The Suit Up Scene

It’s a classic movie trope: The hero of our motion picture begins the last oct of the movie with a dramatic montage of him collecting various bits of equipment to take on the main villain. We’ve seen Arnold Shwarzengger do it in “Arnold Shwarzengger do it in “Commando,” Robert Downey Jr.did it over and over again in the Marvel movies. Keanu Reeves did it in both “The Matrix” and again in the John Wick movies. Women get in on the act as well, with Sigourny Weaver arming herself to the teeth in “Aliens.”

(For the record, this this suit up scene is my favorite.)

However, somehow, we’ve conflated what works in reel life with what works in REAL life, and we fool ourselves into believing that we’ll have a “suit up scene” of our own if the time comes to defend our life or the lives of those we care. We think that we’ll have time to run back to the truck for our defensive pistol, or get that unloaded gun out from underneath the bed and use it against an armed home invasion. We think that a “trunk gun” is a viable response to an active shooter, or that somehow, we’ll be able to get to our first aid gear in our vehicle before we bleed out.

Expecting that we’ll have the time to “suit up” and prepare ourselves for chaos is magical thinking at best, and at worst, it’s delusional. Reality doesn’t care about your favorite movie, it shows up on your doorstep, ready to go, and you’ve got to deal with what it is throwing at you with what is within easy reach of you at this very second. Concealed carry gun in the truck? Oh well. Deep puncture wound with arterial flow, and your tourniquet’s at home? That’s not going to be much help.

Suit up scenes are a creation of Hollywood. They are not a part of the successful, confident concealed carry lifestyle.

Plan accordingly.