Question of the Day: How Safe Do You Feel?

I live in a suburban idyll. I avoid stupid people in stupid places doing stupid things. The chances that I’ll need ballistic defense are about the same as the odds that I’ll be sharing a martini with January Jones on New Year’s Eve. And yet I carry a gun everywhere, everyday, except where prohibited by law (of course). Because if I need a gun and don’t have one, that would really, really suck. So, when I’m not carrying a gun, I don’t feel safe. Even though I probably am.

Does that make any sense? How safe do you feel, generally speaking? Are there times and places where you feel unsafe, and does carrying a gun make it feel any safer?


  1. avatar Steve says:

    I feel safe.
    Because I carry a gun all of the time.
    Sometimes I carry two.

    1. avatar Bollocks Troy says:

      Do what you feel. You can carry a bazooka…inside a Ft. Knox, if your number is up, it’s up. Ask any operator, operating operationally who got slotted by the unaimed, ricochet, from a unmaintained, unzeroed weapon fired by an untrained 3rd world booger eater who was high on drugs. Well, the operators are dead, so you can’t ask them, but no amount of training gear and buddies will save your ass when the time comes. Accept your circumstances, there’s more dignity in it. The coin does have a say.

      1. avatar Cliff H says:

        Shit happens. How many people have been killed in auto accidents on the way to the range?

        The more important statistic, IMO, is how many of those operators operating operationally efficiently dropped the BGs with their well maintained and proficiently used weapons and then got home safely?

        1. avatar Mike Betts says:

          Cliff H. – Lest some metrosexual urbanite with a Master’s Degree in Urban Studies label you an unrefined boob for the use of an expression which cannot be uttered on standard broadcast television without sanctions from the FCC, I suggest that you henceforth use the term “Excrement transpires”. People such as those above will be downright astonished at your erudition.

  2. avatar Jp says:

    I don’t cc…. but I carry at least 2 knives with me everywhere I go. I feel naked without them.
    My wife has cc now after she had a coworker stalk her. She trains at least monthly and she says she feels the same way not carrying her xds.

  3. avatar Don says:

    Carry everywhere but Indian casinos and the odd gubmint building… I’ve carried a fire extinguisher in every vehicle I’ve ever driven for the last forty years, haven’t needed one yet but I feel better knowing it’s right under my seat if I need it.. right next to the lockbox with my backup pistol and several spare mags of ammo.

  4. avatar Warren says:

    I ‘feel’ safe all the time, whether I’m carrying or not. But as much as I wish the Left would get this, ‘feelings’ don’t matter. So I carry wherever I’m legally allowed to.

    1. avatar CGinTX says:

      Bingo: this!

  5. avatar AnOregonian says:

    A thing a lot of people neglect is that’s not just the probability of the event, but the probability times the cost.

  6. avatar fteter says:

    I live in suburbia in an area known for straight-laced, conservative behavior…Utah. Not much violent crime here. So my surroundings make me feel safer than the average bear. That being said, I do feel safer when I carry (I only refrain when it’s illegal to do so). It may be overkill, but I do like to maximize the odds in my favor.

    1. avatar Ed Rogers says:

      It must not be West Valley City…

      1. avatar fteter says:

        It’s not. But even West Valley City shines in comparison to urban areas in other parts of the country.

    2. avatar Stu in AZ says:

      My feelings exactly.
      I don’t constantly feel like I’m in danger. I know how low the chances are I’ll need a gun. That shouldn’t stop me from increasing my level of safety though. Seems impractical to go through life under the assumption that bad things won’t happen.

  7. avatar peirsonb says:

    I live nestled in a corner of the map between two of Michigan’s most dangerous cities. According to this list, anyway.

    As a pragmatist (pessimist?) I generally maintain the same low level of “secure feelz” at all times. Carrying doesn’t mitigate that feeling or lack of feeling, it just makes me feel as if I’m more equipped to deal with an unfortunate event.

