What's your go-to Concealed Carry weapon?

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RyanShort1 said:
My parents took me to the family ranch multiple times a year every year as I grew up. My uncle kept a loaded rifle (that I now take care of) in the back of his pickup and we all knew where it was, and that we had no business touching it. Weird that we all survived. There were plenty of other firearms around, too, but we were also taught to mind. Undisciplined children and their negligent parents are the problem.
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And TV and movies. Nearly 100% of scenes with guns display terribly unsafe gun handling and this is what kids grow up seeing.
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
Definitely will be much cheaper…shooting someone is going to cost you…alot. Lawyers, you’ll lose your gun of course, lawsuits, maybe psychological issues requiring treatment, etc.
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Not necessarily. Twenty three states provide immunity for civil liability in common self-defense scenarios where use of force and deadly force are justified by the statutes.
 
A bunch of years ago when I was growing up in Idaho, Fish and Game made the rounds teaching firearms safety to the 6th grade classes. Two sessions, one classroom, one live fire on the range, with .22 rifles.

That was one of the reasons the state always had an extremely low firearms accident rate, despite having one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the lower 48.
 
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well, not exactly this one…but I’d be willing to throw a dollar at them to see if they’d honor the ad. ;)
 
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Funny, when I was reading about empathy and fear, not knowing what was meant early-thread, I thought it meant “I feel sorry for anyone around me who tries to wrong me, therefore I have no fear...because I carry”. Interesting how I interpreted what I read vs reality.

Now - LCP, with laser - my wife got auction fever at a FNRA banquet knowing I liked it, so we ended up with another stray. That must’ve been about 10-12 years ago.

Started with a 92FS, also with laser (Beretta marked). Easy winter carry, or with a suit or sport jacket.

Next was a chunky Beretta Mini-Cougar 8000D. It’s been used so much it has a silky smooth revolver-like DAO trigger feel. Didn’t carry it long though.

I’d love to find a single stack 92 to try some day.
 
This is obviously a hot button topic for many of you as pilots on both sides of the equation. I grew up with my grandfather who was a gunsmith, and I work in federal law enforcement, so it's not hard to figure out which side I am on, but let me throw some thoughts out there.

There have been several good points on here for the other side of the debate. Someone said that he carries some extra $20s, because if he can make a threat go away for $50 or even $100, that's a cheap price to pay. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree. In an Advanced Firearms Tactics and Training class I took, one of the most stressed points was of deescalation. Yes, if you can make that threat go away by giving up your phone, your wallet, your purse, your ________, then that is the best option. Any time you can walk away from the situation, that's a good outcome. But remember that the person on the other side of that equation is under a great deal of self-induced stress, and they may not think clearly. In that case, your offerings of your ________ may not suffice. Give up whatever you need to, but don't give up your family's and friend's lives in that exchange.

I carry a firearm for a number of reasons. One of which is the nature of my job. Even when I'm not on the job, the individuals I interact with on a daily basis could desire to harm me and my family, even if at the hands of other people. I will protect my family by whatever means necessary. If I feel I can safely remove my family from the situation, then that's the answer. If I can "bribe" our way out of the threat of harm, that's the answer.

But I spend enough time around criminals, from run of the mill street thugs to international terrorists, to know that these options are not always sufficient. I stand face to face with murderers nearly every day. I have talked to them.

A couple people have thrown out the idea of a fire extinguisher or insurance. While those are good illustrations, they do fall apart. Yes, they are things that you have even though you don't plan on using them. The illustrations fall apart in that, if you use them, you aren't generally deeply emotionally affected (scarred) and if you have to use a fire extinguisher, or file an insurance claim, you are not exacting that on another individual.

If I could boil it all down to something that I think we would all agree on, it would be this: You are important, and your family is important. Your possessions or your money can be replaced, but your wife, your daughter, your nephew, your dad, or your uncle can not be replaced. Do whatever you can to protect them.

If you feel unsafe around firearms, it is my experience in teaching dozens of people about them, that you probably don't have much exposure to them, and that's fair. Not everybody grew up in the same environment that I did. One of the benefits of growing up the way I did, is that I learned at an early age, not just a healthy fear/respect of firearms, but a healthy understanding for the consequences of using them improperly. That training is invaluable.

