OT - Why I Carry A Gun

[Ysabel Kid]

This one has been around before - and I think somone posted it here many moons ago, but I got it again in e-mail this morning, and thought it was a great reminder!

This e-mail did forget my favorite one though: "I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy to carry!".

WHY I CARRY A GUN

My old grandpa said to me, "Son, there comes a time in every man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps and usually it's when he becomes too old to take a butt whoopin'."

I don't carry a gun to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed.

I don't carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.

I don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid. I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.

I don't carry a gun because I'm evil. I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.

I don't carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.

I don't carry a gun because I'm angry. I carry a gun so that I don't have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.

I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.

I don't carry a gun because I'm a cowboy. I carry a gun because, when I die and go to Heaven, I want to be a cowboy.

I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.

I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.

I don't carry a gun because I love it. I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.

"Police Protection" is an oxymoron. Free citizens must protect themselves. Police do not protect you from crime; they usually just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.

Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take a butt whoopin'.


...author unknown (but obviously brilliant)

AMERICA, the home of the FREE because of the BRAVE.

[Rusty]

If you ever really need a cop, they'll usually get there just in time to take a lot of really good quality photographs and fill out tons of paperwork.

[homefront]

If you ever really need a cop, they'll usually get there just in time to take a lot of really good quality photographs and fill out tons of paperwork.

Rusty, I've seen them screw that up so badly as to ruin lives.

One of the best ways to retain a right is to exercise it, so I carry a firearm and encourage others to do the same. Especially youth. Especially now.

[Scott Young]

If you ever really need a cop, they'll usually get there just in time to take a lot of really good quality photographs and fill out tons of paperwork.

Rusty, I've seen them screw that up so badly as to ruin lives.

One of the best ways to retain a right is to exercise it, so I carry a firearm and encourage others to do the same. Especially youth. Especially now.

and i have seen them stop and tie a little girl's shoes and wipe her tears when she had tripped. i have also seen them spend endless hours trying to figure out how to make ends meet. lastly, i have seen them agonize over things they can't change that of being human and making mistakes.

edit:
i am not a leo or ex leo, nor do i have leos in my family (except a uncle that is a po), nor do i want to be a leo. seems like those are the only ones that tend to defend leos.

i also have had some very bad experiences with leos. bad people are everywhere, even in the pastorate(my profession).

[homefront]

Scott,

I'm sorry, I don't really mean to knock LEO's. As in any profession there are good, bad and indifferent, and my comment should not be taken out of context.
When my son was struck and killed by a car, he was knocked right out of his sneakers. The local officers who responded failed to measure any distances at all - the locations of his sneakers, his bike, his body, his body, the vehicle, and the lack of skid marks did not get recorded. There was more, but suffice it to say that I have no faith in my local cops now. Their performance should is not the standard I measure others by, and my post was insufficient.

[rjohns94]

Scott,
I have too have seen the very best and the very worst in LEO's. I respect them and tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. However, i still carry a gun or two or three with me daily. Too much to do, too many depending on me to be cut short. I have also slowed down on the roads, giving more space between me and other cars. I tend to watch parking lots and persons in and around areas I am going to more now, noticing the odd person out of place, or someone hanging around in their car, or several people cruising and looking. I am more cautious and more prepared. I am aware the response time of our LEO's far exceeds the time of "an event" and I am prepared to help them with the information when they arrive on the scene. Most of my family does not get this.

blessings

[kimwcook]

First and foremost, everyone should understand that they and they alone are responsible for their primary safety. Cops aren't bodyguards. Usually they end up cleaning up someone else's mess they started. And, they can't be everywhere at once. Standby, with the budget cuts coming they'll be lucky to have the personnel to respond to anything short of in progress crimes and crimes against persons. I'll give you that in every profession there's the good and the bad. Not all officers get training or good training. In big or little departments.

Unfortunately, cops are the ones who have the duty of investigating tragic events and taking the heat if something isn't done correctly. People really need to go through a week of a cops life and see what it's like. They endure everything from monday morning quarterbacking on a shooting the officer had nano seconds to make their decision on, to they should of known every angle a defense attorney was going to use on them in court and been prepared. Really? An officer will never have the time to shortcut every challenge made in court by defense. Most do the best they can with the tools, training and time they're given. The sad part of the story is whatever is done on an investigation is usually what you've got as you only have one chance to get it right and sometimes that just isn't enough.

I've more than agonized over a situation that I could not control, nor change. I've held premature babies that didn't make it. I've also removed the 78 year old Marine that lost his 10 year battle with cancer. Most of time it's one of the most thankless jobs there is. No one cares about law enforcement until they need it. I've lost years of my life to the stress of the job. I'll guarantee it. But in the end, I wouldn't do anything else.

Rant off.

You know why God made cops don't you? So firemen would have someone to look up to.

[homefront]

Most of my family does not get this.

I spent many years working in NYC, and saw some terrible things happen to people right out in public. Our kin live in a protected cocoon, and "stuff" only happens on TV, to someone else. Many of my friends, who are grown men, are just as blind.

[Modoc ED]

Scott,
I have too have seen the very best and the very worst in LEO's. I respect them and tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. However, i still carry a gun or two or three with me daily. Too much to do, too many depending on me to be cut short. I have also slowed down on the roads, giving more space between me and other cars. I tend to watch parking lots and persons in and around areas I am going to more now, noticing the odd person out of place, or someone hanging around in their car, or several people cruising and looking. I am more cautious and more prepared. I am aware the response time of our LEO's far exceeds the time of "an event" and I am prepared to help them with the information when they arrive on the scene. Most of my family does not get this.

blessings

I didn't think PA issued Concealed Carry Permits.

[homefront]

I didn't think PA issued Concealed Carry Permits.