    1. avatar Ing says:

      Same here, except for the Michigan part. And the cities. I’m in a small, rural college town that’s at least an hour’s drive from everywhere else.

      So on second thought, maybe not the same at all. Except the feelz part. 🙂

  8. I pretty much always feel safe. A lot of that is attributed to my fantastic hubby, who is always aware of everything and very conscience of his surroundings. If there is ever a question, there’s no question. That’s his motto. As for myself, I try to train regularly, I carry at least 1 gun at all times (unless I’m at the bank or post office, etc.). I work full time with my husband and we are always together after work, he generally carries 2 guns and there is always one in the car on top of all that.
    Situational awareness is the most important weapon in your arsenal. If you are aware of your surroundings and you have a SO or spouse who is too, you should be able to intercept and avoid bad situations.

  9. avatar TallMan says:

    Safety is an illusion; it does not exist in the natural world. I fell less at risk when armed, and more at risk when unarmed. Choose your path and company wisely, regardless of the tools you have on hand.

  10. avatar Michael says:

    as my buddy would say, this shit doesn’t happen to normal people… if you’re normal and off the streets by 2AM, you have already removed yourself from 95% of the violence that happens. that said, better safe than sorry

    1. avatar Nigel in the SW says:

      “as my buddy would say, this shit doesn’t happen to normal people…”

      Except it does. Home invasions (be they straight up, or the ‘UPS’ guys, fake Mormons, etc), walking in on burglars, being in front of a violent idiot in a fast foot line, or the grocery store.

      Bad guys don’t restrict themselves to bad places, and they particularly like taking nice stuff from nice places. Your buddy needs to take off his blinders.

      1. avatar Art out West says:

        That is the 5% part of the equation.

        You can avoid the vast majority of violence by avoiding stupid people, stupid places, stupid things.

        I have a very low risk lifestyle, yet I still carry everywhere legal to due so. Carrying makes me feel a bit safer.

        I also started lifting weights about four years ago. I now know that I am physically stronger than a majority of men. I was already on the larger side, and now I’m on the stronger side of the spectrum as well.
        That makes me feel a bit safer as well.

        Still, I avoid stupid people, places, things.

    2. avatar neiowa says:

      And you remove yourself from the urban hive/suburbs AND the criminal demographic. IE rural area that is lawabiding and NOT “diverse”. Then lock doors and keep head out of butt. = pretty dang high security level.

    3. avatar toddidit says:

      As I discovered last week, your safety in a nice quiet conservative neighborhood only lasts until some idiot kid down the street throws a party while mom and dad are gone and posts the invite on social media.

      1. avatar notalima says:

        ^ That. Right there.

        Experienced it more than once over the years.

  11. avatar Gov. William J Le Petomane says:

    I feel a lot safer than any potential home invader will feel about a second after he busts in the door.

  12. avatar Shire-man says:

    I don’t think carrying a gun makes me feel “safe.” If shit’s gonna happen it’s gonna happen whether or not you have a gun with you. Having the means to stop an encounter doesn’t negate any uneasy feelings experienced before, during or post encounter.

    I don’t feel unsafe like I don’t worry about a fire in the house. Getting out of work late on a Thursday night and walking past two redneck bars with yelling meth-heads all over the street makes me feel potentially unsafe like a smoking toaster in the home makes me feel potentially unsafe.

    Where there was nothing now there is something. How will I deal with something should an event occur? Can I deal with something should an event occur?

    Safety isn’t a feeling so much as it is an awareness of current and future potential circumstances you may find yourself in and recognizing when action may need to be taken. A calculation that is going on in your mind 24/7 whether you are aware of it or not. Fight or flight. Pistol or fire extinguisher.

    1. avatar The Gray Poseur says:

      You are confusing rednecks with meth-heads. Rednecks will not start trouble with you. But they will be happy to engage if you start trouble with the,. I hope I don’t need to explain meth-heads.

