Are you always armed?

[wyntrout]

Sometimes the a$$#@#$ do stuff like that because they want the cops to shoot them... "suicide by cop"... bad for all of the victims, including the cops.

Wynn

[mr surveyor]

and there would be a whole lot less death involved in these things if the perp ended his spree in a "death by armed citizen on the spot"!

[QuercusMax]

"It all happened so fast"

Nothing to do with guns, but a recent news story concerned a man (strangely enough from Minnesota) who was mauled by a grizzly bear while hiking in Glacier. Although he was "armed" with pepper spray, the incident happened so fast that he did not have time to use his weapon in self-defense.

I'd be willing to bet that the same would be true for almost anyone who might be confronted with a bad guy as well, with the possible exception of LEOs and former LEOs, most of whom have years of training and experience. The vast majority of people would find that "it all happened so fast" - everything was over before they could even deploy the weapon they were carrying.

Of course, most people believe that they are above average, and perhaps truly believe they are Quick Draw McGraw, but in reality the vast majority of us who carry are amateurs, and whose everyday minds are almost always on something other that the piece they are carrying, unless they are truly obsessed with guns.

Regarding Bloomington, MN - you can dredge up all of the crime maps you want, but just go there and see for yourself. It's perhaps not the garden of Minnesota, but I've been there many times myself and never even felt a *hint* of a threat. Then again, I have high situational awareness.

Carrying a gun in public is a right that many of us enjoy the privilege of, but that virtually none of us (hopefully) will ever have the need to use. I think that virtually every US citizen who carries in public does so just for the warm feeling it gives them (which is worth something for sure), but not because they are actually capable of protecting themselves with it in a sudden, unexpected, highly-unlikely situation.

How many people reading this have *ever* had the need to unholster their carry piece in public? Perhaps a good topic for another discussion.

[Bawanna]

Your right and many many LEO's get caught unaware every day too. Defense is reaction. The bad guy has a plan and makes the plays. The rest of us don't get to see the script.

Situational awarness of course helps alot but theres still gonna be alot of it happened so fast stories. We just do the best we can.

[wyntrout]

Sign text reads:
Due to the frequency of human-bear encounters, the B.C. Fish and Wildlife Branch is advising hikers, hunters, fishermen and any persons that use the out of doors in a recreational or work related function to take extra precautions while in the field.
We advise the outdoorsman to wear little noisy bells on clothing so as to give advanced warning to any bears that might be close by so you don’t take them by surprise.
We also advise anyone using the out-of-doors to carry “Pepper Spray” with him is case of an encounter with a bear.
Outdoorsmen should also be on the watch for fresh bear activity, and be able to tell the difference between black bear feces and grizzly bear feces. Black bear feces is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear $h!t has bells in it and smells like pepper

[Michael W.]

Nothing to do with guns, but a recent news
story concerned a man (strangely enough from Minnesota) who was
mauled by a grizzly bear while hiking in Glacier. Although he was "armed"
with pepper spray, the incident happened so fast that he did not have
time to use his weapon in self-defense.

I'd be willing to bet that the same would be true for almost anyone who
might be confronted with a bad guy as well, with the possible exception of LEOs and former LEOs, most of whom have years of training and
experience. The vast majority of people would find that "it all happened so fast" - everything was over before they could even deploy the weapon
they were carrying.

Of course, most people believe that they are above average, and perhaps truly believe they are Quick Draw McGraw, but in reality the vast majority of us who carry are amateurs, and whose everyday minds are almost always on something other that the piece they are carrying, unless they are truly obsessed with guns.

Regarding Bloomington, MN - you can dredge up all of the crime maps you want, but just go there and see for yourself. It's perhaps not the garden of Minnesota, but I've been there many times myself and never even felt a *hint* of a threat. Then again, I have high situational awareness.

Carrying a gun in public is a right that many of us enjoy the privilege of, but that virtually none of us (hopefully) will ever have the need to use. I think that virtually every US citizen who carries in public does so just for the warm feeling it gives them (which is worth something for sure), but not because they are actually capable of protecting themselves with it in a sudden, unexpected, highly-unlikely situation.

