I was a certified NRA firearms instructor for a while, and am retired from 23 years federal law enforcement service, with frequent contact with firearms. We as retirees have the option to carry concealed as long as it is IAW the laws of our state of residence. There is an effort under way in DC to have some sort of federal law passed that would supersede state laws in this regard and cover us retired feds no matter where we go. That being said - while I do own several firearms, I do not carry concealed and am not planning to do so in the future. Carrying that thing around as part of the job was sort of fun at first, but it got old after you had to figure out what to do with it when you attended to things in the necessary room (next time you're in a restaurant, and have to visit the head, take a look around in there and tell me what you'd do with the thing while your hands are otherwise occupied); when you traveled on aircraft and had the screener or airline counter help bellow with leather lungs, "I got a LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) here!" - meaning they were calling special handling to get you around the airport, and usually an escort, at least through the checkpoints - along with the security log to fill out in front of everybody, so your anonymity (cover) has now vanished. Let's not forget the nervous airline pilot you have to fence with after you get on the airplane - again, thanks to airline help, not very discretely and before everyone else so all other passengers know who and what you are. The kicker was the niggling fear in the back of your mind that even if you were involved in a righteous shoot, if there was any doubt of any kind about what you had done, you'd be thrown to the wolves by your supervision and the U.S. Attorney - not to mention having the daylights sued out of you by the perp or his/her family. All of this was while I was "on the job" - imagine what a pain in the duff it would be as a retiree without at least the modicum of protection a badge gives you. The biggest reason, however, is I don't want to be involved in something like what just went down in NY state, where an armed off-duty ATF agent, going to the drug store to pick up his dad's BP medication, confronted an armed robber in the store; somehow, during this confrontation, two other retired police officers or federal agents showed up and, thinking the ATF agent was the bad guy, were reported to have shot him dead by mistake. The perp was also killed but there's not a lot being said about how. I wouldn't want that on my conscience. Best advice is to avoid those places where you may have to use a firearm (the drug store thing was a fluke, although robberies in drug stores are on the rise, the pharmacy is a prime target for obvious reasons); always keep an eye open for the quickest exit, wherever you are; and take a position where you can observe safely, note every detail and provide it to responding LE when they arrive. Not looking or dressing like a retired cop helps, too. 23 years and a stress-related, near-fatal heart attack/stent was ENOUGH!:salute:
