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There may be some exceptions, but in general a permit to carry a concealed weapon is just that - a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
It does not give you any rights you do not already have, or entail any duties you are not already required to perform as a citizen. It does not make you a police officer, it does not allow or require you to investigate crimes, chase crooks, interfere with the police, or play private eye.
It does NOT give you the right to defend yourself or anyone else, nor does it give you the right to make a citizen's arrest. You already have those rights; a firearm may allow you to exercise them effectively, but it does not give them to you.
Nor does it entitle you to play gunslinger, banging away at real or imaginary bad guys. If you commit a crime or crimes, the permit will only mean you won't be charged with the minor offense of illegally carrying a gun. You can still be charged with murder or some lesser offense if you kill or injure someone, even if you believe he is endangering your life.
As to helping others, that will be up to you and the situation, but the permit gives you no authority you do not already have. Be very careful, though. In one training course, the rookie investigator was shown a film in which a woman ran screaming out of a house, with an armed man right behind her. The man ran her down, threw her to the sidewalk, and pinned her down. Sometimes, a newbie would shoot the bad guy. But in the scenario, the woman was a mass murderer, the man was an FBI agent making an arrest.
So if you choose to butt in, make damned sure you know what's going down; remember, you have a gun, but you probably have no other weapon. You are not allowed to carry handcuffs, you might not be allowed to carry Mace. You have no authority to take control of the scene, or detain anyone, or interview witnesses, or otherwise act as a police officer.
Jim
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