Concealed Carry — It’s a Way of Life

Carrying a gun on your person for self-defense and the defense of others is a commendable action that requires a serious commitment to learn or improve skills and acquire knowledge. However, having a handgun and knowing how to load it, aim it, and pull the trigger is not enough.

If your reason for getting a gun and a rig for carrying it are based upon a recent scare or someone’s urging, I want you to take a few minutes and read this story about Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs. It’s important and will be the foundation for much of what I will share here. If you’ve read the story and know in your heart you are a sheepdog, read on.

Sheepdogs, if you are serious about making the daily concealed carry of a handgun part of your life, we need to talk about software and hardware. The software challenges to daily carry are commitment, awareness, practice, and legal protection. The hardware challenges are the gun, ammunition, and concealed carry method.

Throw into the mix whatever training and license your state requires, and you can see it’s not something you just decide to do one day, and it automatically happens. Even if you live in a constitutional carry state that requires nothing in the way of a license to carry, doing so without some type of training is naïve. And even if you grew up hunting and shooting, carrying a gun for self-defense is not the same.

Commitment

Imagine a scenario where someone very close to you is killed. You could have prevented it, if only you had not left behind the handgun that you normally carry — just this one time. We can all think of reasons why we might leave our gun behind, but it usually boils down to the commitment simply wasn’t there.

None of us have a crystal ball, if we’re going to do this thing, it’s got to be all the time. You can’t decide when and where the bad guys are going to show up. That’s on them and fate. You may be thinking it’s hard to carry a gun while wearing certain clothing. We’ll address that issue when we move from software to hardware in our discussion.

Awareness

Just having a gun isn’t going to protect you. As a sheepdog, you must be diligent — like my little Pomeranian who can go from sound asleep to full bark in about half a second when a noise is heard around our house. A sheepdog doesn’t bury its head in a cellphone, texting or posting to Facebook, while a potential assault is lurking just over its shoulder.

Paying attention to your surroundings and playing little “What if?” scenarios in your mind might enable you to take the necessary action to protect yourself and your loved ones. Many of you know of the old cowboy tradition in which you never sit with your back to the door of the saloon. Extend this to any public place you go by noticing all the exits as you come in and sitting where you can survey the room including entrances and exits.

To really practice awareness, think of yourself as a potential target wherever you go. Stay away from places where you know danger lurks. Keep an eye open everywhere for possible escape routes, suspicious-looking people, and areas of approach that are not open enough to give you time to react to an attack.

Practice

It’s critical to practice how you will respond to a threat. In the security of your home and with an unloaded gun, practice drawing your gun from its hiding place and getting it on target. Practice this over and over until it becomes second nature. Break it down into steps such as uncover, grasp, pull, rotate, join both hands, extend, aim, and fire. Wow! That’s a lot of stuff to do in the one or two seconds that might be all you have before you’re dead.

Practice doing it smoothly and the speed will come. This is a perishable skill. Just because you could do it a year ago doesn’t mean you can do it now. Dryfire practice is so important. For me, it brings about more improvement than just firing at paper targets at the range.

Speaking of the range: If you can find a setup where you can fire at moving or pop-up targets, do that. Even some of those software programs that measure your firing skills on a TV or computer screen and offer various scenarios are good.

Legal Protection

If you’re ever in a situation where you must use your gun for self-defense, there is a possibility you will be charged with a crime or sued. It’s not fair. However, it’s the world we live in. Unless you’re independently wealthy, investigate the various organizations such as U.S. LawShield, Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, or NRA Carry Guard. Find the one that’s best for you and join. If you pull your gun for defense, even if you don’t shoot it, call your legal defense representative before you engage in any question-and-answer session with the police.

Concealed Carry Gun

What works well for carrying doesn’t always work well for shooting. In the past two years, I’ve evaluated seven small guns designed for concealed carry. Of those seven, there were only two I could shoot well, and I’m a professional. Shooting, evaluating, and reporting on guns is my business. So many guns are picked because they’re easy to concealed carry. Carrying it is not what’s going to save your life — using it is.

