Why did you start carrying a gun?

[Bobson]

Grew up around guns and gun owners, but none who ever carried. Kinda lost interest in firearms around age 17, then had it rekindled like never before around age 23. Before that, I honestly didn't even know conceal carry permits existed. It never occurred to me that "normal people" carried guns.

When I realized they can and do, I thought, why shouldn't I? I quickly became interested in LE and started studying criminal justice, and figured I'd carry my own gun until I became a cop and carried one for work. Turns out I never became a cop, and am now studying nursing... Far cry from anything I ever planned to do, but life has a funny way of redirecting people (Proverbs 16:9). Despite all the changes, I've never seen a reason to stop carrying. Quite the opposite, actually. I'm a bigger supporter of it now than I ever was.

 

[2ndAmendmentNut]

I got the CC permit because I simply turned 21. I carried a sub-compact 9mm because I got treed by a pack of javelinas.

 

[Delford]

I started carrying at age 62 in 2009. I took a CC class the day after Thanksgiving in 2008 after the encouragement of two friends. Both had CCPs and both carry pocket guns. One became my shooting coach and we regularly shoot at a farm and I've learned a lot.

In the process I did some serious thinking about what I was about to do. I had to come to a decision about taking a life. In defense of my family I would do it unequivocally.

The result of the practice has been gratifying. It turns out I'm a decent shot and target practice and defense drills are instant feedback. My friend keeps coming up with new scenarios so it's challenging and fun, although underlying all of that is the deadly serious fact that I'm training to stop a threat. I started with a .45 Ruger and now have a .45 Kahr. The 870 is beside the bed.

 

[BHP FAN]

because a police officer is too heavy.

 

[texasred777]

I started carrying when I started picking up several hundred dollars in cash twice to three times a week about 15 miles from where I worked. On the trip back, it was on an older highway without much traffic, but drunks, weirdoes, and robbers like that kind of road. I had a couple of times when I thought I was being followed, so I bought a gun. After changing jobs, I stopped carrying for a while. As I've become older, have COPD, and other health problems, I don't want to be bothered by anyone or anything. So, I've got my CCW and carry; not on me all the time, but close enough to have it in my hands within split second or two. I'm too old to fight, can't run because of COPD; so I'll just shoot instead of try to fight or run.

 

[dakota1911]

I carried in the boonies from when I was young but when I got out of college my job required it. The one most fellow officers carried was a Colt .45 in a vertical shoulder holster so that is what I carried. Of course we had to wear a tie and sport coat to work all the time.

 

[Mr. T]

I bought my first handgun because I was hunting in an area that was inhabited by wolves and I had been walked into my deer stand on one occasion by two wolves who bracketed me for the 3/4 mile walk to my stand. I only had my Remington 7400 which could be difficult to shoot multiple targets if they got in close to me so I bought a Ruger GP100 in .357 Mag. That purchase later led to purchasing other handguns...Springfield XD in .45 ACP and another one in 9mm for my wife. I later got my CC when my state passed a law allowing for CC. I now carry concealed everyday to work. I just don't like the thought of being a victim. I work in a public place where we do tend to get some unbalanced people. I've never had to pull any of my handguns for defense, but prior to having any handguns I did have to defend my house from a burglar with my deer rifle....so having a handgun also seemed to be a wise purchase from a HD standpoint.

 

[243winxb]

A hunt fish permit was needed to take a revolver along. The concealed permit covered usage any time for anything. Seemed the best way to go.

 

[centag]

It was cheap life insurance.

My first gun is a model 36 that I bought from my girlfriend. I fully admit that I can be, on certain topics, a slow learner.

And such was the case here. I started dating Deb when she was 18 and I was 27. We dated (meaning we never lived together) off and on for over 30 to 35 years. During that time we both had been married and divorced.

In 2007 I was ready to end it again. However, she had learned to shoot and used the unofficial 15 yard range in their basement. She was an excellent shot with her 38. Her only gun by this time. (Her deceased bother was an avid hunter and reloader, hence the range.)

I bought her 36 because I was pretty sure she would shoot me (most likely in the crotch) if I left again. I looked on this as Life Insurance. She needed money so we made the transfer three weeks before I ducked out. Like here dear Mother Deb had a real temper when riled. She was not happy about my just stop showing up or calling. She deserved better and I am sorry now that I did not man-up and tell her why I was ending our relationship.

