By Brandon via concealednation.org
With only about 15,000 concealed carry permits, it’s not easy to find a fellow concealed carrier here in New York. Unless they’re playing with their gun like crazy in line at the grocery store. Wearing shorts, a white t-shirt and flip flops, this guy’s #1 concern was whether his firearm was showing or not. He literally could not stop messing with it . . .
His hands went up on his hips, then he slowly moves his right hand over his firearm and holster, ‘fingering’ around to make sure it’s still there and to make sure it’s not showing.
Even if I didn’t know what he was doing, I’d sure be interested in what he was doing.
Dude Needs A Mirror
This guy needs to give himself a good look in the mirror once he’s ready to go out. Move around, buddy. Does your firearm get exposed during normal movements? If so, it’s time for a wardrobe re-think. Or maybe a smaller gun.
The reason I’m giving this guy such a hard time is this: while it’s not the end of the world if we’re caught fidgeting with our firearm once in a while out in public, there’s a limit. If you’re paying that much attention to your firearm because you think something is wrong with it, you should probably get to a bathroom or other non-public place that will allow you to check things out.
After all, we carry concealed and for most of us, we do so because we don’t want people knowing that we are carrying a firearm.
Stop touching it, man. If you have a proper holster and belt, it’s not going anywhere.
Usually all that checking is due to new carriers being insecure about carrying. After a while, they tend to check less and less as their confidence in carrying and realization that people don’t care they are carrying grows over time.
I agree with Gene.
Sounds like someone who is newer to carrying and is a little too worried.
Take a pill Brandon, you must have missed your last dose.
Normally I cringe at the comparison of guns and a guys package, as they are usually some psycho-babble BS meant to attack pro-2A folks, but here it fits. DON’T HANDLE IT IN PUBLIC!
“Stop touching it, man.”
As with most men we’ve been told this numerous times by various people.
I haven’t gone blind. But I have progressed to bi focals.
This was the first thing that came to mind.
Those guys in line look more impatient than anything else.
Hey what is that horrible beast.
It’s just a low-IQ gun-nut in his natural state checking and flaunting his replacement penis failing to realize his precious manhood in more likely to injure or kill him or his loved ones.
Doh hoh hoh hoh hoh.
Sarcasm or troll? News at 11
It is probably Willy the troll. He usually posts late at night. Lately, he has been using different names.
Run-on sentence. Final grade: C-
Failed to express ideas coherently, failed to use proper mechanics.
Yep sounds like Willy again. Spouting more nonsense. Best to ignore him. He seems to think he is clever now that he figured out how to change is name on here and that we will not recognize him.
Obviously, that man never did the Wally Walk. It’s not just a rite of passage, it’s practice.
Well, Ralph, what’s say we take one of the greatest burns I’ve seen you come up with and use it in the context Willy here provided us:
Statler: “Y’know, this Willy character sure seems preoccupied with penises. It’s even right there in his name! What do you suppose is up with fellas like him?”
Waldorf: “I suppose they’re just craving a snack!”
Both: “DOH-HOHOHOHOHO!!”
…if you touch it more than 3 times in a row, you’re playing with it!
Per hand or total?
I move my CCW piece from the 3 o’clock position while driving to the 4:30 – 5 o’clock position while walking around. And back again for driving. Like most normal people, I also give it a nudge periodically to check that it’s still there just like I do for my knife, wallet, keys and cell phone.
People have left their guns in public places and I don’t want to be one of them. Ditto for keys, wallets, and cell phones.
I’ve found that if you really feel the need to do a “check” in public, its best to use your elbow, not your hand.
People tend to focus on the hands. So if while you’re picking some imaginary lint off the front of your shirt your elbow happens to make contact with your waist-line, no one would pay the slightest notice.
Everyone does this at first. It feels conspicuous at first.
Thanks for this comment… yes, it feels like the thing is falling off the first few days. Maybe if you grew up wearing IWB it doesn’t, but man is it self-conscious making for the rest of us.
I’ve never really cared if I print or not while carrying. 99% of the population won’t notice anyways.
Yup, so much this. I am fortunate that I’m in a state with open carry (just don’t try it in certain areas of Grand Rapids) I stopped stressing if it was concealed and just open carry. If I am concealing it’s because I am feeling a bit lazy and my gun is a .380 in a pocket hoslter.
I ran into this type of guy a few weeks ago, at a high school here in CA, no less. He was a Santa Ana PD officer (I heard him talking about it), clearly a rookie or close to it given his age. We were both watching a sporting event, and his piece was printing like the LA Times, and he kept pulling his shirt and looking around even though nobody there could have cared less. I finally asked him what he was carrying, got a look of surprise and a “Errrr, Glock 19”. I didn’t say anything about him fidgeting, I figured just asking what he was packing was a clear enough indicator that I knew what was going on. He was a nice enough guy, I said thank you for your hard work, and let it go at that. It was really strange to see someone CC’ing in CA, I wish I knew it was more common.
A typical denizen of NY CITY that thinks the rest of the state doesn’t exist. There may only be 15,000 permit holders in NYC (another source says 40,000), but there are over two million in the entire state. NYC has 8.2 million residents and the rest of the state has 11.1, making it about 18% permit holders in Upstate and 0.5% in the City, using the 40k number. Aside from that he’s certainly correct about newbies touching their guns. I did at first, but grew out of it, although I still catch myself once in a while.
Sounds like a newbie. It’ll go away on its own.
I have residences in both MA and CT. In MA your LTC can be pulled if you frighten the sheep. In contrast, CT is an open carry state. In MA concealed is concealed. That means smaller guns, IWB holsters, etc. In CT I usually carry a Glock 19 in an OWB retention holster with just a t shirt over it.
This practice has shown me something truly amazing. . . .NOBODY NOTICES even if you are printing like CRAZY. Nobody notices even is two inches of actual fun slide is hanging below the hem of your t shirt. Which itself is wrapped around the butt of your gun like the skin on a salami.
So to all you new concealed carriers. Nobody is looking and nobody cares.
Don.
“fun slide”? I like that!
Oops. Gun slide.
Newbie I was twitchy until I asked a buddy if he could spot my gun. He couldn’t and I calmed down.
I am fond of SneakyPete holsters. For those not familiar, they are a box shaped container with a magnetically closed flap, the gun is completely concealed, and worn OWB. So there I am, at a car dealer, and an attendant correctly identified my gun (LCP) by the size of the SneakyPete. OC is illegal here, but I have had no trouble with anyone, don’t think I will because you cannot tell whether the gun is in the holster, ergo concealed.
Who cares if someone “spots your gun?” Brandon needs to learn not to take himself so seriously. Unless 1) you’re illegally carrying a weapon; or 2) your state doesn’t allow even a glimpse of a weapon, then I ask, “Who cares?”
Exactly.
Although I would add that if your gun is obviously printing then a retention holster might be a good option.
I’ve carry my Sig 238 in a cheap Chinese pocket holster. I may not be able to brag about its pedigree, but it works, and the gun is well concealed and easily accessed.