  13. I feel safe not needing a gun as I’ve never been the victim of crime ever.

    I feel safe not owning a weapon that is statically 50x more likely to be used in a suicide or homicide against myself or a loved one than stopping a criminal attack.

    The countries I’ve went to do not dread having a tool of personal oppression in their homes.

    Owning a gun is a false illusion of safety.

    1. avatar Warren says:

      I dare you to post a “gun free home” sign in front of your house. Then get back to us about the illusion of safety.

    2. avatar tjlarson2k says:

      You are worried you or a loved one will kill themselves huh?

      Let take this to it’s logical conclusion shall we?

      If your goal in life is to live a long life with minimal risk to yourself and loved ones, I assume you are taking the necessary steps:

      No driving
      No non organic food
      You grow all your food and purify your water yourself
      You don’t take over the counter medicine and know botany
      No tools or any items that you may use to kill yourself

      If you don’t practice all the above and more, then you are full of shit and a hypocrite and a hoplophobe.

      Seek professional help.

    3. avatar Ing says:

      A tool of personal oppression in the home? *Opens gun safe…*

    4. avatar TexTed says:

      “I feel safe not needing a gun as I’ve never been the victim of crime ever.”

      Ah. Now, at last, I understand you. You are a solipsistic idiot, who sees things only from your own perspective and projects that onto the world. This is good, because now that we’ve identified what’s wrong with you, you can be helped. The first step is in admitting that you’ve got a problem.

      Think about what you’re saying — you’re really saying “because I’ve never been victim of a crime, crime does not exist, therefore nobody needs to protect themselves from crime.” Contrast that with me, who has been robbed at gunpoint twice, and who has had three women in his life harassed by stalkers, including two at knifepoint.

      Violent crime exists. To deny it is insane. So now you have a choice – to you continue to be an absolute idiot, or do you open your eyes and acknowledge the reality of the world? Hint – look at “”, it’ll help you understand that violent crime is actually a real thing.

    5. avatar Timothy says:

      Actually, the Department of Health and Human Services says 3% of all gun deaths are accidents and 4% are in justifiable self defense. It might not be the biggest increase, but you are more likely to successfully defend yourself than you are to accidentally shoot someone

    6. avatar Gov. William J Le Petomane says:

      ‘I feel safe not owning a weapon that is statically 50x more likely to be used in a suicide…’

      And living in the San Fransisco bay area makes you 5000x more likely to use the Golden Gate Bridge to commit suicide than someone living in Nebraska. Your statistics are not only inaccurate but they’re meaningless.

    7. avatar JJ48 says:

      Please, please, PLEASE! Learn to interpret data correctly! If you wish to say that owning a gun increases the risk of injuring myself if I do something stupid, fine. If you wish to imply that having guns in my home makes my house a more desirable target for thieves who could also hurt me, OK. But stop trying to say that purchasing a firearm is somehow going to make me view suicide more favorably or think it any less wrong! Owning a firearm does not make me any more likely to commit suicide, because statistics don’t work that way! Statistics are descriptive, not prescriptive.

      As an example, suppose a finding were to come out that 90% of all gun owners are male, compared to only about 50% of the global population being male. If my sister were to purchase a gun, would she suddenly become more likely to be male?

      1. avatar bobby b says:

        ” If my sister were to purchase a gun, would she suddenly become more likely to be male?”

        No, but if your brother were to purchase a gun and cc appendix-style, he might be more likely to suddenly become a non-male.

    8. avatar LarryinTX says:

      “The countries I’ve went to do not dread having a tool of personal oppression in their homes.”

      Whatever that means. Most people in other countries wait peaceably to be murdered by their governments or drug cartels, several going on as we speak. Some of us do not plan on going quietly. But all is well, we don’t really care if you disappear tomorrow!

