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Do You Carry Any Sort Of Protection?


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I don't pack heat while caching, simply because I'm too lazy to go do the CCW training. :)

 

However, I will always have a 5 cell Maglite and either a 30 inch long piece of 1/2 inch pipe (Clothahump's +5 Wand of Poking) or a 6 foot staff (Clothahump's +10 Staff of Poking). I also have a knife of some sort handy. And I'll sometimes have SWMBO with me.

 

Given that I am a 5th Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo and she's a 4th Degree, and that we teach the short stick, knife defenseand attacks, and the long staff in our school, I think we have the personal defense issues pretty well covered.

 

You are definetly covered aginst people,and even small critters but you better have your A game and be in the zone if you run into a Griz with cubs or on a killsite,or a bull moose in the rut,my money is on them but i will be rooting for you ..:D:)

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TAR, in a sane world, your advice makes good sense. However, that's not the world we live in. Any defense lawyer would tell you that advice is a good way to land in jail. Warning shots are only in movies.

In most places, in most cases, you must believe you are in mortal danger to justify pulling the trigger. If you fire .22 snakeshot at someone, or fire "a warning shot" into the ceiling the prosecution is going to tear you apart. I don't know of any jurisdiction that would consider a warning shot a lawful reason to discharge a firearm.

Bottom line with a gun: unless you need to destroy a life to save a life, keep it in your pocket. anything else is illegal.

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I too carry a handgun as I have a CCW permit. Baby Eagle .45ACP

I also carry a Schrade multi-tool.

 

For those of you that are gun-phobics it is not your fellow geo-caheres you have to worry about.

MANY out of the way places are wandering areas for those up to no good.

 

As for relying on pepperspray to stop a bear keep your shoes laced tight for when the bear shakes it off and keeps coming even more irate than before.

 

Pepperspray doesn't work on everyone ot everything.

Oh yeah, I carry a first aid kit so I can patch up the ones that get chewed on.

 

As for those pesky aliens I like my foil hat to have a reflector dish to bounce the beam back at them. (You can tell you got em by the way the saucer wobbles!)

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I feel you gave poor advice and must comment on it.

 

One should never fire into the air or into the ceiling. The chosen method to clear a weapon is to point the weapon down at the ground. Why would you willingly ventilate your ceiling unless you had a very limited annual rainfall?

 

Should you fire a weapon capable of penetrating the roof you would have no clue where the expended round would land. Very socially irresponable. I also feel you should not carry an "open chamber" revolver. Why are you shorting yourself? If you doubt the integrity of the gun to fire off unprovoked you would be better to leave it unloaded OR purchase a safer firearm. My Taurus Tracker in .357 has yet to go off on its own while loaded. Even while fourwheeling.

 

You also point out the use of less lethal. I feel that is dangerous advice to give. You should use the best ammo that will function 100% if the time. If you feel you need to use less lethal then you need to pick an alternate weapon. What if your second shot of wad cutter misses? That is not wise advice to give. A defense or prosecution could pick that apart as look at how the defendant (you) wanted to cause extreme pain and suffering before he delivered the killing blow. Snake shot is for snake. Not for home defense.

 

If you feel you cannot hit a target from 3 feet to 21 feet then you need to practice more. A gun is not for everyone. The best home defense is a barking dog and motion lights. A loaded gun is a last ditch effort to preserve your life. At that point you are no longer concerned for the miscreant who chooses to violate your peace and safety.

 

I also use a nice .357 Taurus Tracker loaded with snake shot on some caches. I also have a speed loader with Hydra shoks loaded up. Funny thing is though I run into more snakes when I dont have my gun then when I have it. Leave Jake alone and he will leave you alone.

 

Willy

U.S. Army 10+ years.

 

Yes, and it is a method I recommend to all gun-owners.

 

The .38 and .22 caliber, and I am sure others, come in what is called snake-shot for just this purpose. Instead of a hard ball tip it is like a miniature shotgun shell, filled with small BB-like shot.

 

Many of the women I know carry, or have a pistol at home, and aside from protection from slithery critters it's a great non-lethal round for any situation.

