The SmartCarry in-the-pants holster (http://www.smartcarry.com/) is very comfortable and works great with my Khar PM9. But this article fails to satisfy me because of its focus on the mechanics of carrying. I don’t carry in order to go through the motions, I carry to have an effective means of defense for myself and those with me.
I realize there are a lot of people who are afraid of firearms and a lot of people who disagree with the need to have a means to effect self defense. But when I go to the store, I don’t assume that it is just a waste of fuel to lug a spare tire with me because the streets near there are always free of nails. When the fire department shows up at your business for a surprise code inspection, they always expect your extinguishers to be in good working order. The FAA requires airliners to carry life rafts for every overwater flight.
We commonly accept and comply with each of these assumptions of risk. If we boarded an airplane and the pilot just happened to mention that the airline was saving money by omitting the flotation devices, we might want to ask to get off. Yet we think people are “gun nuts” or have some blood lust when they carry a concealed weapon.
On the personal side, in the half dozen or so years I have carried, I have never been discovered, that is no third party has reacted to my concealed firearm. I have never had to “display” my firearm, that is to say, remove it from its carrying position and make it ready to use. In my state, the law inclines permitees to only display when the use the firearm is clearly justified, meaning that you are going to have to shoot. To unnecessarily display the firearm is to invite the charge of “brandishing”, which is as it should be. I have had two incidents that passed without any harm to me, but where I was very relieved to have had the firearm. In the team of technical people I work with all but one have their concealed carry permits. Two of three women in the office have the permit or are thinking of getting it.
This article does little, IMO, to help those in the public who oppose concealed carry to understand why some of us think it foolish to leave home without our firearm.