  14. avatar Kendahl says:

    Our exposure to violent crime is similar to Robert’s. Despite that, every gas station / convenience store we have patronized regularly has been robbed, some multiple times. So has the post office nearest our home. The supermarket chain we patronize has been robbed at several of its locations. Of the places we frequent on at least a weekly basis, the only ones that haven’t been hit are my wife’s church, the public library and the stable where we board our horses. The only reason neither of us has become personally involved in a crime is that the criminals haven’t hit when we were present.

    Every time an particularly shocking crime occurs, a local resident on television whimpers, “I never thought it could happen here.”

  15. avatar EJQ says:

    Felt rather unsafe not long ago. Hubby and I car carry. We had stopped at a convenience store after attending a gun show, which is not in the safest place, or a place we are familiar. Loud yelling not far from me, but I couldn’t see who was yelling. So, I got the Taurus 709 he carries out, racked one in the chamber, and held it in my lap. Funny, the yelling had stopped. Hubby was back in a couple of minutes, and we drove away. Emptied the chamber, put the gun back in the center console. Never saw the people who were yelling.

    1. avatar Vanbulance says:

      If you had a round in the chamber, that would have been a wonderful example of “to have and not need.”

      Something to ponder- you added administrative gun handling in the two most dangerous ways by not carrying with a round in the chamber.

      That said, I respect your right to be an adult and actually make decisions. I’ve made my case, and you get to decide. God bless and good luck, no matter the decision.

      1. avatar former water walker says:

        Yeah the 709 has a manual safety and a trigger safety…

  16. avatar Swilson says:

    I feel very safe here at work. We have a sign up that asks people to kindly not bring a gun onsite and murder us please.

    However it’s the contents of my desk drawer that really do the trick for my comfort level.

    1. avatar CueBaller says:

      The paper clips or the stapler?

      I bet it’s the stapler.

      1. avatar Stu in AZ says:

        High capacity assault stapler capable of firing faster than an AR15!

  17. avatar tjlarson2k says:

    Feelings are irrelevant in self defense. Only facts and skills matter. You are prepared at your skill level or you are not. You are competent or you are not. You are within the law or you are not.

    I am mentally prepared with the appropriate tools for a multitude of unfortunate scenarios that are becoming more common as a direct result of feelings dictating inept legislation that make such scenarios more prevalent.

    My feelings will come to bear if I am denied the tools necessary for a faborable outcome in a DGU.

    1. avatar uncommon_sense says:

      “I am mentally prepared with the appropriate tools for a multitude of unfortunate scenarios that are becoming more common as a direct result of feeling dictating the actions of the ‘disenfranchised’ people and feelings dictating inept legislation that make such scenarios more prevalent.”

      There, fixed that for you!

      All fun aside, excellent comment.

  18. avatar MLee says:

    What Farago is saying, he doesn’t live a high risk lifestyle. There is a happy medium between being a home-body and living a sheltered life, as opposed to those who drink heavily, use drugs, associate with undesirable people and constantly indulging in high-risk behaviors, be it indulging themselves with prostitutes, bringing people home from bars they don’t know, or any countless ways of putting oneself at excessive risk.
    For some of us, carrying makes us “feel safer” because we are safer. If one wears their seat belt, they feel safer because they ARE safer. Those of us with formal training, who are carrying with a round chambered, safety off, who practice, will likely win that unfortunate encounter, however rare it may be. Folks with training, be it martial arts or carrying concealed tend to carry themselves with confidence . Dirt-bags look for easy targets. Burglars look for easy targets. Houses with automatic lights and other security features are safer because they don’t present as easy targets.
    My biggest risk is that I go grocery shopping at night when crowds are small and traffic is light. I also park far away from other cars because door dings piss me off. I don’t have any in my cars and there is a reason for that.
    So parking far out in the parking lot at night is more risky for an inadvertent encounter with a person(s) intent on conducting themselves in less than civil activity. Well I got news, I ain’t going down like that.

