anyone here interested in guns, shooting, ccw?

[RagJohn]

The latter is an acronym for "concealed carry of weapons". I have carried a defensive pistol for over 40 years now. I have drawn it vs men 4x, and vs dog attacks as many or more times. I've needed it at other times, but didn't happen to have it at the time, for one reason or another, and survived due to my black belt, or due to my size, strength, and ability to intimidate or placate, as seemed best at the time. Someone without those traits and abilities would have needed the gun, for sure. I've never had to fire but once, (vs a dog). Just the sight of a "ready" gun normally causes attackers to go bother someone else. Since shooting someone typically costs the defender about $50,000 in legal fees,bondsman's fees, lost work, having to move, having to change cars, jobs, etc, "just" the bluff working is best. I was fully ready and willing to shoot them into the ground, though, and I firmly believe that they could detect that ability and determination in my demeanor, and that was the deciding factor. Had I looked inept or indecisive, I might well have had to fire, and might well have lost the fight, too. Such things, once they "kick off" are often a lost cause in less than 1 second. you really have very little time in which to make your weapon and your skill be the determining factors, as vs pure luck. The NRA mag, every month, has a page of successful such defences, but guess what? They are not going to print the cases where the guy screwed up, and such cases are commonplace. Also,even in the NRA excerpts, I see very, very few cases wherein luck wasn't the main determinant. The defender made all sorts of errors, and triumphed anyway, thru pure luck. It is luck if the attacker has no gun of his own, is just a coward,etc.

There are two sporting organizations which hold shooting matches based upon the idea of fast draw from a holster, and combat-type shooting, at man-torso targets. They are the IDPA and the IPSC. Those acronyms stand for the International Defensive Pistol Association, and the International Practical Shooting Confederation. Google them for more info about such match shooting. Over half of the 50 states now have what are called "shall issue" ccw permits, in that if the authorities can't show a legal ban on your gun rights, they MUST issue you a ccw permit. Most such states do require you to take an 8 hour class about gun handling and the defensive law of their state. The requirement really should be more like 100 hours, and a lot,lot more shooting, because cops screw up such stuff all the time, and they get 40 hours of such "training". If such a 100 hr, $2000 requirement existed, the number of permit applications would be reduced by 99%, I can assure you.

Edited December 19, 2010 by RagJohn