Constant carry or part time?

[rycerz]

Originally Posted by hygyliac

These are some of the best explainations that I've heard. Each one is insightful from experienced people. These go beyond the point where the general population stops thinking about the responsibilities that go with having a CCW. Well done guys!!

I would only take an exception where it says that we have an obligation to the community to carry. CCW is for personal protection and any and all obligations are to ourselves (per the rules/laws). Anything else is personal....

[gjj]

That's probably a high percentage...walk down the street in any of the below cities and the percentage goes way down. LOL

1. South Central LA
2. WATTS
3. Pacoima
4. Hawaiian Gardens
5. Cottonwood
6. Baker Street
7. Parts of Oildale
8. I Street
9. South Sacramento
10. Oakland
11. North San Juan
12. Fresno
13. Arvin
14. Delano
15. Union Street
16. Bakersfield mall
17. Firestone
18. Longbeach
19. Bell Gardens
20. Compton
21. Paramount
22. Lynwood
23. Inglewood
Etc....etc...etc.

Sierra, I would make the case that the difference in danger in the above areas is insignificant. Millions of people live and work in these areas every day. An incredibly small number turn up robbed or dead. For all practical purposes, the chances of having to shoot someone is about like winning (or losing in this case) the lottery.

That being said, I carry everywhere. I live in Mission Viejo, CA. This was voted the safest city in America. I do this because anything can happen anywhere. I will not leave my future to chance when I have the choice of being prepared. It is sooo easy to carry my Glock 27. I like doing it. Why not carry if you can? The chance of some guy shooting up the McDonalds that I am eating lunch in can happen in Mission Viejo, Compton, or anywhere else. There really are no safe places.

Either way, we both agree to carry.

-Dave

[rycerz]

Originally Posted by gjj

That being said, I carry everywhere. I live in Mission Viejo, CA. This was voted the safest city in America. I do this because anything can happen anywhere. I will not leave my future to chance when I have the choice of being prepared. It is sooo easy to carry my Glock 27. I like doing it. Why not carry if you can? The chance of some guy shooting up the McDonalds that I am eating lunch in can happen in Mission Viejo, Compton, or anywhere else. There really are no safe places.

Wasn't it in Mission Viejo that the young kid picked up a shotgun and went and killed someone couple houses down? It turned out to be random cause he didn't really know the people? Imagine him running into someone on the street on the way there! (this was about a year or two ago).

[CalCCW03]

Originally Posted by rycerz

Wasn't it in Mission Viejo that the young kid picked up a shotgun and went and killed someone couple houses down? It turned out to be random cause he didn't really know the people? Imagine him running into someone on the street on the way there! (this was about a year or two ago).

Close, it was Aliso Viejo

[SierraNevadaCCW]

Originally Posted by gjj

That's probably a high percentage...walk down the street in any of the below cities and the percentage goes way down. LOL

1. South Central LA
2. WATTS
3. Pacoima
4. Hawaiian Gardens
5. Cottonwood
6. Baker Street
7. Parts of Oildale
8. I Street
9. South Sacramento
10. Oakland
11. North San Juan
12. Fresno
13. Arvin
14. Delano
15. Union Street
16. Bakersfield mall
17. Firestone
18. Longbeach
19. Bell Gardens
20. Compton
21. Paramount
22. Lynwood
23. Inglewood
Etc....etc...etc.

Sierra, I would make the case that the difference in danger in the above areas is insignificant. Millions of people live and work in these areas every day. An incredibly small number turn up robbed or dead. For all practical purposes, the chances of having to shoot someone is about like winning (or losing in this case) the lottery.

That being said, I carry everywhere. I live in Mission Viejo, CA. This was voted the safest city in America. I do this because anything can happen anywhere. I will not leave my future to chance when I have the choice of being prepared. It is sooo easy to carry my Glock 27. I like doing it. Why not carry if you can? The chance of some guy shooting up the McDonalds that I am eating lunch in can happen in Mission Viejo, Compton, or anywhere else. There really are no safe places.

Either way, we both agree to carry.

-Dave

Ok...Go walk down the road in Compton and see if you "make it home safe". LOL

Listen...I know what you are saying, however what you have to understand is that we don't carry for the 99%...we carry for the 1%.

Most people...civillians...don't see all the stuff thats going on around them. I can go almost anywhere and show you things that are going on or people who are most likely problematic, on drugs, 5150, lookin to steal, looking for trouble...etc. And all around them are clueless civilians blissfully living.