  19. avatar The Gray Poseur says:

    Funny thing where I live. My area is one of the highest per capita crime regions in our state, but no one will admit to or address it, as this isn’t polite or politically correct conversation. Most of the law-abiding, pick-up truck driving types have moved out of the city crime center into the rural regions where things are quite safe. Well, except the liberals. They like to live in-town near the crime for some reason. I guess they don’t like to be more than a few miles away from a university or each other.

    1. avatar Nigel in the SW says:

      ” Well, except the liberals. They like to live in-town near the crime for some reason. ”

      They like to congregate. Easier for ‘group think’ to work. And dirt, trees and bugs make them all jiggly inside.


      1. avatar The Gray Poseur says:

        Yes, most definitely. I will give the liberals credit for a couple things. They attract the opening of hipster restaurants and craft beer breweries, so I will venture into the city center for good food and drink. I just ignore the annoying hipster/liberals. Armed of course, except for the beer times.

  20. avatar Nigel in the SW says:

    A gun does not make me feel safe. Being aware and prepared does. Having a gun is a tool that can help make that happen, but is not the end-all to keeping one’s self secure.

  21. avatar Chuck says:

    I have been RVing for the last month. In Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. I am carrying all the time while in the states. Not because I feel unsafe, but because being a California resident with a Virginia carry permit I do not have any other opportunity to create A comfort level while carrying. I have always been one to be extremely mindful of my surroundings. We’ll see how I feel once I cross back into hell after the first of the year ( California). We have spent a lot of time in Texas, scouting around, putting together a California exit plan.

  22. avatar Andrew B says:

    I live in a fairly safe area and work at a nice, safe job. Still, I got a call at 1 am recently that a car filled with heavily-armed robbers crashed through our front gate and rolled. The two armed men then fled into the nice, safe facility in which I work. It took dogs, helicopters and dozens of cops to track them down. I would have felt a LOT safer if my employer allowed me to carry a gun while on duty.

    1. avatar uncommon_sense says:

      Andrew B,

      See my comment below. Extremely dicey situations can and do occur in “nice” and “safe” settings … quite a bit more often that most of us probably realize.

  23. avatar Swilson says:

    I “feel” safe most of the time, whether I am carrying or not. This is due to my habit of, like Farago, avoiding stupidity and volatility. There have been times I have been in public without a firearm and felt fine.

    I’m under no illusion that having my firearm is the magical talisman. If someone gets the drop on you, they get the drop on you whether you are armed or unarmed. Case in point, my wife and I enjoy doing what husbands and wives do…and she don’t like when I wear the gun belt and holster while we do it (although I like when she does). Someone comes in the door of our little house, I’ll be at a marked disadvantage.

    1. avatar The Gray Poseur says:


      1. avatar LarryinTX says:

        Oh, *way* TMI!

        1. avatar Geoff PR says:

          Pics or it didn’t happen…


    2. avatar ActionPhysicalMan says:

      I am for the first amendment, but….

    3. avatar Ardent says:

      My wife read your last paragraph and said ” I thought your screen name was Ardent…”

  24. avatar uncommon_sense says:

    I have experienced and survived at least SIX events where use of deadly force was legally justified. All of them occurred in very low crime areas. None of them involved the proverbial “stupid people, stupid places, stupid things, at stupid times”.

    I have no idea how normal that is or if I am a seriously unlucky person. At any rate the obvious answer is “no, I do not feel safe anywhere”. What I do feel is more prepared and capable to respond now that I carry a firearm pretty much everywhere that I go.

    1. avatar ActionPhysicalMan says:

      The answer to question of how “unlucky” you are depends on how many centuries old you are.;-)

      1. avatar uncommon_sense says:

        I am definitely less than half a century old.

  25. avatar jmf552 says:

    Whenever I hear a version of this discussion, I think of Col. Cooper’s color code system, which I think anyone thinking about this topic should be familiar with. I revisit it periodically. Most people feel “safe” because they are in Condition White, meaning they are relaxed, unaware and unprepared. They are victimizations waiting to happen. They feel safe, but they shouldn’t. Jumping to the other end of the scale, if you are in Condition Red, you know there is a threat and you know you are not safe, but you are focused, preparing for action to get safe again.

