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

[Trooper224]

If a high percentage of people were dangerous or bad you would see the police dismounting in teams from light armored vehicles rather than Charger's and Explorers. This is not to say that you shouldn't expect to have to defend yourself, your family or your home at some point and time. IMHO

In my opinion, which is worth what you've paid for it, terms like bad or good are misnomers and are far too simplistic to describe the human condition. While I have dealt with people I considered truly "evil", they are in the minority. Human beings are a predatory species with all the characteristics of such. We are also the most advanced predator our world has ever seen. Predatory behavior is, by and large, detrimental to a functioning and productive society. Since the dawn of the human species groups have put into place regulations and conventions which, at their core, are designed to control the predatory aspects of human nature, thereby limiting their effect. Organized religion, with the various beliefs in some all seeing and powerful god waiting to dole out punishment, being one of the earliest attempts at such control. This kind of structure is necessary to control the less productive aspects of the human condition. In essence, we are not born, nor are we inherently, "good". If anything, we are born inherently "bad" (in terms of being naturally predatory) and the controls we place upon ourselves as a society allow us to overcome our baser instincts. We have seen, time and again, what happens when these restrictions are ignored or discarded and the results are never positive. We are all, every one of us, capable of the most hideous things if the right buttons are pushed. Personally, I don't walk through life believing people are good or bad. This is a far too simplistic viewpoint. One extreme is pie eyed, ignorant optimism, the other is sociopathic pessimism. Neither one is healthy or productive. People simply are who they are and I know what they're capable of. This is why I carry a gun.

[FNFAN]

In my opinion, which is worth what you've paid for it, terms like bad or good are misnomers and are far too simplistic to describe the human condition. While I have dealt with people I considered truly "evil", they are in the minority. Human beings are a predatory species with all the characteristics of such. We are also the most advanced predator our world has ever seen. Predatory behavior is, by and large, detrimental to a functioning and productive society. Since the dawn of the human species groups have put into place regulations and conventions which, at their core, are designed to control the predatory aspects of human nature, thereby limiting their effect. Organized religion, with the various beliefs in some all seeing and powerful god waiting to dole out punishment, being one of the earliest attempts at such control. This kind of structure is necessary to control the less productive aspects of the human condition. In essence, we are not born, nor are we inherently, "good". If anything, we are born inherently "bad" (in terms of being naturally predatory) and the controls we place upon ourselves as a society allow us to overcome our baser instincts. We have seen, time and again, what happens when these restrictions are ignored or discarded and the results are never positive. We are all, every one of us, capable of the most hideous things if the right buttons are pushed. Personally, I don't walk through life believing people are good or bad. This is a far too simplistic viewpoint. One extreme is pie eyed, ignorant optimism, the other is sociopathic pessimism. Neither one is healthy or productive. People simply are who they are and I know what they're capable of. This is why I carry a gun.

You're correct in calling people good or bad is simplistic and I agree with your post, mostly. Some people are constrained not by religion or law but what we deem right or wrong. There are many shades of human behavior. Murderers who object to any accusation that they would steal. Property crimes folks who say they would never hurt a fly. Fraudsters who justify their behavior that they were only taking a fraction of a percent of what a megolithic company makes in a day. There are previously straight laced "honest" folks that probably wouldn't return those bundles of strapped $100's that fell out of the back of the armored car on a deserted road. Child rapists who say, "I didn't force her to do anything." Nuances abound.

My outlook is that people are mostly good, while being prepared to deal with those who, decidedly, are not.

[Baldanders]

One of the best pieces of advice my father ever gave me was, "don't go anywhere with a gun that you wouldn't go without a gun." That has informed a great number of risk analyses over the years...

Going somewhere with a gun that you wouldn't go without a gun is like feeling OK with setting up a turkey fryer inside your house because you have a fire extinguisher handy.

I must say the hive mind has hammered this bit of wisdom into my head hard since I became a member here. And I am grateful for it. Not that I wasn't pretty risk adverse anyway.

[wvincent]

Damn @Trooper224, pretty f'ing eloquent for a yuuge dude who can swing a broadsword or a battle axe.

On a serious note though, that was really well said.
Thank you for your insightful post.

[Trooper224]

Damn @Trooper224, pretty f'ing eloquent for a yuuge dude who can swing a broadsword or a battle axe.

On a serious note though, that was really well said.
Thank you for your insightful post.

Thank you sir. Layers you know, like an onion.

[10mmfanboy]

I could care less if I die. I don't carry for myself, I carry to protect my loved ones and innocent people. Around here you are on your own, no one will get there in time if things go bad.

My philosophy differs from others. I don't see most people as good people, if we are generalizing than I would describe most humans as amoral trash and government = slavery. That is the short version anyway.

[rangerover]

I carry because I know how random crime can be. I live in a very safe suburb (crime index of 62 compared to national average of 274) yet my house has been broken into and my office 2x. My job requires that I spend some evenings in the middle of Ohio’s many urban cities and I have no pretense I am safe in some of those neighborhoods at night.

[fixer]

Overall maturity is what did it for me.

As the years roll on and life attempts to have its way with you, you realize you aren’t as good as you think you are in many aspects.

I learned that I wasn’t twenty three and capable of lifting a car ;and that such skills aren’t that actually useful.

Combine the maturity aspect with a bit of protest thinking and I end up carrying everyday

[UniSol]

It is absolutely an identity experience, for me. I have been many things in my life, armed professionally and not, but I am a soldier, first and foremost. And I don't mean patch on my shoulder, AR 670-1, HOO-AH, Soldier.....I mean a jack of all trades, under the radar, nobody and nobody's business, ready to get my hands dirty, always armed, soldier in the universal sense. If this sounds like a speech from someone who wears Infidel t-shirts and has a Punisher decal on a lifted truck, that ain't me. I don't know how to express it without sounding a little cringe. There are practical reasons to be armed, but carrying a blade and pistol is much deeper than the "life saving equipment/same reason I wear a seatbelt/fire extinguisher" trope. Just one of those things that makes me tick.

[Clusterfrack]

Reasons for owning and carrying a gun have intensified recently. I haven’t left the house unarmed, and am usually carrying at home.

The pandemic has also caused many people to become gun owners for the first time.
https://www.post-gazette.com/local/2...s/202003220084