Evolution of Carrying

[wcd]

Just wondering back in the day according to my Grandfather, well you only really carried if you were going hours away from Home. So given some statistics about accidents occurring I believe less than 5 miles from home. I wonder why distance from home seemed to have a role in a carry decision? Have times changed that much? I can not imagine public perception having been any more negative back then than it is now? I would guess back then revolvers were largely used and could be concealed rather easily?

Aside from technology and advancements what else has really changed?

 

[BigRed]

More methheads and general disregard for life these days.

 

[wcd]

More methheads and general disregard for life these days.

Some places around here have stills and meth labs in close proximity.

 

[breakingcontact]

Hours away from home? Bringing a pistol and a long gun.

 

[2tonic]

You knew your neighbors back then.
Hell, you probably knew your whole town. Not near the number of miscreants, at least unknown ones.
Away from home? Different story.

 

[BugI02]

This ^^^^

I knew just about everybody in the small town I grew up in, and they were self-selected to be normal, patriotic Americans with a few bad seeds. It was in upstate NY in the Adirondacks and guns were common in most households as hunting was still a father/son type of activity. The only shootings I recall from those days were accidental, such as the person resting a tube fed .22 on their shoe in order to reload and accidentally shooting themselves in the foot

Today, I live in a comfortable, low crime suburb with its own police department, but I hardly know anybody more than three blocks away; and guns, while some are still for hunting, are also for the all too common unpleasant or dangerous encounters with the types of predators that have become common to metropolitan areas

 

[gregr]

I`ve carried in some form or fashion since I was in my mid 20`s and I`m 65 now. I always carried even if I was just going down the street to Dairy Queen. The guys I knew that carried were the same. I doubt that any "conventional wisdom" was universal.

 

[Joniki]

Most accidents happen close to home because the majority of ones driving is close to home. As for carrying, I carry all of the time.

 

[mbkintner]

This ^^^^

I knew just about everybody in the small town I grew up in, and they were self-selected to be normal, patriotic Americans with a few bad seeds. It was in upstate NY in the Adirondacks and guns were common in most households as hunting was still a father/son type of activity. The only shootings I recall from those days were accidental, such as the person resting a tube fed .22 on their shoe in order to reload and accidentally shooting themselves in the foot

Today, I live in a comfortable, low crime suburb with its own police department, but I hardly know anybody more than three blocks away; and guns, while some are still for hunting, are also for the all too common unpleasant or dangerous encounters with the types of predators that have become common to metropolitan areas

Oddly specific...as if you have firsthand foot knowledge of the event.

 

[2tonic]

Oddly specific...as if you have firsthand foot knowledge of the event.

Well, if true, it makes it an easy choice for @BugI02 when he's asked to "put your best foot forward"!

 

[ACC]

Much more (potential) need for a self defense pistol now than it was in the 90s. I stated carrying in the early 2000s after moving back to Indy from a mountain town. The city just seemed unstable.

 

[BugI02]

Oddly specific...as if you have firsthand foot knowledge of the event.

My mom was a nurse at the medical facility where the individual was treated. I also know a story about three people fishing in a rowboat and one leaned over to get a beer out of the cooler while the next guy was casting a plug and hooked his buddy in the corner of the face just missing the eye. Hooks pushed through and barbs cut off to remove them. Creeps me out to this day

Edit: Mr Footsie was through and through, BTW

 

[Dean C.]

Been carrying since I was 18 , me and most of my friends who also carry look like regular every day people IMHO. Now more than ever I have been getting questions from friends about "what should I consider for my first handgun" type questions. I would say from like 2001-2015 the 5.11 stereotype was real (and still is).

 

[NyleRN]

100% of home invasions happen at......home

 

[BigRed]

100% of home invasions happen at......home

Damn straight....Exactly what I told some cousins when they came to visit and asked why I was carrying a 45.

 

[littletommy]

Well, when I was a kid, pretty much every story in the paper involved someone you knew. Now, you see stories saying “juan hose mendez-ramirez, of Jeffersonville”……..

I didn’t see a homeless bum in my town until about 15 years ago. I never got panhandled until about then.

It’s inclusiveness, equity, fairness, diversity, that has completely ****ed us all.

 

[snapping turtle]

I would like to evolve into appendix carry but even then right hand would travel to 3/4 o’clock because it always has.

carried in some from or fashion since 1986. (Minus a few years where I carried a bottle as EDC) . Wife and I have discussions about rapist and perverts being more common now. Ect. I think the same percentage of perverts just more people. Maybe easier access to reports and records with internet and social media.

population density matters. I think this applies to grandpa only carrying while a distance away. That distant place had a higher population density thus a higher need to carry.

We grew up we knew who lived in each house in the area. We rode our bikes by as kids ( no real video games) so we at least saw them and knew the face and they knew the kid on the red bike lives three houses down. Now do people know who lives four doors down. Thus we felt safer at home because there were no real strangers in the area or at least we knew they were strangers.

 

[gregr]

Damn straight....Exactly what I told some cousins when they came to visit and asked why I was carrying a 45.

I either have a handgun on my hip, or within arms reach everywhere in the house. Most times, I have a Glock .45 on my hip out in the yard, working or talking with neighbors. While some may question why, more and more often, people get why they ought to always be armed.

 

[BigRed]

I either have a handgun on my hip, or within arms reach everywhere in the house. Most times, I have a Glock .45 on my hip out in the yard, working or talking with neighbors. While some may question why, more and more often, people get why they ought to always be armed.

I learned that if you answer the door wearing a gun belt when a Jehovah Witness knocks they leave sooner.

 

[gregr]

I learned that if you answer the door wearing a gun belt when a Jehovah Witness knocks they leave sooner.

Our subdivision is posted "No Solicitors", and while it`s true, it`s not in BOLD print as they enter the subdivision, it`s there nonetheless. I`ve told the same violators enough times when they`ve knocked on my door and disturbed me, they`re aware of this. When I answer the door with the door barely open, and tell them we`re posted NO Soliciting, they don`t care. They bark something back. When I answer the door, and it inadvertently opens up enough that they see the Glock 30 on my hip, they always catch sight of it and I see their eyes avert to the gun, and the discussion is over.