Author Topic: how long does it take? (Read 716 times)

hvacman · « **on:** July 16, 2004, 05:20:12 PM »

How long does it take to get confortable with carrying concealed? After years of not being able to carry concealed and feeling like a criminal having a weapon in the truck when working in bad areas I haven't gotten over feeling guilty for packing now that I have the permit. Anyone else suffer from this? After the fight it took to get ccw in Missouri you would thing I would be happier

AZ223 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 16, 2004, 05:57:13 PM »

I don't know about others, but it took me about six months or longer to feel "normal" carrying vs. not. I think a big part of it has to do with how you view what you're doing. For me, it's a tool to help me enforce my own safety. I've studied martial arts for years and work for the corrections department, so I feel I understand who I'm likely to be dealing with should I ever need to use it. Not paranoia, but a healthy respect for the abilities and attitudes of people who don't care about the law or what they do to anyone.

IMHO, you should have a strong sense of responsibility for what you're doing, a thorough understanding of the law, and a LOT of time familiarizing yourself with your weapon(s) of choice. Just strapping on a sidearm to "feel safe" is a mistake many people make; kind of like buying a gun for home defense but never (or almost never) firing it.

Check out www.sightm1911.com, click "Library" and go to the CCW link for a lot of useful info on the mindset for self-defense. A good one is at www.sightm1911.com/lib/ccw/continuum.htm for an excellent essay regarding self-defense and mind-set.

Okay, I'll get off my soap-box. Good luck, and I hope this helps... :wink:

leverfan · « **Reply #2 on:** July 16, 2004, 08:26:33 PM »

It took a couple of years to find a carry method and gun size that worked well in all situations, but I've always been glad of my right to carry. Once I was sure that nobody would spot my gun, I was very comfortable with all aspects of CCW. In fact, for several years, I've only felt weird when I wasn't packing a gun. It's like leaving your best life insurance policy unpaid, or walking around with no underwear. I'm just not comfortable being unarmed anymore, and I expect you'll eventually get to the point that you feel "not quite dressed" without a gun, too.

williamlayton · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2004, 01:24:55 AM »

I think you will find that it comes in stages, just never let yourself become too comfortable, as in complacent. Awareness of surroundings will keep you from harms way as much as a weapon will help you when harms way happens.
Blessings

jhm · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2004, 03:56:20 AM »

As the others have stated it will take a few mounth, and several differewnt styles and brands of holsters to find the one that you are comfortable with, also a change of clothing sometimes will aid in the comfort zone, but the hardest thing is the funny feeling you have when you FORGET your weapon after all the adjustments you go thru.

JIM

Bikenut · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2004, 05:21:38 AM »

It took me several months to become comfortable with carrying a firearm. Not only physically comfortable with gun placement/holsters/methods of concealment but mentally and spiritually comfortable.

The mental/spiritual part was the most difficult. It required a whole new way of thinking and it came in stages. At first I was almost paranoid that everyone could tell I had a gun... then the magnitude of the personal responsibility I now had sunk in, and that one took a while to wrap my mind around since I now had the responsibility to defuse everything first if possible. No longer did I have the luxury of telling someone to kiss my posterior if I were insulted since escalating any situation simply was not an option. Plus I had to become very aware of my surroundings so as not to blindly put myself in a situation/area where danger probably would jump into reality. Finally I understood that by carrying a gun I had also shouldered the responsibility to make sure I didn't need to use it.

And the spiritual part........ that was finally resolved when I understood that God wouldn't have made it possible for me to carry a gun if He didn't want me to have the means to stick around on this earth to continue living.

Oddly enough my gun has become so much a part of me that if I don't have it on me I feel absolutely naked..... and very uneasy even in what are normally considered benign and safe situations. At first I thought that was bordering on paranoia until I understood that violence doesn't care where or who it is inflicted upon and could/will crop up totally unexpectedly from sources unknown or hard to believe. And my unease was caused by my subconscious understanding of that.

I avoid the "pistol free zones" decreed by law in my state simply because I don't like that uneasy unarmed feeling.

papajohn428 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2004, 08:25:37 AM »

I guess once you have a comfortable rig, it gets easier, but while you're still experimenting, you are constantly messing with it, or thinking everyone can see it. Once you get past that, it becomes as much a part of your wardrobe as a belt.

I work security in an office building, and on the weekends it's practically deserted. So today, I decided to leave my duty belt at home, and I have a slide holster on my belt and a folding knife in my pocket. No radio, no cuffs, no spare ammo.

And I feel naked as a jaybird! :shock:

PJ the Overexposed

bearblade · « **Reply #7 on:** July 18, 2004, 12:06:56 PM »

It took me awhile to get used to carrying a rifle everywhere, but now I feel naked without it (a little different story). I felt the same way with my knife. Now I carry a large bowie on my hip out here (Iraq), and the largest pocket knife I can find (currently my SOG PE II) in the rear in civilian attire (aka normal clothes).

hvacman · « **Reply #8 on:** July 18, 2004, 04:44:21 PM »

bearblade, thanks very much for your service! Hvacman

Bikenut · « **Reply #9 on:** August 12, 2004, 01:28:23 AM »

Carrying concealed has it's downsides too.... the following just happened to me.

