How many of you conceal carry on a regular basis?

I don't think I stated that very well. I don't mean I would go out of my way to try to take a shot, I see it more as if the opportunity presented itself. Like his gun jams or he reloads. Then you analyze the risks as best you can and make a decision. #1 priority always has to be for self-preservation. And you deal with other risks as they present themselves. I prefer that scenario to just waiting around to see if the guy kills everyone one by one.

And no, there's nothing you can do as a regular guy to be prepared for a scenario like that. But I don't think that eliminates the justification for being armed. The Colorado shooting is kind of a unique scenario.... I can't think of many cases where the gunman trapped their victims like that. The mall-type shootings are a lot more common, like what happened in Oregon last night.

neanderthal dream wrote:

I don't think I stated that very well. I don't mean I would go out of my way to try to take a shot, I see it more as if the opportunity presented itself. Like his gun jams or he reloads. Then you analyze the risks as best you can and make a decision. #1 priority always has to be for self-preservation. And you deal with other risks as they present themselves. I prefer that scenario to just waiting around to see if the guy kills everyone one by one.

So in that dark theater environment, with an unknown number of gunmen and dozens of screaming, panicked people, plus your own #1 priority for self-preservation, how would you go about determining whether the "opportunity presented itself"?

Assuming you have properly analyzed all the risks and determined to take a shot, how confident are you, in that chaotic environment, of being able to hit and take out the gunman (while minimizing collateral damage or the chance of you being taken out by another guy who sees your gun and thinks you are also a bad guy)?

I'm packing two guns right now between my shoulders and my elbows! BAM!

And my hands are registered as lethal weapons in the state of California.

Obviously this was a fairly successful attempt to troll the anti-gun folks.

I have a CCW permit and carry concealed sometimes.

Open carry is a pain sometimes because it makes some people uncomfortable and they call the police and then the police feel the need to get more info from me than they are legally allowed to. Sometimes I just show my ID (not required in my state) and other times I defend my rights and remind then that I do not have to identify myself if they do not have reasonable suspicion that I have committed a crime or am about to. (Merely carrying a gun is not reasonable suspicion - confirmed by SCOTUS)

Never had a reason to use it. Hope I never do.

As Robert Heinlein wrote, "An armed society is a polite society."

'How many of you conceal carry on a regular basis?'

Why not just say carry a gun?

Big difference between open carry and concealed carry.

Dick Doobey wrote:

Obviously this was a fairly successful attempt to troll the anti-gun folks.

I have a CCW permit and carry concealed sometimes.

Open carry is a pain sometimes because it makes some people uncomfortable and they call the police and then the police feel the need to get more info from me than they are legally allowed to. Sometimes I just show my ID (not required in my state) and other times I defend my rights and remind then that I do not have to identify myself if they do not have reasonable suspicion that I have committed a crime or am about to. (Merely carrying a gun is not reasonable suspicion - confirmed by SCOTUS)

Never had a reason to use it. Hope I never do.

As Robert Heinlein wrote, "An armed society is a polite society."

As President Obama wrote, "An armed man is more likely to use his weapon than an unarmed man".

WTF? Are you talking about some sort of wild west quick draw contest with bad bart? If your life depends on drawing your weapon in .73 seconds, you're dead. There's no sense in practicing so you can get it down to .63 seconds.

The point should stand that if you don't think you're good enough with a firearm to carry, you should not carry.

in which case you could just point your finger at the bad guy & make shooting noises?

POMPATUS OF LOVE wrote:

in which case you could just point your finger at the bad guy & make shooting noises?

Nope. I take off my shirt and they get a free ticket to my gun show. BAM!

You fvcking morons are getting hung up on his 'going to church' comparison! It is NOT difficult to understand!

When he say's "it's like", it's just a comparison so that you morons can understand it better. He means that few gun nuts actually go through with the proper training, even though they say they have, just as although many American SAY they go to church, if they ACTUALLY did there would be a hell of a lot more traffic on sunday morning. That's all. That simple.

Have you ever been to a college basketball game? During the breaks they often have people from the stands (often a college student) come out for a basketball shooting contest.

People who sign up for these contests probably feel like they can shoot. They probably make 70-80% of their free throws and 35-40% of their 3 pt attempts in their driveway.

Put them in a pressure situation with a crowd and a clock and the great majority of them absolutely fail. Consecutive air balls. Clunkers off the board. Just terrrrrible. It is really rare that anyone wins the free airline ticket or the $500 GC to safeway.

I don't want the good folks who can shoot a paper target while wearing headphones on Saturday morning at the local range trying to protect my rear in the mall, because they are pretty much the exact same people that shoot four freakin' airballs at halftime.

I have been told during their first smallarms firefight on average only two or three out of 7 newly trained US soldiers in vietnam actually returned fire.

If that's true I'd expect even fewer 'average gun totin' citizens' would respond by unholstering and firing at one of these Big Event Killers or what ever you call the shoot up the whole office folks.

On the bright side the postman shoots up the postoffice fringe group seems to have slowed down to a low-crawl pace.

During an interview a Navy SEAL was asked "what would you do if a robber held you at gun point?" The SEAL answered in a duh??? tone, "I would give him what he wants." Everyone has a mountain to die on and the 20 dollars in your wallet or your F150 is not that mountain.

With that being said, I have a conceal permit and if someone tried hurt my family I would use it without hesitation. I also have spent 25 years hunting and living on the range firing just about every weapon imaginable. My wife got a conceal permit and has never fired a gun. That's when it gets scary. The fact that you don't have to take a course for the permit is what worries me the most. Soccer Mom pulls out gun in panic when strange guy approaches her looking for directions.

To answer original question. I rarely carry on my body but I always have it in my truck. I carry mostly on hikes and fishing trips with my wife and kids. You run into some strange dudes in the middle of no where.

what are the odds that you will have your loaded gun handy during the several seconds in which your life is actually threatened, on the extremely rare chance that such a thing ever happens in your entire life? but it'll be there when you get angry at someone or when you're drunk, and one day it will probably be around the house unguarded where a child can grab it or where a thief can take it when you're away on vacation, and then it'll be used in a crime after it's sold.

And the truth is, you didn't need it that day either.

fisky wrote:

In the 10 years I've held the CCW, I've needed a firearm only once. It made carrying on all the other days I didn't need it well worth the hassle.

jjjjjjj wrote:

http://www.vpc.org/ccwkillers.htm

what are the odds that you will have your loaded gun handy during the several seconds in which your life is actually threatened, on the extremely rare chance that such a thing ever happens in your entire life? but it'll be there when you get angry at someone or when you're drunk, and one day it will probably be around the house unguarded where a child can grab it or where a thief can take it when you're away on vacation, and then it'll be used in a crime after it's sold.

Wait a sec.... You're telling me less than 500 people have been killed by CCW holders since 2007???????.

According to this:

there are 8 million CCW permits actively held in the US. So in 5.5 years, 8 million gun-toting citizens have killed 499 people. That's 1.13 deaths per 100,000 permit-holders per year, a full 25% of the national homicide rate.

....What was your point again?

codger wrote:

As President Obama wrote, "An armed man is more likely to use his weapon than an unarmed man".

Um.... duh?