[Dragline45]

I have a mental stigma attached to carrying ALL the time. For instance when I take my 1 year old the the local playground (my neighborhood is very low crime), family get togethers, etc. I talk myself out of it because I assure myself there is no need to carry there.

This is nonsense, the whole point of carrying should be to protect yourself and your family, how are you going to do so with your carry gun sitting in the night stand. There's no way to predict when trouble will happen, and trying to rationalize with yourself when and where it will is a waste of time. All those innocent people in the movie theater a couple months back sure as hell didn't expect a wild gunman to shoot the place up, but it happened. Carry whenever you legally can, otherwise your means to protect yourself are out the window.

Also, I cannot move beyond my comfort level of having my firearm loaded with a round chambered. I carry my G26 which obviously has no external safety....just a trigger safety and common sense. I have convinced myself that taking a second to rack the slide in a situation doesn't weigh as strong as having an accident with a loaded pistol.

Your problem is you selected a platform you are not comfortable with. I myself do not like Glocks for the reason that their is no external saftey or a double action trigger, the gun to me is unsafe, but if others feel comfortable with it then more power to them. Also that second you take to rack the slide is enough for someone to lunge in and stab you, or draw and fire. Pulling that unloaded pistol out to rack it is opening yourself up as a main target since you are armed.

I would like to be as comfortable and safe as possible while carrying. Anyone have advice to weigh in with on either side? Does it basically boil down to personal comfort...or is there a STRONG opinion as to why a person should carry a loaded, chambered pistol 24/7?

My recommendation, sell the Glock and pick something up with either an external saftey or a double action trigger since you obviously don't feel safe carrying the glock with a round in the chamber. Glocks have really good resale value so you wont take much of a loss selling it. Also make sure you get something you can easily and comfortably conceal day in and day out otherwise it will sit at home. For those times you cant legally carry, get one of those cable lock boxes and lock it to under the seat of your car that way you still have access to a firearm.