On Tuesday, 8-10-04, I stopped to have a routine blood draw for cholesterol levels.... but I'd been feeling "funny" in my chest since the day before and since my doc's office was right next door to the lab I stopped in to make an appointment. Uh oh.... the minute I said "chest discomfort" a whole lot of things happened..... the end result was the doc calling an ambulance for a ride to the hospital... and me telling my doc I had a gun in my pocket and needed to put it out in my truck since I can't take a gun to the hospital (hospital is a gun free zone). The doc's staff put me in a wheelchair for the ride to my truck... I put the gun away... called my son to get my truck... and went to the hospital. Lots of things happened there including a heart catheterization but now I'm home and feeling better.

However, my son ended up driving my truck to my house with my gun in it. Perfectly innocent and under an unusual situation.... but totally illegal. I'm sure had he been stopped for anything it would have been all worked out eventually but my son, who was helping his dad in an emergency, still would have had a lot of explaining to do as to why he was driving a truck that didn't belong to him... and had a gun in it that also didn't belong to him.... especially since my boy doesn't have a CCW.... I'm sure an understanding cop would have just checked out the situation and it would have been no big deal... however, there is no guarantee the cop would be understanding................ Thankfully my son didn't get stopped and nothing happened.... but that is something to think about!

DeerMeadowFarm · « **Reply #10 on:** August 12, 2004, 02:46:33 AM »

They say it takes 21 weeks to make or break a habit. I guess if you found a comfortable way to carry and made a point to do it for the 21 weeks it would become second nature for you. I dont carry all the time so I never am totally comfortable when I do. Usually I only carry if I have to go to the city and when I do I am in the everyone knows Im carrying a gun stage. My nephew who now lives in Florida carries all the time. My wife and I went down a few years ago to visit him and his girlfriend. We went to Disney World and at one point the girls were shopping in one of the stores and my nephew and I started talking guns. Thats when he told me he carried everywhere. I said Everywhere? and thats when he pulled out his Glok! He said that the only way to become comfortable was to carry everywhere (that its legal to) and he does.

squirrel_hunter6 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 12, 2004, 06:38:45 AM »

Quote from: Bikenut

The mental/spiritual part was the most difficult.

Then Jesus said to him, Put up your sword again into its place; for all who take the sword shall perish with a sword. (Mat 26:52)

If someone has chosen to break into my house and possibly do harm to me or my family then they know that there is a possibility that they themselves could also be harmed in the process. You will reap what you sow. If you sow violence, then you will reap violence in your own life. For every action there is a reaction. For every sin there is a consequence.

I believe that I have the right to defend myself. If someone has chosen to do me harm and they set it forth into action, then I will defend myself anyway necessary. That person may end up dying and unfortunetly spend eternity in hell but, they had a choice to either follow the law of the land or break the law. They have a choice to follow Jesus and be saved or live for themselves in this world and unknowingly follow the devil into his entrapments and ultimately spend eternity in hell.

S.S. · « **Reply #12 on:** August 12, 2004, 07:30:23 AM »

Be very informed when it comes to your license!!!!
My license is from Georgia and it makes no reference
to "Concealed Carry" What so ever!
It is a Georgia Firearms License.
The Probate Judge who Signed mine
said that The License
was a permit to Carry a firearm on ones person, not
to conceal it. This is a "BIG" loophole in the law.
So if I carry a weapon in a Ankle holster with my pants
pulled over it, and I have to use it. I could possibly
still be charged with carrying an illegal weapon.
I have read the laws, and they are pretty vague in areas.
Be carefull with them.

Bikenut · « **Reply #13 on:** August 12, 2004, 08:16:02 AM »

I am not an attorney nor have I been educated in the law.... but it is my understanding that there are some important differences in the law....

There is the law as it is written, commonly referred to as "black letter law" meaning exactly what is written on paper.

Then there is "interpretive" law, that is what we normally run into in a court room.... what the judge, prosecuter, and defense attorney all THINK the law says.

Black letter law is what our Constitution was supposed to be.... it is written plainly and a dictionary will immediately clear up any misunderstandings of any words contained therein.

Interpretive law is what someone THINKS the Constitution says.

And that "interpretive law" is what our country is running on at this point in time.... even local laws are open to interpretation by whom ever happens to be in a position of authority at the time.

Scary isn't it?

Interestingly enough the few laws I've researched are pretty sensible in the "black letter" form..... how they have been interpreted and applied aren't always sensible! and do not always even remotely resemble the original "black letter" form!

That really scares me!

I forgot to add in my earlier post about the recent hospital stay.......

You know that "exposed" feeling hospital gowns give ya? That feeling wasn't nearly as bad as the feeling I had knowing I was not only exposing my "southern view" but I was also totally, completely, UNARMED! Guess I've become accostomed to having a gun on me.