Conceal Carry Methods

I've decided to share with you how I conceal carry my handguns. The way I carry may not be the perfect or even the right way, but here are some ways that have been comfortable for me.

But before we begin, let's talk about "open carry". Openly carrying a handgun in a holster is legal in some states. I live in Virginia, and open carry is totally legal here.

As you can see, I have my Taurus Milenium Pro PT-111 in 9mm in a holster on my belt, and it is openly visible. It is totally legal to walk around in public like this in Virginia. Not that I'd recommend it though, because unless there is some sort of natural disaster going on, walking around with a pistol strapped to your belt will likely at best get you some nasty looks, and worst, some freightened and ill-informed citizen who doesn't know that this is legal will call the cops on you so that a nice policeman can spend some time harrassing you.




But what happens if you decide to put on a jacket?


Now it's concealed under the law, even though the holster is poking out underneath the jacket. In order to carry a gun concealed in most states, you will need an appropriate conceal carry permit, often shortened to CCW.












So, on to the conceal carry methods that I use. In this demonstration I will be concealing my Smith & Wesson 642 Airweight revolver in 38 special.






I will be carrying it in an Uncle Mike's Inside the Waisteband Holster, usually shortened to IWB. It's a cheap, lightweight holster. The inside of the holster allows the gun to be smoothly drawn from it, while the outside provides some friction against your clothing. It has a belt clip for added support.




Here is the easiest and most obvious way to conceal a handgun, although it is not the best: in your pocket. This only works if you have deep pockets. With some pants I find that the handle of the gun is clearly visible if someone was looking down my pockets. The other problem with this method is that it leaves an obvious gun print in your pants. Using either an inside the pocket holster or an IWB holster shoved down your pocket does manage to break up the obvious gun print to some extent, but it's still not great. I very rarely carry using this method anymore.







A fairly comfortable way to carry is inside the pants, on the side, like this.














In a proper holster, and a long enough shirt, you can't tell that anything is there at all.

This method is very comfortable if you have pants that are loose enough. With tight pants though, forget it. This method also only works if your overshirt is long enough.

The only other problem with this method is that when looked at from the front or the back, you might not appear symetrical, thus revealing to the careful eye that you are packing something.

Moving around and sitting with this type of carry method are comfortable and will not easily reveal your weapon.



Another method is to conceal the weapon in the small of your back like this.














With an overshirt the weapon is easily concealed. The problem with this method is two fold. First, the weapon is harder to reach in a hurry. Second, sitting down will either block your access to the weapon, or cause the weapon to protrude slightly in your shirt, revealing that you are packing something.

However, if you'll just be walking around all day, this is a very comfortable method of carrying.








The deepest method of concealment that I use is down the front of my pants like this.














If you're wearing an undershirt, you can tuck the shirt on top of the holster, leaving only the belt-clip visible like this.















With an overshirt, the entire rig is totally concealed.

This method used to be really uncomfortable for me because...well, I got a beer gut. But I've been working out and loosing weight over the past couple of months, and this method is now comfortable. I can totally conceal the weapon without worrying about it being seen. When the rig is properly placed, I can even comfortably sit down with the gun like this.

There are drawbacks to this method. First, if you have to get to the gun, you have to lift up your shirts with your weak hand, while reaching for the gun with your strong hand. This takes practice.

Second, if you're overweight, the handle of the gun is going to stick into your gut when you sit down.

Third, you have a loaded gun that is pointed right at your genitals. However, with a proper holster and a strong double action trigger, the chances of this gun going off accidently and blowing off your nutsack are pretty close to zero.

By far though, my favorite way to conceal a handgun is to just stick it in a jacket pocket. Depending on your jacket, the weather, and your creativity, you can easily hide a handgun on you. Now you don't see it.












And now you do.

The limits of this method really comes down to your own personal style & the weather.

If the weather is nice & the circumstances allow, this is the method I choose most often because it's the most comfortable.

So these are the methods that I use. There are other methods, such as ankle holsters, or pager paddle holsters; that are available, but I haven't bothered with them yet.

Again, I'm no expert in this, but consider it a decent intro to how to conceal carry.

As far as how to conceal carry legally, you should consult your local state's laws. The links to the right of this blog provide a good starting point for that. If you live in Virginia, you can check out my intro to gun ownership & legally carrying a handgun.