 

Revolvers are almost fool-proof, so I recommend a variation on the .38 Police Special. The hammer sits on an empty cylinder, the first round is snake-shot, the remaining rounds are wadcutters.

 

In a snake-defense situation on the trail you, even if you are an expert, aren't very likely to hit a snake with ball ammo. Shot gives you a wide pattern, and therefore chance to actually hit something.

 

In a self-defense situation, unless you are a trained and experienced gun-handler (soldier, policeman) you will be so scared, upset and surprised that you aren't likely to hit the attacker with ball ammo anyway, shot gives you several advantages:

 

Never point a gun at someone unless you are willing to pull the trigger, but if you do;

you are less likely to hesitate if the first round is non-lethal.

you are likely to stop the attack and run off the aggressor by firing painful but non-lethal shot at him... remember, stopping the attack is the goal, not killing the aggressor.

you are much more likely to actually hit him with shot than ball.

you are much less likely to spend your life paying compensation to someone you shot with snake-shot than lethal ammo.

 

For home self-defense, you think someone is in your home, fire into the ceiling! Very few folks are gonna stay in your house after that! With snake-shot you can fix the ceiling with a bit of tooth-paste in the holes.

 

And, if you fire snake-shot into the ceiling, or even at the attacker, and hear your daughter scream "dadgum, Mom, I just came over to borrow some sugar!" you have much less of a tragedy on your hands. :ph34r:

Edited by willy_j
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Is there any sort of protection one can use for snakes?

 

Yes, and it is a method I recommend to all gun-owners.

 

The .38 and .22 caliber, and I am sure others, come in what is called snake-shot for just this purpose. Instead of a hard ball tip it is like a miniature shotgun shell, filled with small BB-like shot.

 

 

I have used the snake shot in .22, .25, and .32 but i found that .25 and .32 work just fine. .22 you need to be closer to the snake. but the best protection from snakes is a high top boot like my 18 hole Dr. Martin Boots.

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We don't have many snakes in our area so while caching or hiking we enjoy seeing the snakes as much as we do seeing the birds. We are careful though in areas that may be snake prone. Why is everyone shooting them anyway?

 

I believe that in Auntie Weasel's case she's talking about venomous snakes that have moved into her yard. Completely justified. Can't comment on the rest. For myself, though I'm generally armed in the backcountry and encounter my fair share of rattlers, I wouldn't consider shooting one. If the snake's close enough to justify shooting, my first move is a step away from the snake. Then the danger's over and there's no reason to waste a bullet, deafen myself, and possibly get a ricochet shard in the eye. (It's hard to imagine stopping to put in ear plugs and and slip on shooting glasses in a supposedly dangerous situation.)

 

If I can't go around the rattler, and he won't leave on his own, I have been known to pester him with a few pebbles thrown from a safe distance.

 

My most recent rattler encounter at the cache "C6" in July. Just a little fellow--probably life-size on your monitor. Shot with a digital camera :D .

 

7a64e625-a41b-4e81-b312-bfd836aa27ba.jpg

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TAR, in a sane world, your advice makes good sense. However, that's not the world we live in. Any defense lawyer would tell you that advice is a good way to land in jail. Warning shots are only in movies.

In most places, in most cases, you must believe you are in mortal danger to justify pulling the trigger. If you fire .22 snakeshot at someone, or fire "a warning shot" into the ceiling the prosecution is going to tear you apart. I don't know of any jurisdiction that would consider a warning shot a lawful reason to discharge a firearm.

Bottom line with a gun: unless you need to destroy a life to save a life, keep it in your pocket. anything else is illegal.

 

I find it amazing that we are all supposed to think about all these things when we are in a situation where we have no time to think. It's sad that our representatives have all the time in the world to think up scenarios, situations, and all the checklists that we are supposed to run through which effectivly neuter good citizens while empowering criminals who can just just dispense with any regard for the law.

 

The books are filled with law after law that does nothing but harm Joe Citizen. These laws started with good intentions but in the end do nothing for solving the problem they intended on solving, but do widen the definition of what a criminal is to include more and more average citizens.

