It is a state of mind. Better, it is a continuum of states of mind. On one end is the person who is terrified and wants a talisman to ward off evil. On the other end is the person who has fantasies of single-handedly defeating ISIS in the local mall.

Somewhere in between are the person who desires simply to be able to defend his/her person and family from bodily harm, the person who sees their civic duty to defend to extend to their helpless neighbors, retired military and LEOs who never quite get below Condition Yellow even in their sleep and decent people fed up with the lawless element.

Your mindset -where you honestly see yourself on this continuum - will determine not only if, but when, where and what you carry and should determine what level of training you seek, because movies and mall ninjas to the contrary, not every red-blooded American is a natural born gunfighter.

Possibly the worst reason I can think of (not necessarily the most dangerous, but the worst) to CC is because someone else "guilted" you into it.

I have a friend, a good, decent man, relatively proficient who is not convinced he should carry outside the home. His concern is that now, unarmed, he would act only to secure his family's safety (escape and evade) but if armed might hesitate while trying to decide whether to escape or engage and end up doing neither. If he was 20 years younger I'd suggest an instructor. I've known him long enough to respect his decision.

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I need ammo, not a ride.