(bolding mine) That was something else I was thinking about. If I where to ever carry, I would always want the gun in the same spot. And if I where to carry a weapon, I think I would always carry. The same way that I always carry my pocket knife.
It may sound silly, but it is like my cell phone. I hardly ever use it, my Wife and I have cell phones mostly for emergencies. We travel daily at odd hours on some pretty remote roads. We don’t carry our cells just when the weather is bad, but just in case.
I’m trying to understand the casualness of the discussion of carrying a conceled weapon around on a daily basis.
What do you people do that requires something that I would really consider to be a pain in the ass? I can’t imagine anything beyong being a cop or some other security function.
I’m a cop. I have a Glock 27 for off duty but like I said I don’t carry it much. Its a pain in the ass to have to buy clothes and figure out what I am going to wear based on carrying a weapon. I don’t like to accessorize.
And please understand I’m not being critical, and I think that statistics hold up that CCW holders are some of the safest gun owners around. I consider myself to also be a very safe gun owner. I shoot on my private property a couple of times a year. But boy howdy, when that gun is on my person, loaded or not (all guns are always treated as loaded) pretty much all of my attention gets focused on the safe use of the weapon.
Question – Police officers offten carry while off duty. I think that some are even required to. Not a bad idea IMHO. Do they need to get a CCW? Or do they have a licence by default.
What makes you decide to carry it? Seems that the need would be incredibly random.
Can a police officer off duty go into a court house with his CCW?
Maybe you guys can offer suggestions for me. I don’t have my CCW permit at the moment, and I’ve been trying to decide for a few months now if I want to get it. The problem is in me carrying it. I’m 5’3" and 128 lbs. In the summer, it gets a 100F here, so wearing a coat is absolutely not an option (heck, wearing sleeves isn’t an option a lot of times). Would an IWB at the small of my back still be my best choice? I don’t want to carry a gun off my person (no purse, for example).
Also, I don’t have a specific model in mind, but I do plan to get a smaller gun than my home gun (Glock 17), if that makes a difference in your suggestion.
I’m not big, strong, or fast. My chances of fighting off a grown man aren’t that great. I try to avoid obvious danger areas (dark parking lots, for example), but things don’t always work out the way you intend. I’ve dealt with a few incidents of harassment over the years, none of which would’ve warranted drawing a weapon, but all of which made me realize how bad things could’ve gotten had the harasser been intent on harm.
You don’t understand casually discussing something? Do you spend most of your time in the Pit or something? We’re discussing it casually because 1) enipla asked a rational and straightforward question and 2) some of have experience that allows us to answer that question.
Pretty simple really.
Do you consider discussing things rationally to be a PITA? Or do you mean that you consider carrying to be a PITA? If the later, than you’ve carried for long enough to form an opinion and now do not because it’s too much work, is this correct? What part of it did you consider to be a pain? (Besides sitting in a hardback chair and being gouged by your carry piece)
I say “casual” because the issue is being discussed as a fairly common everyday situation which I don’t think it is. It was not meant to be a critique of the topic per se.
In most societies outside of the US, such a topic would be considered very odd indeed. Here in the US, the fact that carrying guns around under ones clothes is considered a “normal” part of life speaks volumes about the nature of our society. If a person in the US doesn’t realize this, then it is time to stick his head out of the US fishbowl and learn more about other societies
It is not a PITA to discuss this topic. What I meant is that I consider it a PITA to be carrying a piece of iron around under my clothes all day unless it is part of a job. I hate to even carry a heavy key ring in my pocket. It feels uncomfortable.
Oh, and I don’t understand the comment about the Pit. I have been on these boards since 1999 and have spent hardly any time in the Pit. It has always struck me as an unproductive use of my time.
Small of back carry is only comfortable if you spend virtually all of your time on your feet. Seated or driving it is one of the most uncomfortable carry positions. Consider the Smith and Wesson Scandium line of .38 special revolvers or, perhaps, the Keltec 3AT (.380) automatic or the NAA Guardian in .32 or .380 and going with pocket carry. As long as you don’t insist on wearing some tight, nut-hugging (or camel-toeing if that is the case) jeans, pocket carry is pretty comfortable with any of these. The Keltec is actually light enough to carry in the pocket of shorts or sweat pants held up only by an elastic waistband. A pocket holster, which holds the piece in the proper position for draw and also breaks up its outline, is a good idea.
Other options, like NAA minirevolvers are available, but the ones I suggested are pull-the-trigger-it-goes-bang items. No hammers to cock or safeties to fiddle with under stress.
Suppose we just cut to the chase and you give us your plan for how to remake the US in the image of these other societies that you_obviously_consider superior?
I had some serious death threats related to my job. Although I am not a “Police officer” I am a “Bureaucrat with a badge” and some dudes take things hwaaaay too seriously. Once I transferred to another area and no more threats I began to carry only when traveling to bad neighborhoods, then I stopped altogether. In some other societies my job would have a uniform and a gun, in others I’d have less crazies making threats. I guess it all balances out.
enipla It varies state by state. In some a OD Officer is required to carry, in others he is allowed to without a special permit. There could be some where he has to get a permit, I don’t know. Generally no one other than a bailiff or a judge gets to carry a gun inside a courtroom, but again that could be different in other areas.
