We're Getting Our CPL's

[Mike]

Concealed Pistol License, if anyone doesn't know.

I went most of my life without considering it, and here I am almost 50, and my wife and I are doing it. We've talked about it for a while, and here we go. Part of our reasoning is safety related, but part is the concern that this will only get more difficult to do in the future. While we can, we want to do it.

So I have a question for those of you who carry that might seem out of place on a Christian discussion board. What do you suggest for a first gun? Any definite do's and do not's?

Besides that, any other discussion about getting a CPL would be interesting.

 

[reba]

Interesting? sheeesh O boy here we go.. ed

 

[JohnDB]

When you travel internationally and sometimes domestically your name is on a list...for extra screening. Adding to your travel delays.

Applying for the permit puts you on the NTSB watch list. It's not fair but what happens.... many people have been complaining about it but to no avail.

I would get any passports and visas before you get your concealed carry permit.

 

[jasonc]

Any weapon that is comfortable for you to carry and fire.practice often

 

[th1b.taylor]

Mike,
You will want a couple of pieces in the .38 or 9 mil range. Your wife, if anything like mine will feel comfortable with a 3" Smith and Wesson Revolver. It is small, light and easy to carry. For yourself, there is a vast array of .38 and 9 mil. pieces. I will recommend any of them but i prefer a fifteen shot.

The fifteens are bulky in the handle to accommodate the five extra rounds are a secure feeling and a man's hand is usually large enough to hold it comfortably. Please, only go to a pistol range if you cannot get out to the country, pistols and revolvers are built for close range use, they are not rifles and you should never spend three thousand or better for a competition piece for self-defense.

Pistols and revolvers ar useless beyond twenty-five foot except you purchase one that requires a five hundred dollar slip or rotate under the shoulder must be worn the way I used to carry my .357 Python with a nine-inch barrel. A piece like that will give you five more yards if you shoot thousands of rounds a years to practice and all you want is for stupid to know, "This is going to get me killed," causing him to de de mau!

You and the wife are not out to kill anyone and the best shooters with a standard piece, i.e. a 1911 Colt forty-five can shoot a man within fifteen foot of him and get used to firing the gun without using the sight, you do not have time to get a sight picture in an emergency so eye-hand coordination is essential and for that coke or beer cans on a fence with fifty acres of woods behind the fence is perfect to learn how to use your piece.

Remember, you're not out to slay the world and a nine or a thirty-eight will change their mind whether you hit or you miss. Do not let your wife talk you into a twenty-two or a twenty-five! They are very small execution weapons but only effective at point blank range and have been known to make a drunk mad when shot with one.

 

[Mike]

Thanks, th1b.taylor. That's great information. We'll be going to some gun & knife shows, and I'll bring along notes like this I collect.

JohnDB that's interesting. We don't really do international travelling, but we do go on a cruise now and then. I suppose this will impact those trips.

Someone said anyone can register for a gun, buy one, and drive around with it on the dashboard. But once you get a CPL, you can't have it out like that anymore. Is that true? Crazy if it is! I wouldn't have a gun out like that anyway, but that's still a strange law.

 

[th1b.taylor]

That will be a local law and will change from state to state and county to county. And if you travel and say your license is from Texas, in New Jersey you are not licensed to carry nor to have a gun anywhere in your car. The Regs. are crazy from state to state.

 

[jasonc]

Do read up on what is needed to travel.if you Cann afford it one is near there are shoot no shoots scenarios trainers for ccl carriers.I have done that.you will mess up and learn.I did.our was based on law enforcement. Civilians will be different but it's great to practice draw and disarm or draw and shoot.

 

[JohnDB]

Class 3 permits I thought were interstate.

I could be wrong but....

 

[th1b.taylor]

Do read up on what is needed to travel.if you Cann afford it one is near there are shoot no shoots scenarios trainers for ccl carriers.I have done that.you will mess up and learn.I did.our was based on law enforcement. Civilians will be different but it's great to practice draw and disarm or draw and shoot.

