Why are you carrying that firearm?

[Badger Johnson]

In Illinois the State Police, on the ISP website, tell women they should defend themselves with car keys, rat tail combs, a teasing brush or pens and pencils.

One the subject of defense with car keys, I'd like to see some females at least try it using a geared up SD instructor. I seriously doubt that would stop anyone. To have a professional organization like the Illinois SP recommend it should be actionable. Take any guy, make him mad and if he outweighs his 'victim' by 50lbs the typical weight differential, there's simply no way that is effective.

In fact I'd be willing to bet someone with 5 years of Karate training could not cause serious harm to a 200lb angry predator with a handful of keys and pens. At least with pepper spray you slow him down a little if you get the 'good stuff'.

 

[Motofixxer]

If an officer asks, I answer...because I wouldn't want to interrupt your donut break. On a more serious note, there is no perfect answer for every situation. I was asked recently by a 10yr old girl. My answer to her was to keep the bad guys away. But that is a different answer than if an adult asks me.

 

[~*'Phoenix'*~]

Best answer?

I'm sure that I'll come across as a 'moderate' gun-rights advocate here over time, but hear me out.
I have as yet rarely carried my handguns, usually only a knife for ease of concealment/open-carry legality should it become exposed...
BUT... If I am asked, whether carrying concealed now, or openly when open carry becomes legal, the only thing I plan to say is:
"For lawful self-defense only, sir/maam."
I'm sure that any snarky answers will NOT help me at the moment, or the armed and responsible community at large.
Besides this, under the stress of the situation, it would be too easy to screw up any more complex planned response.
If they ask, I'll most certainly give my CWL and DL without hesitation or complaint. As long as me and gun both walk away, they can ask any questions or do any checking they want.

 

[since9]

I'm in WI, so I'm good. However, one time I was stopped for speeding and wanted to record everything. Unfortunately, their wiretapping laws are retarded. They are much worse than MD!

Which "wires" would you have been tapping if you'd recorded your interactions with others?

 

[protias]

Which "wires" would you have been tapping if you'd recorded your interactions with others?

Don't kill the messenger, I'm just repeating the law as it is stated.

 

[eye95]

Don't kill the messenger, I'm just repeating the law as it is stated.

I think that he is making a backhanded comment criticizing your mention of "wiretapping" laws when discussing recording live, in-person conversations.

The comment is off-base because, in many jurisdictions (such as mine), the same laws cover both.

 

[protias]

I think that he is making a backhanded comment criticizing your mention of "wiretapping" laws when discussing recording live, in-person conversations.

The comment is off-base because, in many jurisdictions (such as mine), the same laws cover both.

I wasn't really directing it at him, but rather the public forum. It is rather retarded (I'm sorry, I shouldn't insult the mentally disabled compared this wire tapping laws) that recording a conversation between yourself and someone else is somehow illegal. How then, do whistle blowers then get enough evidence for criminal activity?!

 

[protect our rights]

[This post is not an answer to any particular post in this thread.]

What is your motivation?

Are you trying to get a laugh?

Are you trying to feel superior to the person who asked you the question?

Are you trying to make the person who asked feel stupid?

Are you trying to get a rah-rah from fellow OCers?

Or...

Are you trying to help others learn?

Are you trying to change the heart and mind of the person who asked?

Are you trying to change the hearts and minds of those who were listening, were also curious, but were afraid to ask.

I implore you to choose your response based on the last three motivations. Keeping those reasons in mind will help us interact with the non-OCing public in such a way as to promote the widespread acceptance of OC, to remove some of the barriers, and to increase the ranks of OCers.

That is a far superior outcome than feeling smug, having cemented the anti-gun attitude of the person asking, and having planted an anti-OCer attitude in the hearts and minds of those around you who overheard your smart-ass answer.

Couldn't have said it better. If even at times irritating, it is one of our duties as OCers, to educate the less fortunate in our states, about the respectable use of a firearm for means of protecting ourselves and our family. (and even them if we so choose) We need to desensitize the public to the sight of guns. The more educatedd people on OCing the less interaction with LE and more the norm it becomes.

 

[DinFreemont]

We all understand that under stress things can go bad - that is a “given.”

