Now that I carry, I am a much more peaceful person

[Modificationvt]

I just realized this today, now that I CC I am much more likely to let ****/avoid confrentation than i use to be.

Today I was at a deli taking my sandwich and drink to a table when some one stood up from their seat spilling my drink down my front, and the guy had the nearve to yell at me for it.
"watch were your going you little sh*t" is about what he said.

old me would have responded "go f*ck yourself! watch what the f*ck your doing, you stood up into me you *sshole." (and you could imagine where it would go from there.)

new me "take it easy man, no need to cry over spilt milk" then continue on to my table.

I'm not sure what exactly has caused this change in attitude, but it definatly coencided (sp?) with my starting to CC.

My guess is that before I was using the "puff myself up" to avoid a fight mentality (act tougher than the other guy so the other guy walks away sort of thing) Now, I don't feel the need to do that, probably because I now know I can protect myself if some jack*ss did feel he could take me on over some stupid sh*t like a spilt soda.


Im not sure what made me think of this just now, but I just thought it was interesting how my reactions to these types of situations have changed since I started to CC.

[one-eyed-fatman]

Obviously you should have taken your right hand and grabbed his left hand and twisted it till you had him on his knee's then kicked him in the face and said excuse me. OH wait that only happens in the movies. You did yourself proud.

[jeepinbanditrider]

I notice that I'm usually much more polite to most "assholes" than I used to be. More than likely it's just my mind keeping me from getting into a bad situation since I know I'm carrying and would rather not endanger my permit over something like getting into a yelling match in a public place with an idiot.

When I OC the attitude adjustment seems to go both ways

[Spawnz]

An armed society is a polite society.

Read that somewhere and it rings true.

[charlie.45]

I'm more of a yeah what-ever and walk away kinda guy myself now i will stand and fight i absolutely have to but i've found it really doesnt accomplish much. anyways i tend to think that your experiencing this becouse even if on a more subconcious level you realize that there will be a gun involved if you get in a scuffle with someone it could wind up getting pulled by either you or the guy your fighting. also from the legal perspective if you go getting into fights still you could get your ccw revoked and possibly even your right to own a firearm revoked. JMO man

[Brush-Wolf-Lady]

I seem to be less angry than I used to be and I don't even have a carry lisc, nor do I OC. This started after buying the XD40- the sheer responsibility of owning this "evil black handgun" is what did it I guess. Then it had a "baby" ( XD9 sub) LOL.

Or maybe I finally matured and my hormones are less in bitchy mode when I have PMS...LOL

[forum]

Originally Posted by jeepinbanditrider

I notice that I'm usually much more polite to most "assholes" than I used to be. More than likely it's just my mind keeping me from getting into a bad situation since I know I'm carrying and would rather not endanger my permit over something like getting into a yelling match in a public place with an idiot.

When I OC the attitude adjustment seems to go both ways

Agreed, everyone around me's attitude seems to be adjusted when I OC. No permit to carry concealed yet so I'm not sure on that part.

[Hwkeye]

Speak softly and carry a big stick.... Roosevelt wasnt kidding!!

There is a certian responsibility when you strap up. You are saying that you DONT want confilict, and will avoid at all costs... except death or harm to yourself or others. It is a great responsibility!! Kudos to you!

[oldfart]

Agree -don't want to lose you licence over some a**.

Also reminds me of my old boss who had soap on a rope hanging in his office. One day we couldn't take it any longer and asked why? He said, "thats to remind me that everytime I go upstairs to fight for you guys, I use up a little more of my soap. One day nothing will be left and they will hang me with it".

For some odd reason that stuck with me. Some one cuts you off, or bumps into you -not worth your soap! Wife or girlfriend does something that you would like to have a discussion about -nine times out of ten -not worth your soap!

Having a gun is very much like the soap on a rope. You don't want to use it over little things and most times it's not worth the confrontation (getting hung with the rope) anyway. It's also kind of funny how in your youth you might have felt like a big shot over things like this and now you feel like the bigger man because you have responsibility, intelligence, knowledge and......maturity. So if that makes us all nicer people......I knew there was good reason I liked you ahem........crazy gun nuts!

[katana8869]

I went through the same thing in the martial arts. I honestly don't go around styling myself as a bad-ass. In fact most people that meet me would probably be surprised to know that I have been training for close to 26 years now.

Basically my thoughts on the subject go like this. Most people that feel like they have to jump right back at somebody that insults them or threatens them do so out of fear. Sometimes it is fear of physical harm, but most often it is fear of embarrasment or "losing face".

When you become confident in your ability to defend yourself, you no longer fear losing face or not being able to defend yourself if they do act on their threats. You realize that in most cases, you will be able to prevent the the aggressor from carrying out his threat. Since you recognize that this person is really nothing more to you than a noisy distraction, the fear response that would normally make you act aggressively in return is simply not there.

A gun is not a magic sword of invincibility, to truly be proficient with it requires devoted training and practice just like any other form of self-defense. There is no doubt though that having one and knowing how to use it certainly does do wonders for one's self assurance. Yes it does carry with it an enormous responsibility and yes that is a big reason to walk away, but it is much easier to actually do so when you have trust in yourself for your own physical well being.

In the martial arts style that I train in there is a tenet of training called "peaceful confidence". That's what having the training, skill and knowledge to take care of yourself brings, whether it is with your hands or with your firearm. It is easy to walk away from a fight that you have already won in your mind (even if the other guy didn't know how close he was to getting his ass handed to him ).