    I feel relatively safe all the times because I try to stay in Condition Yellow, relaxed, aware and prepared. I have rarely actually had to go to Condition Orange, probable threat evaluation, ready to take action, but I will mentally practice it from time to time: I ask myself, “What if this guy walking near me is a threat? How might he attack? What are my options?” I can’t always be armed. But I always feel relatively safe because of that mental attitude. Nothing in that mindset makes me fearful. I dealt with fear in the military. Nothing in civilian life comes close.

    Having a gun just gives me more options if the worst happens. To paraphrase Cooper, “(Having) a handgun doesn’t make you armed any more than (having) a guitar makes you a musician.” I resonate with that because I’m also a musician. Being armed has to do with what’s in your head, not what’s on your hip.

    1. avatar tdiinva (now in wisconsin) says:

      Most people don’t understand Cooper but they love to quote him. You cannot maintain “Conotion Yellow” more than a couple of hours before you become numb. You have to tie your alertness to the threat.

      There are basically only four theat levels: no threat, general threat, specific threat, imminent threat. Most of the time there is no threat present so going around playing at a heightened state of alert will just wear you out to the point that If a real threat emerges you will miss it.

      You don’t have to live your life believing that your attacker is just around the corner. If you did, then you couldn’t successfully complete grocery shopping. The most import personal protection skill is the ability to understand your environment. If you don’t you can be in condition red all the time and still get mugged.

      1. avatar jmf552 says:

        Apparently you are the one that doesn’t understand Cooper and can’t even spell the word “Condition.” Also, please speak for yourself about what other people are capable of. As to your attempt to promote your own preferred four-level system, I reject it. An attack can happen anywhere, so there is NEVER a state of “no threat.” There is always a general threat or no one would EDC.

        All Yellow is is being alert, aware and prepared. It is NOT thinking there is a threat around every corner. If you watch Cooper’s talks on this on YouTube, you will see that is the state he recommends at all times, right from his mouth.

        1. avatar tdiinva (now in wisconsin) says:

          You can always tell someone who wants to show how tacticool he is when the first thing he does is complain about a typo.

          Now, if you actually knew anything you would have identified that I was using plain English to describe DoD Force Protection Conditions Alpha through Delta. I will leave it at that.

          I never heard of Jeff Cooper until several years after I got my carry permit. When I did, I asked some force protection trainers what they thought of him and all they did was give an eye roll. They were probably reacting to the cult of Cooper rather than Cooper himself.

          If all Cooper means by Condition Yellow is be aware then it is just meaningless sloganeering. Be aware of what? What is the threat that you are being aware of? How do I identify a threat when it is present. Do you think that bad actors are wearing a name tag that says “BAD GUY” on it?

          To make you happy I checked spelling, grammer and punctuation multiple times. I believe this post is error free.

  26. avatar former water walker says:

    Safe? Not really…at home I have much lethal firepower. Out and about not as much. AND unlike some of you I HAVE been a “crime” victim in Chicago. Jumped on the “EL”,intervened in attacks(plural) and had various kerfuffles. But I was much younger and extremely strong and agile then…and totally unarmed(except my 19″ guns). My neighborhood is changing and not for the better. Head on a swivel,always vigilant and “get off my lawn!”

  27. avatar ActionPhysicalMan says:

    I work as a courier and being on the road like that feels like asking to get into an accident. I go into hospitals a lot and that seems like a good way to get a drug resistant infection. I am over 50, ailments start to happen one more as one gets older. The South China Sea and North Korea seem like places where disasters are likely to start. Economic collapse doesn’t seem like a terribly distant possibility to me anymore. Hell no, I don’t feel safe.

  28. avatar RetroG says:

    I spent too many years analyzing risk to feel safe. What I have is an acceptable level of risk for me and mine, and that makes me comfortable. When the risk is too high, I get uncomfortable.