Columbia, SC, 8-17-2006

From The State, Columbia, SC 8-17-2006

According to police, two men wearing masks invaded Allen Cooper's home and began robbing him at gunpoint. Cooper gave one of the masked men some cash, but, unsatisfied, they ordered him to call back two people who left the house prior to the robbery. Cooper contacted Rhea McCary and James Robertson, who returned, but senses something was wrong. When they arrived, Cooper bolted out the door yelling, "They've got guns!" The attackers began shooting, striking McCary in the arm, but McCary returned fire, killing one of the suspects. The second suspect fled and was still at large at press time.

Indianapolis, IN 8-19-2006

From the Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, IN 8-19-2006

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary inside a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant when a man approached the counter and placed an order. But then he demanded of the cashier, "Give me the money before I shoot you." Initially, Paul Sherlock joined the other customers as they bolted for the door. But then he stopped out of concern for the cashier. He recalled a June 2005 incident in which a carjacker shot at him. That was also the day he decided to buy a gun and apply for a carry permit. Police say Sherlock faced the suspect then pulled out his 9mm pistol. The suspect put his hands in the air and Sherlock ordered him to lean against a window. Police apprehended the man without incident. The accused's "gun" turned out to be a screwdriver.

Armed Citizen experience

I get the American Rifleman, which is the NRA's magazine. In it they reprint news stories about people using their guns in self defense. I'm going to start making it a regular part of this blog to reprint these stories.

A couple was at home with their 15-month old son when two armed men, one of them a convicted felon with a history of break-ins, kicked in the front door. According to police, one of the residents shot both intruders with his handgun, causing the felon to flee and the other burglar to fall dead inside the house. "I think probably if he had not had a gun, he would have been [killed], as well as the female in the house, and possibly the baby," said Sgt. Jack Cates of the Durham, NC, police department. The uninjured residents fled next door with their son and called police. Minutes later, a man showed up at the hospital suffering from a gunshot wound. He was charged with first-degree burglary, armed robbery and felony possession of cocaine. (The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC, 08-12-2006).

Concealed Carry arguments

I was going to write a lengthy post about the arguments for allowing citizens to conceal carry handguns, but then I found somebody that did it much better.

This is the best argument for allowing people to conceal carry that I have yet read.

Most of it is based on John Lott's book, More Guns Less Crime.

For full disclosure, I am writing this while concealing my snub-nose 38 special revolver in an Inside the Waisteband Holster (usually just shortened to IWH) that is shoved down the front of my pants. The only part of the gun visible above the pants is the black rubber grip and the plastic holster clip on my pants, and both of these are easily concealed by my sweater.

And yes, I'm writing this while at work. Why am I carrying a concealed weapon at work? Because after the recent spout of school shootings, I'd rather have the ability to shoot back if some maniac decides to unleash terror here.

The expired Assault Weapons Ban

I hear alot in the media about how horrible the expiration of the so called "Assault Weapons Ban" was. The people who say this don't have a clue about what the ban actually did. Why is this? Because before the ban you could legally buy a semi-automatic AK-47 clone just as easily (in most states) as you could buy a single-shot shotgun. And during the ban? You could still legally buy that semi-automatic AK-47 clone, but now it's had a few minor cosmetic changes made to be in compliance, and you couldn't buy new magazines that held over 10 rounds. But, you could still buy used mags that held 20, 30, or even 75 rounds, at a cost premium. So what did the ban really do? It made all the hi cap mags more expensive, and it made the so called "assault weapons" look slightly different, with no real functional change.

For more details on what the ban did, check out: What is an "Assault Weapon?" and Comparison: "Assault Weapons" vs. Other Firearms

Now, that being said, some states do have further restrictions placed upon semi-automatic weapons. California being one of them. Some states merely have limits on what type of magazines you can purchase (i.e. none over 10 rounds). I would never move to California for this reason.

Also, the Assault Weapons Ban had absolutely no effect upon the legal & licensed purchase of full-automatic weapons, which have been heavily regulated since 1934. In America, it is completely legal to purchase a fully automatic weapon if you go through the proper FBI background checks and pay hundreds in fees. But, due to an artificially low supply of these weapons, their price is usually 10 times the cost of their comparable semi-automatic clones. What this basically means is that only the upper-middle class and above can afford such expensive toys.