Also, you have to consider that just the having the gun or the presence of the gun can stop things before they get traction. There are too many variables to make this black and white.

Plus...I don't believe in "safe cities" propoganda or crime stats anymore. I've seen too many things not get reported or no paper on it after the cops leave to believe this stuff.

[NSP]

A lot of this thread reminds me of spare tires. Imagine how much fuel in California is used every year hauling around that "extra" weight for the hundreds of thousands of cars that never use their spare tire.

In addition to that, just imagine how much more storage space everyone would have if they could use that extra cavity in their trunk.

But the smart thing to do is to carry that spare tire just in case

If I see a street with nails spilled over it, I'm not going to drive on it just because I have a spare tire. That spare tire is reserved for when Mr. Murphy hits me on a normal commute. Then I'll be more that glad I had it.

[NSP]

Originally Posted by SierraNevadaCCW

Ok...Go walk down the road in Compton and see if you "make it home safe". LOL

And you never know when you may end up in a compton type place.

I'm a smart enough individual to aviod COMPTON of all places! Yet years ago, due to completely wrong directions, I found myself in Compton at 10:30 at night in a brand new car

[IAmASensFan]

Originally Posted by gjj

That's probably a high percentage...walk down the street in any of the below cities and the percentage goes way down. LOL

1. South Central LA
2. WATTS
3. Pacoima
4. Hawaiian Gardens
5. Cottonwood
6. Baker Street
7. Parts of Oildale
8. I Street
9. South Sacramento
10. Oakland
11. North San Juan
12. Fresno
13. Arvin
14. Delano
15. Union Street
16. Bakersfield mall
17. Firestone
18. Longbeach
19. Bell Gardens
20. Compton
21. Paramount
22. Lynwood
23. Inglewood
Etc....etc...etc.

Sierra, I would make the case that the difference in danger in the above areas is insignificant. Millions of people live and work in these areas every day. An incredibly small number turn up robbed or dead. For all practical purposes, the chances of having to shoot someone is about like winning (or losing in this case) the lottery.

That being said, I carry everywhere. I live in Mission Viejo, CA. This was voted the safest city in America. I do this because anything can happen anywhere. I will not leave my future to chance when I have the choice of being prepared. It is sooo easy to carry my Glock 27. I like doing it. Why not carry if you can? The chance of some guy shooting up the McDonalds that I am eating lunch in can happen in Mission Viejo, Compton, or anywhere else. There really are no safe places.

Either way, we both agree to carry.

-Dave

I live in Mission Viejo too, Dave, and I agree with what you are saying. The reality is, it isn't that it's safer, it's that the crimes aren't being committed here as much. And "Safer" doesn't mean that property crime isn't occuring, either.

Blink, and you are in another town...foothill, rancho, aliso viejo, lake forest, irvine...and there really aren't any activities in MV, so most people are going up to irvine, or the bar-muda triangle in NB, or Laguna for their activities.

Not to mention all the gang busts that have been going on in San Clemente and Dana Point, just 10 miles away.

[gjj]

I carry everywhere. I even carried to my son's parent teacher conference. My wife just rolled her eyes (she is actually very cool about my guns). But, she doesn't get it. The worst thing that could happen to me would be to be in a place that had some "violent event" and for me not to be armed because I didn't think it was dangerous enough. That feeling would haunt me forever. If I die, I die. I just don't want to die kicking myself for being too lazy to carry my gun.

[swdr]

Originally Posted by NSP

A lot of this thread reminds me of spare tires. Imagine how much fuel in California is used every year hauling around that "extra" weight for the hundreds of thousands of cars that never use their spare tire.

In addition to that, just imagine how much more storage space everyone would have if they could use that extra cavity in their trunk.

But the smart thing to do is to carry that spare tire just in case

If I see a street with nails spilled over it, I'm not going to drive on it just because I have a spare tire. That spare tire is reserved for when Mr. Murphy hits me on a normal commute. Then I'll be more that glad I had it.

Perfect analogy. Well said.

[SierraNevadaCCW]

Originally Posted by gjj

I carry everywhere. I even carried to my son's parent teacher conference. My wife just rolled her eyes (she is actually very cool about my guns). But, she doesn't get it. The worst thing that could happen to me would be to be in a place that had some "violent event" and for me not to be armed because I didn't think it was dangerous enough. That feeling would haunt me forever. If I die, I die. I just don't want to die kicking myself for being too lazy to carry my gun.

LOL What is it with wives and girlfriends rolling their eyes??? I see that alot here.

