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By Josh Phillips

I had a thought recently. Well, more like an itch, and I need the Armed Intelligentsia’s help in scratching it. The other day, my wife tasked me with picking up take out from a local eatery. I dutifully headed out into the (not so) vast concrete jungle that is my little town to fulfill my hunter/gatherer duties, Springfield XDm 3.8″ .45 compact holstered and tucked into my waistband, shirt tucked over holster. Carrying this way, the only indication that I’m packing is the tell-tale small black metal holster clip behind my right hip . . .

This particular establishment has a line dedicated to take-out, and I was immediately greeted by a friendly young lady who asked for the name on my order before turning around to gather it up. As I paid for my (expertly) hunted and gathered meal, a small line developed behind me, waiting to complete their chow quests. Once I was handed my receipt, I turned around to leave and, as I made my way past the waiting customers, I saw him. Standing in the back of the line, was another concealed carrier.

He hadn’t done anything wrong to make himself stand out. He actually was doing a great job as he didn’t even have the holster clip to potentially give him away. But I knew he was carrying.

I’m sure many of you have had similar experiences. You “make” someone without their necessarily doing something that anyone who doesn’t carry would notice. In that moment, I knew that he had to have made me as well, since he had been standing behind me, and my holster clip would have been easy to spot for someone who notices that kind of thing.

Here’s my itch: we need a “Roll Tide.”

Here in the great state of Alabama, “Roll Tide” functions as our official greeting and term of affirmation. Kind of like “howdy” in Texas (you guys really do that, right?).

We, as People of the Gun, need a greeting that communicates greeting and goodwill to each other. Something that says “Hey, you too? Roll Tide”, without being so obvious. It should be something that non-gun people won’t pick up on, as the operative term in “concealed carry” is “concealed.” Nothing to blow your cover, just something that helps build a sense of unity within our community.

I now hereby open the floor to suggestions and nominations. Roll Tide.

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184 COMMENTS

      • Cautiously indeed, since the famous Larry Craig incident never took place as portrayed in the media. The fairly notorious sting’s purpose was to find well-to-do businessmen, accuse them of homosexual behavior, and “arrest” and process them in a room adjacent to the restroom borrowed from the airport, collecting cash but still giving them time to get back on the next flight.

        During the interview recording, for which a transcript ultimately was made available, it was clear that the cop (David Karsnia) was lying. For example, at one point during which the cop was embellishing his tale for the recording, Karsnia positively identified that he had seen Craig’s ornate ring under the edge of the adjacent stall, signaling to him. Craig was furious at the lie, then realized that he wore the ring on the other hand, and the man could not possibly have seen it as he described. Karsnia stumbled but kept pushing on. This renegade policeman turned out to have a track record of notorious/nefarious behavior; it was not his only time in the national news.

        Craig, recognizing the media’s likely salivation about the story, ultimately signed, paid the fine, and traveled on. But he challenged this evil practice later, this homosexual cop’s version of a speed trap. Obviously it went badly for him in the media, but that does not change the reality of the situation.

        At the time, when gay publications were full of this story, I went looking around to see what they said. None were familiar with the alleged “gay code” and toe-tapping/signaling alleged to have been used by Craig. They thought it was made up. But even if it had really existed, its obscurity would have prevented it from being useful in the manner alleged by the cop. Also, none admitted to cruising bathroom stalls in the manner described, nor knew anyone who did.

        And this alleged liaison would have been ridiculous to attempt. While lonely, empty restrooms have been taken advantage of for homosexual (or heterosexual) trysts, the cop’s testimony is that this crowded restroom, jammed with people who had rushed to the restroom between connecting flights, had a line of people waiting to use the stalls.

        The story was implausible, unsupportable, and was alleged using demonstrable lies. Even the now-famous phrase “wide stance” was fabricated by Karsnia, as shown by the transcript. But it would have been deliciously ironic had it been true, so it was treated as true by progressive media and was used to end Craig’s career as a budget hawk in the Senate..

        ===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle

        • Intriguing. I will “keep believing,” tentatively, the results of my research including obtaining the transcript from the actual police interview, and statements of the interviewing police officer. I also did additional research on the officer, though that doesn’t exactly address the case here, it certainly establishes a pattern and practice. The New York Times, as I demonstrated at the time, had also edited out key sections of the transcript.

