[Hodar]

It takes precious seconds that one can't afford to chamber a round when confronted by a "bad guy."

It takes significantly more than 2 seconds to decide if:

1) Lethal force is required
2) I will offer lethal force

During that time, one can both chamber a round, and present the weapon. My training came as a child from the NRA. We were taught NEVER to carry a loaded gun, until we were ready to shoot. That meant, the bolt open in a rifle, and the barrel exposed in a shotgun (or breach open in a pump shotgun). That way, you simply couldn't misfire, as the gun was rendered into a club. I see no compelling reason why this thought process should be any different with a pistol.

[MineralMan]

"I see no compelling reason why this thought process should be any different with a pistol."

Well, you see, the guys in this thread who always carry with a round chambered, are always afraid someone's there ready to attack them. Could be anyone. Could be you, or me, or the guy in the car driving by. Anyone.

There's a name for that sort of thing.

[Eaker]

My training came as a child from the NRA.

Now that you are "all-growed-up" maybe you are ready for some "big-boy" training.

Training kids and training rough men is two different things.

[algol]

The difference is that the point of carrying a pistol around -- unless you're just carrying it back and forth to the range -- is that you're ready to shoot.

While I'll agree that there are occasions where merely brandishing the pistol will cause the bad guy to back off, that may also just prompt him to try and take it from you. If you're not ready to shoot in that case, you probably shouldn't be carrying at all.