Feel like we need to share  this kind of story. 

Last night while on my back porch smoking ( I don't smoke in the house. Marlboros) my neighbor yelled that he needed help so I walked over to find that his stepdaughter was being choked. Just me walking up was enough to get the perp to let the victim break free and push the perp to the ground where she stayed until PD arrived . Turn out the perp was a neighbor having a mental breakdown and just walked into their house looking for help and when they forced her out of the house she started resisting . As I know of her history of mental health and she knows me that is all it took to end the threat. I never had to unholster my pistol , never even had to say I was carrying but it felt good knowing it was there .

As someone the was born and raised in NJ it felt strange to have six members of the PD and two EMTs walking around me while carrying. I didn't say anything to PD about carrying and was never asked.

It definitely feels a bit strange when one starts carrying, and yes, it can tend to give you a different perspective.  Just be careful of the old adage that when your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.  It's great to be armed in the event of the extremely unlikely situation that could require deadly force, but it's also good to have tools like OC spray with you for situations such as the one you described.

18 hours ago, Wcordes said:

 As someone the was born and raised in NJ it felt strange to have six members of the PD and two EMTs walking around me while carrying. I didn't say anything to PD about carrying and was never asked.

Man, I don't know, I think I'd have been scared witless that one of the cops would spot that I was carrying and that things might take a very dangerous turn. Maybe farfetched but I'm picturing a rookie seeing you accidentally exposing it and screaming "gun" while drawing his own. Not at all sure of the right answer and maybe silence really is golden I'm just not sure.

Thought of you (the OP) when I saw this video:

 

19 hours ago, SoccerFan said:

Man, I don't know, I think I'd have been scared witless that one of the cops would spot that I was carrying and that things might take a very dangerous turn. Maybe farfetched but I'm picturing a rookie seeing you accidentally exposing it and screaming "gun" while drawing his own. Not at all sure of the right answer and maybe silence really is golden I'm just not sure.

Reminds me of the well-beaten phrase "paralysis by analysis".

Not everyone HAS to carry.  If you're not comfortable/confident in carrying then don't.

Doesn't make you a bad person or any less of a 2A advocate.

My father in law had a massive gun collection but never carried a pistol a day in his life. 

 

I understand what others are saying but the point I was trying to say is just because you have a tool does't mean you have to use it. WE all don't want it to turn into the wild west so restraint should be used. As soon as I saw the neighbor being choked I could have pulled my gun but saw it was not nessary and didn't see a reason to escalate the satiation. 

By the new law this governour just signed they are basically halted our permits, so don't worry about mindset for now, it should remain the same as it was before Bruen.

I have been carrying a gun for almost 50 years.  Over 30 years as a LEO.

I know all this stuff is new to most of you.  There will be 1000 encounters for each one you needed to pull a gun.

Get a Kimber Pepper Blaster. Legal in NJ and NY. In NY you have to say you bought it there.

FWIW for all of you who think cops are trigger happy.  A cop, because of the training, will recognize a lethal force encounter before a civilian.  For those naysayers Google police. Yes they are not civilians.