mez1st wrote:Thank you all for your thoughts and advice. I will look into the reading material and work on mental focus/stress training. .45mac.40, I agree that since I started carrying this past week, I pay much more attention to my surroundings. Brewster, I agree that mental preparation does not get enough emphasis. I hope this does not fill my mail box with hate mail but I wonder if a ten hour course on the CHL laws is enough to qualify someone to carry a firearm. The untrained unprepared could be as much a danger as the BG in a public area scenerio. I know we have the right to keep and bear arms and I intend to do so, but if like Brewster mention, a person is rattled enough to fumble when it counts target marksman won't be enough.
If you look at the historical record, CHL holders rarely screw up badly. I would take that as evidence that the 10 hour course is sufficient to enable folks so trained to carry concealed weapons safely. If the record on driver's licenses were half as good, our vehicle accident rates wouldn't be nearly as horrific as they are.
There is a big difference between being prepared to carry safely, and being prepared to manage a deadly force incident successfully. The 10 hour course, like driver's training, introduces you to a lot of areas that need much more work before competence is attained.
Whether one follows up and develops competence, or figures the need for training ends when the plastic comes in the mail is a matter of personal responsibility. When everything is rosy, it's easy to conclude that both approaches are OK. The differences become starkly apparent when the chips are down and deadly force must be used to protect life in an incident that may last only 2 - 5 seconds start to finish with no do overs, followed by an emotionally wrenching and expensive aftermath that drags on for months or years after the sound of the last shot is long gone.
