AbetterMouse

I am happy to share some of my assumptions! A non-exhaustive list would include many characteristics that could each be scaled on a bell-curve graph of their frequency and aptitude in a given population: marksmanship, firearm safety awareness and experience, legal accountability, insurance coverage, sobriety, physical and emotional fitness, performance under pressure, etc. Then stack all of these characteristics onto a single person and plot the next bell-curve graph. I assume that the few people on the sharp end of the right-hand side of the graph would be able to be an effective deterrent during the precious few seconds when an active shooter situation is unfolding. I do NOT assume that just because there are more 'civilians with guns' in a situation that the right-hand side of the curve is automatically going to be plump. I also assume that people who use terms like "take them out", "good guy with a gun", "a hand gun may not be enough", and "I grew up around guns so they are no big deal" are either frequently faced with the situation where they are required to shoot at another person (and therefore not "civilians"), or they are well-meaning but untested in terms of killing or wounding an active shooter. I don't mind the bravado, but I do abhor the fear mongering. Not that you are a monger, per se.

The OP has concerns about the discovery of their CC weapon while at work. 1) Carrying a gun at work would violate workplace rules at most hospitals and clinics. 2) At work, a nurse is responsible for the safety of their patients. Except in the most extreme circumstances, I don't know how your gun makes your workplace safer. 3) Even in the most extreme circumstances, a nurse has more immediate responsibilities than 'aim for the head'. If you fear the outcome of an 'active shooter' situation in our workplace, address it now through your existing policies and procedures. We are all at greater risk for being grabbed, hit, or otherwise assaulted by patients or their family members than we are for being shot. Depending on your facilities size and location, it may be wise to have some 'rapid response' team in place to handle the firearms. As I stated, nurses have other priorities. Having a CC license should not preclude you from gaining a nursing license, and vice versa. Your nursing license would only be threatened if you violate your State's Nurse Practice Act. Variously by State, even being arrested for certain crimes will cause you to lose your license regardless of the legal outcome. Given the awful choice between defending your personal safety (outside the workplace) and defending your nursing license, well, there are other jobs. The OP asserts that 'one nurse with a gun' could have averted the tragedy in San Bernardino; lots of assumptions in that scenario. I understand the emotion and the moral intent of this reaction, but I cannot resolve those aspects with my understanding of my ethical commitments as a nurse. That is, when the time for words has ended and the bullets (or fists) fly, it is my job to triage and begin interventions. I'll leave the weaponry to the professionals. For me, carrying a gun in the world would just cause me more anxiety than it would bring me peace of mind.

Find a CNA training program in your current city. This is an approximately 78 - 92 hour, 6-week (-ish) course, depending on your state's requirements. Many training programs can allow you to complete this training over a longer period as long as you talk with their staff at the outset about your schedule limitations. The skills training is mostly 'in-person', though some learning can be done from a book or online. At the end of your training and clinical rotation, you will have experienced the day-to-day responsibilities of appropriately interacting with patients dependent on your care. Clinicals usually take place in long-term care facilities: older populations, chronic conditions, dementia. Patients will run the spectrum from grateful to nasty, harassing to zombified. You will understand how to safely move yourself and your patients. You will be taught, and you will learn how to feed someone else, how to make their bed while they are still in it, how to bathe them in bed or in a shower chair, how to brush their hair, their teeth and some nail care. All of these tasks will be done with appropriate techniques to avoid cross-contamination with microorganisms. Body fluids galore! If, at the end of this exercise, you feel like you could work in these conditions, as an RN, directing your CNA support staff, using your critical thinking and problem solving skills to the benefit of your patients, then "yes", you might be happy working as a nurse with the goal to become a Nurse Practitioner. Keep in mind that you will have to complete your BSN training, gain your RN license and then go on through a Master's program or a BSN to PHD program in order to become an NP. In every event, however, you will encounter and be responsible for managing care for others who are experiencing the full range of human joy and defeat, loss and triumph, anger, betrayal, hopelessness and apathy. You will be responsible for recording their progress and guiding them toward healthy outcomes regardless of your personal feelings towards them. You and your team must support the patient with every task, and hopefully you and your team can also support each other. There are career options for nurses outside of direct patient care at the bedside, but you will, at the very least, pass through this kind of workplace on your way to your advanced-degree work situation. Many of these other options break down into the roles of teacher, researcher, manager, advocate. If, in the end, you might be happy in a career performing these roles, then the real question is: If money is no object, then will I be more fulfilled by using my talents and knowledge to advance the science behind nursing, or behind medicine, or behind geology? The truism (not really always the truth) among nurses is "Nurses treat people. Doctors treat diseases." You say you are an extrovert. That doesn't tell anyone if you can put the immediate needs of someone else above your own needs, automatically, every working hour. And do that gracefully and with honest compassion, and with little overt thanks given to you in return? Could you be happy if that was your legal and ethical requirement for a successful career?

It is just you. Review your 'stages of human development' text and find the part where beyond the age 50, those people with strict gender role expectations are generally less satisfied with their lives than those without such expectations. Those who adopt more rounded characters, regardless of their gender, are generally more fulfilled by the time they reach this stage of life, and beyond. Also, if you are bothered by gay men, just own it. Don't be coy about it. No one has time for this in the classroom or the work place. Also, please do some self-assessment to determine why you have this bias. Such an attitude will not go over well when you have to perform nursing care for a gay man or his family. I suggest you also look for other biases you have, that you may not be aware of, that will hinder your ability to give competent nursing care to any of a variety of clients. If you don't have a problem with gay men, then I don't see the point of your OP. "Masculine" is, by definition, what men do. If a man is "sensitive" that is masculine because a man is doing it. If you are buying into personality stereotypes, your level of nursing care will be sub-par. If you are 'insensitive', don't be surprised if your future clients complain about your lack professionalism and future co-workers complain of your ineptitude. And yes, 'talking smack with the boys' is insensitive and unprofessional. Keep it out of the client areas and out of my face and it won't become a problem.