Quote:
|
so, tell me of your experience upon getting your CCL and carrying for the first time, what kind of training you undertook before doing so, and what setup you decided to go with for your first time
|
It never occurred to me, when I got my carry permit, that I
wouldn't just carry everywhere I went. What's the point of getting a permit you're not going to use?
These days I understand the impulse a little more, but back then it was just such a natural thing. Carry permit = carry all the time, how else?
A friend of mine suggested we should drive up to Blade Tech together and pick up a holster for me, the day after I got my carry permit. So I put my firearm inside a locking case in the trunk of the car, drove up to Tacoma, purchased a holster, and wore the gun home that day. From that day forward, I never got dressed without putting the gun on. I had some trouble at first figuring out where on my belt to wear the holster, and then figuring out how to dress around it, but it never occurred to me that just
not wearing the gun was an option. (Kinda stupid that way, I guess.)
In Washington, no training is required by law. So at that time I got my permit, I had no training whatsoever. A few weeks after I started carrying, I took my first professional firearms training class, an intermediate-level defensive handgun. Looking back I should have started with a beginning level class, but I'd been shooting with friends all summer at that point and thought the intermediate level would suit me. It did -- I really enjoyed it! -- but looking back I would have learned more and progressed faster if I'd worked harder on the foundations at the beginning.
pax