If only we could buy those "premium law enforcement projectiles". Still, people who know .45 ACP and shooting far better than I, such as Bill Wilson, among others, have moved to 9mm rounds. But, I do still carry and shoot my 1911 in .45ACP. I am thinking of changing to .40 or possibly 9mm.
I choose from a few guns for which I will carry on a given day. Each gun, among my selection set aside for EDC carry has been extensively tested by me for reliability for the SD round I carry and as well as very frequently put through it’s paces not only at the range but our training range, where my training shooting from the draw, blind malfunction clearing, and other drills. Which gun I carry that day depends on weather, clothing, and my planned activities. The most frequent cartridge I carry is 9mm, but a 9mm selected for a each specific gun. In the Winter I often carry .45 acp, but fishing streams in black bear country, I carry the same gun loaded with .450 SMC (warning... only shoot in a gun +p rated platform). The ammo I carry has been tested by me in my own methods of testing. When in the AK, I carry a custom .460 chest crossdraw rig in the stream, but my first line against bear, is bear spray, followed by a longarm (shotgun or my 45/70) with a handgun for the Hail Mary, a strategy I have yet, and hope to never test; I like bears...live, let live. I have fished close to them, 75-100 yards, we go about our business...I the like my spot, I can find another; I am the interloper.
That's why one is in the chamber and setting the safety to off doesn't make a sound. I am also a firm believer that one should avoid the theatrics of warnings such as drop your gun or I'll shoot, that's for law enforcement to do, not a homeowner.
The term "Gun Control" itself is a misnomer and deflection of responsibility. What's needed is "Bad Political Policy" control.....and "Criminally minded People Control". If we go after everything demented, criminally minded individuals abuse and accept horrendous political policies that encourage criminal activity, then our society is doomed to be "Out of Control"
Plenty of folks have been arrested and convicted of felonies, losing their gun and other rights for the rest of their lives, over firing warning shots when they had every right to shoot the person they were warning. Had they shot the bad guy, they'd be free. Giving a warning lost them their guns forever.
Since when does where you live guarantee that criminals won't be present? Horrible and gruesome crimes happen in unexpected "good neighborhoods" all the time. Remember Charles Manson?
True. When you get in front of judges who have radical leftist agendas, and juries where people have been taught that gun owners are all murderers this happens frequently.
Who said anything was a guarantee? I just simply said I don’t need to carry an arsenal to be comfortable going out in public.
I have to give this one to ECA. We can never prepare for any and all scenarios so we prepare for enough to make us feel comfortable. Even carrying, I don't go where I don't feel comfortable. If he feels comfortable then good for him. I just hope he never has his world crushed by violence. Actually, mathematical odds, he won't. As for me, I'm more like your view. There's nowhere I go that I don't believe evil or violence can get to me so I carry as much as I can physically carry and still expect not to get arrested as a wacko if stopped by the police... exactly what that means, you'll have to make your own assumptions. Edit to add: the latter part, how much I may or may not carry, not, of course, included in the "like you"; you didn't say that part.
Comfort is the best we can hope for because we can never be safe and can never bear enough arms to cover every threat. That's why it's ok that people carry, or even don't carry, differently from me. They prepare, I hope, for their own comfort.
It might. But it might not depending on the situation. Bottom line is everyone has their own comfort level for going out in public. I happen to be comfortable not needing a gun to go out in public whereas others aren’t comfortable without a gun. To each his own.
No one advocate you should carry a gun if you aren’t comfortable doing so; It’s your right. But, there is an assumption frequently made in regard to those choose to carry; that they do so out of fear. That is an assumption that isn’t a universal motivation among those that carry.
For me it has nothing to do with comfort level. I am totally comfortable with guns having been around guns since I was 12 yrs old. I just don’t feel a need to carry a gun when I go out in public. That’s all.
The key is that, just like I defend your choice for not carrying or carrying less, I don't try to tell others what they can and cannot carry. No one has the right to tell another how or when to defend themselves. As key as this argument is to the right to keep and bear arms, it goes both ways. The problem is when many on the left, who might (in my opinion) be oblivious to the dangers around them, so they are comfortable, think that I should be as comfortable as they are and, since they choose not to carry, I shouldn't be allowed to carry. These are individual choices and each individual should be allowed to make them as they see fit for themselves and accept that others have that right as well.
I never go anywhere I am afraid - carrying or not carrying. There have been times when unforeseen circumstances have made me afraid where I didn't expect to be but my general rule is to avoid being afraid so fear never drives my carry habits; preparedness drives them.
Where I was raised, from an early age I was lived in an almost continual state of potential threat, unlike my life in the US. An awareness developers in that life condition to control your exposure to threats using many means; sometimes by avoidance, sometimes by meeting it head on. You learn how to carry yourself with the antithesis of a profile of a victim in waiting, learn to read the situation and people. I generally, carry when out and about, but a gun to me is an absolute last resort, because once considered for defense, that consideration changes everything, whether used or not. Btw, aid I am without a gun I am never unarmed, even with empty pockets... the environment almost always has weapon about. In owning a music pub for a handful of years where alcohol makes many into invincible warriors, I learned a couple important lessons. The first was, any conflict resolved in violence costs you customers, perhaps even a future friend. Second, you can command and control by how you carry yourself often with your voice and the words you choose and in most situations your goal is de-escalation not proving who has the bigger.... also, few situations develop that aren’t seen and preventable. BTW, women are often better at seeing the early signs, and my experience, make great bouncers. After I used women at the door and for keeping the peace, My place became pretty much devoid of violence the rest of the time I owned it. I did have a couple of men working security, but the policy was, let the women handle a situation developing, and be the silent guardian angel.