Guns that are very small and lightweight are not easy to shoot, plus they may not have enough power to stop a threat. Unless you’re feeble, forget .380 caliber or smaller. If you can carry and shoot a .45ACP pistol well, do so. Within the 9mm world, there are several classes of pistols: single stack 9mms (S&W Shield; Glock 43, 43X, Springfield XDs, Bersa BP9CC), micro nines (Springfield Hellcat, Taurus GX4, SCCY DVG-1, Ruger Max, S&W Shield Plus, S&W CRX), mid-size nines (Glock G19, S&W M&P, Taurus G3, Beretta PX4, Mossberg MC2C, Sig P229, Walther PDP) and full-size nines (Beretta 92, SIG P226). None of my lists in parentheses are complete, just some examples.

I’m personally most comfortable with the mid-sized pistols, but I’m a big guy and have a lot of room for concealment. If you don’t already have a gun, handle as many different guns as you can before making and choice and purchasing one. If you have access to a range that lets you rent guns, try a few that are on your short list and see how well you can shoot them. Buy the gun that you like. Don’t let anyone else choose it for you. The bottom line is to get a gun you’re comfortable shooting and is of a sufficient caliber and capacity to stop bad guys.

Ammunition

Improvements in ammunition have been amazing during the past several years. Where we used to preach that you needed a .45 to put someone down, there is a lot of good 9mm offerings available now. I have no reservations about recommending it to others, as long as you understand the difference between target/practice ammo and defensive ammo.

Practice ammo is typically Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) or some composite makeup. Defensive ammo can be Jacketed Hollow Point (JHP) or one of several types of fluted ammo. The spinning flutes create lateral dispersion of energy with the forward dispersion along the bullet’s path causing a significant wounding effect. These bullets are lighter than normal which means they require less propellant to drive them. The end result is less recoil on the back end and a more destructive wound channel on the front end.

Carry Method

This is where people seem to struggle the most, but it doesn’t have to be that way. For the guys, it starts with a belt. Most holster manufacturers sell them. A gun belt is 1.5–1.75 inches wide and is thick. It is designed to support the weight of a holster with a nice-sized gun in it. If you’re not willing to spend the money on a good gun belt, you won’t be successful in carrying a gun on your waist. Of course, there are shoulder holsters. Your wardrobe will determine if that works for you.

Next comes a holster’s construction. Preferably, it can be made of leather, Kydex, or both, but it needs to be made for the gun you’re wearing. I personally like to wear IWB or inside-the-waistband holsters even though I wear polo shirts about 90% of the time. If you must tuck in your shirttail, you can generally do it around an IWB holster. Some OWB holsters work and still conceal the gun with your shirttail worn outside.

I wear polo shirts by Propper. This company has men’s and women’s clothing that is comfortable, wrinkle-free and snag-free, and somewhat tactical without looking tactical. Once I started wearing Propper’s shirts, I gradually changed practically my entire wardrobe over to its clothing. The brand is not what’s important, but the mentality of dressing for how you concealed carry and being prepared is.

Some of you wear scrubs, overalls, or another outfit that prohibits a belt. Also, a lot of outfits you ladies wear don’t have an option for a belt. Two types of concealed carry will usually work in those cases. One is a belly band. This is an elastic band designed to fit around your body, above or below the waistline, with one or more pockets for your firearm.

The other option for beltless concealed carry involves using one of several types of specialty holsters such as the Sticky Holster which uses compression in the waistband or friction from the pocket if used as a pocket holster. Holsters by Blackhawk or Uncle Mike are lightweight, with or without clips, that can be used as either pocket or IWB holsters.

Texas and many other states allow for open carry. There are so many reasons not to carry openly. I don’t even know where to start the discussion in the short space I have here. Just don’t. It makes you a target. It gives anti-gunners additional arguments to use against us. Keep your gun hidden and keep the advantage of surprise on your side.

You can do this. Choose the right gun and become safe and proficient with it. Find the carry method that works for you and make the necessary wardrobe changes to accommodate it. Practice drawing and firing from concealment. If your range won’t let you do that, practice dryfiring from concealment at home.

Pay attention to your surroundings and play “What if?” scenarios in your mind. Make this your mantra concerning your gun: “I never leave home without it.” Someday, somewhere, you may save your own life or the life of someone very dear to you.

Have you committed to everyday carry? What does that mean to you? What tips do you have for maintaining awareness when at home or on the go? Which holster brand or model have you had success with? Share your answers in the comment section.