What REALLY drives the decision? Motivation for Daily Non-Sworn CCW

[Chance]

To dive a little deeper:
1. States allow us a whole bunch of things we don’t take them up on. Why do you take NH up on CCW?
2. We enjoy lots of hobbies, the tools of which we don't carry on a daily basis. Why handgunning?
3. There are many items that are not inconvenient to carry and could potentially save your life. Why a gun in particular?

Could your provide some concrete examples to the above? I'm curious what your line of thinking is.

With regard to 2: I suppose because things related to my hobbies would have no utility outside of their intended purpose. I enjoy weight lifting, but I can't really think of a reason why I would carry weight lifting gloves and barbell collars around. My wife enjoys gardening, and she doesn't carry around anything associated with that.

With regard to 3: I carry combat gauze, a tourniquet, and gloves around with me everywhere I have pants on, which is... everywhere, really. I also carry a flashlight. If I lived in the country, I suspect I'd carry something to start a fire or other survival supplies, but I wouldn't have much use of them where I live.

Self-defense tools are in a category of things that, when needed, you either have them or you die. If I had a family member or child with severe allergies, I'd carry an epipen for instance. But I'm having trouble thinking of many other things that would fit into that category.

[Clusterfrack]

Good thread. I have a lot in common with the folks who responded already, but I'll describe my reasons for carrying a gun for defense in my own words.

I was raised by parents who had life experiences that led them to have "never be a victim" as a core value. I share that value, and the right to defend myself and my family is one of my most deeply held core beliefs. While using lethal force is a last resort, and I have worked hard to train in other means of self defense, I've had some life experiences that reinforced my choice to keep and carry firearms. My parents were politically active, and during my teens we lived through a period where death threats were common. I was trained in defensive shooting for this reason. Some years later, I defended my 8 months pregnant wife against a 2am home invasion using a handgun (no shots fired). I've had several incidents involving humans, dogs, bears, and cougars in the backcountry that involved my having a gun in hand, but fortunately ended without shots fired.

I've also been in life-threatening situations overseas where I couldn't have a gun. These include being shot at by guys with AKs (near misses), attacked by a feral dog pack, assaulted by a guy with a 12" knife in a Paris foot tunnel, and more. So, I know what it feels like to be unarmed when things are really bad. It's not a feeling I want to repeat--especially if a family member were with me. In fact, I can't think of many worse things.

I don't carry all the time, and can't at work. However, having a gun for defense is very important to me, and a choice that I value above most other things.

[Joe in PNG]

There's a balance between "things I would want in a particular yet statistically rare situation" vs "ability to carry out my normal daily life without being inconvenienced".

There's thread after thread basically dealing with this exact topic. The balance one strikes is up to them and their particular situation & circumstances, personal risk assessments, and so on.

Personally, I've found that carrying a few more items I may need in a bad situation doesn't actually increase the inconvenience of carrying out my daily life. A good belt & holster combo made it just as easy to carry a 1911 as it is to pocket tote a .25 Browning. Which also made it easy to add a couple of extra mags and a small fixed knife carried center line.

So, for the same level of minor inconvenience involved with carrying a tiny, short range, mousegun with very limited capacity of notoriously inefficient rounds, I can carry a proper service pistol, reloads, and a tool for close range entanglements.
This also freed up a pocket for other helpful items such as pepper spray & flashlight.

[Earlymonk]

I confess my first thought was to simply bless your heart and move on.

Glad you didn't. I appreciate your perspective.

when you intimate that you don’t buy the odds v stakes paradigm as a primary motivator for having a weapon whenever and wherever you can, on an enthusiast board like PF, you have invited a wide range of responses.

I think I explicitly invited a wide range of responses. Again, thanks for yours.

No question I recognize and acknowledge that the stakes of being involved in a DGU are much higher than than the odds. We're in agreement there.

I'm not debating the fundamental truth of an old chestnut/stock answer, rather pointing out that they don't capture the totality of an individual's specific thinking. What I asked is, "What realistic and genuine problem are you looking to solve?" Your answer is to have options in the protection of yourself and your family.

When you take the spare out of your car, stop wearing your seat belt, unhook your smoke alarms, remove the fire extinguisher from under the sink, strip your first aid kits down to the itchy/scratchy level, stop locking your car and house doors-we can talk

Don't follow you here. The essence of the original question revolves, in part, around the fact that a flat tire, car accident, fire, laceration, or burglary are all significantly more likely events. What I'm interested in is where and why people draw the line, as we move along the continuum toward the less and less likely.

[Joe in PNG]

When in the USA, I volunteer for a place that deals with a lot of homeless people. In Florida.

