A funny thing happened on the way to the Massachusetts Firearms Records Bureau. We pulled in for gas a few miles south of the LTC-givers’ edifice. Something wasn’t right. A couple of large teens on small bikes lingered on either side of the door. They weren’t paying the slightest bit of attention to each other. I looked inside for their “friends.” Hoodie boy was breezing down the end of the aisle, aimlessly. So much for buying a can of Coke Zero, then. As I turned back to the car, another teen biker arrived at the scene, both hands jammed into his hoodie, pedaling fast, eyes focused. It was 85 something degrees. As I upped the pace back to my car, in the few seconds that I was “caught” in the open, I thought . . .
Damn! I wish I had a gun. Not to draw, obviously. My life wasn’t in imminent danger. Imminence wasn’t imminent. But it looked liked things might kinda maybe I hope not head in that direction. And if I’m going there, I’d prefer to go there with the option of a gun—remembering that the best gunfight is the one you don’t have.
But I didn’t have a firearm. An RI resident with an RI license to carry a firearm (me) can’t carry in Massachusetts without a Massachusetts License to Carry (LTC). MA requires out-of-state license holders to jump through a bunch of hoops: forms, fingerprints, $100 (not a personal check) and a yearly interview. Even then there’s no guarantee you’ll get an License to Carry (LTC). Or that the LTC won’t be limited to target shooting and hunting based on . . . their decision.
Until I received my MA LTC, all of Massachusetts was a gun free zone. (Legally, I couldn’t even travel to a MA gun range with a gun.) Bottom line: I was gunless.
Which shouldn’t be such a big deal. And sometimes it isn’t; like when I took my posse to see Cirque du Soleil. Oh wait, the walk to the car park was a bit . . . fraught. But I’m not paranoid. I think.
Are there times when you didn’t carry when you thought it might be the biggest mistake of your life? How often do you carry, anyway? Do you carry at home? Do you live somewhere where you can’t carry? How do you feel about that?