» A Carry Option For All Occassions!
By Vince on August 1, 2011
One of the most frequent questions I get while teaching a Concealed Weapons class is: “What do you think is the best gun to carry?”
Now this is a difficult question to answer and there really is no one answer that will cover everyone.
So I will simply go into how I look at this question:
Where will I be?
This will dictate;
What will I be wearing?
These questions almost always dictate what I will be carrying and how I will be carrying it.
Let me put this out there as well, I ALWAYS carry a knife, at least everywhere that I can legally do so. Most of the time I carry two; on opposite sides. The reasoning being you don’t know what had will be occupied doing what. I don’t want to have to reach around my body to get something when I really need it. Today’s pocket clip knives make it easy to carry a blade anywhere you can clip it. Why make things difficult when you don’t need to?
Word to the wise: knives don’t run out of ammo.
Scenario 1:
I need to go to the grocery store to pick up a gallon of milk. This usually will happen when I least want it to, like late at night before I’m going to sleep. I’m already in shorts and a t-shirt and barefoot.
It would be a pain in the ass to get fully dressed again to be gone for 15 minutes tops.
BUT…you know the same thing I do…criminals don’t care about your bedtime or your comfort…they just want what you have. You’re probably going to look like an easy target coming out of the store late at night in shorts and a t-shirt… (Ok so I put on some shoes…)
Scenario 2:
Your wife/significant other has asked you to go pick up a (insert object here) that afternoon that just so happens to be in questionable part of town. You are already dressed in sneakers, jeans and a polo shirt.
Scenario 3:
You have to go to a black tie dinner where your wife/you/ daughter/son etc. are receiving an award. It’s not in a bad part of town but it is near one and you would have to drive thru it to get to where you are going.
For all of the above scenarios, I feel it would work better having different pistols for different methods of carry dependent on what you will be wearing. So we have the following:
Scenario 1:
Depending on the type of shorts I wearing it will be a Kel-tec P3-AT or P-32. Again depending on the shorts, the Kel-tec will be in either a butt pack or a pocket holster. Also as stated above, I will have a folding knife clipped somewhere. I prefer some sort of footwear that allows you to run if need be.
Scenario 2:
In this case I have a bit more time to prepare, plan and dress appropriately. For me it would be sneakers, that way I can run in them if I need to and they are less prone to slippage, jeans with a good belt to support the OWB (On The Waist) strong side holster for either my Glock 19/17 or my 1911 and at least one extra magazine. If it’s a really bad neighborhood I’ll take two mags on the off side behind my cell phone.
As stated above, I’ll have my two pocket knives as well. A T-shirt or polo with a lightweight fishing shirt (Columbia or Alpine) over it all for concealment.
Scenario 3:
I actually own my own tuxedo. It was a cheap investment at $135 new. I had it tailored for me so that I can wear a handgun without it showing too much. In fact, unless you know what you’re looking for, you can’t see it. And even then you have to look closely.
For footgear I have some Rockport’s that look like dress shoes but are built very similar to sneakers.
In formal wear, I’d take either one of the Kel-tec’s or more probably a S&W 442 in .38 Spl loaded with premium hollow points in a small pancake holster strong side. I’d still take a folding knife but a more discreet one with a black clip that won’t show against the tux pants. If I feel like it I might also hang a custom Bud Nealy blade off the inside pocket of the coat.
Please keep in mind that this is just how I would approach these situations. You need to find your own methods. The only real way to find out is to experiment for yourself.
Some people, like me, don’t like In the Waist Band (IWB) holsters. I find them uncomfortable and would have to have pants one size bigger to use them. OWB holsters work better for me but normally require some sort of cover garment.
I do realize that not everyone has the wherewithal to own several different types firearms for different purposes. Some folks can only afford one pistol and that pistol should be a good one. You will have to learn to conceal it by any means possible and once again that is up to you. With handguns you really should look into proven name brands, Glock, Colt, Smith & Wesson, Sig Sauer, Ruger, Kel-tec just to name a few. Personally I like the Glock 19 pistol as an EDC (Every Day Carr.
That is the one thing about a concealed weapons permit/license, the gun has to be concealed! Besides you really don’t want anyone knowing you are armed. Not everyone has the same sensibilities as we do, and many panic at the sight of a gun.
There are many tricks to this and you need to learn by listening and trying things out for yourself.
By the way…it’s fun too!