Edited by Renegade Knight
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I find it amazing that we are all supposed to think about all these things when we are in a situation where we have no time to think. It's sad that our representatives have all the time in the world to think up scenarios, situations, and all the checklists that we are supposed to run through which effectivly neuter good citizens while empowering criminals who can just just dispense with any regard for the law.

 

The books are filled with law after law that does nothing but harm Joe Citizen. These laws started with good intentions but in the end do nothing for solving the problem they intended on solving, but do widen the definition of what a criminal is to include more and more average citizens.

 

Fifteen states, starting with Florida and including my state of Arizona, have passed laws expanding the right of self-defense. Here's a link to an NYT article that's critical of the trend, but summarizes the changes adequately.

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I feel you gave poor advice and must comment on it.

As a soldier you stand (stood?) up for my right to have an opinion and speak it - and I Thank You!

 

One should never fire into the air or into the ceiling.

If one hears an intruder climbing in one's window, and fires one's pistola into the ceiling, or one is being approached in the deep dark wood by what appears to be a raving lunatic intent on death and destruction and fires one's pistol into the air, and the intruder fleetly flees the scene, one is far better off than having sat quietly until said intruder appears in one's bedroom doorway, or walks up and grabs one by the throat, and one tries to kill it.

 

A weapon should be used first to AVOID having to use it all, especially lethally.

 

The chosen method to clear a weapon is to point the weapon down at the ground.

Well, yeah - but who said anything about clearing a weapon? You are making up stuff about which I did not write.

 

Why would you willingly ventilate your ceiling unless you had a very limited annual rainfall?

Maybe you were in the jungle too long, being a soldier, and became attached to banana-leaf roofs, but anything more substantial than that will stop snake-shot, which round is the subject of my discussion.

 

Just for drill, shoot a piece of standard 1/2" sheetrock ceiling material from, say, four feet away with snake-shot and see if it penetrates. Certainly the .38 or .22 calibers I suggested won't.

 

Should you fire a weapon capable of penetrating the roof you would have no clue where the expended round would land. Very socially irresponable.

Aside from the fact that I was talking about snake-shot, which could POSSIBLY penetrate 1/2" ceiling-grade sheet-rock (but not likely (it sure as heck won't penetrate the roof's wood decking and shingle roofing)), a hole in your roof is better, in my humble opinion, than a hole in your daughter who came over late at night to borrow some sugar, as mentioned in my scenario. Too many home 'self-defense' shooters shoot their family and friends.

 

I also feel you should not carry an "open chamber" revolver. Why are you shorting yourself? If you doubt the integrity of the gun to fire off unprovoked you would be better to leave it unloaded OR purchase a safer firearm. My Taurus Tracker in .357 has yet to go off on its own while loaded. Even while fourwheeling.

Um, an empty chamber IS unloaded, cannot possibly go off, and renders a revolver as safe as a hammer, lest the trigger be pulled.

 

I am glad the safety works so far and your gun has never fired unexpectedly. I hope it never does. With a round in the chamber, however, it can at any time.

 

When I was 14 my Dad's friend (an experienced Navy veteran) Ed Power's revolver did indeed go off in the trunk of his car on the way home from a day of target shooting. The bullet passed through the back car seat between me and my Mom, entered the back of his son Ronnie's head in the middle front seat, and the rest of that wild ride was, unfortunately, wasted... a fast trip to the ER with his Mom trying to hold his ruined brain in what was left of his face.

 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but that experience educated me on carrying chambered rounds. I trust no gun's safety. Empty chambers can't fire. Still, even a mis-fired snake-shot round would have caused no harm. I wish we'd have thought of that then. I miss Ronnie.

 

You also point out the use of less lethal. I feel that is dangerous advice to give. You should use the best ammo that will function 100% if the time. If you feel you need to use less lethal then you need to pick an alternate weapon.

Definition of 'victim'; one who brings a knife to a gunfight. :D

 

Know why the Army chose the pistol and rifle calibers they use? NATO agreed on less-lethal ammo as the best way to fight a war. Go figure.

 

What if your second shot of wad cutter misses?

What if the first, second, third and fourth does? Have you ever looked at the statistics on shootings to see how many shots were fired as opposed to hits?

 

Remember the LA bank shooting where hundreds if not thousands of rounds were fired, and few hit any intended target?

