Question for Americans: Do you have a permit to carry a firearm, and do you carry one regularly?
Answering anonymously due to where I now work and live, and due to the people following me on Quora whom I have not u201ccome out of the closetu201d to yet about either my gun ownership or the fact that I carry daily. To the best of my knowledge, neither they nor my employers over the last few years had a clue that I carried a firearm daily.Yes, and yes. I have carried a firearm on a daily basis since I was 19. At first, just an M16 while in the military, and then when returning from overseas deployments I obtained my concealed carry permit in Texas. There was a lot of crime around the military base, much of it committed by other current or former soldiers.According to this link, I lived in one of the top 10 most dangerous cities in Texas:Killeen Makes List Of Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities In TexasGetting my permit entailed some paperwork, a background check, fingerprinting, range qualification, and a solid 8 hours covering in intensive detail exactly what I could and could not do with my gun, where I could and couldnu2019t carry, likely consequences for abuse, and fairly thorough introductions to the laws covering all of that. After mailing in everything, a few weeks later I received my Texas Concealed Weapon Permit which looked basically like a driveru2019s license with all my info on it, but instead of u201cClass C M1u201d or anything it just said I was authorized to carry semi-automatic handguns or revolvers. I carried a full-size Kimber TLE II 1911-style .45 ACP day in, day out. Eventually I got tired of the weight and bulk in the hot sun all day and switched to carrying a Glock 26 sub-compact 9mm. That was my first Glock, and I became a fan of the simplicity, light weight, higher round count (12 rounds instead of 8), and cheaper price ($400 vs $850+ for the Kimber).I was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas for 4.5 years. And in late 2024. just as we were returning from my second deployment, Major Nidal Hasan decided to commit mass murder of his fellow soldiers in a building right across the parking lot from me. I have a friend who jokes around about how smoking saved his life - he had just stepped outside the building to light a cigarette when the shooting started.Unfortunately, due to the laws, even trained soldiers are not allowed to carry loaded firearms on the base, unless they are Military Police, CID, or CIs. The facility Hasan shot up was the building where soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan go through medical re-screening, psychiatric screening, etc for re-entry to state-side life. In other words, every single soldier in that building was used to carrying a firearmu2026and they could not defend themselves. It took several minutes for the MPs to arrive and stop him. I had several other friends and a few soldiers from my unit who were in the building at the time and escaped mostly without injury by hiding and running and luck.This experience closely echoes Dr. Suzanna Huppu2019s experience of having experience carrying a weapon but being denied the opportunity to do so when she most needed it. Dr. Hupp had a gun she normally carried in her purse, but Texas law at the time did not allow her to carry it into a restaurant, so she left it in her car. While she ate lunch with her parents, a crazed man drove his vehicle through the restaurant window and then began shooting customers at random. Dr. Hupp had an opportunity to shoot the man, and stop his rampage, but did not have her weapon on her as it was in her car - and had to watch both her parents die in her arms. This incident, which led to her becoming an outspoken advocate for expanding concealed carry rights and boosting a career in politics, also took place in Killeen - the same city I lived in.After leaving military service and returning to my native California, I pursued and obtained my concealed carry permit here. By this time, I had added another Glock to carry in a larger caliber, since California has a magazine limit of 10 rounds. So I figured if I can only carry 10, Iu2019m going to carry the biggest rounds I can. I enrolled in college, and pursuant to California law at the time, legally carried on campus while completing two degrees in Business and Computer Science. I was all too aware of the increase in school shootings, and in fact we had a brief scare on my campus once where someone called in that they had spotted someone with a gun (I got texts from friends asking if Iu2019d let my shirt ride up or something, but it was in a different building). The school went on lockdown, a building was evacuated and searched right next to the one I was in, but they didnu2019t find anyone / anything. Still, it gave me a small measure of relief that if it did happen, I would at least have a fighting chance and not be forced to jump out of a 4th floor window and attempt to scale down the side of the building to escape. It took campus police and city police over 5 minutes to respond, and the campus police are less than a few hundred yards away from the building that went on lockdown.There is a saying u201cwhen seconds count, the police are only minutes away.u201d While 5 minutes may not seem like a long time, and in fact there is another Quora poster from NYC who answered this question with a story of their own when they had to call police, I would ask readers to consider a UFC fight. Each round is 5 minutes long, and with merely hands and fists people are knocked out and in some cases maimed - and thatu2019s with the protections of rules and gloves, not a streetfight or school shooting.I continue to carry because I trust my own extensive training, comfort, and familiarity with my gun over that of anyone elseu2019s. I continue to carry because while our society as a whole has gotten safer, thereu2019s always that chance that I may be targeted as someoneu2019s next victim. While in college, there were nearly weekly muggings of students - mostly engineering and computer science students. If you think about it, it makes a certain amount of sense. Engineers and Computer Science students are among the few majors required to bring laptops to and from school every day. Weu2019re also largely a population of physically weaker (generally, average, stereotypical, etc) nerds. So easy target + guarantee of loot = prime target to mug. I live in the San Francisco bay area, and encounter violence on a weekly basis. Not directly, mind you, but thatu2019s sort of part of the problem - itu2019s never directly until it is, and if youu2019re unarmed then, itu2019s too late to try and arm yourself. An example would be a neighbor called me around midnight to say his car had died at Safeway a few blocks away and could I come help with jumper cables. As we were jumping his car and chatting, a man came sprinting across the parking lot at us, ran right past my car, and jumped the fence at the end of the lot. Keep in mind, the lot was fairly deserted, and there were no other cars within 50 feet of us. He ran close enough I could have tripped him, but didnu2019t intervene just stepped behind my car as both my neighbor and I watched him run off and jump the fence. Not a second later a Sheriffu2019s car pulled into the parking lot and began sweeping the spotlight around and I put 2 and 2 together and flagged her down. I pointed her in the right direction and she took off. Iu2019m not sure if the suspect was armed or not. I donu2019t know why he ran at my car at first - perhaps to carjack me and use it as a getaway vehicle, and he was only deterred when he realized there were two of us and one of him? My neighbor had been just sitting in his car while we chatted but stood up and got out when the guy got close to us. Did I pull my gun out the whole time? No. Am I glad I had the option if things had gone south? Absolutely.Carrying a gun is like having a spare tire or a fire extinguisher. Sure, you can call 911 and wait for the fire department to show up, or call AAA and wait on the side of the road for 45 minutes till they arrive to give you a tow to the nearest repair shop. However, you put yourself at greater risk for longer time if you do that. The side of a freeway is not a safe place to hang out. Small fires can turn into big ones if you let it grow and depend on someone else for your safety. I carry for the exact same reason as I have a spare tire - I hope to hell I never once have to use it, but if it ever comes down to it, Iu2019ll be glad I had it.Iu2019m turning 33 in a few months. That will mark 14 years of carrying a firearm daily, in 5 different countries, and 3 different states. Iu2019ve never once had to even pull it out to deter an attacker, and I hope to hell it stays that way.
