Concealed Carry Almost Triples since 2007

[Maple Syrup Actual]

While the odds of, say, a disgruntled client shooting up my former place of employment may be astronomically low (but not unheard of), it's not just at work where I may need a firearm.

Similar thing to campus carry, actually. I've got a buddy who goes to school in Atlanta. He can walk off campus to grab dinner and be in what may as well be an entirely different country. While lightning may strike and some kid may shoot up the engineering school, I'd wager that his primary concerns with wanting to carry a firearm are actually his daily commute and his near-campus activities.

No arguments here and I fully support your right to carry pretty much wherever. When you're a Canadian in the gun business, you're really far out on the edge of the "liking guns" spectrum. I'm both of the athetics: symp and emp.

I just find the whole "I have to carry 100% of the time because I'm tactically prepared for condition midnight every nanosecond" thing hard to take seriously, given the number of people carrying 0% of the time and making it through their life.

And the fact that I see a lot of "I need to carry" combined with absolutely zero "I need to wear a reflective vest" tends to reinforce my general attitude of shruggery. Carrying is good for you and good for society. But for christ's sake, some gun people need to get laid.

[Hambo]

Roughly six percent of workplace fatalities are the direct result of falling objects.

I'd like to know who wears a hardhat to work everyday along with their gun.

Granted, that fraction isn't huge...but a whopping FORTY percent are killed by being struck by vehicles.

Ah, statistics. So if I work in an office what are my chances of being run over by a truck at my workplace?

[Maple Syrup Actual]

While the odds of, say, an inept truck driver crashing into my former place of employment may be astronomically low (but not unheard of), it's not just at work where I may need a high vis vest.

Heading across the street for coffee...the way to and from...threats abound. You can't go your whole life in condition low-vis like a sheeple After all, it's not the odds, it the stakes.

[oldtexan]

Three of them did this morning , making the risk assessment theyd never ever need a gun as workers in the media business - and two paid for the gamble with their lives on live TV. I adopt the philosophy that trouble never emails ahead for scheduled arrival, so I carry accordingly.

/sarc >

If you had only changed the events by adding a handgun to the gear carried by each of those people that day, then likely the results would have changed little. They had task fixation and suffered a loss of situational awareness. The killer presented his gun at least 23 seconds before opening fire, in the field of vision of at least two of the three victims, and none of them acted as if they needed to take action until the killer began shooting. If they weren't aware enough to notice the threat, then they probably never would have deployed their weapons, even if they were carrying.

I carry a G19 every time I leave the house and almost always have a 9mm subcompact on me inside the house. It's my choice, but I accept that other people, maybe wiser than me, will do a risk/benefit analysis before deciding whether to be armed when they venture out. Who am I to criticize them for doing so? We all do risk/benefit analyses, usually very, very informally, before making decisions in so many areas of our lives. Otherwise, we'd always put on crash helmets before getting into any vehicle and we'd never go near a bathtub.

[Salamander]

I just find the whole "I have to carry 100% of the time because I'm tactically prepared for condition midnight every nanosecond" thing hard to take seriously, given the number of people carrying 0% of the time and making it through their life.

When I was 20-something in Chicago, carrying wasn't an option. Not only was it decades before CCW came to Illinois, this was during the Chicago gun ban. But I was young and immortal then, and routinely wandered around rough inner city neighborhoods at 4:00 am.... and never even came close to having a problem, if you don't count the one successful fistfight with some gangbangers.

Now I'm in a very safe small town, if there was ever a homicide here it was way before I arrived 14 years ago. Curiously, by my informal count we're way above the regional average for number of permits in town, and many of the more prominent citizens have them. I know, based on what they've told me, that most of them don't carry unless they're "going over the bridge." The local perception is that certain other parts of the county and especially the larger towns are higher risk, and I suppose that's statistically true although it's still pretty safe compared to major cities by my perception. I probably carry much more often than most of the folks here, even though it's a gun friendly local culture.

My largest current project is in the next county over, it's a large site, about 700 acres, with roads but not much else and lots of squatters. I've been out there off and on for the past three years but gained some new insight today when I brought two county employees with me, grunt laborers working for my client. They're local boys and told me lots of new things about the project site. They distinguish between tweakers and drunks among the squatters, were able to put names on a lot of them, and told me that the typical lifestyle is to spend the weekdays in the nearby town and return after begging, borrowing, or stealing enough to get their next fix. It's a dumping ground for stolen cars which are stripped for the metal within days, that part I already knew. We only found two discarded needles today and heard but didn't see any dogs, so it was a slow day. Most of the squatters must not have been back from town yet.

You better believe I always carry when I'm out there. Most of my staff choose to carry bear spray or similar instead (there really are black bear there, I just found a dead one a couple months ago) and they work in larger groups when practical. Personally I put the dog risk higher than the human risk, lots of loose pit bulls although the local boys were a little nervous while we were out there today.

Being in places like that does make home feel a lot safer. It's a constant re-evaluation, and I'm going through that again this week. Where's the line between prepared and paranoid? Some days I'm not quite sure.

[Nephrology]

It might be worth mentioning that the number of people who are licensed to carry are lower than the number of carry permits issued. Hell, as we speak i have carry permits active from 3 states... I am sure I am not the only one on p-f.com with more than one valid permit, either.

[GardoneVT]

It might be worth mentioning that the number of people who are licensed to carry are lower than the number of carry permits issued. Hell, as we speak i have carry permits active from 3 states... I am sure I am not the only one on p-f.com with more than one valid permit, either.

Indeed.

Then we come to the troubling yet VERY topical question- of the people who do carry even periodically, how many actually are capable of deploying that weapon effectively?

I don't suggest that being a graduate of Rodgers is necessary to carry, but my limited sample of shooters I see at the local range makes me wonder. Most of these folks who pocket carry their G42s and Shields couldn't hit a B27 past 7 yards, and look at me like I'm John Wick for daring to run a mag at 25 yards.

[Peally]

Have to admit it's a great boost to the ego. I can get destroyed at an area match but among 99% of the population I'm a god with a pistol