A few years later I started a collection and now need two safes.

 

[Iggy]

The 3 brothers I went to school with in a one room school was Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and Red Ryder. If I din't want to end up bein' the Injun or the bad guy, I had to be a hero too.

I was the Lone Ranger. I've still got the "silver" bullet he gave me when I met him in 1949. If you took the base of the case off, it had a compass and you could use it for a "secret compartment."

I will say it's a little tough bein' cowboy heroes and not havin' anybody to shoot.

Been packin' for one reason or another ever since.

 

[Lord Teapot]

My first gun is a model 36 that I bought from my girlfriend. I fully admit that I can be, on certain topics, a slow learner.

And such was the case here. I started dating Deb when she was 18 and I was 27. We dated (meaning we never lived together) off and on for over 30 to 35 years. During that time we both had been married and divorced.

In 2007 I was ready to end it again. However, she had learned to shoot and used the unofficial 15 yard range in their basement. She was an excellent shot with her 38. Her only gun by this time. (Her deceased bother was an avid hunter and reloader, hence the range.)

I bought her 36 because I was pretty sure she would shoot me (most likely in the crotch) if I left again. I looked on this as Life Insurance. She needed money so we made the transfer three weeks before I ducked out. Like here dear Mother Deb had a real temper when riled. She was not happy about my just stop showing up or calling. She deserved better and I am sorry now that I did not man-up and tell her why I was ending our relationship.

A few years later I started a collection and now need two safes.

lol post of the day^

 

[Hondo 60]

460Kodiak opened this thread with: Buying my first handgun led to a collection of handguns and a passion for the sport of target shooting.

Boy, does that sound like me.

I'm a disabled vet. As my disabilities got worse I felt less & less in control.
I always did LOVE guns & shooting, and can't say why I didn't have one long ago.
But in 2009 I bought a Charter Arms .38 Special.
Within a month I had 2 S&W Model 10s, and from there the collection grew.

I originally started with open carry, but on 01 Nov 2011, WI became the 49th state with concealed carry. I got my license as soon as possible & now carry concealed

 

[rglong81]

When I was in my early twenties I didn't think I needed one. I felt invincible. The wife also had serious concerns about guns and kids in the house. A lot of that due to ignorance about the safeties and different ways to make them inert. In my late twenties it was discovered I was born with an abnormal heart condition called Wolf Parkinsons White Syndrom or WPW for short. It left me feeling pretty vulnerable because the ablations were not entirely successful. Basically, I'm too young to die but too old to take a whoopin.

 

[preachnhunt]

When I was 17 our next door neighbor (an elderly woman) was raped and brutally murdered. I remember sleeping with a baseball bat beside my bed knowing that the man who had done that was still out there somewhere. I hated that feeling of vulnerability. At 24 I was in seminary and had a field work job at the state prison. The prison to which I was assigned housed most of the violent sex offenders in the Ky system and it was my job to try to minister to them. I always read their complete files before meeting with any of them. The confidential files contained great detail on the nature of their crimes. Enough said. I also interviewed several inmates and learned that they were afraid of two things; guns and dogs. I now have several of each.
My wife actually started carrying before I did, and was locked in her office as a crazy guy tried to break down the door one day. If he had gotten through he would have been facing the business end of a .38 special.
After these experiences and a few less dramatic ones I decided that safe beats sorry every time and I prefer to be armed whenever I legally can.

 

[Compound8.0]

Basically permitted for hunting fishing since 1975 , wife is an officer of the court dealing face to face with a lot of bottom feeders ( and just innocent traffic violators as well ) . Interstate came through , WalMart moved in ... Etc and her Judge suggested she get CC permit as things are getting worse , we have met up with some of her , let's call them clientele out in public who have made "comments " . Anyway she gets her CC in a quick two weeks ( fast turnaround unusual here ) and since I had put in a letter of request for upgrade to CC when she applied mine came through same time as hers . Now one or both of us walk heavy when out shopping and yes we go to WalMart ( coincidentally where she gets some stares etc .) as is our right just as much as some of the not so nice folks she deals with ! I look at it this way I am a Nam Era Vet , we are both older and have paid our dues and earned our right Not to become victims and will excercise that Right to the fullest !!

