handgun conceal carry ?

F

fishiker

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Nov 5, 2006
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I live in Virginia which is a "shall issue" state. This means that if you are 21 or older, have a clean criminal background, and have completed a firearms safety class you can get a concealed carry permit. I had been on the fence for several years about obtaining one and finally applied a few weeks ago. It took less than 20 minutes at the local courthouse/sheriffs office to complete the paperwork. I got my permit one week later. A deciding factor was a short hike Pam and I took one evening. There was a truck parked on the side of the road with a homemade trailer behind. Normally I wouldn't give this much thought but there was no open hunting season, the creek in the area was much too low to fish, and the windows on the trailer were covered with cardboard. We walked on past the truck and there was no sign of anyone. On our way back it was nearly dark and we were shocked to hear a man yell at our dog as she ran by the truck. He mumbled something about "scaring the dog away" then rolled his window up. Luckily that is all there is to the story but it got me to thinking "what if". I now carry on most hikes and I am surprised by the slight increase in confidence I feel. I hope that I never need to use a gun to defend myself or family and know it could be a very traumatizing experience if it should happen. There have been many times I have seen a crime on the news and thought how much better it could have ended if one person had a gun to stop the criminal. So I am now faced with another decision, should I carry not only in the woods but EDC? How many here have a permit? Do you carry every day? Didn't mean to be long winded but John is the one who said it was too quiet around here.:rolleyes:
 
Illinois is the only state with no provision for carry. If they were to allow it, I would do so in a heartbeat. As it is now, I will neither confirm or deny that I carry.
 
JK Knives said:
Illinois is the only state with no provision for carry. If they were to allow it, I would do so in a heartbeat. As it is now, I will neither confirm or deny that I carry.
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Down here, counties have been sending around petitions to allow "Constitutional Carry". I would be limited to the counties that vote for it November, but it is at least a start.
If it passes, I will more than likely carry.
 
What's wrong with OPEN carry?

I open carrierd a Colt .44-40 or a .45 for years out in the Southwest and never had a problem (My horse open carried a .30-30 Winchester 1894 or a 12 gauge Winchester 1897 sawn-off). Had to stop carrying anything but a knife when I moved to Sicily.
Now in Northern Virginia, I seldom carry a firearm, just an EDC fixed blade along with a folder (but my car always carries a Sicilian Lupara just in case).
 
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I'm in VA as well, and I cc. Until last year, even with a cc permit, it was illegal to cc in National Forests. I think that changed last July if I'm not mistaken, but whatever the case, you can cc in National Forests now -- in VA anyway.

I've renewed once and am closing in on my renewal's end; I will renew until the laws change (hopefully never). I think about the two VT students who were brutally murdered two or three years ago on the outskirts of Blacksburg while out in the woods. I think about the family in France just two days ago were vacationing in the mountains and were shot; the two children survived, one in a medically-induced coma, and the other, age 4, who will forever be traumatized and who avoided injury by hiding under her parents who had been shot. I think about the cyclist who rolled up on the scene and was also murdered. At the risk of sounding like a sheepdog, I feel it is my responsibility as a citizen to carry, and more importantly, to be properly trained with what I carry. Maybe that makes me a sheepdog, but I still feel it is my responsibility to carry and protect even those who would persecute me for my philosphies and for carrying as much as it is my responsibility to protect myself and my family.

I'm with you on hoping never to have to use your weapon. Training is honestly more than half the battle, so you might look at PFT (www.pgpft.com) in Alderson, WV or Academi (formerly Blackwater) in Moyock, NC to learn how to run your gun. I regularly attend pistol and carbine courses at both and recommend them highly. Proficiency has bearing on your perspective, per your original query. Someone without training who carries can be (not saying will be) more of a liability than an asset in an ugly situation like what we're talking about, whether in downtown Roanoke or Richmond, or on the AT.

As for carry options, there are a gajillion. You've got to find what's comfortable and convenient, yet, I still find that at times it just ain't practical and end up leaving it in my car. Another consideration, from a training standpoint, I found that the little pocket .380's and 9mm's are atrocious at the range. I carry a Glock26 because it handles inside 15 to 25 yards very, very similarly to my primary range gun, a Glock34.

Just my .02 for what it's worth (prolly not much). My point, if anything, is make a choice and be deliberate about it. Be deliberate in your mindset of what you're willing to do if things get ugly. Be deliberate in your efforts to train. Be deliberate in your manipulation of your weapon.

All that said, let's get a beer sometime!

Prof.
 
Well said - I'll buy the first round.

(And we'll toast the words of Ranger Joaquin Jackson when asked why he always carried a .45 - "Because they don't make a .46, Ma'am.")
 
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Professor, thank you for your well thought out response. I couldn't agree more with the things you said especially these two statements :thumbup:
Professor said:
.......... make a choice and be deliberate about it. Be deliberate in your mindset of what you're willing to do if things get ugly. Be deliberate in your efforts to train. Be deliberate in your manipulation of your weapon.

All that said, let's get a beer sometime!

Prof.
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If there's no Open season? Well, we do have a pretty lengthy Tourist season up here in NoVA, but I can't find out what the bag limit is. . .

