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I can't point to one thing. I grew up around guns, got the obligatory .22 when I was 12, had a .410 when I was younger. Always vacationed in the backwoods where wearing a side arm was like wearing britches. Did the sneaky thing in the Army, qualified rifle, 1911 and a couple of Warsaw-pact weapons as well. A certain comfort level with weapons was inevitable.

I have always carried either a long gun or pistol in the vehicle for years. On the occasional stop I never had any problems with any LEOs even before CHL was a gleam in the legislature's eyes. Ironically, I had one get a little itchy with my CHL presentation though most are like, "so what?" I've always carried one camping and for a large part of my college days, worked as an armed patrol supervisor for a security company.

When I went to work in the deep, dank armpits of the city, I always carried a pistol in the glove box. Sometimes I would "belt" it if I thought I was going in somewhere, questionable. My wife at the time was working as the regional manager for a work uniform company and that wasn't the greatest part of town, nor were her employees shining examples of humanity. She got a model 36 S&W for Christmas one year and taught her to shoot it. She carried that while she was there and after a couple of close calls carried it in the vehicle with her always and sometimes on her when the spidey sense was tingling.

Sooo, when the CHL came around it was a natural progression. We no longer had to depend on "defense to prosecution" to get us out of trouble, this was an affirmative law. We both carry religiously and I have had a couple of instances where having it on me made me a little more comfortable.