Better And Better

If you don't draw yours, I won't draw mine. A police officer, working in the small town that he lives in, focusing on family and shooting and coffee, and occasionally putting some people in jail.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Maybe I'll just do it all the time, then...

Just a reminder:

The main reason to go armed in the wilderness is not because of wild animals (though that can be a reason, especially in the case of feral dogs). The main reason is because when you're out in the wilds, help is harder to get when bad guys utilize the seclusion to do with you as they wish.

Then, too, the reason to go armed in the urban environ is because there are many more people around you, some of whom are likely to be reckless with your safety, and wish to use the anonymity of the city to do ill against you for their own profit or sick pleasure.

But it would appear that life in a small town offers no more relief from the perils of one's fellow man.

The answer would appear to be just to carry all the time.

Pocket plunder for the real world.

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12 Comments:

At Tuesday, January 08, 2008 2:13:00 PM, Blogger Matt G said...

Heh. I just realized, looking at that picture, that I'm soooooo tactical. Everything's black. I should spraypaint that pesky flash drive, though. And those keys! Pure sniper bait, I tell you.

:rolleyes:

 
At Tuesday, January 08, 2008 2:51:00 PM, Blogger Carteach said...

Aye, you are correct.

Because I choose to carry, I choose to carry every time I am legally able. That means outside of my work, where self defense is literally illegal.

Responsable for oneself... is exactly that. I call the police when it's time to, but understand they are not by my side 24/7. There, it's my job.

 
At Tuesday, January 08, 2008 4:54:00 PM, Blogger Barbara said...

All well and good, but while I don't know about NC's laws, but in Georgia you can't carry where people gather and I see these two were on the job when they got shot - most workplaces I know of will fire you if you bring a weapon to work.

Maybe I watch too many TV movies but it seems to me that hikers are always a target. The main mistake that young lady made, based on what I read, was in actually talking to the man who abducted her. A woman cannot afford to engage strangers in conversation when she is alone - armed or not.

I just don't see the presence of a weapon on one's person as a panacea. Common sense has to come into play somewhere.

 
At Tuesday, January 08, 2008 5:11:00 PM, Blogger none said...

I've started carrying every day again. It's just not worth the risk of being unprepared.

 
At Tuesday, January 08, 2008 5:41:00 PM, Blogger Assrot said...

And that is exactly what I do, "Carry all the time". At least everywhere it is legal to do so.

I think anybody that walks around today with no means of protecting theirself is an idjut. Their time will come and they will wish they had a weapon.

You know what they say about wishing in one hand and ....

 
At Tuesday, January 08, 2008 6:07:00 PM, Blogger Rabbit said...

'Tch.

Looks a lot like what I end up toting around as well. Over the weekend I found a new murse/manbag, since the old one was, well...looking old. I can't always carry IWB, y'know, and I have all this ...stuff...that I have to keep up with. Besides, it makes me look like I'm traveling. As if I have somewhere to be.

Regards,
Rabbit.

 
At Tuesday, January 08, 2008 10:10:00 PM, Blogger breda said...

I'd like to carry all the time, just in case. But tell me, is it crazy to carry in your own home? I mentioned to someone that I wear my holster and gun around the house and they looked at me like I was insane.

 
At Tuesday, January 08, 2008 11:18:00 PM, Blogger Matt G said...

Babs, I agree whole-heartedly; possession of a gun does not make the person carrying it adept in its use, nor does it bestow up its possessor a common sense. Avoiding situations where self defense is neccessary is the best. But there are times where you realize that you can't avoid all contact with humans, and you can't just assume that minding your own business will keep you out of trouble.

You know, I used to believe that it did. I have since been utterly shocked when I've seen how people doing doing out of the ordinary are attacked. How the fight came to them, despite their attempts to avoid it.

There's an old mob saying that you can get more respect with a kind word and a gun than just a kind word. The flip side of that is that you can defend yourself and your family with a pound of prevention and a good sense of crisis avoidance, than just a good head alone.

A former chief of mine used to go unarmed off-duty pretty much all the time. I asked him about it, and he said "well, if something happens when I'm off-duty, I can be a good witness."

"What about when the fight comes to you? What about all the felons whom you've annoyed over the years? Don't you owe it to your family to be able to defend yourself and them?" I asked him.
A couple of weeks to a month later, he got a death threat from a man who was very angry at him. He showed up a day or two later with he brand new Kel-Tec P3AT, a 9 oz .380 super small pocket pistol. Suddenly the idea that violence might come uninvited into his world broke through to him. He began to carry off-duty. Sounds foolish that a chief of police would have thought himself exempt, doesn't it?

I wrote a little on the mindset of self-defense last year, and I stand behind my comments there.

 
At Tuesday, January 08, 2008 11:21:00 PM, Blogger Matt G said...

Breda, I've got that little snubbie in my pocket right now, and I've been home for most of an hour. It rides comfortably, so why take it off?

I usually don't wonder around the house with a gun on, though.

 
At Tuesday, January 08, 2008 11:34:00 PM, Blogger JPG said...

Where's the spare ammo? I thought you carried a Speed Strip for your Airweight.

Contrary to the popular perception, spare ammo is almost never used for reloading during a fight. It is so one may regroup afterward. It is far-fetched to imagine additional trouble, but things have already gone wrong . . . .

 
At Wednesday, January 09, 2008 6:20:00 PM, Blogger Barbara said...

So, what is a civilian/lay person to do when going to a public place/gathering? Just leave it somewhere in the car? In the summer? What good does it do there?

To me, and I know you'll think I'm nuts here, but on my 16-hr-a-day work schedule I routinely "lose" my cell phone, purse, and keys. That would just be something else = and something far more dangerous - for me to lose track of particularly if I'm having to remember where I can take it and where I can't lest I get locked up when I forget. Put it on/take it off/put it on/take it off...frankly that just ain't happ'nin'.

Too, many hardened felons are way too good at getting guns off of people - uniformed people - and using them against them. Happens way too frequently as noted in the news with the escape attempts and this is exactly why it is against GA DOC policy for correctional officers to carry inside the prison while on duty.

Eh. If it's my time to go, then it's just my time. In my case, I think "carrying" would be a greater liability than anything.

That and I sleepwalk when overtired, so I think it's risky to have any kind of loaded weapon in the house around me.

 
At Monday, January 14, 2008 12:26:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I always carry when I am off-duty.

My agency has lost two deputies in the last 10 years, who were ID as LEO, and then executed on the spot by the suspects.

One (and his girlfriend, also a LEO) was unarmed; the other was attempting to retrieve her weapon when murdered.

I think Col. Grossman sums it up best in his "Sheep;Sheepdogs: and Wolves" essay

 

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