Why I decided to arm myself

About 10 years ago I was eating at a restaurant with my 14 year old daughter. Exactly 3 days later a 29 yr old 6’2" 210 lbs man lost his mind, stabbed a random woman to death, stole her car drove it through the front doors of the mall, entered that same restaurant and attempted to stab everyone to death. he succeeded stabbing 2 patrons, one fatally who trying to protect a pregnant waitress. That hero was sitting in the same chair I was sitting in 3 days earlier. The only thing that could and did stop this madman was a patron with a firearm. I thought about how that could have been me trying to protect my daughter, I was 52 at the time 5’9" and 35 lbs overweight. I began the process of obtaining my LTC the next day. I carry EVERYWHERE now. My daughter is 24 now has been to the range with me multiple times and will begin the process to obtain her own LTC this year. This is the story I tell those who don’t understand why I carry a firearm everywhere. Some understand, some still don’t get it.

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@Alyre Welcome to the community. Nothing like life slapping you upside the head with a big dose of reality.
Glad to hear your daughter is going to carry also. :us:

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Welcome to the Community @Alyre. I’m glad that you were given that second chance to get trained and prepared to defend. It’s a sad story, but it is one that needed to be shared. My daughter is currently 9 years old, and we, along with my wife, go to the range together 6-10 times per month together and train as a family.

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Welcome @Alyre!

Thank you for sharing your story. Your daughter is lucky to have a father like you looking out for her.

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Thank you…

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Welcome @Alyre! You came to the right place!
Thanks for sharing, stay safe!

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Welcome to the community! That’s a great testimony for beginning to carry concealed, and a very legitimate reason. We just don’t know when and where some lunatic will go out of his mind these days and we should be as ready as possible to defend ourselves and, if need be, others.

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@Alyre Welcome to the community. If that’s not a good reason to arm yourself I don’t know what is.:us: :us: :us:

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Welcome to the family and thanks for sharing.

I am still working on the wife and daughter for conceal carry as they are afraid of guns. They both go to the range occassionally and train with me but say they don’t want the responsibility that goes along with carrying.

My son just turned 11 and goes to the range more often with me.

None of them go as much as I would like. Heck…I don’t get to go as much as I like either though.

I am going to share your story to give some perspective.

Stay safe and thanks again for sharing.

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Too close for comfort if you ask me. Thanks for sharing, these kinds of stories are exactly why we need an responsibly armed society.

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Welcome to the community, @Alyre. Thanks for your perspective.

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@Alyre Welcome aboard

God’s honest truth!

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Great story and a reminder to us all about the World we live in today.

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Welcome to the family @Alyre , glad you could join us and share. True reason for peoples to stand up for their 2A and protect themselves and others.

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Protecting Your Family and other innocents is an excellent reason to carry concealed (or open, for that matter).
Pray we never need to use it, but would rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it :wink:
ijswis :sunglasses:

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There are people that think the government is Johnny on the spot with your protection. That won’t happen not unless they are inside with you or next door. Even then there is a response time, might be 10 seconds to two minutes. If they have to drive I’ve been told it could be upwards of 15 minutes.

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@Mervin1 Welcome to the community. :us:

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@Mervin1 Welcome aboard

100%

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Welcome @Mervin1! Great people here! Agreed!

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Welome, Mervin!

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