Well, after a year and a half of waiting, I finally have a valid MN carry permit. There are now 55,153 + 1 permit holders. I had the permit issued for my home address (i.e. permanent, same as DL) and not my school address, so I'll get it from my parents on Sunday.

If anyone cares, here's is what led up to deciding to carry. First off, I've grown up around guns, mostly for target shooting and hunting. I've always planned on getting a carry permit, but I wasn't nearly as passionate about carry issues as I have been the last year and a half.

Rewind to April 2007 (19.5 years old). After the Virginia Tech shootings it really hit home that bad things can happen anywhere, at anytime. I decided at that point, I would do everything I could to make sure I was never put in that position. Ever since, I've been very pro campus carry. I thought, "Hey, these people should have the right to defend themselves." Students for Concealed Carry on Campus was formed shortly after the Virginia Tech shooting. It was nice to find a group of people who had this same 'radical' idea of allowing students to carry to protect themselves.

In April/May 2007 I decided it was time to get a handgun and learn the ins and outs of shooting them. I hadn't had much practice besides shooting a .22 pistol. I had a year and a half to practice and get comfortable with a carry gun. I decided on getting a Glock 19. It took a bit of getting used to. After 500 rounds or so I started to get comfortable with the gun. To this day, I have no complaints.

In January 2008 I took one of Joel's classes. It wasn't the cheapest, but I found it to be a good class. I wanted to make sure I took the class from someone who I could trust to know what the were talking about. The day of the class came, I was a bit nervous. Being the youngest student in the class by 15 years is a bit intimidating. All went smoothly though. 8 hours, $200, and half a dozen smoke breaks later, I had my certificate in my hands.

This summer, I picked up an MTAC holster and a good gun belt from Comp-Tac (good people to deal with). I really like both. Again, not cheap, but anything worth buying/doing usually is. A couple weeks ago I went out to Streichers and picked up some 9mm HPs. The guy in the store recommended Federal HST 147gr. A local cop their confirmed the salesman's recommended, so I went with them. I found them to shoot very similar to my Winchester white box 115gr practice ammo. I figured a 147gr bullet would cause more recoil and make getting back on target a bit more difficult. It didn't.

My first public carry experience is coming this weekend. I don't expect any issues. I plan on carrying everywhere I legally can (not including the U as I'm a student). Hopefully, I'll never have to pull or use my gun "for serious". If I do need it, I'll be glad to know I have that option.

Congrats on taking the first steps on protecting yourself.

Sounds like you took a long but sound path. Keep asking questions and carry in good health and avoid trouble when you can.

Welcome man.

Good to see you! You have a campus leader for SCCC on your campus or are a campus leader yourself, right? We need them.

As they say in the Army, "Carry On"..........

Seriously, I hope that you never have to draw down on some dumbass and may you always find peace and security in knowing that you carry the 'tool' to defend yourself (or others), if needed.

I'll almost bet that that was the longest 1 1/2 years of your life, right?

You have no idea....

Congratulations!
Carry in health and peace.

Thank you for sharing and doing your part to help make our country safer.

Congrats!

At first I thought you had been waiting for yout permit to arrive for a year and a half. I was about to ask you who your sheriff is!

Too bad the one place you're most likely to need your weapon, should anything go down, is the one place you won't be carrying it.

(Would that be the new definition of Lethal Irony?)
Ever Googled Suzanna Hupp?

Hey TeamGreen02, welcome to the ranks.

I received my permit around Feb of this year and have been carrying concealed daily (whenever legal) ever since. At this point taking my gun from my safe in the morning is as natural as grabbing my wallet and cell phone.

The more people exercising their 2nd amendment rights, the better

Stay safe.

(Hey, for once, that's all I got.)

I carried all day yesterday at the Renaisance Festival, no problems whatsoever. Went with family and I don't think they suspected a thing. I wonder how many people with criminal records were carrying swords there. I'd bet a lot.

Except for anachronism.

Good deal man, welcome aboard !