I have one rule, the same rule I lived by before the Army, in combat, and since I returned, "Do not pull it except to discharge a round and never fire but at the problem." I never, ever, got into trouble with that rule of thumb.

 

[jasonc]

I have one rule, the same rule I lived by before the Army, in combat, and since I returned, "Do not pull it except to discharge a round and never fire but at the problem." I never, ever, got into trouble with that rule of thumb.

Yes but you have experience, most dont have that.cops can draw and not shoot. If I have enough range and I know he has a knife I will draw first.if I wait .I'm dead.the 21 ft rule is the reason.

 

[Mike]

Yeah, I have a lot to learn and be certain of before I carry. I don't expect to ever have a reason to pull it, but you never know. I find it acutely ironic that I chose this day to start this thread. I don't have a militia mindset about it. I hope to never use it, and I know this is the way every gun owner with a normal functioning brain looks at it.

 

[jasonc]

I need to get mine.I don't have to take any courses. My DD 214 will suffice

 

[Runner]

I'd get something that will do minimal damage when you shoot yourself, or your wife, or vice-versa, or your next-door neighbor, because all of these scenarios are far more likely than the guns being put to any defensive use. Perhaps a .22 short. I say this as someone who has owned at least 20 handguns and done a fair amount of reloading. Perhaps 20 years ago, I realized it was all utter silliness. It fuels some peculiarly American paranoia.

Mike,
Remember, you're not out to slay the world and a nine or a thirty-eight will change their mind whether you hit or you miss.

In your dreams. A drug- or adrenaline-fueled assailant is about as likely to be stopped by a Ping-Pong ball as a .38. Do any police departments still issue .38's? I'd be astonished. If you insist on carrying, at least get a caliber your assailant won't pluck from your hand and pistol-whip you with.

 

[jasonc]

9mm yes,army issue is 9mm .

 

[Obadiah]

Yeah, I have a lot to learn and be certain of before I carry. I don't expect to ever have a reason to pull it, but you never know. I find it acutely ironic that I chose this day to start this thread. I don't have a militia mindset about it. I hope to never use it, and I know this is the way every gun owner with a normal functioning brain looks at it.

Something a lot of people don't think about, even those who carry guns... One of the things that's taught in those classes about being safe out in public, like self defense classes, etc, is to show confidence. Show confidence in the way you carry yourself, in the path you take as you walk, the speed at which you walk, etc, etc. When you are afraid, a criminal can sense this and will pick you out as a victim. When you are not afraid, they sense this as well and assume there is some good reason you are not afraid and will tend to look for someone else to victimize. Having that gun with you and knowing how to use it will give you that natural appearance of confidence that will tend to drive criminals away from you without ever needing to even take it out. In this way, your gun will probably protect you far more times than you will ever realize even if you never take it out of it's holster.

An interesting side note, this can even work on animals! One time I walked out of my house to take something to the neighbor and there was a stray vicious dog in my yard. I normally get along well with animals and am not afraid of them, but this dog had a menacing look which made me afraid. Animals are extremely good at reading body language and the dog saw my fear right away. Animals, especially dogs will attack fear, and that's just what happened. The dog's teeth came out and he ran after me all snarls and growling. Of course I ducked back in through the door.

So I got my gun, and went back outside. Yep, the dog was still there. But I've had enough firearm training and practice that I knew if I needed to I could shoot the dog. (And I lived in an area where it wouldn't be a big deal if I fired the gun.) So now I didn't feel afraid anymore. What did the dog do this time? He just stood there staring at me without even a snarl as I walked to my neighbor's house. The same thing can happen with people, it just isn't so obvious so you most times don't know it's happening.

