Thursday, June 08, 2006
CCW
This is a two part post.
Part I
I finally decided to take the plunge and get my CCW license. A lot of the deterrent is the fucking (Apology to Carnaby Fudge's mother) hoops one has to jump through to get it.
It's going down on June 24th and 25th. The first day is just classroom and watching videos. The Old Man is curious as how much of this has to do with law and liability. I think it will be basic gun safety repeated over and over again, but I've been wrong a lot.
I'm using the Old Man's Gold Cup Colt 1911 to qualify, as I don't want to spend two days in a classroom and have a gun fuck up on me. We generally shoot .45 reloads, but because of liability and insurance, you have to use commercial ammo. I don't think this gun has ever been in the same room as commercial ammo. We will be testing the ammo next week.
Part II
The concealed-carry license has been available in New Mexico for almost 4 years. I've never done it because I questioned myself as to whether I was responsible enough. The Old Man and I have discussed this quite extensively, as he's the one who thought I wasn't ready to own a gun back when I bought a Glock.
He came up with an interesting scenario this evening, though. It sort of contradicts a discussion Porta had last month and has nothing to do with CCW.
You're driving up to an IHOP to meet somebody who is going to be a little late. Upon parking, you hear gunshots from within the restaurant. You have a carbine (down here we would call it a truck gun) or just a pistol in your vehicle. You walk up and discern through the window that somebody is executing people.
Now comes the questions. I agree with Porta that unless myself, my family, or my friends are at risk, the best thing you can do is get the fuck out of there (Apologies to Carnaby's Mom). If people you don't know or care about are at risk, why should you risk getting shot by a nut or over-zealous police that roll up on some wacko looking dude holding a gun (that means YOU)?
This is situational and I can't actually say what I would do in a given situation, but, cerebrally, I expect I would find a pay phone and call it in, even if it cost 10 more lives or whatever. I've never been there and done it, but I don't fashion myself a cowboy.
Part I
I finally decided to take the plunge and get my CCW license. A lot of the deterrent is the fucking (Apology to Carnaby Fudge's mother) hoops one has to jump through to get it.
It's going down on June 24th and 25th. The first day is just classroom and watching videos. The Old Man is curious as how much of this has to do with law and liability. I think it will be basic gun safety repeated over and over again, but I've been wrong a lot.
I'm using the Old Man's Gold Cup Colt 1911 to qualify, as I don't want to spend two days in a classroom and have a gun fuck up on me. We generally shoot .45 reloads, but because of liability and insurance, you have to use commercial ammo. I don't think this gun has ever been in the same room as commercial ammo. We will be testing the ammo next week.
Part II
The concealed-carry license has been available in New Mexico for almost 4 years. I've never done it because I questioned myself as to whether I was responsible enough. The Old Man and I have discussed this quite extensively, as he's the one who thought I wasn't ready to own a gun back when I bought a Glock.
He came up with an interesting scenario this evening, though. It sort of contradicts a discussion Porta had last month and has nothing to do with CCW.
You're driving up to an IHOP to meet somebody who is going to be a little late. Upon parking, you hear gunshots from within the restaurant. You have a carbine (down here we would call it a truck gun) or just a pistol in your vehicle. You walk up and discern through the window that somebody is executing people.
Now comes the questions. I agree with Porta that unless myself, my family, or my friends are at risk, the best thing you can do is get the fuck out of there (Apologies to Carnaby's Mom). If people you don't know or care about are at risk, why should you risk getting shot by a nut or over-zealous police that roll up on some wacko looking dude holding a gun (that means YOU)?
This is situational and I can't actually say what I would do in a given situation, but, cerebrally, I expect I would find a pay phone and call it in, even if it cost 10 more lives or whatever. I've never been there and done it, but I don't fashion myself a cowboy.
Comments:
<< Home
I'm happy you're taking the plunge and getting your license. It's one of those, "fight the power" kind of things. If people are out there getting their licenses, that makes Second Amendment rights a bit harder to take away. Just think, you're probably causing some liberal out there a coronary even as we speak. Not a bad thing.
You've posed an interesting scenario, one that I think there are no easy answers to, unfortunately. On the one hand, being a cowboy is exactly what we want to avoid. On the other hand, isn't that one of the reasons we carry guns, is to be on the side of the good guys? We're not cowboys, but if we carry, do we not have the moral responsibility to try and help, if we can? I am reminded of the Bible verse, "To whom much is given, much is expected..." or something along those lines. We're in a position to do something, isn't it incumbent upon us to do just that? I realize that without the proper training, we might just make the situation worse, and not survive it. But it seems that if we have the power to do something, we ought to try. Basically, do we not have a moral duty when we carry a firearm? Not just to protect ourselves, but those around us as well? That seems to include training and becoming proficient with the gun. This is why I think everyone who carries ought to go through something like Thunder Ranch or Gunsite.
