09:35 – I just shipped my first kit using the on-line USPS Click-N-Ship. Well, technically it’s not shipped yet, but it is queued for pick-up by the USPS. I was surprised to see that today was among the options available for ship date. I wonder if the USPS actually has people driving around on Sunday picking up boxes to be shipped. We’ll see.
I follow the Well-Trained Minds forum, which is one of the largest homeschool forums. I was amused yesterday when a woman posted a query about which holster would be best for her for concealed carry, knowing how some of the forum members would react.
I wasn’t disappointed. Many responders, including me, posted responses that tried to help her but, as I expected, the anti-gun folks were also out in force. There are many forum members who live in Canada, Europe, Australia, and other places that aren’t gun-friendly, and they simply don’t get it. Some of them were horrified by the idea of a private individual carrying a concealed pistol, but many were simply puzzled why anyone would want to. Most responses to that question were the same as I use: for the same reason I carry a spare tire and fire insurance on my house. I don’t expect to need any of those, but I’d rather be prepared.
What amused me was the number of people who responded something like, “Well, no one around here except the police carries concealed weapons” or “no one I know carries a concealed weapon”. Yeah, right. Other than Illinois and DC, which have no concealed-carry permits (and where many people simply carry anyway), essentially everyone who lives in the US knows many people who carry concealed–they just aren’t aware that those people do so. Here in Winston-Salem, I’d estimate that about 1 out of every 15 to 20 adults you pass on the street or in the mall carries concealed, many of them with permits, but many without. And, as some posters on the WTM forums commented, that makes me feel more secure, because most of those armed people are Good Guys. If some lunatic starts shooting the place up, there’s at least a reasonable chance that they’ll encounter someone who can shoot back. And, as they say, when seconds count, the cops are only minutes away.