After researching this for the last few years I have come to the conclusion that the vast majority of crime stopped by a legal carry of a firearm (concealed OR open) ends without a singe shot fired.

Criminals are by nature predators, predators prefer the “soft or easy target” an armed individual is by definition now a “hard target”.

A simple “you stop” when backed by a firearm in the hands of the citizen is enough to cause a predator to do exactly that and even possibly flee.

je ne regrette rien, fait accompli

The very act of carrying openly can deter crime.

 

[1Canadian]

Why!?

I would rather have the opportunity to be judged by 12 than be footnotes in some cops notebook as he/she finishes logging the scene they arrived at well after the crime! I wonder what percentage of serious crimes against the person or property were stopped by a cop before they occurred and what percentage of serious crimes the cops show up at after the damage and harm to the individual or their property has taken place? Do you have a police force with a less than 2 second response time?

 

[therealcombat]

I'd say, "Because you can't always be there."

Simple and non confrontational. I'm not prepared to spend money on an attorney, so I'd rather not piss the cop off. Been my experience, when you're nice to them, they're nice to you.

Although there WAS that one cop in Montana that told me i had to give him $300 on the spot or go to jail... But there's always gonna be bad apples.

I'm reminded of when i first turned 21. I went out and purchased my first pistol and applied for a CCW. I was dating a girl at the time - she was 18. Her mother learned that i was carrying and asked me, "Why do you do that? Don't you know it just INVITES trouble???"

I was shocked that she would think it "invites" trouble. I cited a news story i had just read a couple days previously where 5 men abducted a college age guy and his girlfriend. The abductors killed him and raped her for days before finally killing her and dumping her body in a dumpster.

Then i said, "If you're daughter and I were to find ourselves in that situation, wouldn't you want us to have a fighting chance?"

She said, "But don't you understand if you have to kill someone you'll never be the same???"

To which i replied: "I don't carry with the intention of doing someone else harm. But in the event i need it, I'd rather have someone's death on my shoulders than for your daughter or me or both of us to have that fate."

She seemed satisfied. Not only did she never ask me about it again, but she never preached any anti-gun **** around me again either.

 

[billv]

I'm in WI, so I'm good. However, one time I was stopped for speeding and wanted to record everything. Unfortunately, their wiretapping laws are retarded. They are much worse than MD!

So are all those YouTube videos and the ones shown on TV news, and in courts for that matter, that were shot with a cell phone all illegal then? I don't think so. Or are there none from WI?

 

[protias]

So are all those YouTube videos and the ones shown on TV news, and in courts for that matter, that were shot with a cell phone all illegal then? I don't think so. Or are there none from WI?

There are only two states I'm aware (and there could be more, I just don't know) of that are two party consent states, IL and MD. However, there was a case in MD where a Maryland Air National Guardman was pulled over for speeding, had a camera on his helmet, charged with a felony wiretap. It was thrown out because the MD court said police have no right to privacy out in public. As for IL, they are the worst! Majority of the states are one party consent. So if I consent to it (and I'm recording without your knowledge), it is legal. As for WI, when I was harassed by police for carrying, one of the officers (Lt for my city) asked if it was legal of me, from the city attorney, to record our conversation I wanted to discuss the harassment I received.

 

[since9]

Don't kill the messenger, I'm just repeating the law as it is stated.

I hear you. My comment was meant to ridicule the fact that no wires were actually tapped. The original intent of wiretapping laws was to protect citizens against 4A violations in the electronic age, not to prevent citizens from recording their interactions with others.

 

[Haz.]

"I wear this gun like this, hoping it will be a deterrent," the clerk said Friday.
I love this! Haz.

http://www.news.com.au/weird-true-fr...-1226009099248

Thieves lose money trying to rob Kansas City gun store From: NewsCore February 20, 2011 10:25AM
TWO men attempted to rob a Kansas City, Missouri, gun store Thursday and ended up leaving with less money than they had when they came in, the Kansas City Star reported Saturday.
One of the would-be robbers entered the store around 2:00pm Thursday local time and asked to buy a box of ammunition.

When the 65-year-old clerk, who wore a shoulder holster and a handgun in plain view, told the man it would be about $50, the man said he needed to get more money and left.

