Patriot Ghost
New member
First off, hello all, Newbie here
It's been a long time coming but my wife and I just picked up two new firearms yesterday (Beretta Nano and Beretta PX4 Storm Compact, both are 9mm) and boy does it feel good to have them. If you do not yet have your CCW and are still trying to make up your mind, do yourself a favor and read my long-windedness.
I grew up with a closet full of guns (rifles and shotguns) and we hunted all the time, but no handguns. A few years ago I took the CCW class but never went to get my license (work, family, you know, "just too busy"). And while I knew I would eventually get it, I wasn't that worried about it, but it has been gnawing at me lately. The news, the economy, the upcoming election, so much unrest around the world, the growing unemployment, poverty and resulting desperation right here in our great country and own communities.
And then an ugly could-have-been-seriously-awful situation in our local Walmart that I witnessed, that finally did it for me. Bear with me please.
Years ago in my early 20's, my buddy and I were up late rebuilding a motorcycle and went to Perkins to get some late night grub and a drunk dude try to pick a fight with me for no reason at all (drunk guys do that sometimes and he jumped up and did some wicked kick and I knew I was in over my head and just walked away. The next day I went and joined the martial arts school down the street - the one I had been meaning to join but was always "too busy". I got really lucky and had picked a very good school. I then spent a train load of money and years and years of training in mixed martial arts, fighting full contact, non-firearms weapons training, fighting on the ground, surroundings and people awareness training, getting my ass absolutely handed to me by guys alot tougher than me but learned so much from them and trained seriously that I got pretty good. And I eventually got this feeling not of invincibility, but that I could handle or avoid or escape virtually any situation and that having a gun would just be a one in a trillion need. Nope. For all my training, I was sadly mistaken.
I am here to tell you this: that situation in Walmart boiled wildly out of control in only about 3-4 seconds - literally- and I was maybe 12 feet away. In an instant, I was in a sitaution where there was no realistic way to protect myself or the potential victims, and no way for me to get away (I was alone) or even out of the way...not safely. I was honestly and genuinely scared for my life. And what if my wife and /or kids had have been with???? Here, once again, on a much more dangerous level, I was in over my head, by no action or fault of my own.
So I am kind of coming to the alter here. My ego had almost gotten the best of me and I never considered myself with having an ego, just confident. I am older now, not in the shape/condition I used to be, the world is much different now, and it all hit home as I walked out of that Walmart with my bag of cereal, diapers and coffee creamer: man o man was I naive. Because instead of me driving home to my family, the police could be going through my billfold or cell phone trying to find my wife's phone number.
My wife had never fired a firearm until yesterday. While the very first shot was initially a bit shocking to her, the mystery and fear and hollywood-created expectation of firing a gun is all gone, and instead she now feels empowered and cannot wait to start training and get licensed.
Carry, guys and gals. Train,train,train and carry. Always. It's us or the bad guys, they are anywhere you are and things can go bad SO friggin fast.
Take good care,
PG
It's been a long time coming but my wife and I just picked up two new firearms yesterday (Beretta Nano and Beretta PX4 Storm Compact, both are 9mm) and boy does it feel good to have them. If you do not yet have your CCW and are still trying to make up your mind, do yourself a favor and read my long-windedness. I grew up with a closet full of guns (rifles and shotguns) and we hunted all the time, but no handguns. A few years ago I took the CCW class but never went to get my license (work, family, you know, "just too busy"). And while I knew I would eventually get it, I wasn't that worried about it, but it has been gnawing at me lately. The news, the economy, the upcoming election, so much unrest around the world, the growing unemployment, poverty and resulting desperation right here in our great country and own communities.
And then an ugly could-have-been-seriously-awful situation in our local Walmart that I witnessed, that finally did it for me. Bear with me please.
Years ago in my early 20's, my buddy and I were up late rebuilding a motorcycle and went to Perkins to get some late night grub and a drunk dude try to pick a fight with me for no reason at all (drunk guys do that sometimes
and he jumped up and did some wicked kick and I knew I was in over my head and just walked away. The next day I went and joined the martial arts school down the street - the one I had been meaning to join but was always "too busy". I got really lucky and had picked a very good school. I then spent a train load of money and years and years of training in mixed martial arts, fighting full contact, non-firearms weapons training, fighting on the ground, surroundings and people awareness training, getting my ass absolutely handed to me by guys alot tougher than me but learned so much from them and trained seriously that I got pretty good. And I eventually got this feeling not of invincibility, but that I could handle or avoid or escape virtually any situation and that having a gun would just be a one in a trillion need. Nope. For all my training, I was sadly mistaken. I am here to tell you this: that situation in Walmart boiled wildly out of control in only about 3-4 seconds - literally- and I was maybe 12 feet away. In an instant, I was in a sitaution where there was no realistic way to protect myself or the potential victims, and no way for me to get away (I was alone) or even out of the way...not safely. I was honestly and genuinely scared for my life. And what if my wife and /or kids had have been with???? Here, once again, on a much more dangerous level, I was in over my head, by no action or fault of my own.
So I am kind of coming to the alter here. My ego had almost gotten the best of me and I never considered myself with having an ego, just confident. I am older now, not in the shape/condition I used to be, the world is much different now, and it all hit home as I walked out of that Walmart with my bag of cereal, diapers and coffee creamer: man o man was I naive. Because instead of me driving home to my family, the police could be going through my billfold or cell phone trying to find my wife's phone number.
My wife had never fired a firearm until yesterday. While the very first shot was initially a bit shocking to her, the mystery and fear and hollywood-created expectation of firing a gun is all gone, and instead she now feels empowered and cannot wait to start training and get licensed.
Carry, guys and gals. Train,train,train and carry. Always. It's us or the bad guys, they are anywhere you are and things can go bad SO friggin fast.
Take good care,
PG
