Riveting. It´s a Must Read again because it´s so good you read it too fast the first time. Many thanks, OP. The tip about the fanny pack is a great one.

Amen, and thank you.

Long ago I carried a Colt 32 Police Special in my waistband, top chamber empty. (Don´t ask why)

I never had to shoot at anybody, although I was in situations where shots were fired.

For most people, it seems that the "Permit" and a weapon are more of a security blanket than actual deterrent or protection, so be it.

As Mr Gensert implies, the ability and will to use the weapon, and the perception that you can and will, is the important part, in that you can at least hope to thwart a shooting situation without shots being fired.

For women: Take the training! Get the permit, and be prepared.

Just having the knowledge of the laws in your state and area, plus knowing the ramifications ON YOU if you DO have to shoot someone (unbelievably, in some instances you can be sued by your attacker´s survivors!), and also knowing you HAVE THE ABILITY to take someone´s life is all very daunting - BUT WORTH IT.

Just knowing all this, plus knowing your target practice puts your shots where you want them to go, gives any woman the feeling of control of your life and power to keep it that stays with you even if you are NOT carrying at the moment. That confidence, that ´just try it´ attitude you bear, deters many. Always look people in the eye.

What a great slice of Mr. Gensert´s life. Bonus is the line about Michael Bloomberg.

Definitely a must read. I was riveted, and these things must be read.

Well done, sir. Thank you.

Hubby worked in that NY-like-Beirut.

We considered it a miracle that he lived through those years.

Excellent article.

Don´t understand how a mother could leave a child, but bless you, Mr. Gensert, for being the father your son needed... and for some of his classmates as well.

After my daughters´ dad left, Daughter #2´s best friend´s dad in seventh grade was also our Pastor. He was a gift from God as a "Father" to them those formative years... for which I am eternally grateful... as many mom´s were, I pray, for Mr. Gensert...

Very good read.

I know quite a few dignified, educated, intelligent, married and unmarried Christian women who have conceal/carry permits and who regularly carry when out alone. If they have male companions or husbands, they also carry and are fully licensed and trained to do so, as are the women, several of whom took their weapons to church after the mass-murders became public.

The gun-women I know regularly go to target practice and have taken and passed responsible gun-ownership and safety courses.

They are not aggressive people. Quite the reverse, and they don´t want to ever have to use their weapons. But they are pragmatists in today´s America, where responsible gun owners are marginalized and where criminal gun owners go undetected until they commit a crime.

There is no logic, no intelligence, no rationality to the anti-gun-ownership people´s arguments. While I do have a question about large-magazine ownership by civilians, they pale into insignificance when I think about the flip-side of having all weapons confiscated -- which is where liberals want to take this.

BS

Ya....my BS meter is twitchin´ a little too.

I´m trying to like this guy but something isn´t right.

Reads like a summer camp story where the details are ´stretched´ to make an important point out of fictitious fragments and fond memories.

Here´s this author´s story. Judge for yourself.

http://www.citylimits.org/news/articles/4666/deep-in-the-bluest-borough-a-conservative-blogger

I know why #2. My dad was a cabbie in the 30´s and his pistol fell out of the car and discharged when the hammer hit the ground and shot him in the leg. I keep all my revolvers top cylinder empty.

If you have concealed carry license or a NRA member, their monthly magazines are full of true story experiences without editing. Nothing fancy, just real men and women who sometimes did have to shoot and sometimes just make the weapon visible. People who carry have common sense and do not believe that all bad things happen to others, they are not immune but prepared.

I know I read a true story about a kid that was waving a gin around in a school cafeteria, It looked like he was going to shoot. One teacher ran to his car got his gatand ran back to the cafeteria. The kid stopped and there was order restored.
But it was never covered in the Press becuase it never fit the gun control agenda. It think Larry Elder discussed it a couple of times--KABC790 in LA as his main station.

The NRA mag calls it the "Armed Citizen" and it is always my FIRST read when I get the mag.

... and this ought to be SOP around the nation.

It ain´t bean bag is exactly right

BTW - I know veteran Denver cops who were SCREAMING at their politically correct superiors during Columbine because those politically correct superiors had them establish a perimeter and wait until the killing was finished before they could storm the building, led by SWAT guys.

Quote - "whatever happened to pull your weapon and go croak the SOBs?"

Many veteran patrol cops quit over being told to "stand down" rather than do their jobs to get into the building and go after whoever was shooting. That was their job and kids are dead because they were prevented from doing what they knew to be their job ... go into harm´s way that others may live.

