TexasCHLforum.com

It's tough. I'm at your back, as far as I can be.

My parents wanted us to buy a house down the street from them when my wife and I married. Then my wife's mother wanted us to buy a house a couple of blocks from her home. They were 20 miles apart. We just had to say No. They did not disown us, though, as I said, some feathers flew.

If you can't learn to drive, get a Utah, Florida, or other non-resident license. They are much cheaper and won't show up in your frequent traffic stops.

- Jim

Thanks.

There are matters that you just don't need to talk about. Very few people talk about what brand or color of underwear they are wearing that day.

Even with police stops, from what I've read, the officer just says something like "where is it?" The jerks that feel they need to haul a CHL holder out of the vehicle and disarm him are rare.

- Jim

father wrote:I am proud of you people giving such good advice to a young person on dealing directly with family who disagree on guns.

Thank you, if that comment was directed toward me.

I wish you would speak up more in the conversations where people complain about employers who disagree on guns.

There is a world of difference between family and employers. Family members really love one another or generally want to get along. It may be difficult, but they come around. I have been there. They didn't give me a T-shirt.

Employers can just flush employees down the toilet and hire someone else when we have a practical unemployment rate around 20%.

I've said this so many times that I quit repeating it: You are not going to stick out your jaw and demand the right to carry a weapon anywhere on private property. The corporate bureaucratitic mentality is such that they will never allow it.

Load up. Cover up. Shut up.

- Jim

Hoi Polloi wrote:Did your wife's family hail from the north or something? My southern relatives and in-laws are far too stubborn to give up after just a year.

I'm very fortunate not to have been drinking something when I read that.

Everyone concerned was born and raised in Chicago, as I was.

Midwesterners are pretty forgiving. They are not known for these feuds that go on for generations. Also, MIL was an intelligent, practical woman and knew better than to butt up against an immovable object (me).

Maybe it's me. I get along with everyone. I don't like everyone. I avoid many people. I silently despise some. But I get along.

- Jim

The resistance peaks before the wedding.

My late mother-in-law treated me like the new kid in school for about a year, but when she realized that I could not be cowed, she gave up.

- Jim

Most people don't let political ideology or religion interfere with family relationships.

I grew up in a very rigid environment (back in the day) where divorce, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, or interracial relationships were viewed as a fate worse than death. When those events eventually occurred in the family, guess what? The chickens squawked and ran around flapping their wings, and then settled down and got over it.

It seems like people "coming out" about being gay experience much the same response.

OTOH, letting someone use money to control you while claiming to love you ... connect the dots.

- Jim

horns434 wrote:Sign the paycheck? No. Pay the rent/tuition? YES.

Well, you're an adult. Some decisions are difficult.

- Jim

You've got the religion. Get confirmed.

As for traffic stops, making an effort to obey the law certainly helps. But anybody can have a brain fart and blow a speed limit or stop sign. I've done it. One day I had a police car following me in a small town that has a reputation for exploitative traffic stops. I checked my speed, made sure I had my wallet, scanned the windshield, and realized that my inspection was about three months expired.

Nothing happened.

- Jim

Who cares, and why? Are they going to disinherit you?

My life has only gotten better since I stopped caring what people who don't sign my paycheck or can't arrest me think. That was about 20 years ago.

- Jim

So what are you waiting for, Hoi Polloi?

- Jim

ELB wrote:If you think it is possible that you can be confronted with a situation that requires you to defend yourself with lethal force, you also have to consider the possibility -- maybe even the probability -- that it won't schedule itself for when you are in the car.

I agree that the criminal gets to determine the time, place, and means of attack without prior notice.

That is why my routine is eyeglasses, pants, pistol, shirt, cell phone, shoes.

Carjacking, though it gets a fair amount of publicity, is so rare in the grand scheme of things that it is not a separate category of crime. (It is robbery.)

- Jim

Actually, the phrase "go down" reflects a stereotype movie or hip-hop thug language mentality that should be discarded.

If you are attacked, you lawfully defend yourself. In this state, if your circumstances justify it, you are golden.

- Jim

Welcome to the forum.

By getting a CHL, you are in effect voting for the right to keep and bear arms. Without one, you run the risk of being arrested for unlawful carry by LEOs who are not informed about current law. There are numerous threads on this forum about such arrests.

Having or not having a CHL is not a factor in self-defense shootings. There is no basis for such a thing in Texas law or jurisprudence (IANAL, etc.). Just don't shoot anyone who doesn't need to be shot.

How often are you stopped for traffic violations? I honestly don't understand this. Do you have a car with no muffler or Grateful Dead decals?

The last time I was stopped was 1996, and that was for having a handwritten Texas temporary placard while driving through Arkansas. And I look like a hippie.

- Jim