          Larry Craig may indeed be gay; I cannot know for certain. But the evidence very strongly indicates that the incident as described in the media and in the popular conception didn’t happen that way at all.

          You sound like you thought you were were addressing someone who holds faith in a cherished belief over evidence. In this instance, that’s rather far from true.

          ===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle

        • @John J. Jones, who wrote:

          You know the Larry Craig thing was a lie because you were with Larry Craig, right?

          No. I have met him, briefly, on other Washington business, though I am not a politician.

          But I laid out the case and the evidence above. My conclusions derive from that evidence. It is, as always, tentatively held — but the evidence against the incident as commonly understood is quite compelling. And such business-traveler stings have been done by other jurisdictions, though few as nasty as this one. Many years ago, one was tried against me (as I looked like the sort of businessman-target who would have been a good target), but I took the time to push back, and got through it. My antennae went up on hearing some of the details of this one.

          ===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle

  1. If anything could make me stop carrying it’d be a constant signal from other carriers.
    I hate these camaraderie gestures. I can’t hardly leave the house to ride my bike or go for a run or even drive a Jeep without being waved at every 10 minutes.
    I don’t need nor want another thing to be popularly harassed over.

    Once in a while is fine (like quarterly or semi annually). But we’re at the point now where everything everyone does or is interested in deserves some sort of hat tip from those doing or interested in the same thing. This is why I have no logos on my clothing, no stickers on my car, no ribbons or bracelets. Like I told the churches and the government. I don’t want to join your club so please stop pretending like I’m already a member.

    • I’m with you Shire-Man, don’t need another annoying, “we’re part of the same cool club wave”. Good grief people, facebook has turned the world into attention whoring robots.

    • Yes Shire-man, Jeep drivers get this. Motorcycle people get this. If I wanted to join your club I’d just wear colors. The little metal clip bugs me enough, the last thing I need is someone woofing at me as I climb on my bike. I guess I’m just not one of the cool kids, but I’ve never had a problem with that.

    • +2

      No bumper stickers, no Facebook, no tattoos, no jewelry (‘cept a wedding ring. Sorry ladies), no branded clothing or hats, no Gadsden flag, no signs in the lawn. PLEASE just allow me to be “some guy.”

    • Well I can help with part of that.

      Just ride a Harley. It won’t stop you being waved at, but no non-Harley rider will be expecting a wave back. And Harley riders will translate the no-wave as the lone-wolf attitude.

      🙂

      • When other motorcyclists see a guy on a Harley who won’t wave back they usually think “I don’t know why dentists and accountants have to behave like jerks”.

      • I think his point is that he doesn’t want people doing it to him. If something like this became popular (pretty unlikely), then you’d have people whispering the secret code word at you whenever they noticed your holster clip, just so they can feel cool and “in the club”. I’m with Shire-Man, I think. I don’t mind being waved at once in a while by a fellow biker or British car driver, but I’m not really interested in being “outed” by every other concealed carrier out there, when I’m trying very hard to not draw attention to the fact that I’m armed. If I want people to talk to me about my gun, I’ll carry openly (after 1/1/2016).

        • If you don’t wish to be outed as carrying to others who have made the choice to carry then I suggest you take concealment seriously. Concealed means just that: concealed!

    • Man I’m in a small town in the South. We wave at everyone we pass. (I guess that’s annoying.) I agree, though, that I don’t want other CC “calling me out” with a secret code word. I carry concealed so no one else knows. I don’t need someone drawing attention to the fact that I’m armed.

    • Amen!

      When I bought my last truck, it had two stickers still on it and a dealer license plate frame. I asked that those be removed. They removed the stickers but not the frames, so I cut the frames off with some heavy-duty clippers and handed the salesman the pieces. Boy, was he ready to blow!

      I informed him that unless the dealer was prepared to sign a contract paying me $10 a month for advertising the dealership, I didn’t want any dealer frames. He sputtered that everybody else took them. I said everybody else might be suckers, but my truck was only going to advertise things of immense importance to me.

      I don’t even sport a North American Hunting Club sticker any longer, since a few years ago that led to being treated like some lost buddy by a couple of drinking-while-shooting, drinking-while-driving jerks.

