My first CCW mistake and what I learned.

Sorry for using a throw-away account. I was going to use my default, but I'm not super proud of what happened yesterday, but wanted to share with you all regardless.Background: I've had my CHL for about three years now, and carry a full-size M&P40 pretty much everywhere I go, unless I'm not allowed to do so. I have a couple of different holsters, but yesterday I was using my RCS VanGuard to carry AIWB with a 5.11 Operator Belt.The mistake: I had the day off yesterday, and took the bus downtown to run some errands and do some birthday shopping for a friend. My girlfriend texted me around 4:00 to tell me that she won a raffle at work, and got some tickets to a soccer game. Since the game started at 7:00 and I was already downtown close to the stadium, I decided not to go home first, meaning I still had my CCW on me when I got to the stadium.I had never been to this stadium before, and was not expecting to have to pass through a metal detector to enter. Since I took public transportation and Uber to get there, I had no place to store my CCW during the game. As soon as I saw the metal detectors, I felt so dumb. I'm so used to carrying everywhere I go, I didn't even think to check the stadium's firearm policy beforehand. My state doesn't have force-of-law "No Firearms" signs (like Texas' 30.06 signs), and I honestly can't say I've ever even seen a "No Firearms" sign in my state before, so the idea that I wouldn't be allowed to carry in the stadium didn't even cross my mind.So at that point, I figured I had two options: Either tell my GF to go sit by herself while I went home to lock up my CCW, or play it cool and see what happened.I chose to play it cool. I went through the metal detector, and (obviously) got the red, "this person has something metal" light. Luckily, the belt I was wearing has a hefty metal buckle and I was wearing a tank under my t-shirt that I had tucked over my CCW. I lifted the front of my t-shirt, said "must be the buckle," the security guard waved his wand over me, and said, "yeah, just the buckle," and let me in. My girlfriend and I grabbed some food from the concession stand, watched the game, and went home without incident.Now that I've had some time to think about what happened, I think there are two "lessons" to take away. First, I was a dumbass for not considering the idea that I wouldn't be allowed to carry in the stadium or that I would have to pass through security to enter. Even though I "got away with it," I should have had the common sense to realize that places like stadiums usually don't allow guns and have security checkpoints. So as soon as I found out that I would be going to the game, I should have looked up the stadium's firearms policy, and then gone home to drop off my CCW. That's the reason I'm calling this a "mistake" - I took my CCW someplace I shouldn't have. Even though what I did wasn't something that could get me in trouble with the law, I messed up and need to be more conscious of these things in the future.Second, I realized that even when you enter a "secured" area, your safety isn't guaranteed. I carried a full-sized handgun with 16 rounds through a metal detector, but because I was calm and polite, nobody raised an eyebrow. I'm not bragging about that, I'm not proud of it, and I really do regret that it happened. But it did happen. My "motive" for sneaking a gun into a sports stadium was innocent - I didn't want to complicate my night out with my girlfriend and make her watch half of the game by herself while I went home. But if I can do it, people with bad intentions can do it too.Anyway, my point is that what happened is an opportunity for me to learn, and thought others might benefit from hearing about it as well. I made a mistake, got lucky that it didn't cause me any real problems, and will be smarter in the future. via /r/CCW http://ift.tt/2b6f3U7