Post New Article

Why I carry a handgun, 2024

Original Article

Posted By: DVC, 5/25/2024 11:10:45 AM

No one really knows how many Americans regularly carry handguns, concealed or openly. The number of concealed carry licenses doesn’t tell the tale, particularly since 29 states are now “constitutional carry states.” Unless otherwise prohibited by law, Americans need no license to carry concealed weapons in those states. As I recently noted here at AT, some 36 states allow open carry. We do know that April was the 57th consecutive month of more than one million gun sales. It’s reasonable to believe tens of millions of Americans regularly carry, and most don’t advertise the fact. But why should anyone carry? :

Comments:

I think he could have stopped at about the 8th or tenth reason, but all of them are good. One that stands out to me is about how he couldn't stand by and not protect women in danger. But basically, his first reason pretty much covers it.

Post Reply

Reminder: “WE ARE A SALON AND NOT A SALOON”

Your thoughts, comments, and ideas are always welcome here. But we ask you to please be mindful and respectful. Threatening or crude language doesn't persuade anybody and makes the conversation less enjoyable for fellow L.Dotters.


Reply 1 - Posted by: Birddog 5/25/2024 11:28:57 AM (No. 1724653)
Me? I carry a handgun....because carrying a Cop with me everywhere I go is too Heavy/Bulky. I do not "do" victim well, it is not in my nature.
18 people like this.

Reply 2 - Posted by: DVC 5/25/2024 11:29:20 AM (No. 1724655)
FTA "The 57th consecutive month of over one million gun sales." If you look at the National Instant Check System (NICS) for gun purchases, that shows that the lowest month in 2023 was a bit over 2 million, and for the year of 2023 the total was 29.86 million NICS checks. Now some say that there isn't a one to one correlation with NICS checks and gun sales, but it is pretty close, while some checks may not result in a sale, also some checks are for sales of multiple guns. I'll guess that 85% of the NICS number is a conservative value for actual gun sales. So for 2023 that works out to around 24 million gun sales. If only half of those are new guns, and the rest are used guns being resold, that would indicate at least a million NEW guns going into private hands every month. And this has been going on for years and years. If you look at the 2020 numbers, they were just under 4 million per month just about the whole year, with the lowest month being 2.7 million in January before the Wuhan craziness got warmed up. People are worried, people realize that even where policing is considered good, the cops cannot be where they are needed at all times. Be armed, be safe. I saw a quality Ruger .380 pocket pistol offered on sale at Bass Pro this weekend for right at $200. That may not be a good choice for everyone, but there are a lot of different choices. Remember...smaller and lighter guns like that Ruger pocket .380 are easier to carry, but much harder to shoot well. Larger and heavier guns are less convenient to conceal and carry, but much easier to shoot well. Find your personal 'happy medium'. And get training. Everyone benefits from good firearms training.
13 people like this.

Reply 3 - Posted by: Maggie2u 5/25/2024 12:27:41 PM (No. 1724691)
'An armed man is a citizen, an unarmed man is a subject.
12 people like this.

Reply 4 - Posted by: franq 5/25/2024 1:17:27 PM (No. 1724724)
Too many gangs and kooks on the street. Wasn't the case 50 years ago.
7 people like this.

Reply 5 - Posted by: Strike3 5/25/2024 1:25:33 PM (No. 1724730)
Well written article, packed with lots of logical support for the 2nd Amendment. The constant pressure from the US Government to heavily restrict our ownership of firearms is proof that the US Government is not of the people.
8 people like this.

Reply 6 - Posted by: Vaquero45 5/25/2024 1:27:08 PM (No. 1724733)
Exactamundo.
5 people like this.

Reply 7 - Posted by: red1066 5/25/2024 1:42:27 PM (No. 1724744)
All those reasons fall on deaf ears for most voters in the state of Maryland. Here, they are more worried about women losing the ability to kill babies, than the safety of the individual already born. Why the demosluts of Maryland are so worried losing the right to an abortion in this state is beyond me. Since the issue of abortion is now a state's issue, the ability to kill a child will never be taken away. However, the ability to protect a child is an absolute no no.
4 people like this.

Reply 8 - Posted by: hershey 5/25/2024 2:15:46 PM (No. 1724767)
I'm a great supporter, but, open carry has it's perils...some bad guy would probably be the first one to take out an open carrier...that's why I never do it...
4 people like this.

