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[stormvet]

Carry a gun whenever and wherever you want. But please for the love of god, quit using the phrase "like a war zone" that's a lame azz phrase used by high school kids and house wife's and the liberal media.

[IVC]

So you carry your fire extinguisher everywhere you go?

There is more than one way to extinguish a fire. The one extinguisher that is attached to me I carry wherever I go...

[DVSmith]

There is more than one way to extinguish a fire. The one extinguisher that is attached to me I carry wherever I go...

I'll bet it isn't a Class C extinguisher!

Probably not even a Class B!

[autoduel]

Carry to live, but don't live to carry.
I live my life the same as before I had a CCW.
If I felt safe enough not to carry pepper spray or taser everywhere I went, I can feel the same about a gun. I'll continue to go to Disneyland without a gun, go to have a drink without a gun, go to work without a gun. The odds of being attacked have not changed after getting a CCW. Carrying makes you better equipped to respond, and I will carry whenever I can. But I won't avoid activities I enjoy if I can't.

[essjay]

Is it me or are some people just over the top when it comes to carrying guns?

Short answer: Yes.

[MotoriousRacing]

I agree with OP.

Can't you just look through a peephole before you answer the door holding a shotgun, when it's just a neighbor returning your kid's Frisbee that landed in the neighbor's yard?

[FromTheGrave]

There is more than one way to extinguish a fire. The one extinguisher that is attached to me I carry wherever I go...

Must be one small fire!

[toby]

It's crazy!

[SonofWWIIDI]

then why repost that crap?

Wow. That's a bit uncalled for.

I was responding to the OP's comments. Don't like my response, move on. Or are you just a troll?

[Hoshnasi]

IDK why we care and talk in the negative about the people that take carrying to the extreme. They don't harm anyone and if it weren't for their anonymous internet discussion society at large would have no idea.

I think you can say the public discussion on the internet regarding carrying has increased, which is great. Why would we want to look down on these people?

[greensoup]

I don't think home invasions and other crimes limit themselves to only the bad parts of town.
Also, I don't think discussing wanting to carry when picking up child from school on a message board for gun enthusiasts makes anybody "look" loony to non-gun people. Now if the guy was OCing a long rifle to the school.....that may make non-gun people look at that person as a little loony.
One other thing - OP should MYOB - what somebody else does or how they feel or why they feel that way is completely personal and IMO has no bearing on how the general public looks at gun enthusiasts.

Home invasion outside of criminal on criminal activity basically happens never.
Crackheads don't team together to break into occupied houses.
Car jackings happens but its extremely rare except in very small areas of the country.

Its a bad way to live if you are worried that these tiny little rare events are going to happen to you. Its like anticipating winning the lottery but never buying the ticket. So rare.

Now if you live in a really bad neighborhood. You need a gun. You should probably carry all the time and you probably should be concerned.

Easiest way to not end up the victim of a violent crime. Avoid alcohol. Almost all victims of assault are drunk or have been drinking.

[SonofWWIIDI]

So you carry your fire extinguisher everywhere you go?

No, but I do have them in my house and vehicle, and they are readily available/accessible in every public building I have been in for many years.

I also have first aid kits, and there are kits in many public places. I don't have a difbrilator at home or in my vehicle, but I do see them in lots of buildings frequented by the public. But I have never seen anyone have a heart attack (outside of a hospital). I do know that people have had heart attacks in public places, and it is likely to happen to someone again in the future.

[Hoshnasi]

Home invasion outside of criminal on criminal activity basically happens never.
Crackheads don't team together to break into occupied houses.
Car jackings happens but its extremely rare except in very small areas of the country.

Its a bad way to live if you are worried that these tiny little rare events are going to happen to you. Its like anticipating winning the lottery but never buying the ticket. So rare.

Now if you live in a really bad neighborhood. You need a gun. You should probably carry all the time and you probably should be concerned.

Easiest way to not end up the victim of a violent crime. Avoid alcohol. Almost all victims of assault are drunk or have been drinking.

I freely admit this story is anecdotal evidence, but it shaped my opinion on being prepared to defend oneself.

I used to live in a cul-de-sac in a very low crime rate area in the suburbs. One summer evening, at around 7:00 (still light out). A very large man kicked in the side door of my across the street neighbors house while she fed her young child in the kitchen. The invader beat for savagely and made her take him around to where anything valuable was hidden. The husband and older son were away for some reason so she was an easy target to a would-be criminal. He fled after ten to fifteen minutes of doing god knows what while the young child watched in horror. The criminal was never caught and the neighbor nor any of her family knew the man

Words like basically happens never. get thrown around alot and it is often for one of two reasons:

1. Imply you don't need to something because the statistics are so low.
2. Make yourself feel better for not being prepared because the statistics are so low.

People seem to like to repeat these words to reinforce which ever situation above they fall in and they bolster this by telling others. Because when the groups thinks like you, you feel satiated, even if it means you're a potential victim.

I'm not going to base my prepared-ness on the statistics but the damage and COST of that almost impossible event happening to me or my loved ones.

My neighbor is lucky. Very lucky. I told myself regardless of how rare the chances of something happening are doesn't mean it can't happen. And IF it does happen, not being prepared would be the worst thing to happen in my life. Which is something I just can't bear the thought of.

[robcoe]

I've seen several threads that have made me wounder this question. One thread a guy is considering quitting his job because he can't carry at work. Another someone says they always answer the door armed at all times. Others who refuse to go shopping (or out in public) without carrying a gun. I have seen some were people keep a gun on 24/7 as some kind of security blanket. I have even seen threads asking about carrying while in the shower (like WTF is that?).

There was another thread were It was asserted that answering your door with a shotgun was normal in other states and it must be a CA thing if one were to find that abnormal.

I can see if someone lives in a legitimately bad neighborhood but the way many portray themselves here (up talk their social status) most surely don't live in the ghetto.

Sometimes when I read about people and their fanatical need to carry it comes across as kind of crazy/obsessive. Couple that with all the "what if?" ninja stories and those who have a palpable fantasy of being some kind of super hero bad guy hunter/prepper and it sometimes makes us as a group come across as kind of gun-kooky nutcases.

It's as if there is a door kicking-car jacking-robbing-murderer-rapist-thug (thug is used far too often by the way and I have come to except it to mean either someone who could kick your azz or someone who looks different and people apply bias to their fear/stereotype).

Many of us live in some of the safest neighborhoods on the planet and crime has been on the decline for years now. It seems as if much of this over the top "gun nut" activities/beliefs is fear based rather than rooted in a second amendment/sports shooting/hunting base.

You'd think we were living in a war zone by the way some people talk.

In all seriousness, certain members of my extended family looked on me as being a bit crazy for having a months worth of food and water stored in my apartment in case of a major disaster like an earthquake(which are pretty rare as well). After Katrina hit and they were only able to avoid it by having already moved a few months earlier, the house they had just sold was absolutely destroyed, that changed.

Now they ask me for tips on how to prepare.

It's all theory and "really unlikely" until it happens. For me, I used to live in a really ****ty neighborhood, in the 6 months I lived there my place was broken into 3 times, once while I was there. That probably affected the way I think about these things, and I doubt I am at the extreme edge(for example, I don't carry a loaded gun most of the time, I do keep one unloaded locked in a briefcase though along with enough other items to let me walk home from wherever I happen to be if needed, but unless it's late or I feel suspicious about something I don't answer the door armed), but nothing wrong with making sure you at least have options available to you if something does come up.

[SonofWWIIDI]

^^^Is he eating a cookie too? How does he keep it from getting soggy?