[Caution: There is a necessary, but non-politically correct suggestion, included below. No offense intended to anyone, but reality is not always PC. My last concealed carry license renewal instructor was Hispanic, and he gave all this advice--and our class included another Hispanic and two black people. However, if you offend easily, if you get your news from MSNBC, if you voted for Obama, then just skip this post!]
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While it should be obvious, avoid dangerous places whenever you can. Don't go anywhere with a gun that you would not go unarmed. That caution should probably extend to timing. I mean take care of necessary business in the daylight, whenever possible. Just because the gas station, drugstore, or supermarket are open 24 hours, that doesn't mean you should not still do your shopping when those places are busy with lots of people around in the daytime.
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Non-PC advice: If you have to take care of something at night (or really also in the daytime), pick a busy place, and make it a place with a small parking lot where you park really close to the store entrance, and that is busy with mostly Caucasian patrons. That advice applies if you are white, black, Hispanic, Asian, or other. I intend no offense, and this is not a racist statement, but rather a recognition of crime statistics and who commits crimes (see
FBI ? Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January-June 2013). You can't live by statistics, but you can use them as part of good sense. Don't you carry an umbrella with you when the weatherman says 90% chance of rain?
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Finally, and most obvious, avoid "gun free" businesses and other gun free places to the extent possible, even if you're not carrying.