I put this out to my friends all the time, and so, while our locations may prevent it, here's my offer: If you are in that boat, of being unfamiliar with firearms, I'd love to get with you (especially as fellow pilots) and let you handle some firearms, in a controlled, very safe environment, teach you about their operation, and let you experience what it's like to be behind a gun. The first time you pull the trigger, it might be kinda scary and that's ok. The first time you tried to land that Cessna, it was probably scary too. But after 20 or 30 (or 300) landings, you became more comfortable with the safe operation of your airplane. In the same way, the safe operation of a firearm takes practice and good training. Put an idiot behind the yoke of a bird, with no training and you can guess the outcome. Same with firearms. Bad things happen when people aren't trained in basic respect and safe operation of firearms.

If you have questions, and don't feel like getting lambasted in a public setting, hit me with a message. I'll help get you set up with opportunities to encounter firearms in a safe and controlled setting.

TL;DR I work in Law Enforcement and want to help people not be afraid of firearms, but will do whatever I can to help you.
 
Bill said:
Although I sometimes carried (before the boating accident), I also sometimes carried a couple of 20s in my pocket as well. If giving an aggressive person $40-50 gets them to go away peacefully, it's a win.
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Matthew Rogers said:
And ends up being cheaper than owning, maintaining, and registering a gun.
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It's just another tool in the toolbox. If you can somehow verbally deescalate the situation, or deescalate via offering some walking money, then as I said, it's a win. But, if these methods do not work, I carry other tools in my toolbox as well. I hope to never have to use these tools, but I'd rather have options than none.

As for children harmed and killed by firearms, yes it is a problem, and yes it makes me very sad. There are irresponsible gun owners out there, but I will say that most permitted firearm owners out there take the responsibility seriously, and do everything they can to ensure the firearms are handled and stored in a safe manner. Hey, I don't want to lose my ability to carry, therefore I'm going to be ever vigilant in my handling of firearms, just as most of us here do not drink and drive or do other harmful things that may jeopardize our flying privileges.

As for me, the firearm is either loaded and on my person, or unloaded and locked in secure storage. Period. There is no other way.
 
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Half Fast said:
I wanted to name the dog Pavlov but I was overruled....
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My cat was named FURPUR. Back when I worked with UNIVAC Exec8 I figured if I ever got a cat I'd call it that.

My reserved dog name is "Baskerville." (I have to admit, that one is not original. Jack Benny's dog on his radio show was called that.).
 
Half Fast said:
This is our cat…


His name is Schrodinger.
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Do you get nervous on trips to the vet?

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Michael Cutler said:
A couple people have thrown out the idea of a fire extinguisher or insurance. While those are good illustrations, they do fall apart. Yes, they are things that you have even though you don't plan on using them. The illustrations fall apart in that, if you use them, you aren't generally deeply emotionally affected (scarred) and if you have to use a fire extinguisher, or file an insurance claim, you are not exacting that on another individual.
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I'd point out that there are various people I know that had trauma from fire extinguisher-type situations, too, like my late uncle who responded to a motorcycle accident where the rider lost control and got decapitated. It really boils down to your worldview and how grounded you are in your beliefs. If you knew you were saving lives by ending a threat, it's not a guaranteed thing that you will be negatively scarred any worse than if you were helpless in the situation.

Bringing it back to aviation, a number of the WWII pilots I knew firmly believed they were defending life and saving lives by shooting down German or Japanese opponents, and while the experience may have changed their lives, it wasn't that they questioned what they did.

My point is that I think if you happened to be at the event that would cause the trauma, your emotional scars would be different, but similar and equally painful if you had the regret that you could not act, or were restrained by an arbitrary law from being able to defend yourself... which is what sparked the Texas CHL option in the first place: the shooting at the Luby's Cafeteria where Suzzana Hupp lost her parents when she could have returned fire if she hadn't left her weapon in the car.
 