  2. I agree with this to a point. I like feeling like part of a community and I know others do too, but we have a different type of community here not like fans that can wear it on their shirts. Although a better example could have been used for your idea… War Eagle is said a lot in casual greeting and community than those other filthy words… RT is used more of a exclamation phrase in Alabama, like, “My lawnmower cranked! R*** T***!” “She’s not pregnant! R*** T***!”

  3. We want to telegraph we have a gun? Really? Let’s crank out some decoder rings too and patches and super secret handshakes and hats–don’t forget the hats or pinky rings. Ooh, let’s have levels too and women’s auxiliary groups and crowns with 10 pearls that change to rubies when someone in the gun industry dies like Cooper, Leghorn, or Quinn. We will need a fancy name and a lodge and oaths and diversity training. And we will hoot like owls on a shed when in public.

    • Yep. Any overt sign, no matter how subtle will become more widely known. I’ll politely ignore anyone carrying and would appreciate them doing the same for me (assuming my jurisdiction ever gets shall-issue)

      HOWEVER, when and if I start carrying, as a newbie I would appreciate more experienced folks taking me aside and pointing out things I’m doing wrong or could do better.

    • “We will need a fancy name and a lodge and oaths and diversity training. And we will hoot like owls on a shed when in public”

      Well since you put it THAT way, lol

  4. no we don’t. we are not part of a special group just because we arm ourselves. we are all on the same damn planet. we don’t need more reasons to try to create societal divisions in our world, we have enough of that as it is.

  5. Hey, I know what we can do! We can start carrying our guns on the outside of our pants! Then we wouldn’t have to say anything!

  6. Nice article, Josh. I do feel the need to correct you on one point, however. The customary greeting is not ” Roll Tide “; it is ” OH ” and the reply is ” IO “.

    • I’m with you brother. I have to admit, I saw a guy in an infidel shirt yesterday and I checked out his hip to see if i could see some printing.

      • I can do one better. I saw a guy a few months ago whose shirt literally said “Concealed carry is legal in this state. Your actions have consequences.” Whats the point of even CCing at that point? Just OC and be done with it.

  7. I don’t talk about my concealed weapon. If a buddy asks “you carrying in here” I ignore him. No secret handshake for me.

    • LOL… That sounds more like a “He-She” greeting… Thanks for the chuckle… I’m sticking with “Howdy” and a nod…

  8. How about you look each other dead in the eye, say “Gun buddies!” Super effeminately, slap each other on the ass, and start making out.

  9. Nobody and I mean nobody needs to know I’m carrying. On another note, who carries a SR22 (see above photo) for their concealed gun? I guess they use the excuse any gun is better than none.

    • ” I guess they use the excuse any gun is better than none.”

      That’s not an “excuse.” First rule: have a gun.

      Why does it matter to YOU one way or another? What investment do you have in what someone else chooses to carry?

      • Well, I have a SR22 and the only reason I ask the question is because it is very picky on what it will shoot and sometimes even with it’s “preferred ammunition” I get a failure to eject, making it essentially a single shot pistol. I was just curious why anyone would bet their life on an unreliable .22LR. To each his own, have a nice day.

        • Send that thing back to Ruger. My SR22 is one of the most reliable semiauto .22s I’ve ever shot, with almost any ammo. Most reviews seem to be in line with my experience, so there might be something wrong with yours.

  10. This is a stupid article. After all, we will know each other from the piles of bodies littering the ground at our feet, as our guns magically kill everyone around us.

    • Well it will be some combination of terrifying and hilarious when he realizes we just blew his cover and his mind scrambles frantically to decide his next move.

    • Just like you should never hitchhike, or pick up a hitchhiker, because the other guy might be a serial killer?

      What if a serial killer hitchhiking got picked up by another serial killer? Oh man, eventually, as their mutual intentions were revealed, they’d just laugh and laugh and become the best of friends.

      • That has happened actually. One guys name was Otis toole. Hes who they think killed John walshs son Adam. I cant remember the other sick fucks name.

        • Believe it or not, I actually pitched that idea as a dark comedy sitcom, just making conversation, on a first date back in college. I thought I was being was clever. She thought I was a lunatic.