I have no answers, just more questions, it appears. I have no idea how I'll react in that situation. I doubt any of us does, unless we're in it.
At any rate, it is a subject well worth discussion.
You've posed an interesting scenario, one that I think there are no easy answers to, unfortunately. On the one hand, being a cowboy is exactly what we want to avoid. On the other hand, isn't that one of the reasons we carry guns, is to be on the side of the good guys? We're not cowboys, but if we carry, do we not have the moral responsibility to try and help, if we can? I am reminded of the Bible verse, "To whom much is given, much is expected..." or something along those lines. We're in a position to do something, isn't it incumbent upon us to do just that? I realize that without the proper training, we might just make the situation worse, and not survive it. But it seems that if we have the power to do something, we ought to try. Basically, do we not have a moral duty when we carry a firearm? Not just to protect ourselves, but those around us as well? That seems to include training and becoming proficient with the gun. This is why I think everyone who carries ought to go through something like Thunder Ranch or Gunsite.
I have no answers, just more questions, it appears. I have no idea how I'll react in that situation. I doubt any of us does, unless we're in it.
At any rate, it is a subject well worth discussion.
But it seems that if we have the power to do something, we ought to try. Basically, do we not have a moral duty when we carry a firearm? Not just to protect ourselves, but those around us as well? That seems to include training and becoming proficient with the gun. This is why I think everyone who carries ought to go through something like Thunder Ranch or Gunsite.
I think the "question" as it is, is not so much ABILITY to "get the job done", or even willingness to do the same. It has more to do our actual impact upon the situation adding to to detracting to the already bad things happening inside.
It sort of becomes one of those ethics questions from school at that point....
"Would you kill one innocent person by torture to save 10 people from certain death?"
etc., etc.
Way back when, when I took a First Aid/ CPR instcutor course (to train others in the same)one thing that was drilled over and over is "if you are alone and you come upon a situation where an ambulance is neccesary (such as someone not breathing), your primary duty is to get an ambulance there, not to start a rescue. Thought being you can only give CPR so long before you are exhausted and the victim dies. Better to get an ambulance rolling to you, and then go back and do what you can do.
Is this philosophy appropriate for ANY situation with a non breathing victim? Absolutely not. But it is a place to stat making decisions from.
One man with a handgun (or even a carbine) is not an assualt team, no matter what he may think about his skills and ability.
We're in a position to do something, isn't it incumbent upon us to do just that? I
Yes, we are incumbent. But being armed does not make us incumbent to respond with said weapons.
It is one of those terrible "no-win" scenarios to think about. But I go back to old adage of gun carrying...
"My gun is to get me OUT of situations I would not have gotten out of with out one. It is NOT to get me INTO situations I would not get into without it."
It may not work (morally or ethically) 100% of the time, but (Again) it is a place to start thinking about things.
Hey, with that long of a comment, I don't need to blog today!
Post a Comment
I think the "question" as it is, is not so much ABILITY to "get the job done", or even willingness to do the same. It has more to do our actual impact upon the situation adding to to detracting to the already bad things happening inside.
It sort of becomes one of those ethics questions from school at that point....
"Would you kill one innocent person by torture to save 10 people from certain death?"
etc., etc.
Way back when, when I took a First Aid/ CPR instcutor course (to train others in the same)one thing that was drilled over and over is "if you are alone and you come upon a situation where an ambulance is neccesary (such as someone not breathing), your primary duty is to get an ambulance there, not to start a rescue. Thought being you can only give CPR so long before you are exhausted and the victim dies. Better to get an ambulance rolling to you, and then go back and do what you can do.
Is this philosophy appropriate for ANY situation with a non breathing victim? Absolutely not. But it is a place to stat making decisions from.
One man with a handgun (or even a carbine) is not an assualt team, no matter what he may think about his skills and ability.
We're in a position to do something, isn't it incumbent upon us to do just that? I
Yes, we are incumbent. But being armed does not make us incumbent to respond with said weapons.
It is one of those terrible "no-win" scenarios to think about. But I go back to old adage of gun carrying...
"My gun is to get me OUT of situations I would not have gotten out of with out one. It is NOT to get me INTO situations I would not get into without it."
It may not work (morally or ethically) 100% of the time, but (Again) it is a place to start thinking about things.
Hey, with that long of a comment, I don't need to blog today!
<< Home
