Making Up My Mind, Part 01

A week ago, I broke from my normal work routine to take an early lunch break. I drove downtown to the non-descript building that houses our local police department, and emerged a half-hour later with a lighter wallet and slightly smudged fingertips. Assuming no major bureaucratic foul-ups, I should be receiving a piece of paper sometime in early January that gives me the legal ability to carry a concealed handgun.

"But why?" I've been asked a couple of times. It's a fair question. I live and work in a pretty safe neighborhood, the weekly crime blotter usually shows about as many DUI stops as violent crimes, and I've never been the victim of a violent crime. What made me, a married father of three who has never owned a gun decide that it's time to begin going about armed.

The answer is, admittedly, pretty complex, but I'm going to do my best to explain it here. Really, my reasons can be divided into two groups: general concepts, and personal realizations. I'll cover the general concepts now, and the personal stuff in another post.

In general terms, I've always been comfortable with guns. My father was a member of law enforcement, so I grew up around firearms, and shot them with my dad on a few occasions. In my adult life, I've been known to make an occasional trip to the local range and blast holes in paper targets for a relaxing afternoon. Oddly enough, in spite of being the oldest of my siblings, I'm the only one who has yet to actually own a gun.

A couple of years ago, though, I started reading a lot of "gunbloggers." These folks have a lot of other interests, backgrounds, and hobbies, but they also share general conviction about the benefits of an armed citizenry, the rights of people to be armed, and the fun of shooting. Bloggers such as Ambulance Driver, Caleb, Breda, Lawdog, The Atomic Nerds, and a host of others were instrumental in developing my world view to a point where I could intellectually accept the benefits of being an armed citizen.

These are what got me to accept the use of going about armed. But going from rational acceptance to personally embracing the armed citizen life would require some developments in my personal life as well.

We'll cover those in Part 02 of this series.