Lots of people stating interesting perspectives here, just read all 5 pages. Unfortunately this thread is suffering from black and white syndrome. And this is not a black and white issue, this is a huge grey area (both in practice and legally.) When you own a gun, it is not best to be "one-sided" about how you wield it. There are a million different scenarios and appropriate behaviours for each, and yes they will all be flying through your head a thousand miles an hour in a life/death situation.
The truth is the closer proximitity (sp?) you are to potential threats (any sizeable living thing really) the more sense it makes to be carrying hot, because you are more likely to encounter a situation that requires less time to respond. (That's right, respond). A reaction is saying "ok I'm gonna shoot" and then pulling the trigger. Both are needed for action, but there is no intelligence there. A response is an intelligent, constantly changing counter-reaction, which is what you will need in a real life situation to get through un-harmed (both physically and legally).
Which, regretfully, is why stupid people shouldn't be carrying guns. The more power/responsibility you wield the more intelligence it's going to take to control that power/responsibility. Carrying a hot sidearm (safely 100%, not 99.8%) requires in immense amount of intelligence.
There is a phrase I believe most of us have heard before... it's called "situational awareness." It is part of an overall high awareness level, something many (most) of us lack. I haven't heard it mentioned once in over 50 posts on this thread. The truth is your ability survive in the world today requires an immense amount of situational awareness. Instead of training how to shoot 24/7 you all should take a few minutes to develop yours (if you aren't doing that already).
I hope I'm not offending anyone, I don't mean to. I believe there was one more issue...about the whole quote from the guy talking about "paranoia" blah blah blah. It's a great quote to get a point across to the CCL guy, which is why I'm sure he put it there, but all in all it's crap. Yes it's true that "bare fear" the way he's describing it can seperate a paranoid person from someone who is situationally aware (he's going to attack me! vs what if he attacks me?), but that is way too much besides the point here. The reality of the matter: Anyone is a threat. Recognize that completely, then get over it completely (and yourself while your at it
). Not singling anyone out here. It's up to you to respond intelligently to any situation as it presents itself to you. Many of us here seem to train mentally and physically. I think preparation is the key when owning a firearm. That doesn't mean however, by any stretch of the imagination, (at least when I say it) that you need to keep your gun hot all the time. At the end of the day, common sense prevails over clinging to beliefs about a situation. If of course, you have any to use in the first place
We can argue semantics ALL DAY people. Let's try to be a little less black and white.
But anyway, How's that for filling in some grey area?
Sorry to add so much to this already lengthy thread, but thanks for listening to my opinion.