To add what Scumpup said- there is also a vest or jacket pocket. I often wear a vest, one of those “photog” vests with a zillion pockets, and my Beretta fitted nicely in one pocket- one where’d it’d be natural to rest my hand anyway. Thus I could have my hand on my gun in my pocket when things got a little tense.
ffensive comments and threats, having a pistol is very comforting. I only had to pull my gun once, some doped out loser waving a knife said “I have a knife- give me your money”- I showed him my gun and he ran, dropping the knife. I suppose a martial arts expert could have taken him safely too.
To correct a typo
*And yes, when a gang of “yuts” is following you and your lady, makinging lewd and offensive comments and threats, having a pistol is very comforting. *
Then for galen:
But galen, many other societies do carry guns. Sure, other than the USA, most of them are not “western industrialized nations” but it’s more common that you think. And even in “western industrialized nations” dudes who carry a lot of cash in their line of business can get permits too. Note that Beretta and other European gun companies make quite a few small “useful only for carrying concealed” pistols- who do you think buys them? Educate yourself a bit.
Trust me there are a lot of wealthy European businessmen who carry a gun- or their bodyguards do. Or their wives have one in their purse. It’s just a bit more “inelegant” to talk about it over there.
Here’s a line for Wiki about the Argentinian firearms manufacture Bersa "The popular Thunder 380 is intended for general civilian use. This conceptualization might be appreciated in the context of handgun use and law in many South American countries, where the Thunder 380 is quite popular, and .380 ACP is frequently the most powerful cartridge allowed to civilians. "
The Pit comment was because of the casual discussion thing. I see no reason to not discuss this casually, and the apparent shock that it is being discussed casually led me to believe that you would prefer some vitriol interjected.
There are plenty of other threads going on right now that are full of fear and hatred of the concept of self defense, so I really didn’t see that we needed to bring it up in one devoted to a fairly simple question, but perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps we should hash out the societal and historic reasons that firearm ownership is more common in the US at the beginning of every thread that mention guns? Must we compare every thread topic with “most societies outside of the US”? Or can we, just this once, have a discussion about something that is fairly common in this country without the Utopia of Canadia being brought into the discussion?
Casual and non fear-filled discussions of firearms, concealed carry, self defense, and etc. happen all the time. They would be even more civil and common, IMHO, if some people would stop hijacking every discussion with their political bias. (This not directed at galen, just an observation) Gun owners are much more likely to carry on a polite conversion with people that don’t start out on the attack.
Shooting - 30+ years. Only a CCW holder for 6 or 7 (since that police chief in Stratton kicked off the debate by issuing to people outside his jurisdiction)
<shrug> The way I read galen’s posts, s/he was shocked that we could carry on a casual conversation about this topic. Just seemed to me to be another “gunz R bad” thing going on.
And I got the impression that galen was indeed shocked that you could have received good answers without getting jumped for even considering getting a CCW.
Maybe that’s not what was meant, that’s just how I was reading it.
Well, you really shouldn’t if they are carrying it legally, because it’s concealed
I saw somewhere that about 6000 permits were issued in 2006 in Colorado. The guesses I’m making from this come out to less than 1% of the population, so yeah it’s rare.
Down in Pagosa Springs back when I was a kid it didn’t seem to be at all uncommon to have a revolver in the “whiskey box” (glove box). Technically concealed, and illegal as all hell in some other states, but not unusual. But carrying on your person was uncommon even back then/there. A .30-30 was fairly normal, but I haven’t seen a gun rack in a truck in I don’t know how many years.
Complaint one: the back of the collar cuts into the back of my neck. The design needs work.
Complaint two: The weight of even the 9 oz Kel Tek P32 causes it hang unevenly, making it pretty obvious you’ve got SOMETHING in the pocket. I suppose it could be an iPod or a heavy set of keys or a cell phone, but it’s obvious something’s in there. I can only imagine what it would hang like with a LadySmith or other, heavier small handgun.
Complaint 3: the hidden pocket for the gun gaps open if you lean over, giving anybody and everybody a clear view into the pocket. If I lean just wrong, the gun (which is in a little fabric slip holster, not hard paddle holster) could conceiveably actually fall out! I had to put a snap onthe pocket on mine to keep it so it doesn’t just hang open when I move.
Conclusion: My vest hangs in my safe. I doubt I’ll wear it again after yesterday. The Kel Tec is, however, small enough to wear inside the waistband of ordinary jeans, and not so heavy as to be uncomfortable there. I do wonder about it getting dust and lint inside though, being worn next to fabric like that?
My arthritis is so bad that I can’t easily operate the slide on a pistol; it is difficult for me to load a clip. I carry a S&W 357 Mag; Model 66 in what is essentially a fanny pack from Uncle Henry. It is made for CCW and it works very well.
I carry because I deliver medications to nursing homes; I deliver a lot of controlled substances and a few of my stops are in really, really, really bad neighborhoods. I don’t carry it when I’m not working.
Might be too late. The system has screwed up so many people that they make a critical mass. The worst thing is that they don’t even know that they are screwed up!