It doesn't. The state issues a License To Carry Firearms, and as currently defined by state law gives much more flexibility in carry options than most people, especially leo's, are aware of.

Much information can be found here: http://forum.pafoa.org/
Here is a direct link to their flyer, spelling out Pa firearms laws: http://forum.pafoa.org/concealed-open-c ... y-you.html

[rjohns94]

Homefront is giving the straight skinny. I have a license to carry firearms. The state is also open carry in all but Philadelphia area but you sure do raise a ruccus when you do. I do both just to keep the people aware of the laws. Most often I carried concealed. When I am in the mood to make a point, I carry open.

[Rusty]

Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking LEOs. I was one myself for over three years. I liked to have starved to death. I got a job driving a truck and doubled my salary in one day. That was back in the 70's. a lot of that's not the same today.
Something that has changed is that now the sheeple think they should be taken care of by the Gov't from the womb to the tomb. Personally I'll take care of my self thank you.

[alnitak]

There is a lot of discussion on some of the other boards I belong to, especially DefensiveCarry.com, about the need to carry a gun (and LEOs too, though this topic is not about LEOs...most deserve our respect though some see it as a power trip and make up their own interpretation of the law). As they (and others like VCDL) say there, "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away." Given this, and the recent court rulings to the effect that police have no responsibility whatsoever to protect the citizens (just investigate afterwards and catch the criminals), I choose to carry when I can. Unfortunately, those times are limited...I can't carry picking my children up from school; I can't carry going to church (attached to a school, and in VA you need "reason" to carry in church); I can't carry (concealed) when I'm having dinner with my family; I can't carry on posted private property, like many malls, banks, movie theaters, etc.; I can't carry driving around the Waashington beltway and crossing into Maryland or going to downtown D.C.; I can't carry going to the Post Office,; etc., etc. Seems like there are more places I can't carry than those I can, but where I can, I do for the reasons stated above in the OP.

[pharmseller]

Last summer I went on a vacation with my family and my side of the extended family (brother and his family, sister, mom and dad) and got into a discussion with my big lib sister regarding concealed carry. She is among the misinformed who believe that guns in the hands of citizens is bad, because bad people do bad things with guns, so no one should have guns (I'm not kidding, that's her reasoning).
I asked her if there were bad people in the world. She said yes. I asked her if some of these bad people did bad things with guns. She said yes. I asked her if she could tell just by looking who these bad people were. She said no. I asked her if it were possible that one of those bad people was in the same restaurant as we were, right then. She said yes.
I told her that I was armed, right then, in part to keep her and the rest of the family safe. If one of those bad people try to do bad things to us, right now, I told her, I will kill to prevent it.
I ended the lesson by saying, given that bad people do bad things, and we cannot change the fact, would you want me to do anything less?

We don't talk about concealed carry any more.

P

[gary rice]

If you ever really need a cop, they'll usually get there just in time to take a lot of really good quality photographs and fill out tons of paperwork.

Theirs and old saying. Call for a cop then call for a pizza and see which one shows up first. No pun intended to our local cops here on the site.

[Ysabel Kid]

Having grown up in a law enforcement household, and being surrounded by local, state, and federal law enforcement men and women in my formative years, I have nothing but respect for them. Sure, I've seen some that aren't qualified to pick up dog turds, don't deserve a badge, and it is simply horrifying to know they carry a gun. But the vast majority of them are honest, hard-working human beings, just as fallable as any of us, trying to do a thankless and dangerous job because they believe in it.

As Kim noted, any LEO worth his salt will tell you that YOU are responsible for YOUR own safety first and foremost. In the end analysis, that is why I carry a gun. Individual responsibility is one of the things that made this country great to begin with - which is why the left is trying their best to destroy all notions of it!

[Mutt]

I carry a gun because it's best I do !..............................................Mutt

[Meeteetse]

I carry a gun because I have a responsibility to myself. I refuse to be a victim, and I do not want others in my family to become victims if I can prevent it.

I believe in and trust the LE community, but they react, they do not prevent.

[505stevec]

Last summer I went on a vacation with my family and my side of the extended family (brother and his family, sister, mom and dad) and got into a discussion with my big lib sister regarding concealed carry. She is among the misinformed who believe that guns in the hands of citizens is bad, because bad people do bad things with guns, so no one should have guns (I'm not kidding, that's her reasoning).
I asked her if there were bad people in the world. She said yes. I asked her if some of these bad people did bad things with guns. She said yes. I asked her if she could tell just by looking who these bad people were. She said no. I asked her if it were possible that one of those bad people was in the same restaurant as we were, right then. She said yes.
I told her that I was armed, right then, in part to keep her and the rest of the family safe. If one of those bad people try to do bad things to us, right now, I told her, I will kill to prevent it.
I ended the lesson by saying, given that bad people do bad things, and we cannot change the fact, would you want me to do anything less?

We don't talk about concealed carry any more.

P

Good job Brother!

[PaulB]

I'm sorry, I don't really mean to knock LEO's. As in any profession there are good, bad and indifferent...

This is true. However it's the only profession where the bad ones can get away with literal murder.

Here's a story worth reading:
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs ... arrest.php

I carry a gun in case someone needs killing.

[FOTIS]

brilliant!

[Bogie35]

I carry a gun in case someone needs killing.

+1 !

bogie

[TedH]

I like that whole list. I had to copy and email it to a couple "uninformed" acquaintances.

[stretch]

Why?

Because I can.

I have found myself being a more polite driver in the last decade as a result.
I'll pull over and let the tailgater go, I generally (although not always!) refrain
from returning monodigital salutes, and I am definitley more aware both
in the car and out of the car - although I've always tried to be aware of my
surroundings.

I don't really want an armed confrontation to materialize in front of me - but it
is nice to know I can deal with it if I need to.