TexasCHLforum.com

I am one of those who has posted about a "security team" made up of CHL holders. In my posts, I also made sure to include the word "informal," and it was in the context merely of wanting to CHL holders at my church identified to one another so that none of us accidentally shoots another during a shooting crisis. But it had nothing to do with formally organizing as a recognized security team.

Let men do what real men do in times of trouble.

That's about it.

surprise_i'm_armed wrote:TAM:

Were you the one who recomended that his preacher get a Taurus PT-145?

A previous church carry discussion thread was where I saw it.

If so, did he get one, or go with something else?

That must have been someone else. I've always told anyone who asked me to go try a bunch of different pistols and see what they like, and then I've offered to take them to the range and try some of ours. Me, I'm partial to 1911s, but that doesn't mean that it's a good choice for someone else. I also have revolvers in 2 different calibers, 2 different pocket semi-auto pistols, 4 1911s in 2 sizes, a G19, a couple of .22 semi-autos, and a USP Compact. I can offer them handgun caliber experiences in .22LR, .380 ACP, .38 Special, 9 mm, .40 S&W, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, and .45 ACP. Brands represented are Ruger, S&W, Colt, Glock, Taurus, Springfield, Kimber, and H&K.

But I always stress to newbies to try a lot of pistols before settling on the one they like best. It's a fairly significant investment, both in time, money, and personal competence/ability, so they should be certain of what they want before plunking down several hundred dollars for their first gun. And even so, what they choose to buy may not be what they choose to carry. I bought my wife a 642 Airweight for Valentine's day in 2008. It's not her favorite gun to shoot because of the recoil management. On the day after she took her CHL class, she bought herself a Glock 19, because that is what she qualified with, and she really enjoyed shooting it on the range. But, once she got her plastic and decided that purse carry was really her favored method, she realized that getting the Glock in and out of the zippered concealment pocket in her new carry purse was not as easy as it looked; so she finally settled on carrying the revolver with a backup speed loader. The 642 is just easier for her to deploy quickly, so that is her primary carry weapon - even though she would be probably better armed with the Glock.

mr.72 wrote:

surprise_i'm_armed wrote: No one knows I carry at church. No one will ever know unless
my weapon needs to be drawn for its intended defensive purpose.

That's what I was hoping, too, considering that I am on stage at church in full view of thousands of people every week including two gigantic video screens etc., so I'm quite high-profile.

But my wife has "bragged" occasionally that I am carrying. So the word is out however much I tried to keep a lid on it.

I'm in kind of the same boat. The end result is that I now have church friends coming up to me (it happened just last night) to tell me that they are working on getting their CHL. I've had 4 of my church friends take the class this month. The guy last night was the drummer I was playing with, and he said he's going to apply in August as soon as he turns 21. The bass guitarist I played with last night has previously told me that he is applying in July. I believe that our worship pastor took the class this month, but I'm not certain about that. There seems to be a sense of urgency among many in our congregation that NOW is the time to git 'er done. Naturally, whenever the subject comes up, I encourage it.

My worship pastor, who also leads the main worship band, has told me before that he finds comfort in knowing that I am armed and behind him on stage. In any case, I can see a day in the near future when there will be at least 2 or 3 of us armed on stage at any given time.