Defensive Gun use on CNN's front page

I actually found this one on CNN's front page today, but I wasn't able to link directly to it.

So, I found the Kansas City channel where the video is from. Enjoy:

A robber pulls out a small gun on store clerk. The clerk pulls out a .357 magnum and resists. A shot is fired, and the robber flees.

Rosie O’Donnell: The Second Amendment is 'Not Really a Right'

Yup. Rosie O'Donnell thinks that the right to bear arms isn't really a right. Despite it being right there in our constitution. I wonder what she thinks of other rights, say freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or a right to a trial by jury?

I'm not going to spend much time on this one because it's too easy. Just remember that while Rosie likes to use tragedies like the recent Amish school shooting to push her agenda forward, that while she claims that nobody should have semi-automatic weapons, that her own bodyguard carries one.

So what does this say? This says that she's ok with her people being armed to protect her, but she's against us proles from arming ourselves because we can't afford a bodyguard.

Gun Control in the UK & Australia

Why draconian gun control laws only disarm the victims, from a Canadian perspective:

Since 1997, it has not been legal for ordinary Britons to own a handgun. Yet since the ban, handgun homicides have gone up, not down. In the six years prior to the ban, there was an average of 33 handgun murders a year in Britain. Since then, there had been an average of nearly 43, an increase of 30% despite the ban.

In the years since the handgun ban, violent crime in Britain has spiked and the streets of the major cities are awash in illegal guns smuggled in from abroad. By Scotland Yard's estimate, as many as 4 million illegal handguns have entered the U.K. in the past nine years.

In Manchester, for example, police report an average of two firearms offences each day by 15- to 20-year-olds, alone. In most categories of firearms crimes other than murder, Britain is now more violent than the United States.

Australia has had a similar experience.

Following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, in which a crazed gunman killed 35 people at a Tasmanian resort, the Australian national government banned most semi-automatic rifles and pump-action shotguns. Nearly a million civilian guns were confiscated (with compensation) in the months after the shooting.

Yet, while gun crimes in Australia are now noticeably lower than in 1996, shooting incidents actually rose by more than two-thirds in the five years after the government-imposed gun "surrender."

More media bias & armed teachers

So, this cartoon really riles me.



The cartoon's point is that if we were to allow teachers to arm themselves, then they would cause more harm by pulling out their guns all the time.

Sigh...where to begin.

Well, first of all under current Federal Law, schools are "Gun Free Zones" where nobody is allowed to have weapons. Well...we can all see how well this law works. These Gun Free Zone invisible legal force shields have done nothing to prevent or stop armed nuts going bezerk in schools filled with defenseless people.

Second, in many states (although not in Wisconson) it is already legal for people to legally carry a handgun. Here in Virginia it is legal for anyone legally capable of purchasing a handgun to carry the weapon in plain view in a hoslter on their hip.

Those of us like myself who want to carry these weapons concealed so as to not freighten people, get conceal carry licenses so that we can have their weapons on them under cover.

So, have laws that permit people to carry handguns turned our society into a more or less dangerous place? Do we regularly see legal, permitted concealed handgun owners in Virginia pulling out their handguns and threatening their fellow citizens all the time? Hardly.

I personally don't think that teachers should be forced to carry weapons. That said, I think they should be granted the same rights as the rest of us. That if a teacher wants to go through the training and permitting steps required to carry a concealed handgun on their persons while at work, I see no reason why we should prevent them.

And remember, all teachers need not be armed for the presence of weapons to be an effective deterrant. Only the treat of armed victims need be there for it to be effective. But perhaps I'm not being eloquent enough, so here again is Thomas Jefferson on the matter:

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. -- in "Commonplace Book," 1774-1776, quoting from On Crimes and Punishment, by criminologist Cesare Beccaria, 1764

But again, if we were to listen to the media, then we would think that the moment anyone is allowed to defend themselves with a handgun, that they become maniacs capable of enforcing their tyrany upon us with rampant violence. Sigh...

Q: Why do we need Assault Rifles?

A: Because the 2nd Ammendment is the last source of redress for garunteeing the rest of our constitution, when all other options have been exhausted.

