I don't carry very often, and started over 20 years ago when we had some retail locations, not all were in good areas and one of my responsibilities was to pick up the banks. The only time I carry is when I carring large amounts of cash (like when going to buy a car of something) but most of the time, my pieces are in their safe places at home:D

As for carrying when you exercise, I don't have to worry about sweat. All my carry guns are refinished in Robar's NP3, which is nickel and teflon. It's impervious to salt and you just wipe it off when done at the range. No lube needed either. I've had sweat dripping off it before. Just wipe it off.

Jeff - This is a very impressive and touching statement/philosophy!

Tom

Perfectly OK to use "whatever means necessary" imo. I really wasn't second guessing your actions Rick...I'd probably have done the same "if" I was carrying. I completely understand Jeff's position, and wouldn't give up my "rights" for anything, but I just don't live in such a state of fear that I've ever felt the need to carry on a "regular" basis. I simply feel that testosterone, alcohol, and guns are a "ticking time bomb" for many. Like I said, many times over the years, I've made sure one was "handy" if the situation warranted, but personally, I would never choose to carry on a day-to-day basis...it's just not me.

For Houston, I've had all of my Kel-Tecs nickle plated which I'm sure helped. The pistol is actually mostly Plastic (Grip) and Aluminum (Trigger assembly). Only the slide and barrel that are steel.

My other primary carries are either Teflon coated or Stainless.

If the election goes the wrong way, I will get my permit just in case govt trys to limit my right to do so in the future. In my normal daily life, I do not feel the need to be armed, but on the rare occasions that I have to travel thru the hood for work, I would feel much safer if I was carrying.

Tim, Ohio's CCW law is horrible. Every time I go there I see those gun-free zone decals on the doors of nearly every business. You see it once in a while here in Phoenix, but it doesn't have the force of law in AZ. In OH it's a felony to disobey it.

Yep, but the only time I ever feel like I need a gun on my person is when I venture into the "urban" areas of downtown Toledo. I lock my doors and keep my windows up when occasionaly driving in those areas of town. I would never even think of stopping at a gas station in those areas being unarmed and the thought of having a flat tire or a breakdown in those areas is not pleasant. If I had to drive those areas on a regular basis, I would have my CCW by now for sure.

Tim,

Whenever I drive to Tab Tanner's shop in Findlay in my 34 year old Porsche, I'm carrying my pistol. Not that the areas are "high crime", I just don't like the vulnerability that driving 150 miles (round trip) in an old car presents. The "pistol free" stickers aren't common once you get away from I-75. We drove to Oxford, OH this summer and I was carrying and I never saw one of those signs/stickers as we took SR-127 the entire way.

Hanging with the likes of Tab Tanner?.... No wonder you are packing ;):D:D

Really? And you guys complain about LA.

I've driven most every urban area in Los Angeles and I've never felt the need to carry. That includes East LA, Inglewood and other "dangerous" places.

Sounds like OH isn't the nicest place to live.

I have never been to LA and don't see myself going there any time soon. I am happy for you that LA feels safe to you. I live 30 miles from Toledo where many people don't even lock their doors and leave their keys in their cars.

Downtown Toledo (probably like many cities across the country) has several areas that are run down and are inhabited by some pretty sketchy types. The actual downtown business district is pretty nice, but go a few blocks away and you are in the ghetto. Little carryouts and gas stations with bars on the windows, graffiti, crappy little houses, thugs wearing wearing droopy drawers walking the sidewalks, old POS cars running around on 20" wheels etc.

Not the kind of place that a clean-cut white boy driving a Porsche or BMW would want to stop for gas. On the rare occasion I do drive through some of these lovely neighborhoods, I consciously allow myself room at stoplights to manuever out of harms way on the sidewalk if need be. The part of Toledo I work in only requires that I daily drive by one government housing project and it is not too bad, but I would not want to stop there either.

The saying goes like this:

If you "think" you're going to be in a gun fight, bring a rifle, and friends with rifles.

I carry a pistol, just in case. Something can happen anywhere. Bad things happen in good sections of town. The bank closest to my house was robbed in the past 2 weeks, along with several more not too far from here.

I have no plans to be a "hero". Unless I am being threatened, I am not getting invovled. My carrying has the opposite effect. I make CERTAIN I de-escalate every problem. 90% of the training we get in Texas is de-escalation and the law. You are not trained in how to use a pistol, as that is assumed. There is a marksmanship portion of the CCW test and you can be failed for improper handling, at the range.

http://www.nbc29.com/global/story.asp?s=9165865
http://www.nbc29.com/global/story.asp?s=9164936
I do live in a very quiet area but this crap happens everywhere.

i was going rabbit hunting once with some friends. we had weapons scattered all over the car, unloaded, of course. seriously, it looked like we were going to rob a bank. some guy got mad and got out of his car at an intersection and started getting belligerent with the driver of our vehicle. all it took was picking up a pistol from the floor and showing it to him. to this day, i am not sure what he was thinking, there were four of us. perhaps he was on meth, there is a lot of that going on here. anyway, i don't carry, but i do travel with a gun under the seat. you never know.

I don't carry but I do have a pistol on every floor of the house and a rifle at my workshop.

I also have a shotgun at the nightstand.

We live far enough off the beaten path that no one gets here by accident...

You'd be certifiably insane to go to some parts of L.A. without some sort of armament. I typically don't visit those locations but (hypothetically speaking) if I ever had to, I wouldn't give a damn what the carry law said. As they say - better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.

