On the contrary, I am of the opinion that we all have an obligation, completely unrelated to CHL, to maintain our physical fitness because it improves your ability to deal with an enormous variety of events in our lives.Does anybody think that a CHL holder has a moral obligation to maintain tip top physical conditioning in order to carry concealed, so as to be able to put off the use of lethal force until physically unable to stop the attack? My own answer would be 'no.'
Part of the reason some of us (like me) seek a CHL is because we don't want someone else to have to protect us, we want to take responsibility for our own defense and safety. Well being physically fit is another thing you can do in that same effort. Can you save someone who is drowning? Can you get yourself out of a burning building? Can you carry a disabled, injured, or otherwise needy person to safety?
I have evaluated this condition over the past 7 years and was alarmed and discouraged to find my answer is "no", and I have been compelled to improve my own fitness and overcome this limitation. One time my family and some other families were at Enchanted Rock and my daughter got stuck in a little cave. I was too fat to fit in there and get her out. Someone else had to do it. That was shameful. One time we were on a boat tour at South Padre Island and the stupid captain drove the boat out into huge wake that it cound not handle, and the boat took on quite a bit of water. I realized my young daughter at the time probably could not swim in this water and I was painfully aware that I could not save her if she went overboard. There are other incidents that got my attention as well.
Since then I have gained control of my fitness and I am now very fit, even if I may never be extremely thin. I found that you handle stress far better if you are fit, exercise regularly, and if you eat right. You do not get emotionally, mentally or physically fatigued nearly as quickly. I know clearly that I am much more capable of handing whatever difficult situation I get into, whether it is a physical scrap, having to render aid to other people who need it, having to deal with lack of sleep because there are urgent affairs that won't wait for me to deal with them, having to drive all night if I have to, having to maintain calm emotional state even when I have been under extreme stress, etc. Likewise I am not dependent on any medication or regular medical attention, I am always well-hydrated so I can go longer without water than your average person, I have trained myself to deal with hunger if need be, I can tolerate extreme heat and cold much better than most people, etc. I just figured that my own body is the main thing limiting my ability to deal with whatever life throws at me, so I should maintain it as well as you would maintain your firearm or your car or any other tool which you depend on to save your life.
I don't mean to pile on folks who obviously have physical impediments that they cannot overcome. One major thing we all must deal with is age. But most Americans have physical impediments that they can, and should overcome. It is laziness and complacency that keeps us in a poor physical state. You know who you are :) I am speaking out of my own experience.