How many people reading this have *ever* had the need to unholster their carry piece in public? Perhaps a good topic for another discussion.

You bring up many good points. But first, the purpose of "dredging up"
crime stats was not to put down Bloomington. Frankly, it sounds idyllic
and sounds like a place I wouldn't mind living. There are quite a few
places like that I know of. But the point was that crime does exist, and
your subjective "not feeling any hint of threat" probably doesn't do much
to assuage the anguish of the 24 women forcibly raped in the last 90
days.

If you live there, good for you. If you feel safe, then double-good.
But why deride the choices of others who don't live in Mayberry as was
the tone to Jeepster's post which I was replying to?

I'm not sure I quite get what the problem is here. Some of us choose to
carry as a way of life. There are valid statistically demonstrable reasons
why we do. I live in Orlando, that in and of itself should be 'nuff said.

If you are implying that because I carry that I have a false sense of
security, perhaps you are right. Or....perhaps I have the same sense of
security that I have by choosing GEICO instead of Allstate, or choosing
Cigna instead of Providian, or choosing Dr. Smith to do my colonoscopy
and instead of Dr. Brown.

When it comes to being armed, no I am not a Gunsite Graduate
nor have I taken self defense training from Clint or Mas or any other guru.
I like to think I'm constantly living in condition yellow but to be honest
someday's I'm just gathering wool at a red light just like everyone else,
or maybe I'm jamming out to some Kansas on the iPhone instead of
practicing my situational awareness. So maybe you're right that if
I got blindsided I'd lose before the fight even began. Perhaps.....

But let me lay some other stats on the table. At least here in Florida,
there is a direct correlation to the decrease in violent crime and the
increase CCW issue. I'm not a statistician.....not smart enough for that,
but 2 and 2 still sounds like 4 to me. I carry because with the amount
of skill and training that I can bring to bear in the highly unlikely situation
that I'll need to defend myself, my family, or my neighbor with a weapon,
feeble as it may be compared to a real warrior, at least I'm there
with more than a shoe to throw. False sense of security? Or simply
having the COMMON SENSE to be prepared?

Michael-

[Rainman48314]

Nothing to do with guns, but a recent news story concerned a man (strangely enough from Minnesota) who was mauled by a grizzly bear while hiking in Glacier. Although he was "armed" with pepper spray, the incident happened so fast that he did not have time to use his weapon in self-defense.

I'd be willing to bet that the same would be true for almost anyone who might be confronted with a bad guy as well, with the possible exception of LEOs and former LEOs, most of whom have years of training and experience. The vast majority of people would find that "it all happened so fast" - everything was over before they could even deploy the weapon they were carrying.

Of course, most people believe that they are above average, and perhaps truly believe they are Quick Draw McGraw, but in reality the vast majority of us who carry are amateurs, and whose everyday minds are almost always on something other that the piece they are carrying, unless they are truly obsessed with guns.

Regarding Bloomington, MN - you can dredge up all of the crime maps you want, but just go there and see for yourself. It's perhaps not the garden of Minnesota, but I've been there many times myself and never even felt a *hint* of a threat. Then again, I have high situational awareness.

Carrying a gun in public is a right that many of us enjoy the privilege of, but that virtually none of us (hopefully) will ever have the need to use. I think that virtually every US citizen who carries in public does so just for the warm feeling it gives them (which is worth something for sure), but not because they are actually capable of protecting themselves with it in a sudden, unexpected, highly-unlikely situation.

How many people reading this have *ever* had the need to unholster their carry piece in public? Perhaps a good topic for another discussion.

I don't get any 'warm feeling' when I carry. I do get a heightened situational awareness. I think that's a good thing. I also feel I have an option (of last resort) when carrying. Maybe its because I haven't carried for very long.

I shoot a few hundred rounds per month, most weeks I hit the range twice. I am planning more training. I guess this sums up my idea of COMMON SENSE. Oh, and I live near Detroit.

[Eagleks]

belly band / or nylon gun belt underneath the shorts, works just fine.

[Jeremiah/Az]

I live alone on a very rural acreage where a dry tree lined river bed is my eastern property line. I find old fires & empty cans that probably illegal immigrants from south of the border have left. It is a safe "highway" for them to travel. I have had a few things stolen, but no confrontations with them. I have seen them tho.