    • You can tell if here’s there to rob the joint, because his gun will just be tucked into the waistband of his sweatpants. If he’s using a holster, it’s extremely long odds that he’s a bad guy…

  11. People looking for this kind of mutual acknowledgment are typically fussing and fidgeting with their sidearm all the time, anyway. So they stand out to each other already.

    • The terrorists know, because they also shops at tactical outlets – you might even see THEM wearing ‘infidel’ patches.

    • I don’t think I’ve heard two people pronounce it the same……

      “Melon lave!” “Hey! Molin lab!” “You guys know moolan laib?”

  12. Here in Kalifornia, I keep my CCW so secret I often don’t even tell myself I am carrying, let alone a stranger…lol

  13. Just belt out, “Number 2, Number 2!!!” and then set the nearest liberal on fire.

    I don’t think much of the application of your suggestion but I do understand the intent.

  14. a nice little trigger finger handshake is nearly undetectable.
    i wear a cologne of equal parts kroger pre electric shave with green tea and wintergreen scented isopropyl alcohol. this coupled with my traask tassle loafers and my ball cap tilted to the right should be enough to tip off any fellow carriers.
    exclamations such as “yupper!” and “boy howdy!” can also be useful.
    and “got sig?” shirts for all.

  15. I ain’t gonna say or do anything to make myself more noticed to anybody. “Just a harmless squirrel.” 🙂

  16. If you can tell I’m carrying, yeah, DISCREETLY let me know so I can fix it. I will do the same for you.

    If it’s egregious, I’ll hand you a business card so you can call me for a consultation on carry methods that fit your mode of dress better.

  17. I’ll just give you a friendly nod and be about my way or a friendly greeting with a hip pat if nobody else is around. I think I know and maybe you know… Or maybe you don’t. Either way, neither of us wants to attract unwanted attention.

    The Picard maneuver is usually my giveaway.

  18. I always thought that pulling up your pants by the belt to avoid having your pistol slip down around your ankles was the universally understood greeting amongst ” toters”.

  19. Um, sorry, no. No thank you.

    As individuals we may be members of a “secret society” or fraternal order like the Masons, Elks, etc. (And certainly many of us are odd fellows.) But carrying concealed isn’t that. It’s not even a “club” – we don’t have jackets (although some of us fancy fishing vests or safari shirts).

    I don’t carry for comradeship or camaraderie. I don’t care why or what you carry unless we’re good enough friends to have discussed it already – in private.

  20. No signals please. You know what would happen? An anti- would find out – gun nut security is notoriously faulty – and then they would use it against us. How? You’re in line and anti- says “woof” (or whatever silly thing is decided on) and you “woof” back. Anti- then calls the cops for a man with a gun. Yeah, you didn’t show your gun or anything, but the cop is still gonna roll up on you, ask for ID, etc. Waste your time, make everyone around you nervous about why the cops are on you, etc.

    No cool secret handshakes please.

    • How about the anti calls the cops and says “I saw that guy over there in the blue shirt outside earlier with a gun pulled out and pointing it in unsafe directions…” Then they can arrest you for brandishing, and it’s your word against the anti’s.

  21. They already have those nifty secret squirrel concealed carry badges – if you’re feeling froggy about being unconcealed-while-concealed, just wear one of those clipped to the belt clip of your holster.

    • While pointing and shrieking OMG OMG OMG in feigned terror, followed by an exchange of laughter? I kinda like it.

      Heck, why not just exchange a couple of shots into the floor while doing a quick two-step and nodding at each other. Fun will be had by all.

  22. Motorcyclists have the same thing with a lowered hand with two fingers pointed down as we pass each other. Kinda of a Hey brother, you surviving out here, too?

    Maybe a hand sign for CCW?

    Nah, too much like gang hand signs and the most obvious one Gets your kids kicked out of school these days.

    By the way….

    …..Roll tide.

  23. Eh. If you pick something it’s no longer a secret. It’ll go mainstream eventually. Probably accompanied by hand-wringing.

    Leave well enough alone, I say. If you’re of the same mindset you already shared a mental fist bump. If not, you are just bringing attention to yourself needlessly and maybe dangerously.

