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Thanks for the welcome, guys. Just got my lifetime CCW license and have a couple of friends in LE who are showing me the ropes. I'm approaching everything above-board and with a level head- plus I'm having a lot of fun with my 27 and my Mossy- it's a fun hobby in addition to its function in self-preservation.
Self-defense training is what I call "a hobby with benefits".
 
Greetings! I've spent the last 2+ weeks since registering just reading. That includes the 3+ days it's taken me to read this thread!

I'll post a biography in another post, but I wanted to throw in my 2 cents worth in on this topic. Other than bb guns and a single-shot Mossberg .22, I never owned a gun until I graduated from college. My father, a Vietnam Vet, had promised to take me hunting when I was younger but never did (he later told me that he had enough killing and couldn't bring himself to go there...which I totally understood). So when I graduated I bought a .35 Marlin and began hunting deer.

Several years ago my sister was held up at gunpoint at the gas station she worked at. That was an early defining moment for me.

I have wanted a handgun for a very long time, but CC wasn't an option in my state, and I didn't feel comfortable with open carry, so I never bought one. The Governor just signed a CCL which will take effect on November 1. I'm putting in a bunch of overtime and should be able to buy my G19 Gen4 in three weeks. I am researching classes to take (the state hasn't finalized course requirements yet) and making plans for practice in preparation. I've shot handguns several times before, but it has been a while.

I've experienced a lot of emotion reading, through this thread, of the things that many of you have had to endure. I've had a few minor incidents in life. But I look kind of intimidating and carry myself confidently; and I have had pretty good success with bluffing my way out of situations. I will feel much safer knowing that when the bluffing fails there will be another option. Thanks to all who have shared. I've learned a lot from your experiences.

Blessings!
 
The 2 night's when I called the local PD's emergency line (had it stored in my cell) and all operators were busy. Thank god the emergency was involving people I didn't know because if it were me I would have been SOL. Also because the crime rates were increasing due to police lay offs and bad economy = more robberies, burglaries, thefts and whatnot.
 
When a neighbor living two doors away was arrested in 2005 for sexual assault of a minor I decided to buy a pocket pistol. It didn't make sense to not have a CCW permit because concealed is the only rational way (in my opinion) to carry these micro firearms.

The neighbor was convicted and spent 14 months in jail. His victim was an underage girl whose family and the perp's were "friends". The victim was also a willing participant in his assaults, but legally that doesn't excuse his actions.

The perp had a daughter the same age as mine and they played together often. When he was released he had acquired a couple of prominent tattoos that caused me to wonder ... He seemed overly friendly but we kept our distance anyway, and I had a sense or awareness of things that I hadn't before.

About two years after his release he pushed his way through the front door of his immediate neighbor, threatening her with sexual assault, but he was too drunk to carry out the threats. He was arrested and jailed that night. He rolled the dice and somehow beat the rap; the jurors were not permitted to learn of his previous conviction, which according to some would have changed the verdict.

Anytime after his first arrest I was outside in the yard or just out and about I was carrying that pocket pistol. I think I could have physically handled him but with characters like this and given today's social realities one never knows what one might face. His m.o. appears to be one where he befriends someone or family then picks what he thinks is an opportune time to strike. He's a predator and after his acquittal moved a thousand miles away, as the authorities have a pretty good idea now who they are dealing with.

I'm happy to have a CCW license and better firearms to carry than the pocket pistol. There are a lot of situations that arise or might arise when I'm comforted by having the means to defend myself against man or beast
 
Because I turned 21.

I grew up around guns and my pap carried. He told me a few stories of it saving him or my grandma (with no shots fired).

I've never had to pull it in the 6 years but many times (on a person) I was close or was glad I had it. Once I was glad I also had pepper spray to use so I didn't have to pull my gun (it disabled a large drunk guy very well to my surprise).

Once when laying on a hammock in the woods, I heard leaves moving. I told my dog to "go get that" because I thought it was a small animal. I turned around and there was a big black bear <50 feet away. My dog barked and got closer and it advanced on us slowly. I fired my .357 snub (my first CCW gun) into the ground near it as a warning shot and it got the message.
 
Just by growing up on the west side of Birmingham, Al (35208) and wanting to be a police officer, since I was a child. Saw lots of stuff happen, learned to see trouble comming. Trouble will fiend you, be ready, train and train some more.

