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

  1. #1
    Member Earlymonk's Avatar
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    What REALLY drives the decision? Motivation for Daily Non-Sworn CCW

    So please bear with me, this could take a minute...

    I am a philosopher and theologian by academic training. (Those degrees and $4 will get you a cup of coffee.) As such, I am fascinated by where our reason and our beliefs intersect to inform our actions.

    Truth be told, I live at or below “The Snub Lifestyle.” In fact, I really live something like “The Leatherman & Lighter Lifestyle.” Having to MacGyver some solution to a mechanical problem or start a fire are the kinds of emergencies I encounter. Neither I nor anyone in my extended family or circle of friends has ever had to display or use a firearm to protect themselves. Following the Rules of Stupid (at least since my twenties ended) has kept me in the plus column thus far.

    At the same time, I’ve had a CCW in every state I’ve lived in, where it’s been possible to acquire one. (In my case, the thinking has been less about crime and more about a belief that a constitutional right unexercised is a constitutional right lost.)

    What I’m really interested in, however, is the philosophy of other P-Fers. Why have you chosen to take action to insulate yourself against THIS PARTICULAR low odds risk (violent crime requiring a DGU)?

    I don’t find the usual bromides helpful, e.g., "because I can’t carry a cop; it’s not the odds, it’s the stakes; better to have one and not need it than need one and not have it," etc. I'm interested in deeper reflections on the topic. What realistic and genuine problem are you looking to solve?

    In 50+ years on the planet (much of it working with teenagers and their families) my lived experience is that most human beings are fundamentally good. No question, YMMV. I have certainly run into a scattered few, but the number of Current & Future Sociopaths of America I’ve had to deal with in my life I can count on one hand. None of them have needed shooting. Still, I lock my car and house doors.

    Ultimately, what I’m interested in is why you believe the daily carry of a firearm is warranted in your life. What reasoning and beliefs have led to the action of your carrying daily?

    NB: I recognize that others have had very different life experiences and therefore have a very different understanding of human nature. Not for a minute do I discount those perspectives. In fact, those are some of the perspectives in which I am most interested...
    Last edited by Earlymonk; 03-05-2020 at 01:56 PM.

  2. #2
    Member GearFondler's Avatar
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    For me it's about risk assessment..

    The odds of needing to defend my myself or my family are very, very low but the consequences if such an event occurs are as dire as is imaginable, thus I chose to be prepared for it.
    If someone made a bracelet that protected me from a lightning strike I'd wear it, even knowing I'd never need it, because I don't know that... I have had a tree in my backyard struck by lightning.

  3. #3
    Supporting Business NH Shooter's Avatar
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    Because I now live in a sate that allows it without hassle (unlike the major ball-busting in NY where I'm from), because I've enjoyed competitive and recreational pistol shooting for 40 years, and because the physical act of carrying a pistol causes me no discomfort or inconvenience, it's more of a why not...

  4. #4
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    Life has taught me that at any moment, no matter how many years of bliss may have rolled by, everything could turn to shit and have gone completely and utterly upside down in the blink of an eye beyond all expectations. Thus keeping the right tools around for such possibilities seems prudent. Throw in a few experiences where you end up at the mercy of your surroundings with no real shot at fighting your way out empty handed will underline the prudent choice to avail yourself of said tools. I will gladly carry the small burden of CCW for the rest of my life and will die a happy man and well worth the effort even if I never need to use it.

  5. #5
    This is my first post on this forum and you posed a really good question.

    Like many of you here I've been around firearms of all shapes and sizes my entire life. I always kept a .357 in my house and taught my wife how to effectively handle a firearm. When I, and later my wife and I, went out and about I always payed attention to the people, the surroundings, identified the nearest exits while in buildings and always had a plan to extricate us if necessary.

    However, I didn't really consider committing myself to carrying a firearm until the shooting at the movie theater in Aurora, Co. At that point I made the decision that I would do eveything possible never to allow that to happen to my wife and me. After that incident, it became a dedicated way of life that is compromised only where the laws otherwise dictate and can land me behind bars. Other than that, all bets are off.

  6. #6
    Gucci gear, Walmart skill Darth_Uno's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Earlymonk
    it’s not the odds, it’s the stakes
    Well, that's really it. My house has never been on fire and I don't think it'll be on fire today, but I still have smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.

    Plus, I believe both men and women have a duty to protect their family. A charge from God, if you will. This doesn't mean you train like a warrior monk but this covers not only weapons, but an acceptable degree of physical fitness and first aid ability.

  7. #7
    Site Supporter JohnO's Avatar
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    Better to have it and not need it rather than need it and not have it. The same logic for why I have a fire extinguisher in my house, a tourniquet in my pocket and survival gear in my vehicle.

    Statistically the likelihood of any one individual needing a firearm to defend themselves is very low. However the individuals who have done so are not going find fault with their decision to be armed.

    There also is quite a lot to be said for personal responsibility. Why would someone cede their own protection to a government that has been proven to have zero responsibility to protect the individual?

    Additionally we as Americans have live under a system designed by brilliant men that recognizes (not gives) our god given rights to bear arms in defense of ourselves. It is part of the American culture and yes there are many who are not happy with or would like to change that. To them I say find another country we don't need your ilk here.

