You seem to be trying to make your point the hard way. Have you been threatened recently?

I installed a wooden ledge in the bed frame underneath where I keep the shotgun. Even if you crawled under the bed, which you would have to be pretty thin to do, you wouldn't see the gun. The ledge looks like part of the frame. The few rare times we have had visitors with children I have removed and unloaded it.

Plus I have two large dogs, both bark when people approach the house. One dog is not aggressive, but not really friendly to strangers either.

I keep my other guns and small valuables hidden in places that are not obvious and not easy to get to.

No...but, if i did not carry it, then what was the purpose of me wasting 10 hours of my life to get the license?? I have to put it to good use!

I believe in carrying a pistol because of the rare chance that i am confronted with a "mall shooting" or "lethal threat" on the streets. I took the course to protect my family.

I get asked alot why do you carry a gun?? do you plan on shooting someone??

To which I reply, no I did not buy a handgun to shoot anyone, in fact I hope to never have to. I have it for personal protection, and it is more or less a hobby. Besides it is your right to have them.

For this reason Id like to learn about guns and get my cert. to posses/carry.
I currently rent my house, but once I live in a place that im OWNING then I will be without a doubt having a handgun and most likely a shotgun. I live in a great town, no robberies,no drug prob, no black peoples (i kid,not) , mostly rich folk.... its just a piece of mind thing as well as a RIGHT.

What's a good shotgun gauge that doesn't have too much kick, but still packs a punch, I'm guessing a 12 gauge?

410 gauge. A 12 gauge kicks like a mule.

I got news for ya. The neighborhoods with rich folks get robbed the most. Why would a robber waste his time in the 'hood stealing junk when rich people have all the nice stuff. My aunt and uncle were kind of on the racist side, like you, so they built a house in a wealthy area with no "people of color," as they put it. Well, it wasn't long before the security system was tripped. It typically happened every two years or so. If you live among rich folk, you are more justified to conceal and carry than if you live in the hood.

This thread totally blows me away (no pun intended)
Me, being from Canada cannot even imagine living in a place where any schmuck walking the street could be packing a loaded handgun. I havent even seen a handgun outside of the one gun range that I've been to.

Anyways, I know this is a thread about "what concealed handgun you carry" so Im not going to get into the whole gun debate

So just to make it a legit post, sometimes I carry a loaded "water gun" concealed in the back of my 4runner, makes it easy to give the dog water when I walk her.

When Im playing video games I like to go with the Desert Eagle, if at all possible.

Thank you.

Josh, a 12 gauge shotgun can recoil depending on what kind of loads you use. You can also use low recoil buckshot which would really tame the recoil. Pump shotguns usually recoil more than a gas operated shotgun, but inertia operated shotguns pack quite a wallop.

For something low recoiling, the Remington 1100/1187 shoots really soft. It's all steel (whereas Mossberg, Winchester, and Benelli use aluminum alloy) and gas operated. The heft of the Remington shotguns soaks up quite a bit of recoil.

But it's all subjective. I have a 20 ga. Beretta 686 over under that is very light. With regular birdshot it'll recoil as much as my heavy Remington 870 12 ga.

If you want to try out some shotguns, I'll be at Angeles Range this Sunday. You're free to try some shotguns out.

Rich neighborhoods are targeted more by professional thieves or bored kids who live there. The junkie living in the hood isn't going to drive to the suburbs where the first cop who sees him will pull him over. He'll steal from his neighbors.

Of course the whole point of carrying a concealed weapon isn't to prevent your house from being robbed, it's to protect yourself from violent crime when you are away from home. There's more of a chance of that in the hood.

It's really just part of the old Boy Scout motto 'Be prepared.'

But you better be prepared to pull that trigger when you pull it out 'for protection'. I'm betting one of two things happens when a bad guy sees you reaching for something, he sh!ts himself and runs or he shoots first. You have to make a split second call.
In my opinion if you did not buy the gun to shoot someone in self defense (when warranted of course) then you should return it to the store. Otherwise you run the risk of making a bad situation 100x worse.
Coming from Australia and like our Canadian friend posted earlier, I have not grown up with the gun culture that exists in this country, so I feel absolutely no desire/urge/fear to carry a weapon of any sort for protection. But if I did feel that carrying a firearm was necessary I would be asking myself am I prepared to kill someone with it? Sitting here at my desk at work I think 'f@*k yeah, I'd empty a full mag into the worthless hunk of shIt' But at that time, who knows.

BTW, if I was going to buy a handgun my preference would be a Browning Hi Power 9mm.

Now I remember why I can relate to (most) of the members of this forum!

I have more handguns (and long guns) than I care to count. What I carry usually depends on what I am doing, where I am going, and what I am wearing that day.

My "usual suspects" are a Glock 23 (40 S&W) or a Ruger SP-101 (.357 Mag). At times I may carry a full size 1911 A1, Colt Commander, or Taurus 85 (snub nosed .38).

Of course at home and camp I have more options in amost every caliber from .22 to 44 Mag.

I concur that it is not so much the round (although there are worse and better for every caliber) but the placement.

I didnt say I wasnt prepared to shoot someone if needed be, and I would never pull it out unless that was the case... My point of that statement was that I hope I never have to use it on someone.


good choice on the Glock Gromulus!