This is something I talk about frequently. There are some jobs where a carried firearm should the strongest consideration. Of course we have cops and soldiers, duh, but what I’m talking about is jobs where performing your daily duties could get you targeted for violent crime.
Some that I’ve talked about before are professions like real estate agents. Criminals can pick out the agent they like, and pick an empty home and a time for them to “Show” the house or unit. Then they have great opportunity for mayhem, be it robbery or sexual assault.
Another is food delivery drivers. These people are summoned to a location known to the predator, with knowledge that they will bring cash and a working automobile. The food is an added bonus.
One that I hadn’t thought of today is in-home service techs.
Given that it is fall I was having my furnace serviced. Given that the furnace is in my armory, it’s hard to hide I’m a gun nut. Little surprise this is always seen as a positive thing and leads to fun conversation as they work.
Still today I heard a story that really made me concerned. My plumber talked about going to a house to clean a furnace and the house was filled with cooking supplies. No, not the latest from Williams and Sonoma, but signs that this was a house for illegally making drugs.
As he was finishing he noted that he would need to come back to do a few last touches on the job. His tweaking client simply brushed back his shirt revealing the gun in his waistband and said “You don’t need to come back.” After this he was accused of being a cop.
Doesn’t make sense, but I suspect this dude was a tweaker, so any number of scenarios might have seemed plausible to him at the time. He luckily got away safe, and the house was blacklisted by the company.
Still you can easily see how things could have gone REALLY bad. Needless to say this guy is currently getting his Mass LTC, and I can’t blame him.
Any other professions I’m missing?
Convenience store clerks… sigh
I am a music business professional – in rap music. I have carried to work or kept a gun in my office for over 15 years. The main threat is actually kidnapping. “Getting put in the trunk” over business disputes is common in rap – older American cars with big trunks and no emergency release are required for this purpose. There are a number of executives who have lost their Atlanta privileges and other guys are just scared to go there. Sometimes business people get shot but that is mostly at shows, clubs, or studios (wrong place wrong time). There was a shootout at the offices of a major independent rap label in the 90s in Hollywood, after that you’d see guys open carrying in the office at that company.
All the stories about rap music are at least partially true, except they get the heroes and villains reversed a lot of the time. Also, I have the best job in the world.
Convenience store clerks, ditto, Old NFO. Parking attendants, taxi drivers, bus drivers, visiting nurses, visiting physicians, social workers, tow truck operators, ER admitting clerks, delivery drivers, truck drivers. I guess you could come up with some sort of standard where carry ought to be permissible. Working alone; working involves entry into other people’s property; work is co-located with cash, drugs, or other easily liquidated valuables.
Guess I’m still a country kid at heart because it seems like most of what people are coming up with are city jobs. What about Farmer. I can’t count the number of times growing up on a small farm when opossum or raccoon would get into the chicken house (hint, you don’t just bonk them with a shovel. Those things are tough… and MEAN) or feral dogs would get into the pasture and attack the cow, or more likely, her calf.
When I was little, I didn’t understand that there were dogs that nobody owned. So, one time my dad had to shoot a feral dog, I asked my dad what he thought the dog’s name was. His reply… “Fertilizer”. After that, all feral dogs were assumed to be named Fertilizer (now you know where I got my sick sense of humor from).
And reported to the cops, I assume. I’m all for ending the war on drugs, but the brandishing was well over the line, and this guy was obviously a public danger.
Negative, he still works in that town and area. He didn’t want to get made for a Narc of some sort and get a hit put out on him if that bunch of tweakers had gang connections.
Not just food delivery. ANY kind of delivery where carrying cash is viable or expected.
The guy who delivered firewood to our house was driving a heavy-duty work truck, complete with a hydraulic bed – WAY more valuable than some kid’s Honda Civic, in terms of both raw cash value and the ability to move large quantities of … something.
He was also open carrying. I didn’t mention it – he was in a bit of a rush and didn’t have time to chat – but I can understand his desire for self-protection when he’s being called out to OTHER people’s properties.