 

[Obadiah]

I'd get something that will do minimal damage when you shoot yourself, or your wife, or vice-versa, or your next-door neighbor, because all of these scenarios are far more likely than the guns being put to any defensive use. Perhaps a .22 short. I say this as someone who has owned at least 20 handguns and done a fair amount of reloading. Perhaps 20 years ago, I realized it was all utter silliness. It fuels some peculiarly American paranoia.

LOL. I hear this kind of thing all the time but yet have only seen very rare cases where anything like this has actually happened unless someone was drunk, insane, or incredibly stupid. And don't kid yourself. A .22 or .25 can kill you too. I assisted an emergency room doctor at Los Angeles County General Hospital once as he cut open a victims chest to try to manually pump his heart after he'd been shot in the chest with a .22. What was where his heart used to be looked like nothing more than hamburger meat. And a .22 did that.

In your dreams. A drug- or adrenaline-fueled assailant is about as likely to be stopped by a Ping-Pong ball as a .38. Do any police departments still issue .38's? I'd be astonished. If you insist on carrying, at least get a caliber your assailant won't pluck from your hand and pistol-whip you with.

Yeah, I carried a .38sp revolver for my entire career as a street cop in the worst areas of Los Angeles. I can assure you they are every bit as deadly as a 9mm. The real reason departments are going to guns such as 9mm is first that the officers just like the look and image of them, and secondly that they hold more rounds so you can fire more shots without reloading. This feature means the the departments can spend less time and money teaching officers to shoot accurately and be able to do a tactical reload earlier because with the 9mm they can rely on having more rounds to shoot and hope one of them hits it's target. Believe me, a .38 revolver is deadly, especially at the close ranges any real life self defense shooting would occur. If the person you want to shoot is 50 yards away it's time to re-consider if you really need to shoot him in self defense anyway. At more than a few yards he's not much of a threat to your life!

 

[Edward]

That will be a local law and will change from state to state and county to county. And if you travel and say your license is from Texas, in New Jersey you are not licensed to carry nor to have a gun anywhere in your car. The Regs. are crazy from state to state.

This is true in some states, but some states will recognize a cpl from another state. Like Ohio for instance, will recognize a cpl from Florida, my buddy has a Florida cpl and lives here.

That's worth the research to see where you stand with regards to where you live, and what States you may frequent.

I generally agree with what Brother Taylor has said, but keep this in mind while shopping for pistols...

Firepower and high round capacity are tempting standing in the gun store, but will she be willing to carry the piece 24/7?
Like they say...a 22 in the hand is preferable to a 45 that was left at home...
Be realistic.

 

[KevinK]

I'd put my vote in toward .38 or 9mm as well. Current bullet technology allows civilians to use a significantly more effective 9mm than the military is limited to (expanding hollowpoint vs. NATO-compliant "ball"). .38 is good, too, as you can get a nice, small revolver frame, or possibly an alloy lightweight, since most of the time you'll be carrying it, not shooting it, and guns are heavy. You can also shoot .38 from a .357 Magnum revolver, giving you the choice to instantly upgrade to a more powerful handgun.

 

[Runner]

LOL. I hear this kind of thing all the time but yet have only seen very rare cases where anything like this has actually happened unless someone was drunk, insane, or incredibly stupid.

Unfortunately, "drunk, insane or incredibly stupid" is a rather large swath of the population.

A .22 or .25 can kill you too.

Yes, a .22 has long been the weapon of choice for Mafia hits. But when the OP is taking off his coat and his weapon discharges into his armpit, I personally would feel better if he were carrying a .22 short than a .44 magnum.

Yeah, I carried a .38sp revolver for my entire career as a street cop in the worst areas of Los Angeles. I can assure you they are every bit as deadly as a 9mm.

Certainly, they can be. But when I was into guns I read an awful lot of technical articles on "stopping power," and the consensus was that a .38 was a poor choice. At least at the time, the consensus was that a body hit with a .45 is like getting hit with an iron basketball and would stop pretty much anyone. My current weapon of choice is a 5-iron. I want the assailant to go down with "Ben Hogan" stamped on his forehead.