First carry stories

[OneLungMcClung]

Hey guys, I finally have a few minutes away from school. I have never seen a work load from a school like this. My GOD I'm almost overwhelmed! Its worth it though.

Well, I have had my Philly issued LTCF for about 4 days and have been carrying every night. Its an interesting experience.

Remember that I live in Philly, and I live in a "good" area (tell that to the lady who got gunpointed and molested 150' from my doorstep ). I carry a 4" XD-45 IWB. It is very different to carry in condition one. All of my experience has been at the range, where safety is paramount (firearm always downrange, cleared unless ready to fire, blah blah blah.), so it is, definitely, a strange feeling to know that I have a live loaded firearm on me (but it really cool, too!).

I was thinking today while walking down the street what a strange feeling it is to carry finally. Remember that I'm from the PRC - In Kalifornia's bigger cities you practically have to have a knife sticking out of your head just to get permission to "legally" excercise your rights. Anyway - its an interesting experience. Maybe I'm a bit concious of the fact that I'm carrying because it's both new and I live in a city of handwringing leftist queen idiots, but I have to say that it frankly feels wierd right now. I know the best thing to do is to walk like normal - the stranger you are the more likely someone is to notice something different about you and get the Cops, but its interesting that I'll catch myself covering my carry rig (right side, rear) with my right arm.

My best experience was walking into the local pizza joint. Its a fave with the cops, there are always squads out front and uniforms inside. Anyway, I have to tell you I went to 100% alert - went in and ordered my pie. Inside were three cops, two of them sargents, both in their late forties. Man! If anyone was going to see my rig it would be these guys. I had to laugh though - they either didn't care, didn't notice, or (more likely) were too concentrated on their strombolis to watch anything else. They said hello, and one even answered a recruitment question. Lol!

So Im interested in your experiences with first time carry. Some of you are gonna say no big deal, and (hopefully) some of you will have felt a bit awkward. Waddya say?

[ursavus.elemensis]

A good cop is a well-trained observer. They saw you, noticed the gun, and noticed how you were acting. They observed it all.

[TonyF]

At first you will feel a bit self-conscious. You think everyone you come into contact with has you "made".

For me it was like wearing a seatbelt. Initially I couldn't stand wearing a seatbelt because it felt so restrictive. Now I won't turn the ignition on without wearing one. So it will be with your handgun. After a while you'll forget it's even there.

[PA Dave]

For years I open carried while hiking before I turned 21. Most times I was with someone else that was over 21 so I wasn't the only one there carrying. When I got out of the service I got my permit and the gun just dissappeared. I did feel like everyone could tell at first but that faded very fast. Noone can tell if you are doing it right. Just please never forget that it's there. Your life could depend on it. It will become second nature quickly. Dave

[Kenshin]

I used to think that everyone knew i was carrying the first few times. Now most people wont even look twice. Its even weirder if you open carry and look to see how many people are actually looking at you. I haven't had many people do a double take while concealed or open carrying. They just don't really take notice. Maybe I've had 3 people take notice and then it didn't seem like much of a big deal to them.

[MarcS]

First time carry story.

The day i turned 21 i went over to the sheriffs office. I went through the metal detector removing my two knives an pepper spray and immediately got the third degree by the deputy

"what do you need all this stuff for?"
"you know, the usual"
"well, what do you do?"
"I'm a student"
"what does a college student need all this stuff for?"
"you know, all the regular things us people do"
"I suppose you're going to get your carry permit?"
"glad you noticed something was missing."

45 minutes later i had my permit and the guy at the counter gave me all kinds of misinformation about the places it was "illegal" for me to carry, several of which i intended to do that day. I proceeded to ignore him and left. I then went out to my car, strapped on my primary and my BUG and went off to class. Believe it or not, unlike the deputy predicted the word didn't come to an end. I got out of class then went out to dinner and had my first legal beer with my friends all while legally carrying. Despite the deputy's insistance that it would, the universe didn't collapse into a massive black hole.

[fslflint]

First time carry story.

The day i turned 21 i went over to the sheriffs office. I went through the metal detector removing my two knives an pepper spray and immediately got the third degree by the deputy

"what do you need all this stuff for?"
"you know, the usual"
"well, what do you do?"
"I'm a student"
"what does a college student need all this stuff for?"
"you know, all the regular things us people do"
"I suppose you're going to get your carry permit?"
"glad you noticed something was missing."

45 minutes later i had my permit and the guy at the counter gave me all kinds of misinformation about the places it was "illegal" for me to carry, several of which i intended to do that day. I proceeded to ignore him and left. I then went out to my car, strapped on my primary and my BUG and went off to class. Believe it or not, unlike the deputy predicted the word didn't come to an end. I got out of class then went out to dinner and had my first legal beer with my friends all while legally carrying. Despite the deputy's insistance that it would, the universe didn't collapse into a massive black hole.

but if the world does come to an end you know where to go. lol.

I carry concealed, but very noticably. a sevice size auto OWB. once I figure out that no one notices it conceals even better.

I got my permit, went to the car and strapped on my piece (at that time a g19 IWB) and spare mags. at first it feels strange, esp in banks I think. but then it goes away.

[ChamberedRound]

My brief 1st time carry story:

http://www.pafoa.org/forum/general-2...-1st-time.html

[D-FENS]

It's funny because I get a lot of reaction when I carry, people just don't know what or where.

I tote a Leatherman and a Video Ipod, both in black cases, the Leathermen in a nylon case. They both hang off my right hip, towards the rear (about 3 and 4 o'clock). The Ipod rides higher in a rubber case than the nylon case which rides lower. It pretty much looks like a huge gun hanging off my ass.

I get looks constantly. People avoid eye contact. Cops drive slowly by, sometimes even stop. I'm constantly changing songs on my ipod so it looks like I am taking a grip index on my firearm. People on the bus stare at me until I look at them, then they quickly look away. I'm not saying my appearance isn't part of this, I am pretty big after all.

The funniest thing of all, I don't carry on my person(I carry about my person). So while everyone is getting nervous cause I look like I am carrying, I'm just listening to tunes.

meh, seems funnier to me that it probably is. I'm just waiting to get stopped and asked for a permit or something for my ipod.

[Emptymag]

Can't recall anything specific about "my first time", but I do remember looking in every window I passed, checking the reflection for signs that my handgun was "visible". I carried it w/o a round in the chamber for a day or two (IWB, nylon holster) until I was comfortable with everything.
Oh, and for the first week or two, I didn't tell my wife when I was carrying while we shopped/ate dinner, just to see if she would notice it... never saw it.
I also began wondering how many OTHER people had guns on them out there... I mean, here I am, carrying legally and nobody knows... how many are carrying ILLEGALLY?

Yes, in a very short time, it goes from "hope nobody can see this under my shirt" to "Yes, I carry everywhere I go and it's like putting on a watch or carrying a wallet - it's just there and I don't even notice it anymore!"

I stopped to talk and let my dog play with the neighbors dog last week and during the conversation, self defense/guns came up... I mentioned that I carry. "Do you have it on you NOW?" I was asked. "Any time you've seen me walking the dog, I've been armed." I replied. Nobody knew and I've been walking this dog twice a day, every day, for two years now. I stop with the dog and talk to these same people at least once a week too!