Vanity -- Firearm Advice

As you can tell, you are going to get a ton of responses about Glock vs. Springfield, 9mm vs. 45 etc. The most important piece of advise is to get a weapon you are comfortable with (any caliber .380 and above, and practice, practice, practice.

Yesterday, after five years of carrying concealed, I had to draw my weapon for the first time. Scariest moment of my life that I hope to never have to repeat. But I would have been in deep dodo without my gun (Glock 26).

Summer clothes?

Winter clothes?

Different pistols?

I carry a .38 wheel gun....most of the time. But it's a bit bulky and heavy.....Better to carry in the winter.

I have a Sig P230...that I carry some. It's slimmer, and somewhat lighter. Better for summer...

I prefer the wheel gun though.....

I pulled into a gas station in the bad part of town (SW Houston). I wouldn’t normally stop here, but was running low and traffic was bad. The parking lot was littered with thugs and day laborers. I was fully aware of my surroundings and watching everyone. I finished filling up, turned to get back in my truck, and some punk in baggie shorts and a sideways hat yells “hey man, come here.” I ignored him, got in my truck, shut the door, and was in the process of buckling up and leaving. I look back over my left shoulder and see him running towards the rear of my truck. I reached in my center console and put my hand on my gun. Just as I did, my door flew open and I saw his arm in front of me (like he was trying to unbuckle my seatbelt or something). I drew and pointed my weapon over my shoulder and directly in his face. He screamed like a 6 year old girl and took off running. What scared me the most was how close I came to pulling the trigger and what the outcome would have been. Had he actually grabbed me, I probably would have fired. Long description, but I’d say the entire thing took place in about 4-5 seconds.

To all those people that think they are going to encounter a scenario like this, analyze the bad guy’s intentions, draw, assume a Weaver stance, put two to the body and one to the teeth, etc. etc., I hate to tell you - there isn’t time for that. It was amazing how quickly it all started and ended.

I know that I’m late for your party, but, another 9mm you should give a look to is the new Taurus PT 709 Slim. It is the same size as a Walther PPS, but has a manual safety.It is a SA/DA striker-fired 7+1 compact. 6.24 inches LOA. 3.2 inch barrel, 19 ounces, and less than an inch thick. The trigger has a safety lever, and a visual loaded chamber indicator. It also has a keyed safety for when you store the firearm, disabling the pistol. The SA/DA allows a standard SA pull, but in the case of a Fail-To-Fire, gives a DA second strike capability.
I have put over 400 rounds through it, and have experienced absolutely no problems, what so ever. The price for mine was $370.00.
This is my new CC firearm. My Ruger LCP now being a BUG.

When Hurricane Rita was supposed to hit I drove up north to Conroe from Houston. It took me nearly 24 hours to get to my destination. Along the way I took some backroads and found that it seemed just about every hispanic gangbanger from the north side of Houston was out for a joy ride. They were bumper to bumber and had this little trick where they would wait for someone in a car like mine (expensive) driven by a white guy then pack together whenever we passed. The idea was to keep us in the left lane and try to make us have a head on collision. Bunch of little turds!

At one point I was stopped in front of some of these gangbangers and and this one punk came up to my car window. He pulls his shirt up and starts rubbing his nipples and sticking his tounge out. He stopped when I rolled the window down, said "no thanks you are not my type" and shoved one of several Glocks I had with me in his face. He had put his hand on the handle of a knife he had sticking out of his pocket. What I did seemed to get his attention and he ran back to the other punks parked behind me. They started piling out of the car with bats and other things in their hands. It was getting dark and I could not see exactly what they were carrying besides the bats but I suspect they were holding on to pistols so I took off. They wisely decided not to try to catch me in my Carrera with their old beat up lowrider.

I called the local dispatcher and was able to give the good guys their license number and a vehicle description. The police called me back about an half an hour later and said that they found the car and the punks but no weapons except for 3 Mac-10's thrown in the ditch near the punks car:)

Today, on road trips, not only do I carry my old stuff but an Ak-47 pistol too. You can never be too well armed.

How ironic what you said about the Rita evacuation. I too was leaving the Houston area and heading to Conroe to ride it out with my 85 year old grandmother(she lived in April Sound at the time). It took us only 5 hours to get there though. We took the back roads and took two vehicles. I had been talking to truckers on my CB the entire time because my GPS was not working and they were helping me navigate. When we were getting close to Hwy 105, and a lot of traffic, I called my wife and told her to run the next light because there were some punks behind me trying to cause trouble and we needed to lose them. Instead, she stopped at the light and made the mistake of flipping them off thinking they were “just kids.” I saw them jump out of their car, run past my truck, and head for her vehicle. Before I could even get to my gun, one of the truckers, coming the opposite direction, jumps out of his cab with a shotgun pointed at their face. They all ran back to their vehicle and drove down in the ditch to get away from the situation. My wife now knows to follow my instructions exactly and keep her middle finger holstered.

When I was in high school I hung out with a kid that was a martial arts freak. He was one of those guys that could put his foot right up against your nose in an eyeblink. He had a black belt in everything it seemed. He would tell me to always be aware of your surroundings and how people were moving around you. I never paid much attention to him until one day we were down at Surfside beach. We had talked the local 7-11 counter dude to sell us some "refreshments". It was dusk and as we walked around the side of the store three wetbacks came out of nowhere and said something about "cerveza".

I knew we were in bad company and I was about to give them what I was holding when one of them pulled a knife out and stepped towards me. The next thing I knew all three of the guys were on the ground. The guy with the knife had his head turned around almost completely backward. Another was out cold and the third was screaming. His left shoulder was stuck up against his left ear.

Fortunately a Surfside cop saw the whole thing. The one guy with his neck messed up was dead. The cop was yelling at my buddy asking him if he was OK, what his name was, hold old was he (17) and whatnot. Later the cop said that my friend had moved so fast that he was afraid of him and wanted to make sure he knew he was a good guy. My buddy looked at the cop and said "what happened?" He had just reacted when he saw the knife and really did not mean to do what he did.

So, I've seen "awareness and quick reflexes". While I never could do all that martial arts stuff myself from that day on I've always had eyes in the back of my head. I've also become an expert at "ching-ching-POW!"

It took my friend a long time to get over the event. He also had to watch out for members of the same crew for several years.

Always be careful and aware, you never know what is coming around the next corner. And for goodness sake, never flip anyone the bird. If you become involved in a road rage situation just smile and drive away.

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