Who knows you CCW?

[pfir]

I'm sure this has been talked about. Maybe someone can point me to an existing thread.

Do you talk openly about CCW? Or keep it quiet for some of the same reasons you keep the pistol concealed?

Is it important to inform, inspire, set an example, or show people that not all the CCW folks are crazy sociopaths?

Do you want to avoid a debate, or do you embrace it?

I'm new. So far, one friend/range buddy, and the woman I sleep with, know I'm planning to carry. Should I keep it that way? (Will be a challange, as I love to talk.)

 

[arjay]

I would keep it to myself.People gossip and sooner or later one of them,believing all guns are evil, will decide you should be outed.

 

[hoc9sw]

I never discuss that I carry or have a permit with anyone who doesn't need to know. Some friends who go with me to the range, a neighbor who helps me with medical transportation issues, and the workers at the LGS who see my permit when I buy something new.

Never a subject to bring up, and if asked, I would not tell unless required by law.

Its not concealed if people know about it.

 

[Cal44]

My wife doesn't even know I have a license.

One friend who has one himself and encouraged me to get my license knows. That's all.

If I tell my wife, everyone in the family and all our friends will know within days, and it will become a constant topic of discussion every time we get together.

 

[Louchia]

I generally keep it quiet to avoid arguments . If I know someone is agreeable, I will speak freely. This applies to family as well. My sons know and I speak freely and encourage owning and carrying. My sister doesn, t want to be in the same house with a gun.
Many people have no idea how many around them carry and its better left that way. Some think all who own or carry are lunitics.

 

[bp231986]

Close friends know I carry, but those friends are ones I go to the range with and they carry themselves. As far as others go, None of their freaking business!!!! Let's say you carry some where you're not supposed to, like the mall...now someone you told that doesn't like CCW can easly contact PD and tell them I know there is a guy or gal in the mall carrying a gun.....now what??? Keep it to yourself, you're better off in so many ways.


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[Rogue Wizard]

My adult children know, and three neighbors. I live in a rural setting and those three neighbors all border my land. Two of them have a CPL. Obviously my wife knows. Other than that, I do not tell anyone. No one else needs to know is my take on it.

 

[gen3guy]

My family and close friends know that I carry. None of them have a problem with it. I'd be sorry soul if I couldn't trust them. Nobody (except for perhaps my wife) has ever asked me if I'm carrying.

 

[gwpercle]

It is not wise to inform, inspire or set an example.
Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open.
Debating with anti-gunners is a useless endeavor. Talking does no good with them.
Gary

 

[Arik]

Most friends but they have guns as well. Family and most coworkers since they either don't care or have guns.

 

[John R]

No one but my wife knows for sure, most of my friends probably just figure I do because of what I do.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

While I'm always glad to see my wife, she knows that is a gun in my pocket! Ivan

 

[F75gunslinger]

My friends and family know. Anyone that I consider a friend whose house I go to, I will ask as a measure of respect. I've had one or two people through the years who have given me **** about it, and one who outright outed me trying to embarrass me at a friends get together. She walked up and said " You packin'". I said "Yup..sure am". She said " I bet you feel tough, huh ? ". I said no, I didn't feel tough, and if that was the reason she thought I carried, then she was more of an idiot than I thought she was. She walked away in a huff...all peeved, and a few of my friends asked questions and wanted to learn more about it. Out of about 7 that asked, 3 took me up on the offer to go learn to shoot, and 2 got their own permits to carry and carry regularly. I don't think it's good to broadcast it to the world that you CCW, but I feel that it's ANY gun owners responsibility to the sport to try to teach people why we are interested in it. Many non gun owners are only anti-gun because they don't know any better. If they learn and are interested, then they become another advocate.

 

[ChiefStealth]

I'm not tellin'

 

[MH8675309]

I've shared it with lots of folks - my work often makes it prudent to carry. Some of the folks didn't like the idea at first. Some of them still don't. Some of those same people carry now. Lots of people carry where we live and most have guns so it's not frowned on around here. The only person that ever gave me **** about it was my step father in law. He spoke condescendingly to me and acted like I was trying to take on the world with a handgun or my rifles. He picked the wrong company to do that around though. He was in my hometown and like I said - it's not a big deal around here. He was the oddball that day.

 

[Mainsail]

I don't discuss my concealed carry only because I maintain that it is unremarkable. I don't tell friends, "Hey, look I'm wearing a watch!" or "Did you know that I'm carrying a wallet?" To me the sidearm is no more exceptional than a watch or wallet.

 

[Arik]

I don't discuss my concealed carry only because I maintain that it is unremarkable. I don't tell friends, "Hey, look I'm wearing a watch!" or "Did you know that I'm carrying a wallet?" To me the sidearm is no more exceptional than a watch or wallet.

This is exactly how I look at it

 

[macski222]

Some close friends who also do so, close family, and you folks.

That's enough people in the know for me.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

I do not make a big deal out of it. However.....

I've shared it with lots of folks

because lots of folks know my passion for firearms....

Close friends know I carry

- of course they do; if they're close friends they know me well enough to know my passion for firearms. I know, that's redundant, I just said that, but it's a fact, a decades old fact, and I was carrying, to the knowledge of some folks, WAY before it was permitted via a CHL. When the CHL law was passed anyone and everyone who knew me well asked me if I was getting a CHL. It would have been ridiculous to deny it.

Most friends but they have guns as well. Family and most coworkers since they either don't care or have guns.

Ditto for all of that.

Moreover, even my friends who despise firearms (and there are some), or my friends who are just antis in general (and there are some) all know I carry. And they leave me alone, except on those occasions when they just feel compelled to tease me, and that's all it is, teasing, such as: "I suppose you're carrying a gun?" "So, where did you hide your gun?" And so forth. I've even had close friends pat me down in jest (they never find it). I don't mind - it's legal, so who cares? When it wasn't legal I used to hush them up.

I do tell people that it is rude to ask someone if he or she is packing heat and people understand that and they stop doing it; it's especially rude if they do it in front of other people. But my good friends, gun carrying or not, continue to do it because they think it's funny and I continue to allow it because they don't do it where it is offensive to me or any other person. It is simply not a big deal.

The only thing that offends me is when someone says something like, "Why do you need it here?" when "here" is inside a private dwelling or business or some such - then I act annoyed (well, I will be annoyed!) and I respond with, "I don't need it here. I need it THERE!" and I point outside. They get the point and shut up.

If you make it a big deal it is a big deal. if you make it a nothing deal then it is a nothing deal. Having your friends know does not alter the equation of self defense - "non-friends" confronting you will not know, to their detriment.

***GRJ***

 

[16thVACav]

Only immediate family, and close friends who are "gun people".