I once called the sheriff about an abandoned car on my property, stolen, & it took them 2 days to come. If I can't take care of myself, no one else will. You bet, I always carry.

[Brittanyman]

I always have a handgun in my vehicle, Kel-Tec P-11 with and extended mag. I also carry on me one of three weapons depending on the weather, clothing I'm wearing, or where I am going. Those weapons are the Glock 27 with a Glock 357 Sig barrel, a Kahr CM9, or a Kel Tec P-AT.

At home I have a laser equipped Glock always by my bed with a super bright flashlight and spare mags. We have a Brittany that is gentle, but he has a loud bark and barks when people come to the house.

My wife wanted an alarm system, so last summer I had one installed. The salesman was explaining the system to me, and mentioned that they installed a microphone that when the alarm was tripped would pick up any noises in the house. I asked him if it would pick up gun shots. He gave me a puzzled look.

In my safe, I keep a least one box of ammo for every handgun and rifle that occupies it. When you open my safe the 2 guns that are the easiest to get to are my short barreled, extended mag, Remington 870, and my shorty AR15 with a laser and flashlight attached to it.

When I was a public school teacher, I baby-sat inner-city wannabe gangbangers. One day I had one of these miscreants pipe off in class that he was going to find out where I live and bring some of his boys out to visit me.
I walked back to his desk and told him that I would draw him a map of exactly where I lived. I told him that I live on a one way street and that he and his boys would go up that street, but would never come back. I also mentioned where I live all the neighbors are armed, and we watch each others backs. I also mentioned we have a deep lake near by.

That shut him up quick and he never piped off to me again. If I was teaching today and said that to a student, I would loose my job.

[jocko]

QUOTE; That shut him up quick and he never piped off to me again. If I was teaching today and said that to a student, I would loose my job



only if someone else overheard u. one on one, I think he got the point!!

[jmk1138]

Always carry something.
At a minimum, I have alway had a nice, steel, cross pen in my shirt pocket. Tactical pens are good, too, if it wasn't for that damned "S&W" on them (not so "tactical" anymore). I don't even know if there is still ink in the pen. You can't take a kubotan on a plane, but a steel shiv appears to be okay.

[jeepster09]

Its too easy to blame attorneys. Let's start with the guy who hired them for a questionable lawsuit. Blaming the attorney is no different than blaming the gun or the fork (in Rosie O'Donnel's case). He's just a tool (no pun intended).

No, it's easy to blame the attorney, they prey on "victims" so that they can make a living milking everyone for everything they can. Gun's don't think or talk, they do as they are told.....Rosie is not human.

There is a place for lawyers, yet we have to many of them and they get hungry and lose any sense of ethical logic in order to eat.:75:
It's kinda funny, the area's with the strictist gun laws are the most unsafe and our elected officials can't figure it out.

Minnesota is by no means "utopia" but it is one of the safest places to live.
If you want bad in Minnesota, an area to "carry", go to Minneapolis at night. It is an area where we have imported others from other states, to bring us their steller "gang bangin" ways and collect MINNESOTA welfare checks. Hey but our politicians need to bring in votes somehow.

[jmk1138]

[QUOTE=jeepster09;91692]
There is a place for lawyers, yet we have to many of them QUOTE]

Actually, given the current wealth and population of our country, we are at an all-time low for lawyers when compared to previous decades.

There's not too many lawyers -- there aren't enough good ones.

[Brittanyman]

Jocko, I said this to that miscreant with a class full of students. Also I taught in schools where the administration took the side of the students before the teachers.

I had one student threatened physical harm to me. I reported him to a Dean (vice-principal) who just laughed it off. He told me he was a teddy bear. We'll that teddy bear a year later was arrested for rape.

I went over the Dean's head and went to the Principal, who was a straight shooter. He was upset at the Dean's comment and reprimanded the Dean for it. The Dean was a friend of mine up to that point. I wanted what I reported on record so if one day this kid attacked me, and I defended myself and the kid was injured, I would have some legal ground for what I did.

I've worked with some lousy, cowardly administrators, who I had not trust or faith in.