When I lived in downtown Chicago I would some times carry a S&W 38 Chief special. Don't conceal here in AK. I do carry a Colt 1911 45 ACP in the plane

edit: Also did not load a full cylinder in the 38. One empty chamber under the hammer
 
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IK04 said:
Nobody knows what or if I am carrying.

Let's keep it a surprise!
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Exactly. When/if I'm carrying concealed only I know for sure.

Daleandee said:
Good point. For many years I rode a motorcycle (and still do) while wearing a helmet. At times I wondered why I wore a helmet as I had no accidents and close calls were very few as I found training and awareness to be sufficient. But ten years ago, while on the interstate a driver at a high rate of speed came from nowhere and struck the bike from behind sending me tumbling down the road at interstate speeds. By the Grace of God and a helmet I survived with no real injury. The helmet was destroyed but it did exactly what it was designed to do.
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I've known 4 people who needed helmets in their lifetime. 3 had them and are alive today. My wife and I are 2 of the 3. One didn't and he died at the scene. A very limited sample size, but 100% correlation. None of us could have predicted the need for helmets in advance, but I'm sure glad we had them.

Rushie said:
Otherwise you can avoid confrontations altogether and that’s best. For example, road rage. Just don’t. Don’t be an ass when you drive and if somebody else is an ass just let it go. That’s the kind of avoidance and de-escalation that is appropriate. I drive real nice because I have a gun. When I walk around in public I’m nice and polite to everyone because I have a gun.
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I find the same thing. When I'm carrying I tend to be very nice and very cautious. In any case I do not go where I think I might need the gun, but sometimes you never know.

BTW, my primary gun is a Ruger Security 9 (9 mm). I usually carry it when I'm going to/from the range where I serve as a Range Safety Officer. Other times it might be my Bursa Thunder 380cc. Not the "power" of a 9 mm, but it fits in my pocket (with a holster to keep crud out of the pistol).
 
Ghery said:
I've known 4 people who needed helmets in their lifetime. 3 had them and are alive today. My wife and I are 2 of the 3. One didn't and he died at the scene. A very limited sample size, but 100% correlation. None of us could have predicted the need for helmets in advance, but I'm sure glad we had them.
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After screwing up a panic stop, I remember that I was very glad I was wearing my full-face helmet while sliding along the road.
 
Ghery said:
I've known 4 people who needed helmets in their lifetime. 3 had them and are alive today. My wife and I are 2 of the 3. One didn't and he died at the scene. A very limited sample size, but 100% correlation. None of us could have predicted the need for helmets in advance, but I'm sure glad we had them.
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Bob Noel said:
After screwing up a panic stop, I remember that I was very glad I was wearing my full-face helmet while sliding along the road.
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They say you never complain about the price of your second helmet.
 
FastEddieB said:
Reasoning?
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I do the same thing with my old H&R .22 revolver, as I don’t trust the reliability and safety of it’s hammer/trigger mechanism. It could conceivably discharge with a sharp blow to the hammer. But that gun was built back in the 1920s.

I don’t think it’s really a concern with modern firearms and I have no problem with loading all the cylinders in my .38 and my .357. The practice of leaving an empty chamber under the hammer is an outdated safety precaution, but it’s still hanging on.
 
As long as you understand it’s not needed anymore :) but yeah for the old guns you absolutely would want to do that
 
Not so much of an issue with the later hammer block mechanisms. It was a problem with the old "peacemaker"-style revolvers that lacked it. I load all the chambers of my revolver.
 
Half Fast said:
I don’t think it’s really a concern with modern firearms and I have no problem with loading all the cylinders in my .38 and my .357. The practice of leaving an empty chamber under the hammer is an outdated safety precaution, but it’s still hanging on.
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Got it. I carried an Airweight Bodyguard as a backup ankle gun. Vintage 1980’s, the hammer rests against the frame and the firing pin floats. It can only fire with the trigger pulled back which raises a transfer bar, allowing the hammer to strike the transfer bar which then hits the firing pin. Hence, it’s perfectly safe to carry fully loaded. I believe virtually all modern revolvers have a similar safety feature.
 
wrt one in the pipe, anyone remember the movie "Point of No Return" when Fonda's character grabs the gun and pulls the trigger?
 
