Why Do You Carry a Weapon?

[blues]

My evolution on everyday carry can be broken into pre-Andrew v post-Andrew. (Which a lot of folks living in south Florida at that time can say regarding a lot of things like storing water, food, etc.)

Living in South Florida post Hurricane Andrew changed my views on handguns. Having a means to defend my family while moving from point A to point B became apparent. One couldn't just walk around with a rifle or shottie, although some did, but having something like a pistol on you at all times was a necessity due to looters and assorted critters. Pre-Andrew, I had grownup around LE, my grandfather and great-uncle were both Sheriffs of the county I grew up in. Many family members were on the job so I understood their need to carry a pistol but, as a guy that also grew up around shotguns and rifles a pistol seemed like a waste of time. My father, uncles, and grandfather were all accomplished trap and skeet shooters. My mom has a picture of me shooting clays when I was 8. If I can reach it with a shottie, I'm confident I'll hit it. So I've had and still have all kinds of shotties but pistols pre-Andrew? I would have said; if you're going to kill something just get a real gun.

Post-Andrew I would say; carry a pistol as often as you can because you never know what's going to happen and it's you're responsibility to protect yourself and your family. First responders will get there as soon as they can, IF they can, but until then it's all on you.

So that's the why for me; experiential learning has taught me that I'm my own first responder in all matters of self preservation. Whether it's a person, an animal, or Mother Nature. It's on me to make sure I'm prepared to get it on.


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It's interesting how much real world experience with BAD THINGS changes people's outlooks. My wife lived through Andrew in south Miami (Perrine), and, despite her family's roof being torn off by a tornado and living through the resulting looting/civil disobedience, came through with a still neutral outlook on personal carry of fireams. Fast forward about five years, and my wife (then 7 months pregnant with our oldest boy) came home from work to find several Metro Dade Officers talking with the neighbor. The neighbor had, on returning to his home at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, been met with several thugs with pistols, and robbed, then forced to open the house for them to clear out what they wanted. That night when I came home, my wife told me we were going to the gun show in Ft. Lauderdale that weekend so she could find "her" gun...

We lived on Key Biscayne in a rental apartment on the ground floor (outside doors like a motel) during Hurricane Andrew. It was interesting to come back and see fish on the yard. We were a couple hundred yards from the ocean.

I will definitely agree that despite the fact I had already been in LE for over a decade at that point it was still eye opening (and tragic).

Fortunately, living on a barrier island kept much of the looting to a minimum but we had lots of agents living south of us off Old Cutler whose lives and homes were simply devastated by that storm.

[Irelander]

I have been shooting guns since I was 12 and couldn't wait to purchase a handgun when I turned 18. I got my CCW permit when I turned 21. Back then I just wanted to be a cool guy with a gun wherever I went.

Now that I have a family I can see the ever escalating moral decline of this country and the world in general. I carry to protect my family and myself in the event someone threatens our lives which seems more likely everyday even in our rural community. There's no such thing as a safe community these days.

[Shoresy]

Because I own them and know how to use them... and while I hope I never face a threat, if it does come I don't want my last thoughts to be regretting that I left it in the safe.

[RevolverRob]

For All Lawful Purposes

[Mr_White]

My very most deeply-held personal beliefs:

1. The first right and responsibility of every organism is to attempt to continue its existence.

2. The right to self-defense (inclusive of ownership, possession, and carriage of tools attendant to that right) is the most fundamental human right from which all other human rights are derived.

Those have been self-evident to me since the time of my earliest memories as a small child. Not the phrasing though, that came later.

[JohnO]

It is far better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it!

[Robinson]

This is a subject that I reflect on a lot since my tinnitus worsened about 18 months ago. Before that time, the matter was very cut and dried -- I carry to protect myself and (more so) the people I care about. Pretty simple.

Since my hearing problems worsened, I have become very aware that if I ever shoot in self defense without either a suppressor or hearing protection I will suffer even more damage to my hearing. If my ears were healthy I would simply accept the risk and rock on. But for me, further damage will probably mean deafness in my left ear and the screeches, whistling, and hiss of tinnitus being elevated to an unbearable level. Some days it's very challenging to live with as it is, if it gets much worse it could leave me with a life I don't want. That's really difficult to admit.

I still carry on many occasions when accompanied by a loved one. But I carry much less these days when by myself, because when I weigh the risk/stakes both ways it's just not an easy choice. I'm more than willing to risk worsened hearing problems for the people I care about, but less so for myself. The things that do make me want to keep carrying are 1) I don't want to be taken from my family and 2) the thought of not putting up the absolute best fight I can when faced with violence goes against my nature. I am pretty much resolved to fight until my last breath if it comes to it.

I do carry a blade even when not carrying a pistol.

[olstyn]

"Because I can't throw a pit bull at 1200 feet per second."
"Because a running chainsaw is just hard to get through the aisle at Kwik E Mart late at night."
"Because tying angry Grizzlies to the front, side and rear of my car might stop the average carjacker, but it's a bitch to parallel park. "

My favorite of that ilk has always been "Because cops are too heavy to carry."

[JAD]

I had been aware for a long time that it is a fallen world. It took Gunsite 250, and an hour in the Armory, to make me realize that not only could I do something about it, but that it was my obligation.

[45dotACP]

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.