I wish it wasn't so difficult to get a CCW in California. I live in Orange, which is a pretty nice area. Not rich or anything like that, just old. Its an "Old Towne" so its quiet. However just South of me there are some really shitty areas. Riding (road) at night I tend to run into some shitty situations. Most are usually avoidable but all are not. I've narrowed all my choices down to a Glock 27. Its a subcompact .40S&W. It would fit perfect in my hip bag that I ride with. Right now I carry a knife and a lock. The lock has been used many times to either defend myself or teach lessons to pieces of shit that think its funny to throw full beer cans at me or swerve WAY too close while I'm in the bike lane. Just last night two college bitches decided it would be a great idea to make a left turn right in front of us from the opposite direction into a driveway that was coming up to us on the right side. The driver rolls the window down, points and laughs then slams on the brakes halfway into the driveway. The passenger door was in the bikelane and they were stopped. Bye bye tail light. Thanks Kryptonite! You saved the day yet again. I dont think the girls were laughing much longer after that. I ate ice cream shortly after.
Now I'm not saying these girls deserved a bullet but there are situations where people have stopped their cars, gotten out and tried to take us off the bikes in hopes of stealing them. I've had people jump into the street between parked cars and try to grab us, bottles thrown at us from cars (both moving and parked) and houses. I don't think this is just to get a simple laugh half of the time. It seems like most of the time there are other intentions. I don't want to find out what those are. One reason most of this doesn't get too carried away sometimes is because the number of people that are in the group. Again, I'm not saying any of these people deserve to get shot.... but if things were to not go so smooth and one of us went down, things could very easily elevate. My little pocket knife and lock can't reach very far. I am not one to look for a fight, but I am more than willing to defend myself if the time comes. I want to be able to handle 95% of the situations I may encounter. A nice little pocket carry would be more than enough to achieve this. I want to be able to ride my bike alone at any time and not feel like I won't be able to handle myself if I get jumped.