Walk The Walk, Talk The Talk — Why Concealed Carry Is More Than Just A Choice

Yesterday, I had to go to my kid’s baseball game. Tucked inside my waistband was a Glock 43 9mm single stack. I don’t ever anticipate needing to use it. I just want to sit in the bleachers, cheer on my child, and sip some crappy coffee they sell at the snack bar. Why the heck would I need a concealed carry handgun? What are the chances that some random bad guy shows up and wants to hurt some or all of us?

This is probably the same thought that has gone through the mind of every gun owner stuck in a violent situation — prior to violence breaking out.

One of the kids on my kid’s team has a pretty dysfunctional dad. We don’t all come from good backgrounds. I don’t pretend to know the whole story behind the situation but it’s a mom-and-dad are separated after some domestic abuse and she lifted the restraining order so he comes to games. Lo and behold, if she’s there, he stalks around the bleachers acting shady. As parents, we mostly mind our own business. As a concealed carrier, I find myself mostly trying to avoid thinking about it because it’s annoying.

He walks up, says mean things to her, she acts scared and tries to get away and he follows behind her. Thankfully, one of the other parents on the team is a police officer and he’s mostly been there to make sure this dude doesn’t do anything incredibly stupid.

This past Saturday, I walked down to the section of bleachers she typically sits while she’s trying to get away from her baby daddy. My wife and myself sat next to her and tried to keep her comfortable.

This is when I found out she had previously had a restraining order against the kid’s dad.

I asked her why she lifted the restraining order in the first place.

She said she had to lift the restraining order so she could move forward with court proceedings. I thought that sounded dumb but I tried to recommend carrying a concealed handgun. After all, a 5’6″ skinny woman versus a 6’4″ man isn’t exactly a fair fight — not like there is such a thing.

She said she doesn’t like guns. My wife, who doesn’t particularly like guns, offered to take her to the range. The woman declined. She said she’d rather “get fit and learn how to fight”.

Not bad. It’s always good to be physically fit and to learn how to fight. But it’s not a good answer for a guy who outweighs her by over a hundred points and has an extra seven inches of reach on his fist.

The game ended with my son’s team losing by a run. The guy lingered in the distance and stared at me and my wife with hateful eyes. Let me tell you, as a concealed carrier, I have to be very aware of my emotions — especially when dealing with someone who honestly should find a train to jump in front of. I kept my emotions in check. When it came time to go to the locker room, one of the other parents — the police officer — called the local police and they sent a patrolman down to just hang out.

The sight of the police officer was enough to keep this guy from acting out or being overly erratic. He’s a coward. He’ll wait until the chips are in his favor.

That’s why concealed carry needs to exist.

We can say it’ll never happen to us. We can point to statistics that say it’s not a probability. We can point to political commentators that call us odd for wanting to carry a concealed handgun. But, I think we all know the score.

When you need that gun to save your life, you need it right now — not fifteen minutes after you pull it out of a safe or thirty minutes after police arrive.

Do you have what it takes? Here’s what it takes: Every. Single. Day. Nothing less, nothing more.