Reply 9 - Posted by: BarryNo 5/25/2024 2:42:46 PM (No. 1724800)
He sounds like a man to emulate.
1 person likes this.

Reply 10 - Posted by: raspberry 5/25/2024 3:35:03 PM (No. 1724824)
Bad government disarms the victim. Good government disarms the criminal.
4 people like this.

Reply 11 - Posted by: Hazymac 5/25/2024 3:57:47 PM (No. 1724837)
Excellent essay. All should read and disseminate it. Open carry, mentioned in this article, is not usually advisable. Yes, in Detroit after a series of armed robberies at gas pumps, some motorists took to wearing big pistols ostentatiously outside their waistbands on their hips. As long as they were paying attention, those people didn't get robbed again. But there are more reasons to keep the gun hidden on your person. Factoid: A couple of years ago I read an article stating that cops are 37 times less likely than the average public at large to commit crimes. That's good. What's better than that? Americans with concealed carry permits are 7 times less likely than police to commit crimes. Americans who carry legal guns are the most law abiding citizens anywhere. Only a wannabe tyrant like FJB would try to disarm them.
4 people like this.

Reply 12 - Posted by: cor-vet 5/25/2024 6:25:10 PM (No. 1724876)
I always carry. It's not always convenient or comfortable, but that's just something I've learned to live with the past 50+ years!
1 person likes this.

Reply 13 - Posted by: DVC 5/25/2024 10:17:54 PM (No. 1724951)
Re #12, famed firearms instructor Clint Smith has said that your concealed handgun is intended to be comforting more than comfortable.
0 people like this.

Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "DVC"
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Most Recent Articles posted by DVC"
Why I carry a handgun, 2024 13 replies
Posted by DVC 5/25/2024 11:10:45 AM Post Reply
No one really knows how many Americans regularly carry handguns, concealed or openly. The number of concealed carry licenses doesn’t tell the tale, particularly since 29 states are now “constitutional carry states.” Unless otherwise prohibited by law, Americans need no license to carry concealed weapons in those states. As I recently noted here at AT, some 36 states allow open carry. We do know that April was the 57th consecutive month of more than one million gun sales. It’s reasonable to believe tens of millions of Americans regularly carry, and most don’t advertise the fact. But why should anyone carry? :
SD firefighters fly in fire experts to
tackle lithium battery fire still blazing
from last week
14 replies
Posted by DVC 5/24/2024 10:19:30 AM Post Reply
On Wednesday, May 15th, Gateway Energy Storage Facility erupted into flames—it’s a San Diego battery storage in a border community—and firefighters contained the blaze before handing operations off to the facility’s own team. But by the very next day, the fire reignited and it’s been going ever since. We’re now on day nine, by the way. Now, according to San Diego journalist Amy Reichert, the San Diego fire department has elected to fly in fire experts to “study” the fire because they have no idea how to manage the blaze, estimating that it may take another week or week-and-a-half to get the fire back under control—meanwhile, poisonous fumes
The latest Harvard-Harris poll is just
chock full of good news
1 reply
Posted by DVC 5/22/2024 7:39:22 PM Post Reply
Harvard-Harris just dropped its poll of information gathered on May 15-16, and it’s a doozy. If you’re hostile to Democrats and Biden’s presidency, and you support Israel, you’ll love the results of this poll of 1,660 registered voters. It’s easy to get too deep in the weeds with poll results, so I’ll try to give you the top-line information from this cheering poll. Some of the “good” news is actually sad, and that’s the fact that Americans are unhappy with their lives in Biden’s America. Only 55% of Democrats think America is headed in the right direction, while 14% of Republicans and 20% of Independents feel good about America in 2024.
Spontaneous (re)combustion: Fire breaks
out at a lithium battery storage facility, fi
12 replies
Posted by DVC 5/21/2024 12:28:07 AM Post Reply
As long as lithium ion battery plants spontaneously combust and spew clouds of poisonous chemicals into the air, I don’t ever want to hear a progressive Democrat—voter, pundit, or politician—lecture me on the wildfires and “climate change” crises they swear are caused by my use of modest personal amenities. On a tip from Monica Showalter comes this story, from the former paradise of southern California and The San Diego Union-Tribune (SDUT): Fire flares up again at battery storage facility in Otay Mesa An unpredictable blaze that sparked at a battery storage facility on Wednesday in Otay Mesa picked up again Thursday night
January 6, Covid Stir the Fascist Soul
of the Educated Liberal Female
13 replies
Posted by DVC 5/17/2024 2:03:44 PM Post Reply
In researching my new book, Ashli: The Untold Story of the Women of January 6, I discovered something unexpected: an alarming confirmation of my September 2022 article in which I argued that Educated Liberal Females (ELFs) are the single greatest threat to our enduring liberties. My new book deals specifically with the ELF’s natural foes, the women of January 6. Among the ten women I profile is Dr. Simone Gold. Even before getting caught up in the events of that memorable day, Dr. Gold had set the ELFs on edge through her work with America’s Frontline Doctors, a group she founded.
Yakima Canutt: The Little-Known but Great
American Stuntman
8 replies
Posted by DVC 5/16/2024 3:24:19 PM Post Reply
It’s a fine idea to pay tribute to movie stuntmen, those little-known heroes of the silver screen. But one would have to be far more charmed by endless, overloud, and preposterous action scenes and brain-dead fights than I am in order to enjoy The Fall Guy, which I recently watched at the local Bijou. The American Spectator’s Leonora Cravotta is right about the movie’s boy/girl romance and the welcome clear line between good and bad. These are too rare on the large or small screen these days. But for me these positives were cancelled by the aforementioned dreary chaos at industrial decibel levels. No disrespect to the estimable Leonora.
Flood of Fake Science Forces Multiple
Journal Closures
10 replies
Posted by DVC 5/15/2024 5:17:34 PM Post Reply
Fake studies have flooded the publishers of top scientific journals, leading to thousands of retractions and millions of dollars in lost revenue. The biggest hit has come to Wiley, a 217-year-old publisher based in Hoboken, N.J., which Tuesday will announce that it is closing 19 journals, some of which were infected by large-scale research fraud. In the past two years, Wiley has retracted more than 11,300 papers that appeared compromised, according to a spokesperson, and closed four journals. It isn’t alone: At least two other publishers have retracted hundreds of suspect papers each. Several others have pulled smaller clusters of bad papers.
Israel and Ukraine: Both Essential to
America’s Interests
12 replies
Posted by DVC 5/15/2024 3:21:33 PM Post Reply
As both a proud Reagan conservative and as an American patriot, I am deeply troubled by our nation slipping from its responsibilities as the leader of the free world. Russia and Hamas both represent terrorist entities. Disengaging from the world stage and thinking it’s “none of our business” is a position that a man lionized by every conservative American like President Ronald Reagan would never embrace. Russia’s horrific crimes against the Ukrainian people are inexcusable and unjustified. I am both embarrassed by the Biden administration’s slow and weak response, and by the so-called Republicans who embrace the same foreign policy views that radical leftist
