Evolution of the Carry Mindset

[Steve]

Been thru all 3 phases. Have carried CC for more years than I care to admit to now. Every night, my wallet, keys, change, EDC gun, extra mag, watch, flashlight, and money clip go on a tray on my dresser. Every morning, they all come off the tray and go back back on my person. Putting my handgun on it no different than grabbing my wallet or putting on my watch. Just a normal way of life now. Never give it a 2nd thought.

 

[Trapper Jim]

Been thru all 3 phases. Have carried CC for more years than I care to admit to now. Every night, my wallet, keys, change, EDC gun, extra mag, watch, flashlight, and money clip go on a tray on my dresser. Every morning, they all come off the tray and go back back on my person. Putting my handgun on it no different than grabbing my wallet or putting on my watch. Just a normal way of life now. Never give it a 2nd thought.

You forgot ink pen.

 

[ECS686]

Phase 4….Realizing Mag capacity is an overrated selling point, especially the argument over 10 vs 12 or 15 vs 17 round mags)

 

[Twangbanger]

You forgot stage 1.2/2.5: "It has to fit in my cargo shorts in summer," lol.

That's a big part of the trade-in craze...people figuring out on the range, surrounded by better shooters, they cannot actually hit with the gun that fits in their cargo shorts.

 

[Steve]

Since I retired, I don't carry an ink pen anymore on a daily basis. Don't want to overload the wardrobe.

 

[BigRed]

What phase is it where you hate carrying it? A quarter century as a copper has left me hating this ball and chain at times. This, coming from a firearms instructor of 20 years.

Have you considered marriage counseling?

 

[88E30M50]

Last week, I picked up a near duplicate of my EDC, which I have 3 near dupes of already. On Sunday, I ran it for the first time and on the way home, had an absolute feeling of peace and contentment, knowing that I don't need to think about what to carry on a daily basis. I'm in a good place, having found the tools that work for me and I don't waste energy thinking about it now. It's a really Zen like place to be until the Denny effect eventually settles in and I start hating the requirement to carry at all. Until then, I'll enjoy my peaceful state.

 

[gregkl]

Last week, I picked up a near duplicate of my EDC, which I have 3 near dupes of already. On Sunday, I ran it for the first time and on the way home, had an absolute feeling of peace and contentment, knowing that I don't need to think about what to carry on a daily basis. I'm in a good place, having found the tools that work for me and I don't waste energy thinking about it now. It's a really Zen like place to be until the Denny effect eventually settles in and I start hating the requirement to carry at all. Until then, I'll enjoy my peaceful state.

Glad you got it!

 

[cbhausen]

My first carry gun happened while I was in college and it was totally inappropriate, a Colt Combat Cobra I bought and sold for about $600 then found out later, much later, it was collectible and worth at least 10 times that much. Ouch. You live and learn. Serial number 822 of 1000 should’ve told me something.

From there I had a Glock 27 with some nice internal upgrades, ran really well but I never carried it regularly. I ended up selling it off and buying an M&P Pro full size 9 which I liked and shot pretty well but never carried because it was too big.

Since then I’ve bounced back-and-forth between Glock 17, 19, a Sig P365 with night sights followed by a P365 SAS and finally back to a Glock 19 GEN four and now a Glock 19 GEN five MOS with an RMR on it.

About the only constant in all of this was about halfway through my EDC progression I discovered Safariland’s ALS system holsters. Now for me this is a must. I won’t consider a handgun for regular carry unless Safariland makes an ALS holster for it.

One thing I’m going through now was when I carried a subcompact P365 I carried it all the time. Now that I’ve gone back to a Glock 19, I’m finding myself leaving it in the safe more than I should. I really need to work on having it with me all the time.

Oh wait, this thread was about mindset (software), not hardware… OK, here goes:

I remember feeling a little self-conscious when I first started carrying but not enough to remember any significant fear of being made while carrying concealed.

It didn’t take me long to say “oh what the hell” and start carrying openly. By then I had enough time walking heavy to not be concerned about peoples reactions. Most of them are too busy in their own little world, not paying attention anyway. I even did quite a few overpass rallies while carrying long guns. This was a few years ago, back when things started to change and not for the better.

Blame it on people carrying rifles into Starbucks or whatever, maybe an appeasement of their insurance underwriters, owners of public spaces started frowning upon open carry. I was carrying openly all the time and still to this day have not had one unpleasant encounter doing so.

But these days for the most part I keep it covered up, usually in kind of a sloppy way with an unzipped jacket or an untucked shirt over it. I’ve become more of a gray man, not wanting to draw so much attention to myself when I’m out and about. Every once in a while I’ll carry openly into a big box store or Kroger or Walmart as a big fat “**** you” to their freedom hating management but it’s mostly low profile these days.

No matter how I carry these days, I’m totally comfortable doing it.