The only problem I have with the authenticity of this story is - how does one roughhouse with little kids while carrying a hand gun in a holster? And no one sees it?

I would take this Must Read and force-feed it into Mayor Bloomers noggen and wait for the baby wimpering to start.

If one has ever been in a combat situation (I have in Vietnam) there are going to be times that you MUST react instantly or you wind up grave yard dead. The same can happen with drug crazed criminals that are attempting to steal something that can be used to get their next fix. And if it come to me or thee, I´m going to try to make sure it isn´t me.

Some historians believe the phrase “forewarned is forearmed” has its origin way back in the 16th Century or maybe even earlier. It’s a truism that, probably more than ever before, applies to the volatile, unpredictable 21st Century in which we now find ourselves. “Forewarned is Forearmed!” Words to live by, perhaps literally.

Try to imagine a world where only the police and the criminals have guns...

Start with Chicago.

Arm yourselves. Practice. And resist to your dying breath the gun control fascists in our world (e.g., Dianne Feinstein and the UN).

And don´t be too hard on #10 here. I´m sure he meant to type "BZ" but those S and Z keys are so close.

I carry. Have done so for fifty years plus.
Have I ever shot at anyone? Sure, during combat. As a civilian, I´ve only had to show a weapon to keep things civil a few times and then wait for the police to arrive and cart a miscreant away. ...........In 2011, according to the FBI, there were 14,612 victims of homicide in the U.S., down 14.7% from 2007. Of those 14,612, only 323 were murdered with any type of rifle. More than five times as many were killed with knives. More were killed with blunt objects, and more than twice as many were killed with the assailant’s bare hands. So it is hard to understand the current obsession with semiautomatic rifles.
It must all be about control.

I sense a bit of "Red Rascal" in this story. Great read, and I won´t accuse it of being high fiction. But I does seem a tad sensationalized.

FTA: "I would take the straightest line to the bank, right hand on my gun in its holster, finger on the trigger."

I´m kind of surprised no one caught this violation of common sense weapon handling. There is no excuse for it; the finger stays out of the trigger guard unless and until it is time to make the gun go bang.

You´re trying to use logic and facts, #24: two things liberals refuse to consider. Çontrol? Absolutely. The 2nd Amendment has nothing to do with hunting: it was included in the Constitution by our forefathers because they recognized that a disarmed population is a controlled population. I never thought I would live in a time when it might be necessary for loyal citizens to resist their government, but we are quickly headed down that path. Liberals are feeling their oats and are bound and determined to alter this country forever. Feinstein is just following the liberal mantra of "never let a good crisis go to waste." And the 50% or so who voted to continue with the wreck in the White House have no idea what they have done, thanks to the press and the sorry education system we´ve allowed to evolve.

13 & 2 -- There is no reason to carry a modern, double action revolver with an empty chamber under the hammer. Rugers, Smiths, Colts, Llamas etc have a hammer block that prevents the firing pin from contacting the primer unless the trigger is pulled. But always use a holster that covers the trigger guard so that nothing can accidentally depress the trigger.

Ever wonder why the gun grabbers want to punish honest citizens?

Ever notice that the gun grabbers NEVER address the bad guys.

"If you had been staying at home he would not have assaulted and robbed you."

Long live Paul Kersey and Vince Majestyk.
We need them everywhere, especially in Chicago, Detroit, Philly, DC, Miami, Watts, East St Louis, Camden and lots of other places.

I´m with #15, sounds like a fictitious movie scenario and script.

Two in the head is the way I was trained. But I carry (carried) a .45.

This caused a little conflict when I took this state´s CCW class, taught by a police officer, assisted by other police officers. But when I talked about body armor (they teach center-of-mass, which is best for most), and I demonstrated that I could put them there, they understood, and let me slide.

(Same thing happened at an anti-terrorist course on the east coast about 3 years ago. If you´re good enough, you can make your own rules.)

Either way--2 or 3--head shots pretty much settle it.

Dittoes, #´s 21 and 28.

Thanks, Staff for the link to Mr. Gensert´s blog. No bragging here, just facts. He is a real man!
Got to get to the range more often.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

BS. The Beretta 92compact doesn´t weigh 4 1/2 lbs. Think about it,that is 72 ounces. My Glock 27 ,very comparable, weighs 30 oz with a 14 rd extended mag. Can´t take him serious when he exaggerates so blatantly on such an easily verified statement.