I was asked why I always carry….even in areas where the likelihood of “needing” a firearm is low (I try NOT to go places where I will “NEED” a firearm, but that is besides the point)…… Anywhere I can legally carry a firearm, I do. 

“Legally” is defined as anywhere where possessing a firearm will not get me tossed in jail.
Here in Indiana, outside of Federal or State or County or town government offices, Police Stations and Post Offices and schools, in nearly any other public place, if I carry a firearm where it is posted “no weapons” or “No Firearms” or “no Guns”, at worst I can be asked to leave. Failure to leave if asked is Trespassing and (generally) Disturbing the Peace, but are not Felonies. So I carry wherever my possessing a firearm won’t get me jailed.

Anyway, Here is the real reason I carry:

The average response time, nationwide, to an “active shooter” (remember, this is AVERAGE, Some will be MUCH longer, and “response time” means the time it takes from dispatch over the radio, not from the time someone calls 9-11, so add at least two minutes to that time…. until the cop reports “at the scene”… not the time it takes the cop (or cops) to actually DO something…decide what to do, enter the building, figure out what is going on, who is doing some shooting, make a decision as to what their response should be and actually react……) is 3 minutes…add in all the rest of the time and we are talking more than 5 minutes from the time someone responds….If they do actually, you know, respond, and not hunker down outside like the Parkland “First Responders” did in Florida…(Can anyone say “Coward of Broward”)

Start the timer. Count how many shots, or how many people could be slashed or stabbed in these 3 minutes. Or how many punches and kicks can be thrown in those same three minutes…. then figure another 3 to actually make the threat stop.

What if it were you…Or your loved one. Your kid, your parents, your friend? How about just plain bystanders….

3 minutes. Run this video twice to make sure you understand how long that is.

That is a LONG time, innit?

Gotta figure it is gonna take at LEAST those 3 minutes for the threat to be stopped. Probably at least twice that…maybe as much as 4 times. IF the cops react well, and quickly.
That’s why I carry. To stop a threat that I won’t know is there unless (and until) it happens. So I won’t have to wait that terribly long time…watch someone bleed or moan or even begin to die during that time. Someone to be beaten to death (or nearly so) by a group of young toughs.

I hope I never need my firearm. I hope I can use it effectively if chance should bring me to a place and time where I need to.
But I hope that I can stop a threat so that I don’t have to wait 3, or 6 or even 12 minutes before I can help those who are damaged or injured by a crazy homicidal person either.

Stopping threats earlier is the best way to prevent people from being killed or injured.

That’s why I carry.

Run the video again, just so you understand how long that time really is. Realize that that is the MINIMUM time for someone else to stop the threat. Likely 3 or more times that three minutes.