybe I should pop for a course.

I am not an LEO. I carry to protect myself and my family. That is my first and only goal. It may sound non-caring and mean or even callous....but it is what it is. Unless it is a fairy-tail situation where I know all of the facts and some guy is intent on doing some poor young lady harm, I'm just not stepping in. Situations like that don't happen in the real world. Instead, we may see some guy beating his wife. We might not have seen his wife pull a butcher knife on him prior to our arrival and try to kill him. Now I've just shot some poor schmoe trying to fend off an attacker. I could pick the wrong good guy and/or land myself in jail or with a lawsuit.

Classes are always a great idea.

 

[Cosmoline]

I'd echo the comments that everything is ordinary until it isn't. A walk down the street or day at work can turn into a lethal hell in an instant. It does every single day to people all over the country. Some folks have been lucky to not be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Others are just fatalistic about it. Personally, while I know sometimes there's nothing you can do, I'd like to at least have the option of fighting back available to me.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

you 'don't have to do the things that can be dangerous.'

The problem is there are people out there who will bring danger to you when you think your are avoiding it.

 

[BleysAhrens]

You can't have ammo and a gun in your care at the same time with out your permit? And can't have a gun in your car unless your taking it home or to the range? Alabama? Wow!

 

[rogertc1]

I have had a permit to carry and have carried for over 38 years. Never have had to use them however. (IOWA)

 

[NavyLCDR]

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/17/us/gunman-kills-22-and-himself-in-texas-cafeteria.html

I wonder how many people eating lunch at Luby's Cafeteria that day felt no need to carry a firearm.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/14808321/detail.html

How many people need a gun when they go to church? At least one.

What do you think is going to happen to the liklihood of these incidents occuring as the economy continues to go into the toilet and more people are out of work and gas goes up to $5.00 or $6.00?

 

[CVA-66]

You don't do things that are dangerous? You don't go to the store? You don't drive a car?
Things happen all the time, in places you wouldn't expect.
That's why I carry.

 

[Zundfolge]

I would contend that sharing the planet with predators unarmed would be unnecessarily dangerous.


I've been on the business end of a criminals gun ... I don't intend to go quietly next time.

And of course you KNOW that criminals leave retired people alone.

 

[JellyJar]

No matter who you are.
No matter where you are.
No matter what you do or don't do.
At any time of day or night you and/or your family could, without any warning, be the intended victim of a violent crime and the only way for you to survive is to either use or be ready to use a deadly weapon against the attacker(s).
I carry almost whenever I leave my house and that is why.
I learned this while living in Houston Texas for 26 years.

 

[Snowdog]

Safety is the responsibility of the individual and not that of law enforcement.
With that in mind, I would prefer not to subject my myself or my family to the mercy of the criminal element.

 

[makarovnik]

To the OP: Why not CC? Let's hear some good reasons why one shouldn't carry concealed.

 

[451 Detonics]

I would love to live in a world were there was no crime, where human life actually had value to everyone. Sadly that world does not exist. I carry everyday in order to have a means to protect myself and my family from harm

 

[JohnBiltz]

I got my CCW for similar reasons to the OP. Then I had a convicted rapist gangbanger with 17 years in prison move in with his mother next door to me and his friends would be over. I would hear conversations like "do you have the bolt cutters?" and I started carrying.

 

[Telekinesis]

You can't have ammo and a gun in your care at the same time with out your permit? And can't have a gun in your car unless your taking it home or to the range? Alabama? Wow!

Yeah, that's the law here, though I do believe there is an exemption for a trip to the range. Also you can keep it in the trunk (unloaded, or "unloaded" ) and just not consent to a search of your vehicle if you're pulled over.

I'm in Alabama as well, and while several other states have seen fit to issue me carry permits, my home state has not (please note I am 20 years old and apparently not old enough to deserve to defend myself). Only one short clause in the AL code keeps me from carrying here on my other permits. For a quick example of the stupidity of this, if my roommate (same age and very similar to myself except that he is a GA resident) had the same permits, he could carry while I could not. :banghead:

So, to answer your original question, because of the law keeping me from carrying in the state, I use my permits for when I travel. For example, I am planning a 2,300 mile road trip this summer on my motorcycle and will most likely be traveling through some less than safe areas, so the ability to carry a pistol will be very comforting.

If I had a AL state permit (hopefully in 6 months... ) I probably wouldn't carry every day as I live on a college campus (no, not illegal to carry a gun here, just not completely kosher with the admin) but I would carry it if I was going to be off campus for most of the day.

As far as training, I took a Utah CCW class (required for the Utah permit) from Alabama FTS and had a good experience. They have everything from NRA basic classes to CCW classes, and even had a visit from southnarc if I recall.

 

[smince]

I live in Alabama. I love it enough that I've moved back twice from other states. It's a great state, but come on - read the paper or watch the news each night.

I carry because I can, and everywhere I can (including the above-mentioned church). I never leave home without at least a Glock 26 (mostly my 19, though) and a 17-round spare magazine along with a knife. I pay from my own pocket to take private training classes from some of the top trainers in the country.

I have a family I care about and want to come home to them every night. My wife carries for the same reasons.

But don't feel out of place. I know many who get a permit to have 'just in case'. Heck, I even know cops who don't carry off-duty

 

[wow6599]

I hope you never have to answer your own question...........

 

[kansersurvivor]

My father in law carries daily. The one day he did not, was the day a local pill head decided his catalytic converter was attached to my father in laws truck parked outside the garage. It was 2:00 pm, bright and sunny. Three large dogs loose in the yard. Nothing was stopping him from taking what was not his.

My father in law had just brought his mom home from the hospital (lives across the street) and was pulling into his drive when he sees a large truck coming at him at high speed. The truck took to the grass and got around my father in law. A chase insued and the guy wrecked and took to the woods. He got away but they know who he is and the local PD, Sheriff and State Troopers all asked why he had not shot the guy on the spot. Again, this was the day he did not carry.

The lord has another plan for this pill head apparently.

SO. Why carry? What if his wife had been home alone? His 84 year old mother? My wife and kids? Those that carry, carry for one reason only, protection.

Seems silly that i had to say all this for such an easily determined answer.

 

[Bhamrichard]

You can't have ammo and a gun in your care at the same time with out your permit? And can't have a gun in your car unless your taking it home or to the range? Alabama? Wow!

A little clarification.. Having a firearm in your vehicle, is considered concealed, therefor you must have a pistol permit in order to transport in a vehicle, unless you've just purchased it and are heading home, or are in route to a range to shoot, or back home from the range.