New report: Trucking industry firm finds
a transition to ‘electric’ semis hikes
operating costs as much as 114%
9 replies
Posted by DVC 5/14/2024 5:00:16 PM Post Reply
What would it look like for you and your family to pay even more than what you’re already paying at the grocery store check-out line? (Grocery prices have increased more than 30% since Joe Biden took office.) What about at the gas pump? Anything you buy online that is then shipped to your home? Now, the cost-of-living crisis is already a debilitating burden for countless Americans, but as bad as it is now, it’s fixing to get a whole lot worse if the forced transition to electric vehicles continues; those mandates and regulations don’t just apply to personal vehicles, but also the 18-wheelers that transport
Jews are figuring out that Biden and the
Democrats are not their friends
31 replies
Posted by DVC 5/13/2024 5:54:15 PM Post Reply
The Bible calls the Jews “a stiff-necked” people. (“The Lord also said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.’” Deuteronomy 9:13.) In other words, they’re stubborn, and nothing has been more stubborn than American Jews’ long-standing refusal to acknowledge the rising antisemitism in the heart of the Democrat party. Donald Trump’s pro-Israel record barely swayed them. However, Biden’s blatant anti-Israel policies, combined with the violent antisemitism in academia, may finally be doing the trick. Traditionally, Jews have been second only to blacks in their fealty to the Democrat party. Many of them came from Tsarist Russia, which was fiercely antisemitic.
Smells Like ‘68: Foreboding Parallels
for Democrats in 2024
8 replies
Posted by DVC 5/11/2024 1:28:17 PM Post Reply
This election season, there are many parallels to the election year of 1968 on display, and none of it bodes well for Democrats’ chances in November. It didn’t work out for Democrats back then, certainly, with Republican Richard Nixon handily defeating Hubert Humphrey, and Republicans picking up a net five seats in both the Senate and the House, along with a net gain of five governorships. Here are a few of these observed similarities. Radical leftists are again eating their own The first parallel, which many have already noted, is that the Democratic National Convention (DNC) will be again held in Chicago in August of this year
How to lose billions on EVs 10 replies
Posted by DVC 5/11/2024 11:19:04 AM Post Reply
Senator Sam Ervin said: “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money.” Our federal government has been talking trillions for some time now, but the Mummified Meat Puppet Administration’s (MMPA) push for electric vehicles has EV manufacturers talking, and losing, billions. MMPA mouthpieces like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm assure us EVs are the future and they’re pushing unconstitutional, unrealizable regulations to force that future down our throats. Unfortunately for them, economic reality is intruding, and Ford provides a disturbing example:
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Hillary Clinton Blames Sexism for 2016
Loss: Donald Trump Won Because He Is A Man
48 replies
Posted by Dreadnought 5/26/2024 1:50:11 AM Post Reply
Hillary Clinton blamed the fact that female voters abandoned her as her 2016 presidential campaign came to a close on her not being “perfect” in a recent interview. “They left me because they just couldn’t take a risk on me because, as a woman, I’m supposed to be perfect,” the former secretary of state told the New York Times in an interview conducted in February and published Saturday. She went on to argue that female voters took a “risk” on former President Donald Trump because he is a man. “They were willing to take a risk on [Trump] — who had a long list of, let’s call them flaws,
Senator Demands Answers After Superintendent
of Denali National Park Brooke Merrell
Tells Construction Workers to Remove US
Flag from Equipment – It “Detracts”
from Park Experience
28 replies
Posted by Imright 5/26/2024 3:43:44 PM Post Reply
A construction crew working on a bridge in Alaska’s Denali National Park was ordered to remove their American flag from their equipment. The park official said it “detracted” from the park experience. Alaska Watchman reported: The crew working on a 475-foot-long bridge in Alaska’s Denali National Park was recently told that they could no longer fly the American flag from their trucks or heavy equipment, which are being used in the $207 million Federal Highway Administration project. The bridge is being built by Granite Construction, after a 2021 rockslide took out a portion of the popular Denali Park Road
Day of Remembrance kicks off events marking
4th anniversary of George Floyd's death
27 replies
Posted by NorthernDog 5/25/2024 8:27:20 AM Post Reply
MINNEAPOLIS - When George Floyd died at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on Memorial Day in 2020, his death prompted protests and calls for change. Now, four years later, his memory is still a cause for people to take action. "We can never forget. We can never stop talking about George Floyd. We can never unsee what we saw in 2020," said Leslie E. Redmond, Executive Director of the nonprofit Win Back. Win Back organized its first annual Day Of Remembrance for George Floyd Friday. It started with an interfaith prayer service at city hall and continued
Redesigning Social Security 27 replies
Posted by Imright 5/25/2024 2:54:27 AM Post Reply
How might we change the premise of Social Security to make it fully funded, more equitable, and sustainable indefinitely? Social Security is societal insurance, not an individual retirement plan. It’s intended to protect individuals against income loss due to retirement, disability, or death. It supports disabled individuals, survivors, and children and reduces poverty. Social Security protects taxpayers across American society. Without Social Security, millions would face poverty, straining families and state and local governments, increasing inequality, and destabilizing the economy.
