Did I mention...

Did I mention that alongside the scope that arrived wednesday was my Tennessee handgun carry permit?

Finally. Yes, I waited a long, long time to get one... mostly because it wouldn't be that useful.

See, I'm drowning in work. I have been for years... I wake up in the morning and head for federal property, no guns allowed. As well, for years I've left that property and headed for the gun shop, private property, with the owners explicit permission to grab my S&W 432 in it's paddle holster and arm myself. And then I put that in the locker so it's available the next day, and I go home. Two, may three hours a week I'm puttering around in a grocery store in the "good" part of town. And when home, well, you've seen the collection, and at least two of those are ready condition 1 at any given time, on me or not. I don't go "out" . I don't wander around the city on foot. I don't drive a particularly valuable or even theft-attractive vehicle.

But the possibility always remained, so there's the permit. Coverage where lawful can now be at 100%.

The usual new permit-holders anxieties? I don't think they apply. I'm not particularly worried about "being made" and I've always wandered around with my eyes open (most of the time). What I am worried about? Forgetting... that one day getting almost all the way to work and remembering, to turn around and go home and empty the truck before heading in, drastically late since it's 50 minutes one-way. I like my job, for the most part, as well as liking my freedom and not having a felony charge leveled on me for an innocent mistake. But, that's an anxiety, not a truth; just one more sliver of responsibility tossed my way that I'll keep up with just as well as the rest of them.

In reality though, all this really means to me is when I go to the grocery store on the weekends I can toss one more piece of kit in my pocket and be truly prepared for the worst, instead of mostly prepared and lacking.