Best Wishes,
"Bloody Bill"
 
Here's a pic of the handguns I have been trying so far. There are positives and negatives about each one with the Glock and S&W 317 being my favorites so far. I have a few revolvers I haven't tried yet because I don't have a good holster for concealed carry.
EDC by fishiker
 
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Is that an AMT Backup on the left? I had one of those in .45 ACP years ago.
 
The .45 I had was a 6 shot, double action only, and it ran perfect, although I never heard anything good about them.
 
I have a Utah CCW. I cannot legally carry on my person in Illinois.

best

mqqn
 
My father was a police offer in the City of St.Louis for 30 years. I can remember maybe three times my whole life when he was without a sidearm when off duty and two of those times were due to TSA restrictions on airplanes. He would say he feels naked without his gun and I would just chuckle, never really understanding what he was talking about.. until now. A couple of things changed as I got older that convinced me to get my CCW. The first was growing up and moving out. The old saying is I carry a gun because carrying a police officer would be too heavy, well I lived my whole life figuratively carrying a police officer around. When I moved out I was on my own and no more "carrying" a police officer for protection, so I got my CCW. The other main reason was my wife and later my kids. I know it sounds cliche but I feel I have the responsibility to not only protect them to the best of my ability at all times but also to make sure that I am alive to provide for them as well. It's funny that when I first got my CCW it was just the wife and I, she knew I was a gun guy and had them at home but she thought it was silly that I felt the need to carry everyday...then the first kid was born and her perspective completely changed. The harsh realities of the world around us and the fiercely protective nature of her motherhood caused her to become very convinced that my carrying made sense. In fact, she would make sure I have it on me when leaving(especially when with the kids), referring to it as my "other wallet" I've been carrying daily for 6 or 7 plus years and now know how my dad feels when without his sidearm, naked. Thankfully, I've never needed the gun to this point. I've never felt like it's made me careless or cocky and actually it's quite the opposite. I feel like I'm more aware of my surroundings and constantly trying to avoid putting myself in bad situations. So to each their own but I would rather have it and not need it then the other way around. Good luck in your decision bro! Trevor~

PS, I hate going to Illinois because of their jacked up laws on CCW. You Illinois folk need to kick crooked ass Chicago out of the state and start running things the way the rest of the state wants them run:D
 
AMT firearms are like anything else, there are good ones and bad ones. I worked, many moons ago, at one of the largest gun stores in the country and I can tell you for a fact that we sent everything, from Glocks to Smith revolvers to Kimbers and everything else in between back to their respective factories when their new-in-box guns were not running like they should. That said, the likelihood of getting a bad AMT was much higher than getting a bad Glock; their consistency of manufacture was not good relative to the industry. Probably nine out of ten was a good gun, and while that is indeed a strong majority, that means that one person out of ten got a bad one, and complained about it. Compared to the one in several hundred who receive a Glock that doesn't work, that's an awful lot of people saying--from personal experience--that you should steer clear of AMT, although the other 90% worked just fine. If you have one, and it runs reliably, you have a good one. It's not going to self destruct down the road just for the hell of it, and there's no reason to part with one of the 90% just because of reading constantly about the 10% on the internet and in gun rags. If you decide to part with it because you just don't like it, of course, that's different.

Now, answering the main question, yes I've carried for years, and I'm one of those rare creatures who actually carries a full-sized pistol every day and not just for the first three weeks of carrying. It involves getting all of your pants an inch bigger in the waist than they'd normally be, lots of practice drawing from deep concealment, and a certain willingness to put up with a little bit of discomfort at the beginning. After a few months, I got so used to the weight and feel that I didn't notice it at all, and sometimes didn't remember I had it with me (there was once a humorous/awkward moment during a romantic evening with a young lady whose hands had gone exploring and found something other than what she was expecting). In addition to the full size, I have a little 380 that rides in my pants pocket. That may sound like the height of paranoia, but I do it because it looks for all the world like a wallet from the outside when it's riding in its pocket holster, and I figure that if my wallet is ever demanded of me, this will give me a much more reasonable chance of actually slowly and steadily getting my hands on a weapon than I'd have making a sudden grab for my waistband.

I carry for the same reason--and with the same mindset--that I learned CPR and have been re-certified in it so many times: I despise feeling helpless. In either case, the training I bring with me may not be sufficient to ward off tragedy, but I'd far rather have a chance than just be at the mercy of events. People who hate guns really despise it and often refuse to acknowledge it, but the Bureau of Justice Statistics has shown in study after study that those who defend themselves violently when faced with a violent attack are much less likely to be killed or seriously injured than those who passively submit to it in hopes that submission will yield mercy. I'd happily go the rest of my life without shooting somebody, but I will if I have to. I similarly hope that I never have to attempt to keep somebody's heart beating by myself until help arrives, but I will if I have to.
 
PA allows CCW carry, but they are strict with the concealin' part, been crryin'concealed for 23 years, no one knows I;m carryin and I like it that way, Taurus Millenium Pro in 9mm DA only and a S&W 901 9mm 1911 clone, SA/DA.
 
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