Off duty I carry, but one day my wife and daughter broke down in a nice part of town. I was in a hurry, left out without even a pocket knife. Get to my wife and daughter and soon figure out the problem, battery died. My wife takes my car to go get a new battery, while my daughter stayed witih me (she was 16 or 17). While I'm working on the removal of the old battery, I notice a guy walking up. Skinny, prison tattoos, long hair. I told my daughter to get behind me and she noticed him too, knowing I didn't have any WEAPON, she handed me her pocket knife. Turned out to be someone I had put in jail before, he knew my last name and what department I worked for. He said he'd changed
his ways and was a hard working man and wanted to help me. I thanked him, but told him to have a nice day and I had it fixed as soon as my wife gets back. He went on his way and I kicked myself in the butt for allowing the wolf to get too close to my family.

christmas, 2 years a go, I got my daughter her own S&W .38BodyGuard, she's a good shot.
 
Background: When I was a teenager I thought guns were fine in the home but had no place in public. My father, a retired LEO, walked in on a group of teenagers robbing a gas station and proceeded to arrest them at gun point. The way the situation developed he wasn't looking for trouble but it found him. I might not be able to spend holidays with my father if he wasn't carrying that night.

I decided to carry because of Murphy's Law.
 
This incident was my catalyst:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Channon_Christian_and_Christopher_Newsom

A couple of kids, not much younger than my girlfriend and i at the time. I bought a CZ P-01 a few weeks later. I had my HCP a few months after that. Now, concealed carry is a daily thing.

My catalyst was a similar story near here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillelid_murders

The Christian/Newsome murders (putting it lightly) hit really close to home living in Knoxville. It was a huge deal around here, as were the trials.

This tragedy was the catalyst for many in the area as it seemed to drive the point home about how random things can happen to anyone and that there are simply some incredibly evil mf'ers in the world.

Most around here are really upset about how little national coverage it got.
 
Background: The way the situation developed he wasn't looking for trouble but it found him. I might not be able to spend holidays with my father if he wasn't carrying that night.

I decided to carry because of Murphy's Law.

Spend all the time with him you can GN. You won't regret it. I'm glad he was carrying that night too! Stay frosty my friend.

I awoke one night back in 1973 to the stomach churning sounds of footsteps outside my window. I was unarmed and responsible for my wife who was sleeping peacefully beside me. I first thought someone was inside the house coming down the hall towards our bedroom. Believe it. Thats a fear I don't want to relive! All was ok, but I have not been unarmed since.

Gray_Rider
Deo Vindice!
 
Just down the street here in Hartford, VT there was a late-night armed home invasion. The victims said that the robbers had the wrong address. I'm glad that they didn't intend to rob my place a few doors away. There would have been two bullet-ridden home invaders. I always have my G17 on me loaded with +p+ JHPs. Who'd of thunk that such urban-style home invasions would occur in semi-rural VT?

Most recently, having neighbors 2 doors down end up on the wrong end of an 8" knife from a drugged-out home invader in the early AM. Hearing and seeing cops checking for unlocked doors and clearing any unlocked houses in the Tuscaloosa Historic District. Big wakeup call. Starting collecting Glocks.

In the 80's, having best friend end a road rage encounter. Perps were 2 ******** with baseball bats. Friend's katana convinced them to leave. My 1911 came soon after and stayed until toddlers made it go away in mid 90's.
 
SCmasterblaster said:
Just down the street here in Hartford, VT there was a late-night armed home invasion. The victims said that the robbers had the wrong address. I'm glad that they didn't intend to rob my place a few doors away. There would have been two bullet-ridden home invaders.
Sounds like the wrong address for sure!

As for why I decided to carry...

I've been raped, but that didn't decide me.
I've been at work when we were robbed by a group of guys with guns, but that didn't decide me.

What decided me was the (early) morning maybe 3 years ago I woke up hearing someone downstairs, then footsteps coming up the stairs to my bedroom.

Even as I was waiting for 911 to answer & yelling at whoever it was "get out of the house, I've called the police", etc., I realized there was no way an officer could teleport in between me & whoever was coming up my stairs*.

I've never been so terrified. (Came close once, 04JUL10.)
I'm feisty, & would fight back, but know I really have no chance of not being harmed.

So I read everything I could get my eyes on about the practical, legal, & ethical aspects of armed self defense,
then researched which pistol would be right for me (and like the OP, originally bought a KelTec P11, but have now moved up to Glocks),
then bought one, took training, & started carrying.

