Old and Armed to the Teeth

My wife and I went on our regular walk around town today. It was pleasant for 7000' in southern Colorado. Small town, little traffic and it seems you know most everyone you meet. Still, there are strange cars and strange people in town. Now that summer is coming, so will the tourists and travelers. The last thing you expect here is trouble. But like Monty Python so accurately noted: No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

I remember in another small town in Oklahoma, many years ago, awakening in the middle of the night to see a large man standing in our bedroom doorway in the moonlight. He didn't linger after I snatched my S&W .41 from the bedside table. I chased him though the house, out the back door into the night. He disappeared into a car that started up on the street and sped away with the lights out. He was caught a few days later. Had a record. Peeper. Looked to me like he was trying to climb the perp ladder.

So, even here, you never know.

The interesting thing was that I took an inventory of the weapons I was carrying today on our walk. Well, two were actually weapons and two were tools that can readily serve as weapons if the need arises and one was just a tool.

One S&W M&P Shield in 9mm
One Ruger LCP
One Spyderco Delica 4
One Spyderco Tenacious

One Fenix AAA flashlight

Why two of each? I've come around to Massad Ayoob's philosophy that if you are going to carry a gun, you might as well carry two. If one becomes inoperative, dropped, taken, then you have another. If you have a friend in a bad situation that could work with you and he or she doesn't have a gun, you have an extra to give to them.

Two knives? Well, I like knives. They are the most basic of tools. With a knife you can make other tools. I don't really need a backup knife, I just like the ones I have and sometimes take two along just because I feel like it.

The flashlight? Well, sometimes you need a light to see in dim or dark places.

Now there are some people who would consider a senior citizen who walks about his own little village packing what they might consider to be four deadly weapons to be odd, if not a little crazy. I understand that but I can't do much with people like that so I just don't raise the subject. I can also see the remote possibility that some might be thankful for it, should the worst ever be realized.