got my hcp permit today

[Guest salb3039]

I got my handgun carry permit today. It only took 26 days (including weekends) to get here. Excited. About to take my first trip out carrying.

[saintsfanbrian]

Congratulations. Carry often and wherever you are legally allowed to.

[Guest salb3039]

Carry often and wherever you are legally allowed to.

Abso-****ing-lutely!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest db99wj]

Congrats, longest wait of your life, eh?

[Guest GlocKingTN]

Congrats as well! Enjoy it to the fullest!

[TGO David]

Congrats! Carry often, apply sparingly!

[Guest db99wj]

Congrats! Carry often, apply sparingly!

That's amusing yet it is a very powerful statement!

[jgrauman]

Congrats, longest wait of your life, eh?

+1 except waiting on my crossbreed!

[Guest GlocKingTN]

So have you carried yet?

[Guest salb3039]

Just got back from returning movies and getting food. I carried. WOOT!

[James Yeager]

Carry your gun all of the time.

A Brother is Murdered

One of our brothers, a student, is dead. We will call him Rob. Rob was murdered September 13th, 2003 about five miles from my home in Big Sandy Tennessee (population approximately 600). While some details are sketchy we do know a few things at this point. One of the things I know for sure is that Rob, who was a Carry Permit holder, was shot to death, while unarmed, with his four-year-old daughter standing near him.

We have had many students including men, women, police, military, civilian, American, foreign and every nationality you can imagine. I have had a school since 1996 and quite a few folks have one of my certificates hanging on a wall or lining their birdcage. My students are my extended family, and I tell them that, and they stay in my home quite often. I get a constant flow of e-mails and phone calls from them with a myriad of questions and comments about every imaginable topic. My students are my brothers.

Rob was a “gun guy”. He owned many guns, was a reloader, and has some suppressors for several of his guns. He apparently shot often although I had never met him before his class with me and hadn’t seen him since. We corresponded a few times via e-mail as he was applying for his Carry Permit but that was it.

This incident apparently happened because the murderer, a 70-year-old male, thought Rob had shot one of his dogs. This is a big deal in the southern United States. Many people let dogs run wild. Some are vicious, some tear up trash bags and some just walk aimlessly about. The fact is that many dogs run wild and many people don’t like it. Did Rob shoot one of his dogs? Who knows?

The incident essentially occurred like this: Rob went out on the lake with his daughter and two other adults, launching his boat from a public ramp. The murderer apparently waited all day at the rampfor Rob to return. The murderer approached, there was an altercation of sorts, and he fired two rounds from a .44 Magnum Ruger Redhawk and then walked in and did a contact shot to Rob’s head.

Rob, and a friend, took a Tactical Pistol course from us about two years ago. He took the course with a Stainless Para-Ordinance P-14. He was about to apply for his Carry Permit and wanted to get some training. I asked why he was shooting the P-14 instead of his “carry gun”. He said he was going to carry the P-14. I expressed my opinions to him that not only are Para pistols too big for daily carry they are not rugged enough (This is not a 1911 bash, it is my opinion that Para-Ordinance guns have terrible reliability.). He was content with his decision.

Like with all of our classes we talked about and did a lot of shooting. But our Tactical Pistol class goes into great details about Mindset and Tactics as well. If you Alumni will dig up your handout from my class you will see gunfight rule number one as being “Bring a gun.” Owning a gun doesn’t make you safe. Guns are not Talisman that will ward off evil spirits. To go about daily you must have a gun on your person and a serious attitude that you will be aware of what is going on in your environment.

As an Instructor I must, like all Instructors, unlock my students’ potential and in some cases even change the way they think. Many times the change is profound, even life altering, for some students. I have had students tell me after courses they have made serious life changes like making their personal connection with God, making a Will, buying life insurance and so on. They do this because I tell them you should not be encumbered by these thoughts while fighting for their life.

