Why Do You Carry a Weapon?

[Nephrology]

Because I can. Because I ought to, and because I just can't fistfight with a guy whose got 8 inches and a hundred pounds on me.

We had a known violent felon (a homicidal schizophrenic) who was recently released from prison in my unit one day and he got pretty rowdy, to the point we thought we were going to have to get hands on with him...myself (a 160lb guy) and three 130lb girls vs a guy who was easily 240lbs of beef with no actual medical issues (he'd been sent up from our psych floor but was being kept as an overflow patient).

I keep OC on my person at work, so I felt a little better and obviously capping someone at work is a no go...but we've had shootings in my hospital before and more than our share of death threats...

we still have the "no guns" amulet taped to the doors of my hospital.

There are days when I really think the private practice dermatologists have it all figured out.

[RJ]

To defend myself and my family from those who would harm me.

I have been through the hurricane thing, couple of times.

Very unnerving, when the power is out, the evening light starts to fade and you hear...nothing. As night closes in, you double lock that door, and check for strange cars driving slowly through your neighborhood.

It really is a creepy feeling.

Same on the road. We travel recreationally, a lot. And you just never know what kind of person you are going to run into. Kinda same reason I have a Fire Extinguisher, Propane Detector, etc.

[Sadmin]

Cause things like this:

2011 San Fernando massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011...nando_massacre

And this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Corll

I don't live in Mexico and I'm not a young man who walks around at night looking for a van party... But these stories remind be of the depth of cruelty people are capable of.


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[Rex G]

Well, FOUR of the above, but the poll only allows one choice.

[ReverendMeat]

Because I can't think of a single good reason NOT to carry a gun.

[SeriousStudent]

To add onto what olstyn said - Trying to carry a police officer in an IWB holster is not only impractical, it's creepy.

I agree with Rich Jenkins. I carry a spare tire and a jack in my car. Not because I want a flat, but because being stranded after working late could be hazardous.

I do not wear a seatbelt because I want to get in a wreck. I wear it because if something bad happens in a split second, I have to deal with it THEN. I can't call a cop and make them stop the collision.

Mr Sharp is absolutely right - I am my own first responder. I remember when I took my very first HiTS class from Wayne and Darryl. "It's 3 am and someone just broke into your house. Congrats - you are now a first responder."

Shooting to stop someone from harming me is a sad decision to make. But a worse decision is my family picking out what suit to bury me in, because I failed in a preventable set of circumstances.

[voodoo_man]

Since we are giving reasons and all...

If not me then who?

I carry because it is my duty as an American, I care about my fellow citizens enough to do the right thing for the right reasons in the worst possible times. Thankfully it's also my job, but that's by design.

[BillSWPA]

Deleted.

[GMSweet]

My journey began a few years ago. NH has been hit hard by the heroine epidemic and it moved into my city. In years past, the druggies kept the beefs to themselves. Then, things changed. Break-ins started becoming random, frequent, and brazen.
I couldn't sleep one summer night realizing that if my little condo was hit, I had very little chance of defending my wife and we had no exit strategy. My wife started the conversation about home defense and I found this place.
As we sold our little condo and moved out of the city, I'm confident that there was a drug dealer that moved into one of the units. The local PD were building the case, but for some reason it's not as easy to solve the problem in 43 minutes with commercials like it is on TV.

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[Larry Sellers]

Was a "first responder" at the ripe age of 21 to a triple fatal arson fire. Homeowner asleep in the home with no way to defend himself, falls prey to two d bags who bound and gag his wife and 2 daughters. Proceeded to rape them and tie them to a bed, then torch the home. I had never seen that side of the world before and it truly opened my eyes to the horror that is out there.

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