 

Did you, as a soldier, ever find yourself in a firefight? All sorts of stuff zipping through the air with very few hits.

 

If you missed that, watch the news of fighting in Iraq - watch thousands of rounds fired in a few minutes and no bad guys found afterward.

 

You think Sally the home-maker or Billy the carpenter can do better? Or Sally the carpenter? (let's don't give Billy the home-maker a gun!) :D

 

That is not wise advice to give. A defense or prosecution could pick that apart as look at how the defendant (you) wanted to cause extreme pain and suffering before he delivered the killing blow. Snake shot is for snake. Not for home defense.

Lawyers can pick anything apart, either way, defense or prosecution, depending on who is paying them - that's their job.

 

If you feel you cannot hit a target from 3 feet to 21 feet then you need to practice more.

Standing in an open field casually shooting at beer cans under a clear blue sky I, most folks in fact, do pretty well.

 

Put them on a dimly lit trail, let them step on a snake or even hear the rattle close by... even those with nerves of steel might get a case of the leaping fantods, blood pressure skyrockets and they aren't likely to hit the ground, much less the snake.

 

A gun is not for everyone.

NOW we agree, a very small percentage of the populace have any need or business carrying a handgun - but that's not the point of this thread, is it?

 

The best home defense is a barking dog and motion lights. A loaded gun is a last ditch effort to preserve your life. At that point you are no longer concerned for the miscreant who chooses to violate your peace and safety.

Yep, we agree again - but the topic here is snake-shot, or carryiing at all, for geocachers who feel the need / desire to kill a snake, of whatever form.

 

I also use a nice .357 Taurus Tracker loaded with snake shot on some caches.

But, but, but - you mean you agree with my advice??? :o

 

And how do you decide on which cache excursion might you need your weapon?

 

And when to load snake-shot or solid tipped?

 

Surely you don't load a snake-shot followed by hardball!! ;)

 

I also have a speed loader with Hydra shoks loaded up.

For them really mean snakes? :P

 

Funny thing is though I run into more snakes when I dont have my gun then when I have it.

Me too, mostly in these forums. ;)

 

Leave Jake alone and he will leave you alone.

Um, no, gun carriers obviously believe that he won't, not the snake and not Jake, whoever he is, else they wouldn't carry a gun.

 

Look, I agree that the whole idea of carrying a pistol on cache hunts is silly. I have been an avid hunter, camper and geocacher in some of the most heavily snake-infested country we have, and never felt in danger from one. I've run across angry, deranged and drunken, even threatening, people in all sorts of situations.

 

I do keep a gun in my cache bag (.22 auto with 9 snake-shot rounds, empty chamber. (So, I don't follow my own advice, shoot me!)). I am really not sure I can tell you why, other than habit.

 

Man or snake, if one HAD endangered me, digging in my pocket or backpack for a pistol would be the last thing on my mind.

 

But the topic here is Do You Carry, with a slight drift to how to carry safely. I am no expert, but I stick by my advice.

 

Willy

U.S. Army 10+ years.

 

Ed

U.S. Navy 10 years, Disabled Veteran, School of Hard Knocks 52 years. :D

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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For the most part, this thread has been on track, however, there are signs that it is about to become another discussion between the two points of view.

 

Let's keep it about geocaching folks.

 

I agree. I'm seeing a whole bunch of wild-a**ed advise flying around that would do you no good, get you in trouble, or worse, get someone killed. It's quite obvious some of the advise givers don't know their behinds from a hole in the ground. Might want to keep it about geocaching and leave the gun advise to some other site.

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[...]

My most recent rattler encounter at the cache "C6" in July. Just a little fellow--probably life-size on your monitor. Shot with a digital camera :D .

7a64e625-a41b-4e81-b312-bfd836aa27ba.jpg

Excellent shot of the rattler. I do recommend using a minimum of a 5Mp camera, or better, when shooting any snake. It is also a good idea to shoot poisonous snakes with a long lens. Regretfully I did not have my 5Mp, 12x optical, Image Stabilized, Canon, with me when I moved the moccasin out of the road a few days ago. The Image stabilization feature would have been especially useful at my end of the encounter, not the snake's. Yes, that's Canon, Capital C, one "n" in the middle, not lower case "c", "nn" in the middle.

