You fight like you train. Honestly, I don’t have a whole lot to add to her post; other than the fact that I carry whenever and wherever I’m legally allowed to.
I am also a wholehearted believer in the value of competition as a training and survival aid – yes, the stress of competition shooting is not the same as the stress of a gunfight, but it is at least stress, and it helps train the mind to perform complicated actions such as reloading under difficult conditions. I also believe in realistic training, which is why this Saturday (unless it’s canceled due to dangerous weather conditions) I’ll be shooting the IDPA Match at Atlanta Conservation Club in the predicted 33F and possible snow showers. If you’re in the Indy/Metro area and you’d like to shoot, drop a note in comments here. If the match gets canceled I’ll know around 0600, and I’ll put a post up at 0700 so you don’t have to get out of the house for nothing.
The last comment I have on training is carry a spare magazine. Something like 90% of malfunctions in a semi-automatic pistol can be fixed by ripping out the magazine and putting a fresh one in the gun, so in addition to having the extra rounds if you need them, it’s a nice “break-fix” in case your gun goes down.
Always carry. If it’s legal and you can, you should be.
“When I am asked what a human-being should devote the majority of his time to, i respond with the word ‘training.’ You should train more than you sleep.”
-Masutatsu Oyama.
If it is legal, trust me, I am.
And my backup magazine is actually larger than my primary – makes concealing the both of them a little easier. Still not sure if it is tactically sound or not, but at least I have something.
As for competitions, I really need to buck up and see if my Baby Eagle is allowed for anything happening in my region, because getting a “race gun” is definitely on-hold until my EBR gets up and running.