    Being armed makes me more comfortable.

  29. I feel safe enough to be confident and scared enough to be safe.

  30. avatar William says:

    I live in semi-rural West Virginia (I’m only 15mins from the State capital but to get to my house from the road you must cross a hayfield and a creek) since I don’t drink, do drugs or associate with sketchy people I am about as safe from crime as anyone. yet I still carry daily.

    Why you ask?

    Mean dogs. Well mean dogs and hippies.

  31. avatar tdiinva (now in wisconsin) says:

    Unless you live/work in or near a high crime area, carry valuables for a living or are involved in criminal activity you are about as safe as you can get. I don’t carry because believe I am unsafe, I carry because I don’t know if, where or when I might be attacked. I learned on 9-11 that improbbie things can happen to me.

  32. avatar pete says:

    Well, the heart wants what it wants. If you feel better with a gun, might as well feel as good as possible. If it were destructive behavior, practically you might best learn to do without, but I asdume it’s not, so whatevs. Moreover, right or wrong I think it’s a decision everyone should make for themselves

    It doesn’t actually make sense to me. I’m too am pretty safe by the nature of myself and my area. I can carry but it’s more hassle than it’s worth to me so I hardly ever do.

  33. avatar Anonymous says:

    I feel safe all the time. The US is a very safe place. I feel less safe carrying a gun. Mostly because some liberal just finishing their hate fest, or spray painting some graffiti, may call the cops or swat me. That’s right. The US is very safe – except from liberal sociopaths.

  34. avatar junkman says:

    Even though I am in a very low crime area (and most people own small arsenals), I carry multiple weapons everyday, everywhere–sometimes some POS comes thru the area from one of big cities about an hour away and they do not fair to well–you can not predict where, when or if you will be a victim–my motto is ‘it is better to have it & not need than to need it & not have it’–same goes for supplies in the vehicles; I have put out fires several times & rendered assistance at accidents scenes before any 1st responders could get there–one girl would probably have died from hanging upside down in her overturned car; it was a long time for emergency responders to show up–be preparred

  35. avatar Ralph says:

    Cogito ergo sum securus. But my guns get kind of lonely without me.

  36. avatar MouseGun says:

    Safety is little more than a state of mind, an abstract idea. One’s idea of feeling “safe” differs from person to person more than political ideas. I carry everywhere, not because it makes me feel safe, but because I may need it to defend my life, something I want to hold on to for at least the next 60 years.

  37. avatar PeterK says:

    I feel safe pretty much all the time. I am safe all the time. Statistically speaking I’ll never need a gun. I don’t carry. I wish I did and could, but it’s not likely to happen soon, and I am okay with it. I would probably feel safer with a gun without actually being safer.

    What I REALLY need to do is get into those krav maga classes I keep promising myself I’ll take. Hrm…

  38. avatar Jack says:

    I am safe because I carry everyday including home carry.

  39. avatar Crowbar says:

    I felt safer before the heroin flood hit my town. I have always carried, but now with the home invasions, murders, and junkies all over, I don’t leave the house without my gun ever. It is not a magic talisman, I just like knowing I am prepared for whatever comes along.

  40. avatar ATTAGReader says:

    We live in a nice safe suburban area and follow a nice safe lifestyle, yet banks were held up not too far away, and there was a shootout in an apartment parking lot behind an area where we shop, also a nice suburban area. So, no place is really safe. We plan to retire to an even safer place, a town that could literally defend itself from the Zombie Apocalypse. But meth does its thing, and a doper was chased down by the police after he stabbed/robbed a guy in a laundromat. And most bizarre of all, another drugged up idiot decided to try target practice with an AK-47 on his neighbors’ houses two blocks away. Heck, a year earlier we had looked at one of the houses he shot up. Amazingly, he did not shoot anyone in the houses. The cops did not shoot him either, partly because I think they knew him and hoped he would come to his senses, and partly because they had no rifles in their cars and were scared sh!tless until the state police came with the heavy artillery. Eventually he dropped the weapon, ran, and was taken down by the police, literally 40 yards behind our retirement home. We were not there at the time and later I took a look at whether I could have taken a shot if he had come to the same spot armed. Not much of a distance, but trees in the way. Unless he was standing still in the right spot, no way, and I would have needed to get and load my own rifle. The first cops were right – this was no situation for a handgun. After the arrest he said that he was higher on meth and Xanax than he had ever been in his life. So – do I feel safe? Yes. Do I feel safer armed? Yes.