 

When I encounter a poisonous snake at any time, geocaching, hiking, or anything but inside my dwelling or on a rescue squad call, I go around it, or move it out of the way. It is their woods, not mine. I did encounter four Timber Rattlers (Crotalus Horridus) years ago in a highly child-populated wooded area and destroyed them all because of the children. Encountered others, roughly same area, but well away from homes, playground, & campsites, and let them be.

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Bottom line with a gun: unless you need to destroy a life to save a life, keep it in your pocket.
I read a study that showed that far more crimes are prevented by a weapon being visible and/or presented as ready-to-shoot, but not actually shooting at an assailant, than scenarios involving weapons being discharged in defense of life and limb. I can't quote the study at the moment, but it makes sense to me. I believe it, as it was proven to me a few times as a Marine M.P. and twice as a civilian, right in front of my eyes.

 

anything else is illegal.
Illegal everywhere? Can you generalize law like that?
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Excellent shot of the rattler. I do recommend using a minimum of a 5Mp camera, or better, when shooting any snake. It is also a good idea to shoot poisonous snakes with a long lens. Regretfully I did not have my 5Mp, 12x optical, Image Stabilized, Canon, with me when I moved the moccasin out of the road a few days ago. The Image stabilization feature would have been especially useful at my end of the encounter, not the snake's. Yes, that's Canon, Capital C, one "n" in the middle, not lower case "c", "nn" in the middle.

 

When I encounter a poisonous snake at any time, geocaching, hiking, or anything but inside my dwelling or on a rescue squad call, I go around it, or move it out of the way. It is their woods, not mine. I did encounter four Timber Rattlers (Crotalus Horridus) years ago in a highly child-populated wooded area and destroyed them all because of the children. Encountered others, roughly same area, but well away from homes, playground, & campsites, and let them be.

 

Oof. What do I use for defense against burst-fired puns? :)

 

Seriously, while I don't kill the snakes I encounter, I have some empathy for the people who do. Some folks have such a strong revulsion for snakes that they can barely help themselves. It's an instinctive reaction that's more affecting than we'd like to admit. Like the involuntary fright you get seeing something from the corner of your eye, only to discover it's a garden hose. Interesting article here on how fear of snakes may have driven primate evolution.

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Remember the LA bank shooting where hundreds if not thousands of rounds were fired, and few hit any intended target?

 

Did you, as a soldier, ever find yourself in a firefight? All sorts of stuff zipping through the air with very few hits.

 

If you missed that, watch the news of fighting in Iraq - watch thousands of rounds fired in a few minutes and no bad guys found afterward.

 

You think Sally the home-maker or Billy the carpenter can do better? Or Sally the carpenter? (let's don't give Billy the home-maker a gun!)

 

Would you like to test that theroy, you stand out there and I'll start shooting. :)

 

I have no formal weapon training, but I shot a buck at 70 yards standing up in a pine tree, just line up the crosshairs and squeeze the trigger. (Now how the buck got up in the tree I'll never know. :) )

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Bottom line with a gun: unless you need to destroy a life to save a life, keep it in your pocket.
I read a study that showed that far more crimes are prevented by a weapon being visible and/or presented as ready-to-shoot, but not actually shooting at an assailant, than scenarios involving weapons being discharged in defense of life and limb. I can't quote the study at the moment, but it makes sense to me. I believe it, as it was proven to me a few times as a Marine M.P. and twice as a civilian, right in front of my eyes.

And you are correct. In the US there are something like 2 million defensive uses of a firearm a year that don't involve a discharge. However, a great many of them never involve law inforcement. A group of teens harrass you, you flash your sidearm, they run, you go home. End of story.

If the police are involved you are at the mercy of the LEO and the prosecutor. I speak from personal experience here. I've been involved in a situation where a guy with a knife was in my home in violation of a restraining order. I fired TAR's shot into the ceiling (FYI, it was a 22 long rifle target round and it did not penetrate the upstairs floor). When the police came, I was promptly arrested and charged with brandishing and threat to kill. I was of course found innocent but it cost me over $50,000 in lawyer fees and over a year of my life wondering how the case would turn out.