  24. “. . . we need a . . . official greeting and term of affirmation.” To what end? The proposal is entirely devoid of any explanation of why CCiers would “need” an “official greeting” or “term of affirmation”.

    Presumably – albeit not necessarily – a CCier prefers to carry inconspicuously. For anyone other than that carrier to “flash a CC sign” in public is to presume to intrude on that carrier’s personal discretion to carry concealed.

    I do NOT intend to endorse the proposition “concealed is concealed”. Quite to the contrary. I believe that our (PotG) interests are best served by coming out-of-the-closet as gun owners and carriers. Yet, we have to be smart about doing so.

    It seems to me that the ultimate goal is to reach the point where everyone is apt to see a couple of OCiers on every excursion to the public square. Yet, that point can’t be reached in a single bound. We need to gradually desensitize the public. (Obviously, this has been fully achieved in AZ and NM and a few other local precincts.) How do we do this?

    One solution may be to adopt a “ornament” convention such as a lapel pin or belt buckle that would be recognizable as indicating that one is carrying. E.g., Congress-critters ware a lapel pin that enables Capital building guards to immediately recognize them as (presumptively) members of Congress.

    For the sake of discussion, I’ll presume that CCiers are evenly divided (50:50) between open advocacy and scrupulously-descrete. I intend NO coercion – not even social pressure – on anyone who is scrupulously-descrete. With respect to those of the open advocacy school, there is a problem. In PA I’m free to OC or CC under my State License. No one OCs in my precinct; so, I don’t wish to be so disruptive to OC. Nevertheless, I’l ware arms-related T-shirts in public; a practice I construe to be acceptable under widely-acknowledged freedoms of speech.

    Assuming we have agreed to some appropriate symbol – e.g., the initials “RBA” for Right-to-Bear-Arms – I and other like-minded open-advocacy types would bear such a symbol (lapel pin, belt-buckle, etc.) Appropriate promotion should quickly (e.g., a couple of years) make the meaning of such a symbol clear. What would this give us?

    Much of the advantage of OC without much of the disadvantage of pearl-clutching by hoplophobes. Just as our styles of clothing and hair-dos reveal our sex without display of anatomical indicia, a CC symbol would reveal our stance on the Right-to-Bear-Arms without display of the instrument itself.

    Now, I’ll relax the 50:50 presumption and assume that in any precinct 1% of CCiers will initially adopt the decoration. That will grow to 2% and so forth until – in that precinct – it reaches 50% or greater. At what point will the Moms Demand a press conference in protest of the open display of the conventional decoration? By the time they strike-back the convention would have already begun to be recognized and regarded as a ho-hum expression of freedom of expression. After all, the good citizens of the State of Confusion must already be aware that theirs is a Right-to-Carry State where some percentage of the population have been issued CC permits. The Moms Demanding a press conference should serve merely to publicize the movement.

    To whatever extent that a State’s laws prohibit OC (FL, SC, etc.) the decoration convention will undermine that encroachment. Legislators are apt to soften the law by exempting brief, inadvertent or partial exposures.

    Wherever OC or partial exposures are permitted, those bearing decorations will begin to expose a “bit of butt” above the waistband or barrel below the coat-hem. In a couple of years of this we will see full OC in such precincts.

  25. I wear a baseball cap with “NRA” on the front, in large, highly-visible letters. It may not say “hey, I’m packing”, but it has the added benefit of offending the anti-gun dweebs.

  26. Can believe I have to go over this again..

    First Rule of Concealed Gun Club: Dont Talk About Concealed Gun Club

  27. Conceal carry culture is weird. I identify myself to other carriers with the big freaking gun on my hip! Come out of the closet guys, stop hiding what you are.

  28. Or just do what the guy did to me the other day in Publix and lock eyes on my carry side(slight print in the FL heat) like it was a pair of tits. Then he smiled….Glad I don’t appendix carry that’d been creepy.

  29. Motorcyclists of all kinds (not just harley people) use two fingers as a greeting… Maybe just a thumbs up works.

  30. I do that all the time. When I lived in Oregon, I would spot someone about once or twice a month. In Arizona, I imagine it is more than twice a day. Many times it is easy, i.e., 511, printing, etc., but others, you just know it. It is the way they stand, pick things up, mannerisms, and always being aware (condition yellow). What is funny is that most people are oblivious to how many people conceal carry around them.