  41. avatar Ray says:

    I’m glad RF asks these kinds of questions, and I’m always a little disappointed when the Yoda’s and Mr. Miyagi’s of this community weigh in with statements like, “Feelings are irrelevant in self defense. Only facts and skills matter. You are prepared at your skill level or you are not. You are competent or you are not. You are within the law or you are not.”

    That all sounds great, but let’s review the original question: “…when I’m not carrying a gun, I don’t feel safe. even though I probably am.” I suppose we can quibble over the word “feel,” but the question is about your sense of confidence of staying safe while unarmed. So this state is a “fact” that “matters” with regard to your level of “preparation.” And the question is relevant because, as RF points out, statistically speaking, your basis for lacking confidence in your own safety while (for instance…) — attending your nephew’s birthday party at a mansion in a gated community in Rich-town suburbia — is negligible. Yes, we all here tend to carry regardless. But does that mean the question, the self-reflection, is not worth the bother?

    Perhaps we could take the questions further and ask, does the act of daily carry come hell or high water intensify my suspicions of danger more than it should, and is this something to be guarded against? Or, maybe this: Is my preoccupation with this stuff, which is statistically remote, taking up too much of my mental energy and impacting my finances, my time, my relationships?

    Yes, carrying does make me feel safer. Darkness, parking lots, blind corners and areas with cover/concealment (used by others) always make me feel less safe. Driving next to big rigs makes me feel less safe. Catching myself caught up in a conversation or some other “moment” and then realizing I wasn’t practicing situational awareness sufficiently to notice that a person happened to move in too close & too quickly for me to be able to be mentally and physically prepared to resist him if he were actually threatening makes me feel less safe.

  42. avatar PW in KY says:

    I do not engage in risky behavior, I do not live in a risky area, and I carry all the time. I feel marvelously safe.

    I understand that anything can happen at any time for any reason but I feel as safe as is reasonable possible.

  43. avatar Ozzallos says:

    It bothers me to go out without my sidearm. Like the author, I know I’ll probably be okay. I survived most of my life growing up without one, so it is what it is. I guess how safe I feel is more accurately based on the number of mags I carry.

  44. avatar Fred Frendly says:

    Since were discussing feelings, it feels like Glock should introduce a G19/23 size Gen2 frame with a G26/27 size stainless slide, because that would feel just right to me.

    1. What’s wrong with the G19? Shortening the barrel will not make it more comfortable or concealable and would only harm performance.

  45. avatar zuikowarrior says:

    I usually feel safe, carrying or not – because so many of us do carry. The point missed by so many is that violent crime is way down because the bad guys know their chances of dying have gone way up.

  46. avatar Roymond says:

    I had to start by asking when — apart from PTSD episodes — I last felt unsafe. I had to reach back in memory to a stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail where the path had narrowed to about 18 inches on a sheer cliff, I was enjoying the hike and the view, when suddenly the wind picked up and felt like it could suck me right off the mountain. At that point, my gun could have been defined as ballast.

    Usually when I head somewhere I think might be unsafe, I head there armed — like merely driving through LA, which I last did before Cali fornicated so heavily with the Left.

    That turned out fun, BTW: I stopped to help a guy with a flat, he noted I was armed, we discussed guns and why being armed in L.A. was wise, and I gave him an NRA application as we parted ways. Good old days……

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