  8. #8
    Four String Fumbler Joe in PNG's Avatar
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    A number of things.

    First, a lady I knew from high school was shot and left for dead during a bank robbery. She cooperated, but the bastard took her & her coworker into the back and shot them both in the head. She survived, but was paralyzed for the rest of her life.

    Then, while I was working at youth intervention facility, I ran into a former client who was as high as a kite, and with a group of friends. Happily, he said hi and moved on- but knowing he didn't have much impulse control, it could have gone another way. I got my permit that month.

    A number of years later, I had my permit, but didn't often carry, as it was pretty uncomfortable ect. I was at an autoparts store (and armed only with a knife) when two guys came in to shoplift some auto parts. One dude distracted the clerk while the other boosted a few items. And happily, it didn't turn into an armed robbery, and they left. That very day I went to the gun store and bought a Baby Browning 25. Not very effective, I'd admit- but a gun I always could have on me at all times.

    Then, about 10 years ago, I wound up here and learned how one can carry a proper gun easily and comfortably.
    "You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
    "I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI

  9. #9
    Hoplophilic doc SAWBONES's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Earlymonk View Post
    In 50+ years on the planet (much of it working with teenagers and their families) my lived experience is that most human beings are fundamentally good....Still, I lock my car and house doors.

    ...

    NB: I recognize that others have had very different life experiences and therefore have a very different understanding of human nature. Not for a minute do I discount those perspectives. In fact, those are some of the perspectives in which I am most interested...

    As noted by yourself and others, it's not the risk of assault but the consequences of being unarmed that prompts the decision to be prepared.

    My perspective on human nature is sufficiently different from yours due to my experience that, while the majority of people I deal with are good-natured and tractable, there are also sufficient numbers of genuine sociopaths out there that being reasonably personally prepared to defend self and family from such is "worth the trouble" for me.

    A sidearm is certainly not regarded as something whose need in personal defense is anticipated with any enjoyment, and certainly the strategies of avoidance-disengagement, followed at need by the possibility of a hierarchically-considered approach (free-hand defense, OC spray, perhaps impact or edged weapon options) are also in place, yet possessing and having competence with an easily-carried sidearm as either a potentially-immediately-effective defense in the face of appropriate urgent need (imminent danger to life & limb), or perhaps as a last resort, is sensible.

    After practicing CCW for decades, it also seems easy and natural after all this time, in spite of never yet having had to actually produce a gun for defensive purposes.
    "Therefore, since the world has still... Much good, but much less good than ill,
    And while the sun and moon endure, Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure,
    I'd face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good." -- A.E. Housman

  10. #10
    Site Supporter Totem Polar's Avatar
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    For me, the right—and being able—to righteously defend one’s self is close to a religion, and I was born into this philosophical tribe.

    My biological mother is non-white; no big deal these days, but the reason I grew up in WA state is because it was a libertarian paradise in the early sixties, with a progressive attitude towards mixed marriages AND the nation’s first shall-issue permits. My father could have chosen employment in any number of places, and he picked 1960’s WA state for both the tolerance, and the enshrined right to armed, legal defense. Indeed, my father had to draw his permitted firearm numerous times to defend himself, and his new family. Such were the times in the civil rights era. I grew up occasionally having to defend my family’s "honor," and I know what it’s like to fight my way out of a circle, and what it feels like to smash a fellow student’s nose flat with a viola case. I know what it’s like to live in a country without a strong RKBA, and to hear roving bands of ideological thugs trying the locked/barred doors and windows of the rental accommodations late at night.

    Later, as much younger and more attractive versions of our artist selves, my wife and I have had to deal with stalkers; there’s nothing quite like returning from 8 dates across 5 states in less than 12 days door-to-door to find multiple letters describing (and critiquing) each item of clothing worn and the specific performances themselves in each location. We’ve both been featured regularly in our local daily and weeklies, and been on tv multiple times in our home market. Some minority of people can react to that level of fame in interesting, and unwarranted ways.

    Along the way, I’ve met and heard some incredible stories. I personally know *multiple* women who were abducted, held, and raped for days (some as minors), many people dealing with restraining orders and/or death threats, and met my share of work place psychos. I’ve met people being harassed by neo-nazis over their skin color and activities, scared same-sex couples, and young single mons, and have given handguns and/or coaching to the same.

    Make no mistake; I lead an incredibly low-risk lifestyle these days, as we’ve "greyed around the muzzle" (hat tip to Rory Miller) and traded the lion’s (and dancing monkey’s) share of the hip spotlight for more of the perceived oldster stuffyness of academia, and I’m at the point where I really don’t need to be armed to get through a day.

    But I personally find the idea of being disarmed offensive. Being unable to put up a reasonable resistance to unwarranted and illegal predation is, de facto, against my religion.

    The principle tenet of my religion is that internet meme: "if you are not capable of inflicting great violence, you are not ‘peaceful,’ you are harmless. It’s a difference with a distinction."

    I believe in remaining impeccably peaceful, and abhor "harmlessness."

    JME.
    ”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB

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