No judgement, but sincerely curious:
Why do you take the risk of carrying a gun as a felon, knowing you could see serious jail time (you are SERIOUSLY lucky you found a nice/polite cop, and I am sure it also goes to you being polite and respectful to him, had you not been, I surely wouldnt be talking to you right now)
Do you live in a really bad neighborhood? (i never got that indication)
Do you have a reason to fear for your life? (does someone in particular have a reason to hurt you?)
Do you hang with/often around nefarious characters? (in which case maybe should question who you associate with)
Do you put yourself in situations where you need to protect your life? (again, if htis is the case maybe you should question the things you do).
I'm just purely curious here. Im not a felon and i dont feel the need to carry a gun, even at big car meets/getting in arguments/etc... I have never felt in such fear of my life that I would need a gun. I will say that protection at my home in case of home invasion/robbery is where I would have a gun (but thats a shotgun, not a hand gun).
There's the argument for a CCW, and maybe you use a lot of those arguments, but the difference here is you do not legally comply, and you have a placed a HUGE burden/risk on yourself by having a weapon. And unless you have a SERIOUS need and REALISTIC fear for your life, I just dont know why you need a gun... Again, not being judgemental, honestly curious, and hoping that maybe you will have a second thought to your statement of "anyone who knows me, knows its always on me".