As you can guess, the possibility of encountering someone going coocoo for cocapuffs is within the realm of ready possibility.

So, I tool up in an appropriate fashion, which means that the pepper spray is readily at hand should it be needed. As is the hand sanitizer.

[Bergeron]

I like living a "gun lifestyle", and a pistol can be a companion in ways that other types of guns cannot.

I may not have as many guns as most, but carrying the gun is a further part of living with it. I really like the (relatively) few guns that I own, so in addition to competing or training with a pistol, I've also got it by my bedside, or at my desk in my home office. I'm dry firing/dry practicing with it, I'm taking it with me to the range or on a road trip. I was doing all of that before I was 21, so upon becoming old enough, I got the carry permit, bought a decent couple of holsters, and started wearing the gun like my wallet. It gave me that much more time with the gun.

I got into guns as a little kid, for plinking and hunting. I was given a pistol for my 16th birthday, and that's where matters started getting more serious. During that part of life, my dad had a work cycle where he would spend 14 days offshore and then would be home for 14 days. My parents told me that I was going to keep that gun in my bedroom, and that I was now responsible for assisting in case of a break-in or other violent attack. The defensive utility of the pistol was a "from day 1" sort of experience for me.

Most of my employers have been heavily against any kind of weapons at work, and I've had plenty of jobs where I was legally barred from being armed, so the "because I can" reason does strike a chord with me.

[Earlymonk]

Such as?

Could your provide some concrete examples to the above? I'm curious what your line of thinking is.

I was thinking less-lethal here, e.g., kubaton, OC, Taser, etc.

In another vein (this example limps a little bit but try it out), it's much more likely to be caught in a fire than a DGU. Yet no one I know keeps a climbing line under the desk of their second or third floor office, wears a rigger's belt everyday, and carries a carabiner in their pocket. (I realize one of these items would NOT be convenient EDC. )

My point is only that we make choices about the risks we try to mitigate. I'm interested in why we make those choices.

[paherne]

it's much more likely to be caught in a fire than a DGU.

As a 27 year sworn cop, and 30 year plus LE veteran, I do not know ANYONE who was caught in a fire. I do know several people who have had defensive gun uses, and most of those did not involve rounds fired. I disagree with your assertion.

[BehindBlueI's]

In another vein (this example limps a little bit but try it out), it's much more likely to be caught in a fire than a DGU.

Is it? Outside of your residence?

To answer your question, I grew up in a time and place where guns and knives were just part of the package of manhood. Nobody I knew carried a gun daily but everyone had access to one. There was no mystique to them. I joined the Army and, again, guns were just part of the package. I didn't carry, or feel the need to, in the civilian world even had their been a mechanism to do so at the time. I started getting serious about carrying every day after 9/11. I knew a pistol would have been useless on that day and I knew where I lived was at zero risk for international terrorism but the reminder of the evil and uncertainty in the world made me consider being self-reliant and self-sufficient. When we fired a guy at work causing him to lose his visa and he went off the reservation threatening to shoot the place up, meh, it required no changes to my worldview. I left the corporate world to be a security contractor, and again guns were just part of the package. I returned and became a cop...you probably see the pattern. Carrying a gun isn't just something I do, it's part of my identity as a protector. A protector of myself, my family, my society, etc. I am not threatened by that realization, nor do I take it to extremes. I still travel abroad were I can't carry a gun and don't feel out of sorts, but when I can carry I do.

Evil shit happens. A view that's been heavily reinforced in my years as a cop. It often happens to shitbags doing shitbag things, but not always. Sometimes it's just your turn. It doesn't have to be some murderous piece of shit human. My only off-the-clock need for a gun was a pitbull who got me while I was jogging. I'm pretty sure he couldn't have killed me, but I'm also pretty sure I'd have been injured quite a bit more without shooting him. My grandmother displayed a firearm to defend herself at home once she was a widow and living alone. A friend of mine had a knife pulled on him by someone who thought he was the guy hitting on his girlfriend in a case of mistaken identity and a display of a firearm ended that. Why would you not have ready access to the means to protect yourself at the very least, other innocents if possible?

I was thinking less-lethal here, e.g., kubaton, OC, Taser, etc.

I carry a coin sap were legal.

[Earlymonk]

I disagree with your assertion.

1,319,500 fires in 2017
https://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/

"likely around 1m" DGUs
https://www.heritage.org/firearms/co...ntrol-rhetoric
https://reason.com/2018/09/04/what-t...ys-on-defensi/

Thanks for making me check sources. I stand corrected.
I should have written "more likely," not "much more likely."

Or, if you'd rather, let's say the risk is the same. The question about why no rope under the desk is still pertinent.