One of the common questions asked of concealed carry permit holders is, “How often do you arm yourself when you go out?”

The correct answer is, “All the time,” yet this typically provokes puzzled looks on the faces of the person asking.

But it’s really not that difficult to figure out when to carry: You should carry all the time (or almost all the time, excepting visits to post offices, schools, government offices, etc.).

Although some CCW permit holders make a big deal about it being the duty of CCW permit holders to carry all the time for everyone’s protection, that seems too “meta” for me.

The way I look at it, if you know when the bad guys were going to strike, you either wouldn’t go to their location, or maybe you wouldn’t go out at all. In other words, if you know for certain that there’s going to be trouble, you usually won’t need a gun because you can simply avoid the confrontation in the first place.

On the other hand, if you don’t have perfect foresight, then you really have no idea when or where you will running into the kind of serious trouble for which you need a sidearm. If you have a permit to carry concealed, the only way for you to be prepared is for you to carry whenever you leave the house.

That way, if you spot trouble you can still leave if you have the time and the opportunity, but if you can’t get away, you’re still prepared.

Simple!