FastEddieB said:
Reasoning?
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As stated above it was a safety item my dad taught me. It may be safe to load all the chambers in my 38 Chief special I elect to leave one chamber empty. I figure if I cant hit something in the first 4 rounds the 5th isn't going to help
 
AKBill said:
As stated above it was a safety item my dad taught me. It may be safe to load all the chambers in my 38 Chief special I elect to leave one chamber empty. I figure if I cant hit something in the first 4 rounds the 5th isn't going to help
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While my accuracy goals agree, statistically, I've heard that in heat of the moment situations, trained law enforcement personnel miss 80% of their shots. I just hope that your 80% isn't the 4 out of 5 that you have loaded!
 
Half Fast said:
I don’t think it’s really a concern with modern firearms and I have no problem with loading all the cylinders in my .38 and my .357. The practice of leaving an empty chamber under the hammer is an outdated safety precaution, but it’s still hanging on.
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North American Arms upgraded the design of their mini-revolvers in the 1990's to have the hammer rest between cylinders. I can't find it, but seem to remember somebody had dropped one on its hammer and it fired. You are absolutely right about those old revolvers. Even some older Colt semi-auto pistols had a problem with accidental discharge if dropped facing upward. A Colt Model M once killed a collector that way. The irony is it has no exposed hammer.
 
FastEddieB said:
Got it. I carried an Airweight Bodyguard as a backup ankle gun. Vintage 1980’s, the hammer rests against the frame and the firing pin floats. It can only fire with the trigger pulled back which raises a transfer bar, allowing the hammer to strike the transfer bar which then hits the firing pin. Hence, it’s perfectly safe to carry fully loaded. I believe virtually all modern revolvers have a similar safety feature.
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Yeah, my old H&R has no transfer bar; the firing pin is part of the hammer. Either the hammer is all the way down with the pin resting on a round (obviously risky) or it’s at half cock which isn’t reliably safe. Safest way to carry it is with the hammer all the way down on an empty chamber.

It has too long a barrel to carry concealed and .22LR sucks as a defense round, but it makes a good trail gun.
 
PSA FYI, Ruger has an ongoing safety recall for SA revolvers(might be all revolvers) where they will update to the transfer bar safety. Applies to everything built before ~'73-74. But beware, for some reason they couldnt do it on my 1970 model but offered me a new comparable model. I took the new one but still have conflicted feelings about it.

I would wager that a .22 would have stopped about the same amount of crime as a 9mm has. Most crooks want an easy score and the mere sight of, or more profoundly, the sound of *pop* makes them scurry. Now if someone has something against you personally? You're screwed!
 
Autos have always been a different story. This is why they have safeties for the most part (not to keep people from pulling the trigger, but to keep the hammer from falling or firing pin striking uncommanded.
 
I always chuckle when someone says they don’t need a gun because they have a phone to call the cops. Ignorance is bliss I guess.


Edit: I made this edit after @RyanB liked the post so he may hate the edit.

in full disclosure I am a former LEO and I spend a lot of time on the road working as a pilot. I just don’t have the luxury of carrying every day. I don’t have a CCW. It’s just not practical.

That said. If you come to my house with criminal intent I don’t need a CCW…

To further expand on my initial post. Do not factor law enforcement response into your threat assessment. If you feel confident in your ability to handle a negative encounter without help and without a firearm in your tool kit then don’t carry a gun. Just don’t use 911 as part of the plan. Be ready to handle it by yourself.
 
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If we could CC here in Maryland I would use my S&W SD40VE.

As others have stated I too have no issue defending our home. My bride has started to shoot and she’s pretty good with her Taurus 9mm. You can call 911, but when they get here it’s a Q&A session at that point. Between our mastiff, and firepower we feel secure.
 
Glock 29. More foot-pounds of energy than anything its size and I shoot it well.
 
As others have stated, a gun (or knife, baseball bat, hammer, etc.) is just a tool. YOU are the weapon. Train well and be proficient in all tools (including decision making, de-escalation, situational awareness, and of course, use of tools available to you.) Having said that, choice of tool to have with you is a personal choice, and hopefully one that the person feels most comfortable with.
 
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