My wife never does that.

[Mad Geek]

Originally Posted by rycerz

I would only take an exception where it says that we have an obligation to the community to carry. CCW is for personal protection and any and all obligations are to ourselves (per the rules/laws). Anything else is personal....

Let me pose a situation: I'm driving through the mountain community where I live and LEO resources are sparse. A Sheriff or CHP has a car pulled to the side of the road. The driver of the car, for whatever his reason, has gotten the drop on the officer, has taken his duty weapon from him and starts beating on him and it's obvious to that the officer is unable to defend himself. Based on the actions of the BG, he is likely going to kill this person. I'm armed and have the ability to stop the threat, but there is no immediate threat to me or my family. Do I stop at a distance and watch while trying to call 911 only to find there is no cell coverage in the hills? Do I make a quick U-Turn and go the other way? Do I watch until the BG gets in his car and drives away because the officer is no longer a threat to him because he's unconscious or stopped breathing? If my powers of observations are good I'd be a good witness to a crime, possibly a capital crime.

Yes, it would feel it is my personal obligation to do my best to come to his aide. I believe this is the spirit in which the statement was made, not an expectation or a condition of issuance. Just that we have an obligation to the community to use out tools and knowledge to help fill in the gaps in LE coverage when an unusual situation arises and prevent the taking of another's life.

Maybe this is an unusual situation, and maybe not. It comes to mind because I have friends in the LE community locally and don't spend a lot of time around big cities like the large group of you in SoCal. There are countless other scenarios that one can come up with around large cities, take-out food places, gas stations... Just read the stories in the newspapers. Can you read into any of them where a citizen with a CCW could have changed the outcome of a violent crime?

I don't expect total agreement with this. I AM looking for input from the rest of you, maybe to temper my thoughts and refine what I might do, or just hear how others feel on this. After all, this is a forum for discussion.

[rycerz]

Originally Posted by Mad Geek

Let me pose a situation: I'm driving through the mountain community where I live and LEO resources are sparse. A Sheriff or CHP has a car pulled to the side of the road. The driver of the car, for whatever his reason, has gotten the drop on the officer, has taken his duty weapon from him and starts beating on him and it's obvious to that the officer is unable to defend himself. Based on the actions of the BG, he is likely going to kill this person. I'm armed and have the ability to stop the threat, but there is no immediate threat to me or my family. Do I stop at a distance and watch while trying to call 911 only to find there is no cell coverage in the hills? Do I make a quick U-Turn and go the other way? Do I watch until the BG gets in his car and drives away because the officer is no longer a threat to him because he's unconscious or stopped breathing? If my powers of observations are good I'd be a good witness to a crime, possibly a capital crime.

We try not to get into scenarios and what ifs on this forum cause that's just a biiiiiiiig can of worms. Legally (and I'm not a lawyer) the answer is call 911. You don't have the whole view of the situation (might be an undercover cop and someone dressed up as a cop or.... ?) and intervention might cause more harm then good. Of course one cannot anticipate the situations ahead of time so you'll have to play things by ear as they occur. So, my comment about obligation was that the obligation is only to you and not to the community: you're not everyone elses protector just your own (and those with you at the moment of the occurence that would require action).

So with that' lets please not get into what if's

[Dutchman]

I carry most of the time, so long as it is legal to do so. Though you won't need it in 99.999% of the times you go out, the .0000001% of the time you might need it, you will need it pretty badly.

[Mad Geek]

Originally Posted by rycerz

We try not to get into scenarios and what ifs on this forum cause that's just a biiiiiiiig can of worms. Legally (and I'm not a lawyer) the answer is call 911. You don't have the whole view of the situation (might be an undercover cop and someone dressed up as a cop or.... ?) and intervention might cause more harm then good. Of course one cannot anticipate the situations ahead of time so you'll have to play things by ear as they occur. So, my comment about obligation was that the obligation is only to you and not to the community: you're not everyone elses protector just your own (and those with you at the moment of the occurence that would require action).

So with that' lets please not get into what if's

I appreciate your response and don't disagree with the concepts as stated. I understand your concern about opening a "can of worms". If by posting what I did I've "crossed the line" of forum policy, please accept my apology and know I will refrain further.

My purpose of thinking through scenarios and "what ifs" is so that I already know what I'm willing to do in a given situation based on my personal feelings and what I observe. But I can certainly keep those thoughts to myself. It IS, after all, personal choices we all have to make for ourselves.

I have "put a cork in it".