*(It turned out to be my boyfriend who was trying to be thoughtful & sweet & romantic & came over to surprise me... only it surprised me much more than he expected!)
 
I was very young when I decided I would become a firearms owner and it was when I read the second amendment for the first time. I thought to myself it must be a pretty important right if the founding fathers made it number 2.
 
It was a dark evening in Late February 2002, I was a 17 year old high school track athlete leaving the track late from practice on evening. Due to the cold temperatures and the sweat that I had covering my body, my car windows fogged up as soon as I entered my 1991 Chevy Corsica. Upon exiting the parking lot at the track, I pulled onto a highway and cut off a car that I did not see coming due to the fog on my windows. Several hundred yards down the road the car pulled alongside mine as I made my way home and began honking and yelling at me, screaming curse words and really over reacting. Being young and inexperienced in these matters, I simply waved at them and yelled sorry. Approximately 200 yards down the road we came to a 4 way intersection with stoplights (looking back on it, I should have just rolled on through), I applied my breaks and came to a stop with the rest of the traffic that was congregated there waiting for their turn to pas through the intersection. Then suddenly I heard the sound of a car door slamming and loud foot steps on the concrete ( at this moment I knew exactly what was happening, the two men that were in the other car yelling at me earlier had followed me to the intersection and just because there were other cars around they were not deterred), I immediately locked all four door to my car, made sure that my window was rolled up,and unbuckled my seat belt (in case I had to move from my seat or defend myself). As soon as the buckle on my seat belt was loose it was as if time stood still for about 3 seconds which seemed like an eternity, my driver side window exploded showering me with broken glass as something came through the glass and struck me in the face, imbedding broken glass into my nose and forehead. Instinctively I raised my hands to defend myself, realizing the attack had stopped momentarily, I looked out where my side window used to be, craning my neck to see what or who was behind my vehicle. I witnessed a less than wholesome looking man getting into a late model chevy compact with another shady looking man in the passenger seat, as they pulled their illegal U turn I was able to get a good look at their license plates and remember the number.
I stayed so calm throughout the entire incident that my dad and the police at my house were almost worried that something may be wrong with me, but it turns out that I am just able to keep a level head in high stress situations. After the police officer documented the damage to my car and face, the police ran down the license plate number and it turned out that the car belonged to a well known drug dealer/ all around dirtbag in town that had a history of doing things like this. We pressed charges and got my window paid for.
After this incident where I was not sure what was on the other side of the fogged up glass window of my car, just knowing that it was not good, I decided that I always want to be able to defend myself even if it requires me to use deadly force. The man used some kind of object to break my window and all that was there to stop him from continuing to cave in my skull was the other cars that were stopped with me, otherwise I may not be here today. If this were to happen again, I would have access to deadly force to protect myself and my loved ones from harm. I own a S&W638 which goes with me practically everywhere and a G23 which is usually around more in the winter time when it is easy to conceal. Both of these will do a fine job of stopping a threat that is deemed to be endangering either my family's or my life.
 
The police officer immediately knew who I was talking about before he even ran the plates, after they verified that it was in fact the suspect in question, officers were sent to the scum bags shanty where he was arrested. The other man in the car with the tattoo on his neck did not get arrested. We pressed charges and the guy plea bargained in exchange for a guilty plea. The law didn't really do much else, I had my window paid for and the turd was released back on the street. I wasn't really happy that because of the fact that I wasn't beaten within an inch of my life, they couldn't do much else except for an assault charge which was dropped to some kind of property damage. Anyway, Im sure the guy is in a much worse place now given the direction that his life was heading at the present time in 2002.
 
I bought a house. A gun seemed like a sensible purchase. Naturally I though that if I owned a handgun I should be able to use it should the need arise. Shooting soon became a hobby. Rather than run the risk of accidentally breaking the law while transporting a firearm to and from the range, I got my p2c.
 
I work in real estate so I am in empty homes all the time with people I don't know. I have had some very sketchy situations so I carry 24/7.

I once was showing a house in a rough area and had a very scary situation. Went in the house and locked the door behind me. I was in the basement and heard footsteps and voices upstairs (empty house). Walked upstairs and there were two very large Mexican guys who were obviously startled that I was there. I didn't even ask why they were there, just flat out said "you're going to have to wait till I'm done in here before you can come in". They left and I got the heck out of there. I dont know what they were doing and don't really want to. They weren't wearing work shirts and didn't offer any information. Scared the heck out of me.
 
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