The man returned around 5pm with another man and tried to pay with two $20 bills. When the clerk said he was $10 short, the customer pulled a handgun from his waistband and demanded that the clerk hand over the money in the cash register.

The clerk was able to tell that the man's gun was not loaded and pulled his own gun from his shoulder holster.

"His eyes got as big as two dinner plates," said the clerk, who was not named.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
.End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
"Before I got mine pointed at him, he ran to the door at, like, 95mph. I'm surprised he didn't bust the glass out of the door."

The fleeing robbers left the $40 behind.

"I wear this gun like this, hoping it will be a deterrent," the clerk said Friday.

"But he [the gunman] basically made his own decision to take the chance of dying, and he just about did. I was going to shoot him."



Read more: http://www.news.com.au/weird-true-fr...#ixzz1EXVLVrMX

 

[Campo6245]

This exact same post was made at ALOC, to which I replied:

I would recommend something that a LEO is less likely to take offense at. Possibly just remind him that it is legal in AL to OC.

I agree. If a LEO asks you why you are carrying a pistol, then simply say that you have a permit to carry, or if it is legal in your state without a permit, tell him that you are permited to carry a pistol because you are a law abiding citizen wo supports the police. (That helps to make a friend VERY QUICKLY). Also, if your state requires a permit to carry, then ask the officer if he would like to see your permit. By you asking the officer and him not asking to see your credentials, you already put yourself in a pro police, and cooperative relationship with the officer. The officer will see your name and will learn it. Ask him what his name is and guess what...you just made a friend.

 

[protias]

I agree. If a LEO asks you why you are carrying a pistol, then simply say that you have a permit to carry, or if it is legal in your state without a permit, tell him that you are permited to carry a pistol because you are a law abiding citizen wo supports the police. (That helps to make a friend VERY QUICKLY). Also, if your state requires a permit to carry, then ask the officer if he would like to see your permit. By you asking the officer and him not asking to see your credentials, you already put yourself in a pro police, and cooperative relationship with the officer. The officer will see your name and will learn it. Ask him what his name is and guess what...you just made a friend.

I would not volunteer any more information than I am required to. Which in WI, is nothing. I have had a total of 6 officers be a jerk to me (2 groups of 3, once at a restaurant while I was eating and then 3 more at my house after 10 PM that same day). I never gave the first group my information, so they decided to send another group to do their dirty business.

 

[SouthernBoy]

I agree. If a LEO asks you why you are carrying a pistol, then simply say that you have a permit to carry, or if it is legal in your state without a permit, tell him that you are permited to carry a pistol because you are a law abiding citizen wo supports the police. (That helps to make a friend VERY QUICKLY). Also, if your state requires a permit to carry, then ask the officer if he would like to see your permit. By you asking the officer and him not asking to see your credentials, you already put yourself in a pro police, and cooperative relationship with the officer. The officer will see your name and will learn it. Ask him what his name is and guess what...you just made a friend.

I wouldn't go that far. I would not give a smart-ass answer, but I might just say, "for my protection" and let it go at that. If I sensed a sense of humor, I might have a little fun with him like, "because you're not with me 24/7". But really, I'd just keep it short and simple and straight up. Nothing curt or nasty or cold, just simple and straight.

I also want law enforcement to be on our side, but I am not so foolish to believe all are.

 

[77zach]

To comfortably deter bad people and to celebrate the freedom that we have left.

If we get open carry here in florida it will be licensed OC, for awhile at least. I think it is important that when people ask "Do you have a license for that?" that we respond something like "Yes, unfortunately we don't have any right to bear arms like most other states do so a license is required." This way the sheep get educated a little.

 

[chevysoldier]

I haven't posted on here much but wanted to throw my two cents in here. I do agree we need to be polite and teach those not familiar with OC as best we can. I haven't had a chance to use this yet, but if the convo gets to the point of "well the police can come to your rescue" my reply may be something to the affect of "You realize it will take the police at least 5 minutes, on the best of days, to come to your rescue right? I'd like for you to go home tonight and get a timer. Go to your bed and set it for 5 minutes. Now just lay in your bed there until the timer goes off. Think about how much time that really is and what an armed intruder would have time to do before the police got there."