[liberpolly]

Originally Posted by adouglas

Re carry.... pardon the derail, but it's worth talking about.

Just like ATGATT, the right attitude is really important.

My $0.02: A gun is like your helmet. You don't ride a bike planning to whack your head on the pavement, right? You should not go into any situation with the thought that you're going to use it for its protective purpose. No... you ride with the attitude of avoiding the crash in the first place. Pulling your gun is the very last thing you should consider doing.

Priority 1 is to get out alive, not charge in to save the day. Aside from the enormous and truly life-changing pile of legal trouble in which you will find yourself, your job is not to be a hero and shoot the bad guy. Your job is to survive the encounter. Chances are that means running away, terribly fast. You are not Chuck Norris. You are not John McClane.

Youtube is full of videos of CCW holders shooting bad guys. Yay. Great. But go do some homework... pick any high-profile self-defense shooting case, and look up what happened to the CCW holder afterwards. Some of what goes down will really make you think twice about pulling a gun on someone.

How about crushing legal bills for starters and civil proceedings that drag on for years? Whether you're right or wrong doesn't matter if you wind up losing your job, your home... not to mention the personal toll. Take a look at what has happened to George Zimmerman's personal life, just as an example. Remember, this guy got acquitted. You think he just walked away? Think again.

Here's the point. If it truly is life-or-death, then there is no choice. Shoot. Your job, your home, the legal trouble are not worth more than your life. But ask yourself this when you look at those "hero" CCW shooting videos. Was it truly life-or-death?

Do you think you could make that call in heat of the moment? Or would it be smarter to escape-evade and live to see another sunrise that way?

Are you prepared for the aftermath? This is not a trivial question. If you carry, you're doing so because you have decided that you're okay with killing another human being... and all that entails.

This guy may not be the world's greatest orator, but he makes a very good point about getting the hell out of Dodge, and also about choice of carry weapon.

This, many many times this.