What sort of thing would constitute the point at which armed rebellion against a tyranical power was necessary? Well, I believe our founding fathers thought it had something to do with Habeas Corpus...



Let us all pray that these infractions can be redressed via legal & political actions.

40 Reasons to Support Gun Control

1. Banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, and Chicago cops need guns.
2. Washington DC's low murder rate of 80.6 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Arlington, VA's high murder rate of 1.6 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.
3. Statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control but statistics showing increasing murder rates after gun control are "just statistics."
4. The Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, both of which went into effect in 1994, are responsible for the decrease in violent crime rates, which have been declining since 1991.
5. We must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time and anyone who would own a gun out of fear of such a lunatic is paranoid.
6. The more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals.
7. An intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .357 Magnum will get angry and kill you.
8. A woman raped and strangled is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet.
9. When confronted by violent criminals, you should "put up no defense — give them what they want, or run" (Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Pete Shields, Guns Don't Die - People Do, 1981, p. 125).
10. The New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns; just like Guns and Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.
11. One should consult an automotive engineer for safer seatbelts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a surgeon for spinal paralysis, a computer programmer for Y2K problems, and Sarah Brady [or Sheena Duncan, Adele Kirsten, Peter Storey, etc.] for firearms expertise.
12. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1791, refers to the National Guard, which was created by an act of Congress in 1903.
13. The National Guard, funded by the federal government, occupying property leased to the federal government, using weapons owned by the federal government, punishing trespassers under federal law, is a state militia.
14. These phrases," right of the people peaceably to assemble," "right of the people to be secure in their homes," "enumeration's herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people," and "The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people," all refer to individuals, but "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" refers to the state.
15. We don't need guns against an oppressive government, because the Constitution has internal safeguards, but we should ban and seize all guns, thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th amendments to that Constitution.
16. Rifles and handguns aren't necessary to national defense, which is why the army has millions of them.
17. Private citizens shouldn't have handguns, because they serve no military purpose, and private citizens shouldn't have "assault rifles," because they are military weapons.
18. The ready availability of guns today, with waiting periods, background checks, fingerprinting, government forms, et cetera, is responsible for recent school shootings,compared to the lack of school shootings in the 40's, 50's and 60's, which resulted from the availability of guns at hardware stores, surplus stores, gas stations, variety stores, mail order, et cetera.
19. The NRA's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign about kids handling guns is propaganda, and the anti-gun lobby's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign is responsible social activity.
20. Guns are so complex that special training is necessary to use them properly, and so simple to use that they make murder easy.
21. A handgun, with up to 4 controls, is far too complex for the typical adult to learn to use, as opposed to an automobile that only has 20.
22. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men but a woman with a gun is "an accident waiting to happen" and gun makers' advertisements aimed at women are "preying on their fears."
23. Ordinary people in the presence of guns turn into slaughtering butchers but revert to normal when the weapon is removed.
24. Guns cause violence, which is why there are so many mass killings at gun shows.
25. A majority of the population supports gun control, just like a majority of the population supported owning slaves.
26. A self-loading small arm can legitimately be considered to be a "weapon of mass destruction" or an "assault weapon."
27. Most people can't be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by because they can be trusted.
28. The right of online pornographers to exist cannot be questioned because it is constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights, but the use of handguns for self defense is not really protected by the Bill of Rights.
29. Free speech entitles one to own newspapers, transmitters, computers, and typewriters, but self-defense only justifies bare hands.
30. The ACLU is good because it uncompromisingly defends certain parts of the Constitution, and the NRA is bad, because it defends other parts of the Constitution.
31. Charlton Heston as president of the NRA is a shill who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.
32. Police operate with backup within groups, which is why they need larger capacity pistol magazines than do "civilians" who must face criminals alone and therefore need less ammunition.
33. We should ban "Saturday Night Specials" and other inexpensive guns because it's not fair that poor people have access to guns too.
34. Police officers, who qualify with their duty weapons once or twice a year, have some special Jedi-like mastery over handguns that private citizens can never hope to obtain.
35. Private citizens don't need a gun for self-protection because the police are there to protect them even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection.
36. Citizens don't need to carry a gun for personal protection but police chiefs, who are desk-bound administrators who work in a building filled with cops, need a gun.
37. "Assault weapons" have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people, which is why the police need them but "civilians" do not.
38. When Microsoft pressures its distributors to give Microsoft preferential promotion, that's bad; but when the Federal government pressures cities to buy guns only from Smith & Wesson, that's good.
39. Trigger locks do not interfere with the ability to use a gun for defensive purposes, which is why you see police officers with one on their duty weapon.
40. When Handgun Control, Inc., says they want to "keep guns out of the wrong hands," they don't mean you. Really.