 

[ColonelAngus]

I looked around at some of the people I know who legally carry....
...and thought, Man, if THAT guy is carrying a legal loaded weapon, I better have some defense because apparently they'll let anyone have a gun!!!!!!!!!!!!
And sure enough, at least half the people in my CPL class, I wouldn't turn my back on if I knew they were carrying! SCARY!

 

[Zaydok Allen]

And sure enough, at least half the people in my CPL class, I wouldn't turn my back on if I knew they were carrying! SCARY!

I took a class to satisfy the Utah non-resident permit requirement, as it got me coverage in some states I frequently visit.

Everyone seemed very well mannered and upstanding, but I was shocked by the level of ignorance. I was the only person in my class able to answer the instructor's questions out of 25 people or so.

 

[Coyote3855]

I was raised on a ranch in Colorado. My Dad carried his Colt Woodsman every day. When I was 13, I bought a Ruger Single Six and have been carrying a handgun ever since. Not always in full compliance with the current law. Carrying a handgun is as natural to me as carrying a pocket knife and a billfold.

 

[Indigo22]

Here is one of the reasons I started to frequently carry while in the woods, prior to this it was more of an afterthought.
Quite a few years back I was confronted while walking in the woods by growling dogs. Two blocked my path up the trail in the direction I was headed while one had started circling to my back side. Five shots dropped the three dogs and I put another round into what I perceived as the leader of the pack for good measure. This was a couple miles into the state reserve from the nearest farm/home to the best of my knowledge. No other people were in the area at the time but I moved along quickly from the area seeing as the biggest of the dogs had a collar. Had I not been carrying my 22lr pistol on that hike I am convinced the outcome would have not been good.
I have never felt under gunned in the woods carrying my 22. Had I been in bear country I may have felt differently.
Now that I am older and less likely to want to tangle with ANY unsavory type I don't leave home without my CCW.

 

[Ed Ames]

I don't have any scary/funny stories.

I carry becauseof this man:


My only real personal hero, and one of the people I respect most in all of history. He once said what seems to me to be pure truth:

"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. "

I look around, at the drug war, at the minimum wage laws that keep unskilled workers from joining the labor force, at the schools, and I think we are living in exactly the world he was warning us against.

So I work to change things, but I don't accept responsibility for the problems and I have no intention of being victimized because of them.

Well, that and feral dogs. I love dogs, but if your dog attacks mine and you aren't actively pulling your dog's leash to stop the fight, I will end it myself.

 

[skoro]

dupe

 

[Nom de Forum]

At a young age I realized that no matter how well I learned to use my hands and feet for self-defense there are too many self-defense scenarios where they would be insufficient.

 

[jrod]

I started carrying when I was living in Alaska and Shall Issue CCW went into effect. After growing up in L.A. Ca., I thought it would be nice to exercise my 2nd Amendment Rights.

 

[SSN Vet]

A woman and her daughter were car jacked at a convenience store the next town over by a knife wielding man and the woman was raped in front of her daughter...

I couldn't get the thought out of my mind, that if that happened while I was in the car with my wife and daughter, I wouldn't be able to change the outcome.

Now I know I can.

 

[TruthTellers]

I don't carry atm because I don't have a CCW or a handgun designed for CCW, but I do want to begin concealed carrying soon to get a feel for it. I don't even particularly want to carry a gun on my person because it's another thing I have to lug around. I don't want to do it to feel tough, because life itself is a toughening experience which I know too well, I only want to do it so I don't feel defenseless.

And self defense is a natural right endowed to all men and that right does not come from people he did not vote for.

Active shooter situations are always a possibility and right now my first instinct to combat such a scenario is to **** ASAP, but in the possibility that I can't flee, then I will have to fight. I think mass concealed carry is the solution to the mass shooters who have wrought havoc in this morally degenerated police state society that has evolved from the ruins of a once free and righteous nation.

But, I guess the biggest reason of all that I would like to carry is to make a statement to the Bolsheviks of our time who believe that I should be a victim and that I don't know what is best for myself to say that it is my right to keep and bare arms and it is my duty to defend myself from harm and if they don't like it, they can shove it up their pipe.