In this day and age, things are just crazy. You never know when someone is going to think that they have a right to attack you for any kind of perceived reason, and you don’t know when someone is going to decide that they want to have a “mostly peaceful” riot near you.

Add on top of that the increased stress from our struggling economy under the current President and political polarization making those on the political left feel justified in physically attacking the people that they disagree with, and our country looks like it could be close to a major upheaval.

I hope that I’m wrong. I really do.

But the good news for you is that, if you carry everyday (and train regularly), you increase the likelihood that you’ll get home safely every night. And you may not even need to actually use your firearm for it to keep you safe. Dave Urbanski gives us an example of exactly this kind of situation. Urbanski writes,

A knife-wielding wannabe carjacker demanded a driver’s keys in the parking lot of an Oregon Walmart last week — but quickly changed his mind when the victim pulled a gun on him.

Officers from the McMinnville Police Department responded to a local Walmart around 11:25 a.m. last Tuesday after a report of an attempted robbery in the parking lot, authorities said. McMinnville is about an hour southwest of Portland.

Police said the victim was loading items into his car when an adult male carrying a large knife approached him and demanded his car keys.

Fearing for his life, the victim drew a handgun he had holstered on his hip and pointed it at the subject, who ran away through the parking lot toward the adjoining WinCo Foods grocery store, police said, adding that the victim was not harmed.

Police caught the would-be carjacker shortly after the incident.

One of the best parts of this story, in my mind, is that the gun owner didn’t even need to pull the trigger for the gun to keep him safe. It was just the possibility of the firearm being used, the knowledge that the would-be carjacker could be seriously injured or killed if they didn’t withdraw from the situation, that kept the driver safe.

A “non-use” use of a firearm like this is the ultimate use of it. Sure, you need to have trained and be able to pull the trigger if you have to in order to save a life or prevent serious injury, but if the situation can be resolved without anyone getting hurt, that’s always ideal.

Good for this driver for keeping a level head during the situation.