Media Bias

So shooting rampages are a statistical annomally when you consider the odds. You have a far greater chance of being killed by a shark attack, by lightning, or by a moose, than you do from being killed by a lone mad gunman. Furthermore, most of the shooting rampages tend to happen in places where it is already illegal for people to carry firearms on them, thus disarming only the victims, as the perpetraitors don't bother to care about the laws.

Which brings us to this: every time a lone gunman pops up and shoots some disarmed victims, the media goes into a feeding frenzy to stir up the gun control crowd. Here is a livid example:

Even with a toll of nine dead in three violent school shootings in one week, the United States is unwilling to consider restrictions on guns openly bought and sold across the country.

Thankfully those still in control of the government have some logic left in them about this issue. When asked about the recent shootings at an Amish schoolhouse, the Governor of Pennsylvania said:

gun controls would not have stopped Amish school shooter Charles Roberts from acquiring the 9mm pistol, shotgun, rifle, stun gun, and 600 rounds of ammunition found on his body, because he had no police record or diagnosis of psychological illness.

Exactly. We have plenty of gun control legislation that already prevents known felons from purchasing guns legally. How do felons get guns then? Illegally, much the same way they buy marijuana, cocaine, or any other illegal drug. Further gun control only has one purpose: to disarm people who obey the law.

In short, I shall bring up this quote again, because it rings the loudest:

"The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."

--Thomas Jefferson

Armed America

People who are not familiar with guns often have this view that gun owners are either criminals or a bunch of homophobic Bible thumping rednecks.

Which is why I absolutely love this project: Armed America: Portraits of American Gun Owners in Their Homes.

The idea was to photograph a hundred gun owners, in their homes, and do a gallery show. I figured this would take about two years. But very soon after I started, it became evident that my ambitions were too low. My mailbox flooded with letters from people I didn't know wanting to participate -- I realized that I could probably photograph a hundred people in two months, but it wasn't a number of people that was important, it was their stories -- a cowboy in Texas, a survivalist in Montana, a deer hunter in Pennsylvania, a sheriff in Georgia, a soldier in Idaho.... What I really needed, I realized, was to get moving, to drive across the country and find America somewhere between here and there.

BBC News Have Your Say

So the BBC News website has this forum where you can post your reaction to recent news stories.

Are you in the area close to this incident? What can be done to make schools safer? Would tightening the law on gun possession make a difference? Is there a 'gun culture' that's becoming more prevalent? Do you own a gun? If so, why? Send us your views.

Well, this morning I figured, "hell, I'm not doing anything yet" so I posted my views. I don't have the exact wording, but it was something like this:

I wouldn't want to live in a country where only the police & the military had guns. I wouldn't want to live in a land where victims cannot defend themselves against criminals.

Why is it that these types of shootings always happen where the vicims are disarmed? Like schools?

This is why I have the necessary gun permits and carry a handgun on me.

Or something very close to that, because again, I can't recall the exact words, and I haven't been able to find my post on the BBC site. Which for awhile made me think that they had censored what I had written. I mean, they are Brits, and the Brits are very anti-gun.

But then something very unusuall happened. As part of posting, you have to give a name, a location, an email address, and a phone number. And about 10 minutes ago, I got a phone call from a guy from the BBC World News asking if I'd like to participate in a call-in radio program and air my thoughts on the issue. Now, my first reaction was, "yes!" but then my brain got going and thought, "you remember all those times you've watched Fox News or the Daily Show and you have thought, 'how did these people agree to get ambushed like this'? Well, here is your chance not to sound like a Raving Mad American Gun Loonatic to all those anti-gun Brits."

So I respectfully declined to go on the air "because I'm at work right now". The guy then asked if they could still use my written comments for the show, and I said, "Definitely."

I only wish I could have remembered to give them the url for this blog. Oh well...