Firearms Instructors are not unlike motivational speakers. We must motivate and elevate our students to do things they may never do otherwise. One of them is getting them to actually carry their gun everyday. I know that sounds weird because these are students in firearms classes after all. It is true though that many shooters do not carry a gun everyday. There are certainly reasons not too, but I cannot think of one reason that is worth dieing over. Rob would have been carrying illegally. Was that why he wasn’t armed?

I know what the Warrior Spirit is. I know what people who have it look like. I cannot give it to you, you cannot buy it, and without it you are very likely to fail. Without it you are very likely to think carrying your gun is a burden, will get you in trouble, or won’t be needed.

What good is a fireman without water? All of that knowledge and skill goes to waste as the building burns in front of him. Guns are like fire extinguishers. You hope you never need one, but when you do you want the biggest damn fire extinguisher you can pick up.

I have lost sleep over this. I have cried over this. I have gotten angry over this. How do I reach people? How do I motivate them enough to save their own life? What can I do to unlock the Warrior that is locked deeply inside every man?

A good man is dead.

Be alert. Be armed.

[Falcon1]

Congratulations!

[Guest jcoyle6]

Congratulations. Carry often and wherever you are legally allowed to.

Congrats on getting your permit! I just got mine a month ago, glad I did. Hope you are too!

[Guest Archimedes]

Congrats.

Be wise and alert.

Most of all.....BE CAREFUL!!!!

~Archi

[Guest Loaded247]

Congrats!

[Guest Rooster]

I got my handgun carry permit today. It only took 26 days (including weekends) to get here. Excited. About to take my first trip out carrying.

Wow that's fast. Was that 26 days after being fingerprinted? If so mine might be here by the end of the week or first of next week. w00t!

[Marswolf]

For most people, it takes a while to get over being self-conscious about packing. That feeling goes away and confidence takes its place over a period of time.

Now, I wouldn't feel right without a handgun handy for protection.

[saintsfanbrian]

I remember the first few days after I got my permit. I felt like almost everyone around new that I was carrying a pistol on my belt. Now I don't worry about the other people knowing I have one or not. I try to be as aware as possible of my surroundings to ensure that if I need it I am ready for it.

Situational awareness is the key when carrying. Make sure you know your what's going on around you and try to leave yourself an out of the situation.

I always use an end pump not a center one. When carrying things to the car I always leave my right hand free. If the kids are with me I put them in the stroller if possible, or leave them in the basket until I get to the car. I try to park away from other people where there is room to go either forwards or backwards should I need it. I am not paranoid just as the boy scouts say prepared.

[Guest GlocKingTN]

For most people, it takes a while to get over being self-conscious about packing. That feeling goes away and confidence takes its place over a period of time.

Now, I wouldn't feel right without a handgun handy for protection.

I have had mine only 2 weeks and already I feel uneasy without it. Its become almost like a routine. Underware, jeans, HOLSTER, then belt:D ...then the rest of course!

[Marswolf]

What's underwear?

[saintsfanbrian]

Listen, Mars. It's too early to start scaring the locals. Let them have a little peace of mind before they find out where to take the dead bodies.

[Guest salb3039]

Wow that's fast. Was that 26 days after being fingerprinted? If so mine might be here by the end of the week or first of next week. w00t!

26 days including the day of the fingerprinting, actually.

[Guest Rooster]

26 days including the day of the fingerprinting, actually.

Sweet! It seems like either they are not being flooded with that many applicants or they have just sped up the process. Seems like the turn around has been really short for a lot of people lately.

[Guest db99wj]

What's underwear?

Eeewwwwwwwwwwww:eek:

I was always scared that someone would see, so I didn't tuck in my shirt over my ctac with my suit coat on and no one saw it. Most people are clueless of what is around them.

My being aware of my surroundings has increased a thousand percent since I took my class and started carrying.

[Guest Len]

"Most people are clueless of what is around them."

This is so true. If a permit and carrying a handgun improves situational awareness, then all the better.