Concealed Weapons - Paranoid vs. Prepared

I have found that trying to explain concealed-carry to people who are not at least slightly affiliated with the gun culture is almost impossible. There is a kind of near universal block in their personality that prevents any comprehension. These conversations come up a lot at work lately because of recent news items (the damn Zimmerman thing, changes in our local laws to allow more open access to public areas for CCL holders, etc.)

The non-gun person usually defaults to one of two positions:
1. "Those people are just wannabe cowboys/compensating for something/just looking to kill someone!"
2. "That sounds kinda paranoid."

People who fall into the first position are not worth your time. They will never understand because their position is based in irrational fear and/or hatred of firearms. If you ever run into people like this, don't try to argue with them. They are the equivalent of someone from the Westboro Baptist Church: they are ruled by irrational bigotry.

People who fall into the second position, however, can be made to understand usually. Here you have to be careful and, I can't stress this enough, never use any of the bullshit NRA promoted factoids or talking points. It's like hearing chanted slogans: people learn to tune them out and dismiss the chanter as a crank. Most importantly, do not ever utter any of the macho bullshit I see way too much of on forums.

So are CCL holders paranoid? What is the difference between paranoia and preparedness?

My short answer: The difference between simple preparedness and paranoia is the degree to which the actions you take to be prepared inconvenience your daily life compared to the nature of and the likelihood of encountering a threat.

To someone who lives in a suburban neighborhood and has a desk job downtown, having to get up and extra half hour early to prep your gear, put on soft armor AND five pound SAPI plates, strap your M9 on one side and test the sling on your carbine, inspect all 12 of your 30rd mags for your carbine, etc would be insane. There is no threat a normal civilian could potentially face on a daily basis in the US to validate that level of discomfort and inconvenience.

HOWEVER...

Instead of a standard white-collar employee, let's say this someone drives Humvees on patrol in Afghanistan. This changes the entire dynamic obviously. In such a situation, this would be considered only the bare minimum of preparedness needed for daily activity.

Returning to our average Joe who lives in suburbia and works downtown. Let's say he carries a compact snubby revolver and carries and extra couple of rounds on a Bianchi Speed Strip. He uses a deep concealment holster and also carries a small locking blade knife. The entire setup takes him 10 seconds to put on in the morning, requires no changes to his wardrobe, creates zero inconvenience or disruptions and pretty much no discomfort. Hell, it takes more time and causes more discomfort to take on and off your seat belt throughout the day. So if you're competent with your weapon and have the ability, why NOT carry it in cases like that?

While this approach doesn't convince people right away, it does usually make them question the whole 'paranoia' thing. At that point further careful debate is needed, but overcoming the 'paranoia' response is a HUGE step.