I had a buddy that hiked it from the start in GA up to PA and almost to the end but had to stop for some reason I can't recall. He wanted to do it again, all of it. I wanted to also, I spent a ton of time hiking in the foothills and what not. It is beautiful country, but it runs through some of the most draconian and fucking backwards states in the union.
If govt. isn't gonna provide me a personal security detail, then they can fuck off with their goddamn carry laws. Besides, if they can't get there fast enough to save my life, they probably ain't gonna get there fast enough to catch me either. Dindu nuffin, din-see nuffin. Also, I've never been searched or hassled for carrying concealed. Nobody needs to know you have it unless you draw to fire anyway. I carried the whole time I was at university (against policy, but they couldn't give me an answer, just a blank stare, when I asked what to do if a guy walked into class cutting off all exits on the 3rd floor and started mowing fuckers down with an AK). Somehow my pistol managed not to ignite another school shooting, sheesh, guess I was lucky there. And nobody knows it when I carry it in a place that serves alcohol. I don't drink much. But drunks do, and those are one of the few places where I've come close to needing it in the last decade.
My buddy was telling me it's company policy he can't carry a firearm as a truck driver. Interstate truck driver. They want 'em to be all unarmed. More worried about having their "good corporate name" associated with guns, don't give a fuck about my buddy's life, but hey, if he gets killed he won't affect profits like he would if he fought for his life and maybe won. I told him policy doesn't trump rights and that those policies were made by greedbags in an office in NY or some shit with absolutely zero consideration given for him or anyone else not sitting at that table. He still intends to walk the line. Whatever, his life. He survived Iraq but he hasn't had pistols held to his head like I have right here at home, or experienced hardcore violence personally. Witnessing is one thing, come out the other end alive from a bad situation is entirely another. You tend to not let others make security decisions for you after that.
FWIW, I installed one interstate trucking company's owner's security system. I can say for a fucking fact he doesn't apply that policy at home. He's just a hypocrite.
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