Well like I said, I have never been there, but Todd seems to think it is safe there even in the rougher areas. Maybe he was just trying to bait me into saying something inflammatory. ;) :)

because i was just shy of being a EAGLE SCOUT and live by the motto of "BE PREPARED"!

just got back from camping late last night. had some clown on canyon road above us, let loose with 3 clips of .45 right above our heads into camp area. campground filled with families, my g/friend, my buddies wife, my buddy(jim patricks uncle), his kids, dog etc.

tree branches/bark flying everywhere as i approached my truck. stone cold sober, opened truck door after intial pooing pants and hitting the ground. grabbed .45, racked round into pipe safety off, crouch behind truck, weapon pointed at source of shots......................

foliage so thick could not see. saw glimpse of white truck. campers next to us, come running over with rifles and pistols asking me if im alright????? since i was closest to shooter. i said im ok. grab buddy and we get into truck, and look for white truck. ask other campers, they see white truck. we see white truck. go to campsite next to white truck. they state guy has been shooting in campground earlier in day. none of them have gun and were not going to confront him. wind blowing to beat band and i have down jacket on. .45 in right pocket, SAFETY OFF! condition RED!

confront "hispanic" in shorts/tatoos everywhere/no shirt. asked if he was shooting and his reply "whats it to ya". i state there are campers over there and he could have killed me or someone else. he states " i can shoot anywhere i want!" yep his exact ******* quote!

i state " well yer never gonna shoot in here again!" his statement.........."what are you threatening me?" my reply " this is a national forest campground and you CANNOT SHOOT IN A NATIONAL FOREST CAMPGROUND!" his reply " who the fuch are you?"

he was in a crouch with his white meth looking POS skank g/friend trying to light fire. had he gotten up in a threatening manner he was gonna be toast!

with his last statement............i replied "yep you can kind of consider me threatening you" as i backed up to my truck, memorized lic. plate and backed out with hand on .45. went back to camp, bill johnson got in, other campers swarmed us with cell phones calling 911, and i gave lic. number to them. we proceeded to ranch house about 4 miles from camp and called 911, we then left for camp verde and found yavapai county sherriff. gave him CCW as i was carrying, and he alerted other deputies for cooconino county. national forest and other yavapai county sheriffs.

after driving back to camp, along comes "vato loco-chewy from la puente" with meth head g/friend. it is dark and we had brights on and "I'D'ed" them . they passed us and we got to rise on ridge back and called 911 again.

2 cops show up in campground coming from wet beaver creek road and question another guy with us who just arrived "have you seen white chevy?" he says yes. campers show up and tell deputies story. they hi tail it back down road.

end of story until this am.

just got off phone with yavapai county sheriffs office and u.s. forest service coconino forest law enforcement(DA FEDS) left message with deputy. we are prosecuting this clown. no ifs ands or butts.

he will be lucky if he EVER OWNS A ******* BUTTER KNIFE let alone RUBBING 2 STICKS TOGETHER EVER IN HIS LIFE when i and about 40 other campers are done with him!

my blood is still boiling!


talk about using CONSTRAINT! all this clown had to do was lift a rock, shovel, axe, bottle, stick etc . anything and i MEAN ******* ANYTHING CONSTRUED AS A WEAPON and he was GONNA BE VAPORIZED WITH A SPRINGFIELD .45 with federal 230 grain hydrashocks!

HOW WAS YER WEEKEND!

i came so close to pulling on him..................IT AINT ******* FUNNY! i was gonna tell him to get on the ground, spread eagle, and if he made a move..............KA ******* BOOM 8 times and a RELOAD, KA ******* BOOM 8 more times!

thats why i carry a gun! all i had was g/friends .38, my .22 pistol, and my .45. i WILL NEVER GO CAMPING AGAIN WITHOUT SOCOM/HK-91/M40-A-1/etc. ever in my LIFE!

peace thru superior firepower!

in HIND SIGHT..............i wish to god i had my SOCOM with me....................i would have been able to watch POO fill his shoes! 20-30 rd clips of .308 will make anyjuan POO THEMSELVES!

craziest most moronic/dangerous thing i have experienced in a damn long time!

there AINT NOTHING BETTER THAN BEING THE GUYS WITH THE WHITE HATS! i do not care how much this costs. how much time, where the trial will be held(probably flagstaff fed court), this clown vato loco IS GONNA BE CRUCIFIED and his HUEVOS DETACHED LEGALLY BY ME AND FELLOW CAMPERS!

for the record in case this clown comes after me, if he got my plate. hispanic, 5'5, tatts all over, white chevy extended cab truck license # AZ 340 VWB (victor-whiskey-bravo)

I have a CCW and a .38 snubnose. I carry when I'm going to be somewhere sketchy, especially if its going to be late at night. Which means, I don't carry that often.

I don't feel the need to carry all the time. In my quiet daily life, the probability of running into trouble that requires/justifies shooting someone is extremely, extremely low. I might as well walk around with a lightning rod on my head.

You can look up the crime statistics for your neighborhood. In mine, the odds of the average person suffering a violent personal crime is appx 0.3% per year, if you eliminate "simple assault" (so limit it to things like homicide, aggravated assault, rape, kidnapping, etc) that drops to around 0.1%. How much trouble would you go to, to guard against a 0.001 chance?

(Incidentally, I do bring a Glock when I'm camping. No analyzed reason, just feel like being in the outdoors and firearms kind of go together.)