Most ppl are clueless re: their safety. They think the Police will be there to protect them. I have close friends who think I’m paranoid because I CCW. I told them if CCW isn’t for you then get some pepper spray, be alert to your surroundings, and don’t be afraid to run like hell if need me. My wife was one of them until she realized how vulnerable we are. She still won’t probably get a CCW, but she’s understands why you must protect yourself from a problem before it happens. We plan on making some changes at home to protect ourselves better. The mindset of not wanting to be a victim is what’s counts. At least it’s a beginning for her. Other ppl I know are hopeless.
Dude,
You don’t know how right you are! I had one of my new recruits come up and talk to me today about how he bought his first off-duty piece. One of the veteran officers overheard us talking and said, “Not another gun-nut?” Fact is, she is a turd of an officer and a sheeple. This new guy has his head on straight and is all beat-up from getting blown up, multiple times, during his stint in Anbar province in Iraq with the USMC in 2005-06. I can’t wait to get this new generation of hard-charging, combat-experienced vets into blue suits and out on the street. I don’t have to explain to them what it’s like to have someone try to kill you; they already know. We have two vets who graduate the academy next week and my department is excited and proud that we have such great talent coming on board.
Don’t worry: you’re not wierd, people WILL try to hurt and kill you in your calling. It’s normal to plan to survive and win. Anything else is just denial of the most dangerous sort.
One thing that you might consider doing is to try and mentor these folks. Over cups, whatever, explain the Whats and Whys. Try to translate your experiences in to examples they can understand.
You may not always succeed, but when you call for cover, guess who is coming?
One kind of cool thing is needing a hand, looking up and seeing a guy you were downrange with - even if he is now wearing a different color than you.
Mayby I have this all wrong and I need to just think that nothing bad will ever happen. I just cant think that way. Hopefully this makes some sense…
Made perfect sense. Been seeing it for seventeen years now.
It is becoming almost boiler plate in the daily write ups on my trainees to have to mention that they do not carry off-duty, that I’ve explained to them they need to and why.
People who don’t have their “mind right” are folks who unrealistically go through life thinking nothing will never happen to them, living in la la land. I think they call them Liberals
I call them “hippies”…
Good news wife has singed up for her CCW. here in Mo. see’s the light. Now the pressure is off. I think I will see a change woman when she is done. 
VERY TRUE