[USAret]

There was no "Defining Moment" for me. I don't remember a time when I didn't know how to ride a horse or shoot a rifle and pistol (my mother has pics of me riding pretty much the day I started walking).

Until I left Montana I never thought the question would come up, never thought it WAS a QUESTION.

Then I joined Uncle Sam’s Big Green Gun Club. What a non-firearms friendly organization that is. First place I got stationed I learned I needed to be 21 to have a Pistol AND couldn’t carry it anywhere when I did turn 21. I’ve been to lots of places where I was told my guns were NOT WELCOME. Once I was in a unit that the Commander requested a LIST of all people who owned a POF (Personally Owned Firearm). Luckily I was the Training SGT of that unit and somehow my name didn’t make it on the list, despite my CCW in my wallet for that particular state. Since I spent so much time in places where I just plain couldn’t take ANY firearm. Places where I spent a whole day filling out paperwork and going through government inspections OF my Firearms, and was then told I had to keep them locked up in an approved container. I got a real liking for the 2nd Amendment. Some would say I actually cherish this Constitutional Right.

Now that I am retired from that career I don’t go anywhere where my CCW is not accepted (except of course the local Army Hospital, and VA Hospital). My policy is simple. With the before noted exceptions (and I will be glad when SCOTUS throws them and their laws and regulations out).

I do not carry (my wallet) any place where I cannot carry (my handguns).