Most places have laws about brandishing a weapon unless you are in fear for your life.

 

anything else is illegal.
Illegal everywhere? Can you generalize law like that?

As probably the only person in this thread who holds a federal firearm license, yes I can generalize like that in the scope of this thread. As a FFL the BATF sends me a book the size of a city phone book several times a year with all the various laws regarding firearm possession. If you want to take it to PM, I'd be happy to look up your state's specific laws regarding brandishing.

Edited by Mopar
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After seeing many of these conversations (I'm using conversation loosely) I've come to the conclusion that a gun is not carried for protection. A gun, in fact, does not provide any protection at all. It works the other way around it provides a sense of danger that feeds adrenaline junkies. A gun also feeds syndroms, "macho", "James Bond Syndrom", "Wyett Erpp", "John Wayne", etc., take your pick. It becomes a problem when you add paranoia to the mix. I just hope that I or mine don't run across you at the wrong time of the month.

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I've come to the conclusion that a gun is not carried for protection. A gun, in fact, does not provide any protection at all. It works the other way around it provides a sense of danger that feeds adrenaline junkies. A gun also feeds syndroms, "macho", "James Bond Syndrom", "Wyett Erpp", "John Wayne", etc., take your pick.

 

4170ac32-be50-4b7a-974e-d377d0afa565.jpg

 

HOLD IT! Don't move.

 

Chester, take his gun and move him down to the office.

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After seeing many of these conversations (I'm using conversation loosely) I've come to the conclusion that a gun is not carried for protection. A gun, in fact, does not provide any protection at all. It works the other way around it provides a sense of danger that feeds adrenaline junkies. A gun also feeds syndroms, "macho", "James Bond Syndrom", "Wyett Erpp", "John Wayne", etc., take your pick. It becomes a problem when you add paranoia to the mix. I just hope that I or mine don't run across you at the wrong time of the month.

 

Now theres No Way this can even be construed as on topic.

 

and as an aside it definitly sounds very anti-

 

(the terrible part is Im not sure which one upsets me more)

:)

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...I've come to the conclusion that a gun is not carried for protection. A gun, in fact, does not provide any protection at all. It works the other way around it provides a sense of danger that feeds adrenaline junkies.

 

While that may well be true in an instance or two, but don't, for a minute, think it's universal. That would be like saying I wear a helmet to feed an adrenaline need or wear sunglasses to look cool.

 

EDIT: clarity.

Edited by CoyoteRed
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As probably the only person in this thread who holds a federal firearm license...
After seeing many of these conversations (I'm using conversation loosely) I've come to the conclusion that a gun is not carried for protection. A gun, in fact, does not provide any protection at all. It works the other way around it provides a sense of danger that feeds adrenaline junkies. A gun also feeds syndroms, "macho", "James Bond Syndrom", "Wyett Erpp", "John Wayne", etc., take your pick. It becomes a problem when you add paranoia to the mix...
Assumptions & generalizations, oh my!

 

I just hope that I or mine don't run across you at the wrong time of the month.
:)
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For 35 yrs I've carried a gun everyday for one part of the government or another. Been there several times where rounds were fired in anger and have seen the results up close and personal. Spent 10 years on SWAT of which 3 years I was a team leader. BTDT and have worn out the t-shirt. Now that I'm retired I don't have to go in those places and do the kind of things that made carrying a gun a necessity. Even so, I still carry everyday. I've been where it's needed and I'm not going to find myself in those situations where I'm not armed.

That said, carrying a firearm is a personal decision. It's not for everyone and not everyone should. Some people just don't have the disposition, the training, nor the temperment to be carrying a firearm. They would be more of a hazard to themselves than to any situation they would encounter. However, if a person decides to carry then they should get some good, and reoccurring, training. That's not from the cop down the street, the flakey character who has subscriptions for every gun magazine, or the buddy who bought a gun 20 years ago and has it stuffed in his sock drawer. Training should be from someone who is credible and has the training to train people.

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Interesting thread.

