Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum and thought that one of my first posts on this site should be the reasoning of why I joined this useful and informative group.
I have been ccw licensed for years now, but I am finding it more important for me to put that license to use and constantly carry. I am a farmer in a rural community with almost no economic growth and a lot of people around here are without employment. This has led to an explosion of methamphetamine use and I'm noticing that those users are resulting to theft and burglary in my town to support their addiction. Those that use also seem to lose rationality and become more unstable. This year alone I have had three encounters on my farm of people snooping around grain bins (the wiring for these goes high in the local scrap yards). I wasn't carrying on any of these occasions but luckily politeness (with a stern tone) and a warning hasn't led to any combative situations. I have also seen people stealing my anhydrous ammonia (a chemical fertilizer used for corn but also an ingredient of methamphetamine) but was too far away to get to them in time.
Then one day while working on a tractor my uncle came to the shop and invited me to lunch. We left and I didn't give any thought to my truck with the toolbox and all my tools laid on the tailgate since it was noon. When coming back from lunch we started seeing all my tools strewn down the road along with my toolbox. I was PISSED! We followed the trail to a local convenience store where I found my truck and a local drunken addict coming out of the store. When I confronted him he just laughed. I knew there was no reasoning with this fella so I just turned and began walking to my truck. That's when he started pushing me and wanting to fight. I turned, punched him in the nose and to the ground he went. I put my knee in his neck so he couldn't get up and began having a serious talk with him letting him know not to mess with me. It was at this time that my dog (a rottweiler that rides in the back of any truck I get in and was with my uncle and I) jumped out of his truck, got in the drunk's face and began growling and snarling. I have never seen this dog be aggressive to anyone and I was happily shocked at his behavior. It was damn hard to keep a straight face at this fella with the dog there because the entire time I was just wanting to lean over to the dog, pat him, and really praise him for scaring this idiot.
Because of these instances I now carry concealed full time a Bodyguard 380 in a Harwell tuckable holster (my first IWB and I am highly pleased with it, very comfortable). I have also enrolled in a defensive handgun course with a friend who has noticed the same bad influences that are plaguing our community. With meth use on the rise and sanity decreasing proportionately, I want to be better prepared for myself and my family. I never want any harm to come to them nor do I want my kids to grow up without a father because of some junkie.
I greatly look forward to reading many of the discussions on this site as well as contributing to some of them. Hope my rant wasn't too long, but from what I've read, I believe everyone here sees things about the same way I do on what perils we may encounter outside and inside our homes.
One last note, if any of you get into a bad situation and has a dog that comes to your aid scaring the **** out of your attacker, you may find it just as hard as I did not to just love, laugh, and praise your best friend when you have your aggressor pinned down. Stay safe all.