  31. Jeesuz you guys will debate anything. I always favored the silent “high sign” using the index finger sliding across one side of the nose.

    HIGH SIGN
    noun NORTH AMERICAN informal
    a surreptitious gesture, often prearranged, giving warning or indicating that all is well.
    “I’m getting the high sign from my secretary—gotta go”

    A very much different alternate version seen at 4:12 here:

  32. I’ve only noticed one obvious gun print by someone else since I started conceal carrying a year ago, and that instance was almost a year ago. I didn’t acknowledge him and I’m sure I was printing a little bit and he didn’t acknowledge me. Most of the time I don’t care if I print because it’s not illegal here and most people are oblivious. If someone happens to notice I have a firearm under my shirt I won’t lose any sleep over it either (noone has ever said anything to me). I do try to hide it a little better if I go into a school (completely legal here with a CHL) as I don’t want the unwanted attention sure to be brought if someone happens to notice a print. I don’t wear Hawaiian shirts or vests to cover it up, I just use my cheap IWB Blackhawk and cinch by belt a little tighter.

    I can count with zero fingers how many times I’ve seen a civilian open carrier (not including inside gun stores) in the last 10 years in Oregon. It’s very, very rare.

  33. Concealed means concealed. I’m hanging out with some buddies last night, legally carrying a Ruger LCP and am following my own advice. The conversation moves to guns and one says of the Ruger LCP: ” those things are so small you could have one in your back pocket and no one would know.”

    My response: “you’re absolutely right.”

  34. No Texan says “Howdy” If it’s someone you know but don’t have time to visit, you might get a “how ya doin” Concealed does mean concealed, period. Right now having use a quad cane due to hip injury – wish I could Open Carry just to indicate just because I have a hitch in my getty up, does not make me as easy target.

  35. How about you suddenly act like you are going to draw your gun, but then transition into straightening your hair back with your fingers. A knowing look and good chuckle will be shared by all in the know.

  36. Josh, I like your enthusiasm, and I appreciate the idea of comaraderie among the POTG.

    Like many of the others, I take my responsibility to defend my family seriously, and since I am in an area where open carry is not available, and I personally prefer to have the tactical advantage of going low profile even if I could, then for simple all-around planning and habit, I want to keep it simple, and also do NOT want to advertise in any way. The sturdy belt and IWB holster hooks are about as much as I tolerate for practical purposes, and there are plenty of other tells, if you are paying attention:

    http://www.policeone.com/police-products/firearms/articles/2144601-Dealing-with-citizens-legally-carrying-a-concealed-weapon/

    Like you noted, if you are paying attention, you and the other responsible CCW holder, or off-duty cop are going to “make” you, anyway, so its all good, there, and thats plenty.

    The ones that arent paying attention, or show-offs, I dont want to know anyway.

    Thank god the POTG have mostly given up on the tactical patch ball caps and shoot-me-first vests that were the rage awhile back. On the range, yes. In the mall, gawd how embarrassing…

    Just my $ .02, YMMV.

  37. I thought the Sneaky Pete OWB carrier looked like a good idea, until I saw a guy at a rest area wearing one and it was so obvious to me what it was. Logos are bad.

    • I had a Sneaky Pete for my KelTec P3AT. It was, I figured, pretty inconspicuous. Then I bought one for a Bersa Thunder CC. Yeah, that thing is huge-mongous! Anyone who knows what a Luddite I am knows it CAN’T be some techno-gizmo.

      • It’s probably still fine for the .32/.380 mouse guns, but that chromed conspicuous logo has got to go. The point is for it to look like a crackberry/smartphone holster, not a binocular case!

  38. ‘Carry on’ is what I use when I spot another carrier, concealed or otherwise. They always seem to get it.

  39. I’m with the concealed means concealed guys. If someone outed me it would make me feel real uncomfortable and rethink my carry options. My best friends who are gun guys/gals don’t even know when I’m carrying and I like to keep it that way. I carry 24/7 everywhere, even home carry, (except when I’m in my boxers). My wife knows this and she is the only one that will know I’m always armed. She’s always armed too. I know there are other concealed carriers out there and I’ve even tried to pick them out but it’s enough to know that they are out there.

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