Trump Booed and Jeered During Speech at
the Libertarian Party Convention
24 replies
Posted by Dreadnought 5/26/2024 10:44:13 AM Post Reply
Donald Trump spoke at the Libertarian Party Convention on Saturday night and, given the controversy over the invitation within the party, it wasn't surprising that many in the audience expressed their displeasure at the former president's presence. Trump was trying to pry some Libertarian Party voters away from Robert Kennedy. who spoke earlier in the day to a sparse crowd. Besides that, it took some courage to speak at a venue where he knew he would receive a mixed reception. Trump paid the crowd little mind, making his points and occasionally responding to the crowd. "You can keep going the way you have for the last long
Biden repeats football claim to West Point
graduates at commencement address
24 replies
Posted by Mizz Fixxit 5/25/2024 8:26:12 PM Post Reply
President Biden repeated a claim about turning down an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, where he purportedly wanted to play football, during his commencement address at West Point on Saturday. Biden told West Point graduates that Republican Sen. J. Caleb Boggs, whom he defeated to become a U.S. senator, had "appointed" him to the Naval Academy years before they ran against each other in 1972. The president recounted that before his interview, "I found out two days earlier they had a quarterback named Roger Staubach, and a halfback named Joe Bellino. And I said, I'm not going there. I went to Delaware. Not a joke."
California Lawmakers Propose Requirement
for New Cars to “Beep” When Over Speed Limit
24 replies
Posted by Beardo 5/25/2024 9:20:47 AM Post Reply
California’s crime-friendly environment has led to numerous Legal Insurrection reports of smash-and-grab robberies, Beverly Hills becoming a ghost town, piracy in Oakland Bay, and a constant stream of organized retail theft. (snip) The California Senate recently passed SB 961, a measure which would require “passive speed limiters” to be installed in all new cars manufactured or sold in the Golden State by 2032. The motion, introduced by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), would make California the first state in the nation to enact the safety requirement, which is similar to a law in the European Union that is set to take effect in July.
Jack Smith Seeks Order Barring Trump From
Criticizing Law Enforcement Over Deadly
Force Authorization for Mar-a-Lago Raid
23 replies
Posted by Imright 5/25/2024 10:05:49 AM Post Reply
Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a motion Friday night demanding President Trump’s condition of release in the classified documents case be modified to include barring him from criticizing law enforcement for authorizing deadly force in the August 8, 2022 raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida in a search for disputed alleged classified documents from Trump’s presidency. Trump reacted to the news of the deadly force authorization on Tuesday by saying the government had plans to kill him.
Jack Smith Seeks Gag Order to Block President
Trump from Making “Misleading Impressions”
of FBI Conduct
22 replies
Posted by earlybird 5/25/2024 10:11:28 PM Post Reply
After it was revealed that Attorney General Merrick Garland, the FBI and DOJ added language to their search warrant permitting the FBI to use deadly force against President Trump and/or his security detail during the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, President Trump responded with shock. Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a motion to amend the bail conditions for President Trump on Friday night. Prosecutor Smith wants Judge Cannon to forbid President Trump from talking about the FBI agents who conducted the armed raid and used the search warrant. [PDF Court Motion Here]
Donald Trump's Crowd Size Under Scrutiny 22 replies
Posted by NorthernDog 5/25/2024 2:01:51 PM Post Reply
The size of the crowd at Donald Trump's latest rally has come under scrutiny with people giving varied accounts about the number of people who attended it. Trump, the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party's presidential nomination, held a large rally in a Democratic borough of New York City on Thursday to drum up support ahead of November's presidential election. He told supporters at Crotona Park, South Bronx, of his potential plans for the city if he is elected to the White House. The rally had a permit for 3,500 people, according to the New York Times which cited the
CNN star Ana Navarro says Latino voters
who support Trump have 'very stupid' attitude
22 replies
Posted by Imright 5/25/2024 2:30:19 AM Post Reply
CNN's Ana Navarro has criticized fellow Latinos who support Donald Trump, labeling their attitudes towards immigration as 'very stupid.' Navarro suggested that some Latino immigrants seem to forget their own roots and mistakenly believe that being anti-immigrant will help them assimilate better into American society. Speaking on CNN on Friday night, the anti-Trump Republican expressed her frustration with such a mindset, saying it only serves to highlight how it contributes to a divisive atmosphere.
CNN Sounds Alarm on 'Troubling Sign' for
Biden Campaign: Trump's Black Support
Has More Than Doubled
21 replies
Posted by Dreadnought 5/26/2024 1:53:11 AM Post Reply
CNN's data reporter is sounding the alarm on a "very troubling" sign for the Biden campaign: Donald Trump's support among black voters has more than doubled. "Look, if you look at 2024, Biden still leads among black voters over Donald Trump, 69% in an average of polls," CNN's Harry Enten said. "But look at this number for Donald Trump: 22%. Where was Donald Trump at this point? Four years ago in the poll, he was just at 9% of the vote." "So he's seen more than a doubling in his support among African-Americans," he continued. "This margin, which was in the 70s, just four years ago, look at where it is
Post New Article