[leadcounsel]

As for the extra mags, some think it's a good idea. I think it's unnecessary and could come back to bite you by portraying one as being "overly zealous."

As for the being over one's head and the garden variety... ask yourself who is "likely" going to be preying on you and their motivations. While we don't always know and cannot prepare for every situtation, we can take a pretty good guess based on our personal lives. It varies from person to person and situation to situation.

For ME (and me only), in public, in the RARE (keep this in mind, it's not an everyday occurance) situation that a perp comes against me to use deadly force it's LIKELY one of the following reasons, and it's likely 1 or 2 armed perps:

1) They want to rob me;
2) They want to car jack me;
3) They want to toy with me;

In any of these "garden variety" scenarios, my 10 rounds of .40 will be more than sufficient if I need to draw and have the opportunity to safely draw and shoot. If they're taking property (with the threat of harm), I'll not risk my life to defend it UNLESS I can safely do so. Now, if I think they're intent on doing me harm, make no mistake I'll fight back.

Let's assume an extremely unlikely situation where three perps with guns spring at me to rob me. Am I going to "Doc Holiday" draw on them? No. I'll comply until one of two things happens: 1) I can safely draw and defend myself without risking getting shot or 2) If they have, through their actions, indicated that they are interested in killing me despite my cooperation. In any of these scenarios, I'm glad I wear a vest. If I have to outdraw them, I'll likely get shot at and my vest covers most of my vitals and 1/3rd of my body. My comment about being outnumbered and NOT drawing a gun is based on the situation where several perps clearly have the jump on you, but only want to rob you. Compliance is the best idea until 1 and 2. Because perps aren't trained soldiers with a cause, but instead criminals of opportunity and only want some fun and some cash, I understand that they'll flee at the first opportunity. A two magazine gunfight is the thing of wars, law enforcement, and movies; not civilian concealed carry.

Now, is it possible that someone wants to put a hit on me and send and army of thugs prepared to take on Chuck Norris. Is it possible that the Mexican gureilla army will be invading my city and I'll need to lay suppressing fire as I make my way to cover? Is it possible that my gun will malfunction? It is possible, but pretty darn unlikely. In the former events if you think you're going to get into that serious of a gunfight, I respectfully disagree. In the event you can't trust your gun, GET A DIFFERENT GUN! A revolver won't JAM, which is the main reason I hear for carrying extra mags. I carry a gun that I am absolutely positively 100% certain will fire each and every time that I squeeze the trigger and I would absolutely stake my life on it each and every time. Now, in a WORST CASE 1 in a million chance that I was BOTH attacked AND my gun jammed, it takes less time for me to reach up, clear the round, and shoot, than it would to drop the magazine out, get another one, postion it, put it in, rack the slide, and shoot. I could clear three misfires in the same time it takes to replace a single mag. AND, more importantly, if it is a failure to extract, replacing the mag is not a solution that will extract the shell casing. So, whether same mag or new mag, you've got to manually extract the casing. Since the possibilities of this are so REMOTE IMO, I don't see the point in carrying and extra mag. If MY logic doesn't agree with your logic, then so be it. For that extra space, I would rather carry a multi-tool, folding knife, or flashlight.

As for wearing the vest, everyone practices wearing safety equipment that is relatively cheap and easy to use. Do you wear a seatbelt and have a car with an airbag? Do you wear a motorcycle helmet or leather jacket? Do (did) you wear protective sporting equipment in your sporting days? I could go on and on and on... bottom line is it's cheap, flexible, lightweight, and if I carry a gun it only makes sense to protect myself agaisnt the very weapon I carry and the threat level necessary to make me use it. Body armor is proven to save lives of soldiers, law enforcement, and civilians alike. With the fact that fewer of our brave soldiers have died in the last 3 years in a WAR ZONE than civilians shot in the torso in the last 3 years in the US by small caliber handguns, I'll wear the vest thank you.