 

I happen to carry much of the time (CCW), but I've also found that, as somebody responsible for her own safety, that I avoid situations where I feel the likelihood of danger is greater than average. For example, I rarely hike or fish alone. Much as I hate to say it, that's probably a good decision all around. When I do, I've found that a hiking staff, my large dog or just a bit of attitude and assertiveness does the trick--I've never even thought about the 9mm in my pack/holster. And trust me, I've had to use that hiking staff.

 

One thing's for sure, having a buddy isn't always enough to deter malevolent interlopers--be they of the two- or four-legged type.

 

Do I think I'd be quick enough to fend off an attacking cougar? Not a chance. Not with a firearm, anyway.

 

By the way, the only times I've been involved in violent incidents (attempted rape and a mugging) I happened to be in the "good" part o' town.

 

For those of you who choose to call those of us who choose to carry "nuts" or "paranoid," I'd like to gently ask you to educate yourself about firearms and CCW in an active--rather than passive--fashion. Most (definitely not all, and that scares me, too) people who carry are among the most responsible folks you'd meet, and take their training seriously. Most of us can even spell the models of the firearms we carry! :) AND we know the diff between a "clip" and a "magazine". And most of us prefer not to even divulge that we carry, for many reasons.

 

I, too, used to believe in the following falsehoods, thanks to urban myth, living in California for 29 years, etc. etc:

 

1. Hollowpoints are cop killers (Was it Mopar who hit the nail on the head?)

2. I'll just end up shooting myself in the foot (it happens if you're super careless, but so can falling off a cliff on a nice hike. Does that keep you indoors?)

3. It will only be used against me

4. It is the duty of the police to intervene and protect each of us from danger.

 

And Criminal--Do I recognize an 870 under all those modifications? Pretty! :)

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After seeing many of these conversations (I'm using conversation loosely) I've come to the conclusion that a gun is not carried for protection. A gun, in fact, does not provide any protection at all. It works the other way around it provides a sense of danger that feeds adrenaline junkies. A gun also feeds syndroms, "macho", "James Bond Syndrom", "Wyett Erpp", "John Wayne", etc., take your pick. It becomes a problem when you add paranoia to the mix. I just hope that I or mine don't run across you at the wrong time of the month.

 

You are so far off base on both the thread and on firearms.

 

I have read very few comments that are as misinfirmed or so solely based on emotion and not information.

 

As one that has been on the recieving end of violence while unarmed I can tell you that being unarmed SUCKS when the evil want to do wrong.

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"Paddle faster, I hear banjo music."

Do you have anything to contribute other than insulting people you've never met?

 

I am a proud southern redneck by many folk's standard, a countryman despite havin got sum edukatin, living in the city, but spending quite a lot of my time in the back-woods.

 

Rather than be insulted it would pay to realize the value of that quote!

 

Stereotypes exist because they are based on fact.

 

"Paddle faster, I hear banjo music." became such a recognized feeling because there are lots of places where one should feel that way!

 

Many folks might think my hunting camp is one of them! :anitongue:

 

Spend much time in Alabama's more 'rural' areas and you won't take that as an insult, but as good advice.

 

I love my state and its people, but there are some ol' boys out there that worry the heck out of me, and they are all armed!

 

OT - but there have been three unrelated fatal shootings in Birmingham in five days. :tired:

 

ed

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I carry a walking stick with a leather lanyard. (pointed 1.25 X 1.25 X 56 inches long). :anitongue:

In 30+ years as a State Forest Officer I was never allowed to carry a gun. I learned how to avoid confrontations with violent people and to call for backup. I've been buzzed by rattlesnakes dozens of times but never bitten. While cacheing, several times this year I have seen cougar tracks. I might have felt safer with a gun larger than a .22. I choose not to own a gun myself, but I do cache with someone that carries.

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Stereotypes exist because they are based on fact.

 

"Paddle faster, I hear banjo music." became such a recognized feeling because there are lots of places where one should feel that way!

 

Wasn't directed at the south in any way, especially since members of my family are from your stomping area.

 

it was however directed at the comment directly above it, which does cause such sterotypical views.

 

In the furture, I will include the quote.

 

Is it just me or has this gone entirely off topic.

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