Alcohol and concealed carry
- Thread starter Ryker
- Start date
leasantry:Hey DWB: I assume you also would not recommend drinking and driving, which, by statistics, is a lot more deadly. Typical of this country these days. Legislators know what is best for all of us, not them and that have to go into nanny mode to make decisions about the vast unwashed. Hypocrisy galore. Drink and kill someone in your car--no problem. Drink and have one of those big bad guns, and they have a hissy fit. If you go over 08 and kill someone, car or drive---it is murder--period.
I was primarily referring to the fact that if you get attacked at home and defend yourself with a firearm you don't automatically get your permit taken away if you'd had a beer with dinner. Otherwise nobody would ever be able to enjoy anything but apple juice ever. Since you do't exactly get to choose the point of time when this happens.
If remaining armed while ingesting alcohol is an exercise of poor judgment and irresponsible, then it is equally so whether you are home or in public.
It isn't a matter of "getting hammered" - it is a matter understanding that a person who ingest enough alcohol to have an impact on his or her motor skills and judgment should give consideration to disarming, and perhaps should also examine their relationship with alcohol.
Beau
I was never here.
Why? Because of some behavior they might engage in? . You and others like you seem to be bent on controlling the actions of others.
I attended a dinner the other night for those of us on the volunteer fire dept. I was carrying and I had 4 SoCo and Cokes. Not only did I not pull my gun out the thought never crossed my mind.
Those that will act irresponsibly will do so with or without alcohol. If people can be entrusted with the responsibility of carrying a firearm why should they not be trusted with the responsibility of consuming alcohol?
So why were you carrying a weapon? If you have no intent of using it when your mind has been clouded by alcohol, why have it on your person at all?
Because alcohol affects a person's motor skills, judgment, perception, and ability to reason.
Would you be concerned with an LEO having 4 alcoholic drinks at lunch while on a shift or even for breakfast before a shift? A commercial airline pilot? Your child's school buss driver?
Beau
I was never here.
I never "intend" to use my weapon. I didn't say I wouldn't use my weapon if needed. What I said was that consuming alcohol did not cause me to act in an irresponsible manner with my firearm.
Your use of police, pilots and school bus drivers is pointless. Of course I would have a problem with it. Those people are engaged in a continual activity where being under the influence could have a serious impact on performance.
I would not go shoot a match after I had been drinking. The carrying of a firearm while under the influence in case I need to defend my life is not the same thing.
Really? You must be a very good shot under pressure. No chance of missing your target, no chance of making a mistake. Even alcohol can't inhibit your super human powers.
You are a brady campaign poster boy with that attitude.
Beau
I was never here.
As long as were name calling, your a moron.
Are you saying that as long as you don't have any alcohol in your system you have no chance of missing your target or making a mistake? I doubt that was what you were implying but you seem to like twisting words and adding to them so I figured I would try it too.
Could alcohol affect my aim in a self defense situation? Sure. So could a lot of other things. Honestly I would be more worried about the adrenaline dump that would occur in a self defense situation affecting my abilities than the 4 drinks I had spread throughout the evening.
B2Tall
Stirrer of the Pot
This statement couldn't possibly be further from the truth.
Midnight
New member
You're right, man. A guy who carries while drinking is going to completely shoot up a tavern after consuming one drink. That's what people who drink and carry guns do.
S&W645
NRA Life Member
A school bus driver falls under the same BAC as I do. .04. So even 2 drinks could put them into DUI territory.How Alcohol Effects Us: The Biphasic Curve gives a chart.
I have no idea what your self defense skills are like when you are sober, but I'm certain they aren't better when you have been drinking.
Alcohol not only inhibits your motor skills, it also clouds your judgment and reasoning ability. You won't be better armed after ingesting alcohol, you'll just be a better victim to the thugs and a greater risk of danger to the people around you.
If you are going to arm yourself out of fear of losing your life, then it is counterproductive to reduce your ability to do so by ingesting alcohol. The only reason left for having a weapon at your side when you've been drinking is to show it off.
You should carefully examine your relationship to alcohol. From your statements it appears that even when you life might be at risk, you can't resist drinking. That and the denial are classic signs.
Edsworld
New member
What?
What is with this kindergarden discussion already? You have been given permission and very big responsibility to CC. The same can be said for driving a car. There is a difference between being totally irresponsible and not capable of making decisions because of alcohol content and, for the law and driving, that is the magic 08. Maybe I am making a big leap in faith, but I would say that standard could also be considered a starting point to argue alcohol and CC; you can kill with a car and you can kill with a firearm so my initial thought would be that if 08 is good enough to make decisions in a car, it should be good enough to walk around CC. I certainly understand the difference between a car and a firearm as to an immediate, instantaneous threat but the point really is a measure of your abilities to control yourself as if you had not been drinking and 08 seems to be that point, or at least it has been determined such by "authorities and medical people". In my book, in either case, you have been given a privilege to drive or CC and if you fail to live up to it, it should be taken away from you--the penalties are another subject and are open to discussion. IMO, any second time is the last time; car or firearm--they both kill.
I'm not addressing a legal limit. I'm addressing a person's reason for being armed in the first place in light of their consumption of alcohol.
When I am armed it is because I believe there is a risk, however so slight, that I may need my weapon to defend my life. I'm not going to reduce my ability to use my weapon for it's intended purpose (defending my life) by consuming alcohol.
There are people who open carry locked and loaded in order to eliminate as much delay and interference with their ability to respond to a threat. Others might use a safety after balancing their personal perception of the risks. Others may not carry with one in the chamber.
But whatever your personal choice of level of readiness, drinking alcohol negates your readiness level whatever it may be.
Before you have that first sip, do a Dirty Harry and ask yourself how lucky you feel today. Is today the day you'll need all your senses at their maximum capacity to safe your life? No? Then today is not a day that you need to carry. Go ahead and enjoy whatever mind altering drug you please.
