Fun topic!
For me, carrying began after my daughter turned about 3-4. I was training in Krav Maga and during a class we had a mock demonstration where I had to defend myself and someone with me against 2 or more attackers. IT was then that I learned how difficult it was to effectively prevent anyone from gaining a position and striking the person with me. I was an advanced fighter and there were moments where I could see that the person with me might still be in harms way. I considered the power of a single punch or kick to a child like mine could potentially be lethal and I needed a better way to protect my daughter when we walked together so that no matter what, I could defend her (and myself) from attack. While I still continued training in Krav Maga, I began to take the necessary steps to get my concealed carry, which took nearly a year by itself because of the state I live in.
Once I got through the background checks, interviews, investigations, residence verification, had friends and family contacted, dealt with their skepticism and disapproval, took the class to show competence, and paid for everything, I finally received my silly little plastic card that meant the world to me. I literally had to fight the urge to show it off to everyone because I was sooo proud of the effort it took to get it. At the time, I only had a single sub compact pistol…a Kahr CW9, and some random IWB holster. Before the day was over, I took my instructors advice to do my walmart/target walk and parked in the parking lot for about 5 min building up the courage. Finally I stepped out of the car, spent the time walking from my car to the front door constantly fidgeting with my shirt (exactly what we aren’t supposed to do) and stepped inside the store. I felt like every eye was on me. I felt more nervous than when I rappelled down a rope into a war zone. It was unreal how nervous I was walking up and down each aisle knowing I had a pistol on my side. I didn’t even have a round chambered because I was sure I could chamber a round if need be. It took probably half the store till i started to relax and grew in confidence that people were not looking at me and knew I had a pistol, they were just glancing at me because I was near them. By the end of the walk, I was much more confident and much more relaxed.
Fast forward about 1 year and I was holding my daughter in my arms during a brief run to the store for food and walking up to the aisle with her in my arms and didn’t notice her foot had lifted my shirt exposing my pistol. This apparently came as a GREAT shock to the 2 women with kids standing near me. They both gasped which drew my attention only to see their concerned faces after we met eyes, then they glanced at my belt area. Immediately I knew what had happened and adjusted my shirt to again conceal my pistol. One of them asked, “Police officer?” hoping that I was not some lunatic with a gun holding some random child. I just smiled and told them to have a nice day…never answering their question. Since that day, I’ve made it a point to carry my daughter on my other side to avoid the same error.
I started this journey as someone who could always defend himself. Before Krav Maga I was well trained in Judo. The problem is, unless you’re in some hollywood movie where people come at you one at a time, real life is messy and I’ve been in enough altercations to know I could potentially have 2 or more people attacking me at the same time and there is very little I can do to prevent someone from throwing a potentially lethal blow at my daughter just to help take me down. While I’ve never really been for or against guns in general up to that point…it became clear to me that the ONLY tool I could use to ensure the fight stays safely away from my child when she’s with me is a gun. People against firearms like to make false assumptions like “you can just walk away”, “you can call police”, “you can swing your bag/purse/etc at them”, “you can scream/yell and scare them” and more to suggest you don’t need to have a gun. In every case, the nonsense is purely that…nonsense, spoken by a naive person who has no clue what they’re talking about. I’m trained in multiple forms of self defense. I have never been scared for myself even when I faced a guy with a knife who attacked me many years ago and another who used a bottle. It comes down to my fear is based on education and the knowledge as someone who IS trained and knowledgeable in this area. As the old saying goes, ignorance is bliss…and most people are blissfully ignorant with regards to personal safety.
As a side note, I never liked my Kahr CW9 pistol and to date, it’s the ONLY weapon I’ve ever been willing to sell. Hope you all who have one have better luck than I did.