If you have a concealed carry permit do you seriously feel the need to take your gun with you everywhere you go?
For the first 5 years I had my CCL I only carried about 10 times. I live in a fairly safe area of the country, I got my permit so I COULD carry, if I felt the need. The need was rare. Mainly I carried when traveling over night though Kansas when going to Colorado. In case I broke down at 3am in the middle of nowhere. Or when meeting people to buy stuff on Craigslist. Especially big ticket items like cars, where I would be carrying 4k+ dollars in cash.My gun was a large 40 Cal. Very uncomfortable to carry. A few years ago I bought a CC 40. But even it was bigger than I liked. A few months ago I was renewing my CC, and while at the range picked up a 380. I now carry at all times. I never leave the house without it.The few times in my life I've needed it was long before CC was a thing. I was mugged once. Another time I was walking in Walmart auto center with my girlfriend when I heard yelling. I looked over and watched a fellow reach into a car he was standing next to, pull out a large revelover, and unload it on a truck that was speeding away. I sent her inside to tell the employees to call the sheriff and I stayed outside to watch the guy till he left. I wanted be be able to warn people if he approached the building.If I'd been carrying, and he had approached the building still armed, I'd have been able to attempt to deter him. Not just warn people away. As it was, he jumped in a car and sped away. It seems the truck was stolen, and he was either the owner or was with the owners. They had tracked the thief down and he seemed to think shooting at the guy as he tried to escape was a good idea. In a Walmart parking lot. With kids and innocent people around. Not a bright idea, but he wasn't a threat to anyone else unless they happened to be behind his target. Or in a car passing behind the truck on the busy highway outside the store.It's illegal to use deadly force to deter theft in most states. And his stupidity is a shining example of why. But he wasn't interested in anyone but the thief. But what if he had been? What if he had lost it and had been a threat? Back then all I could have done to protect my loved ones and others would have been to try and hide.I now have another option, if backed into a corner. If that happened today, I would have sent my girlfriend in, and I'd place myself between him and the door. Same as I did back then. But now I have a way to stop him if he'd chosen to try to enter the store armed. No, I wouldn't have just shot him. I'd have let him know I was there, I was armed, and I was not going to let him pass easily into the store with that gun in his hand. I'd make it clear if he put it down, and/or walked away, all would be chill. But if he didn't, things were going to get exciting.I have no desire to take anyone's life, or hurt a soul. But if your intent is to hurt others I have a way to try and prevent that. I was just going to the store to get some oil. I was 2 miles from my home. I was with my pregnant girlfriend. It was just a random warm sunny day. If you know before hand your going to need your gun, that's not the situation CC is meant for. It's for the random summer day, in a place you least expect. My gun does no good sitting at home in a safe. I can protect no one with it locked up safely at home.I don't carry to protect myself. As weird as it may sound, I'm not worried about me. I carry to Craigslist deals so I can deter a thief. I wouldn't shoot someone over money. A life is worth more than cash. Any life. But I'll kill in a heart beat to protect an innocent. To protect a life another wants to take. Any life. I carry to protect those that don't, from others that do and have bad intentions.
