Mike B (yes that Mike B and no flaming allowed) writes:
I’m a regular reader of TTAG and wondered if you’d share your thoughts on the issue of pocket carry. This is the recent story that got me thinking about it [via taylors.patch.com]: “Greenville deputies said a 2-year-old child is in the hospital after an accidental shooting in Greenville County. Deputies said the toddler and his father were visiting the child’s grandparents on Fenwick Lane in Berea, when the toddler reached into his father’s pocket and grabbed the weapon. The gun fired striking the toddler in the chest.” Would you say that carrying a gun in this manner without a pocket holster is irresponsible? Are there certain makes or models of handguns which are exceptions, which are safe to carry in the pocket?
Its not a good thing to do…i mean look at the article referenced with the toddler. I wouldn’t even keep a round chambered if i did my pocket, over a holster. Hell i dont even keep a round chambered when its in its box in my house, BUT the mag is in! lol
Pocket carry or otherwise, carrying a gun without a holster is irresponsible.
I pocket carry a hammerless j frame smith. This is probably the safest pocket carry gun out there. I always have it in an uncle mike’s pocket holster. I see no reason not to use a pocket holster. They’re plentiful and fairly cheaply priced. YMMV.
Similar setup here. S&W 642PP in a Pocket Roo holster.
One would have various questions-what was the trigger pull being a toddler got it to shoot? where was daddy’s mind (drunk,under the influence?), knowing he had a gun and a toddler, yet being unable to keep them apart? We do not have all the facts in this case other than the gun was in the pocket.
Maybe I watch CSI too much, but I’m having a great deal of trouble visualizing any scenario in which a toddler reaches into Daddy’s pocket, finds the trigger to Dad’s pocket pistol and is still in a postition to be shot in the chest. Can someone diagram that for me?
The only safe way to carry a gun without a holster is to not have a round in the chamber. If you aren’t willing to buy a holster that covers the trigger then you really shouldn’t carry.
They even make little tiny holsters that only cover the trigger guard that pull off when you draw it. Use one of those then.
My wife just got her ccw and we stopped into a shop to check out some options for her. They showed us the diamondback db9 which I wasn’t fond of at all. She “didn’t mind it” which I’ll take to mean it could get better. I was pleased to see TTAG did a review on it and said it is a gun you will always carry whether it would be pocket carry or otherwise. So that being said its a nice but of coincidence this the the QOTD.
I just want to know where I can find this dress. Love it
In the hot summer months here in TX, I pocket carry an old S&W bodyguard snubbie with a DeSantis Nemesis holster. One of the best advantages of pocket carry (for me) is that I can have my hand indexed on the gun in any situation (parking lot, alley, walking home from the store) and not cause any concern to people around me. Now having any gun stuffed in a bag, pocket or pants without some sort of holster or device (Raven Concealment VG2) to cover the trigger guard is irresponsible and dangerous for sure.
http://www.desantisholster.com/store/SEARCH-BY-GUN-MANUFACTURER/TAURUS/85CH-2/POCKET-HOLSTERS/The-Nemesis
Hmmm… I can see a single action revolver, or a double-action with a 463-1/2 pound pull being a non-issue. ‘Course, it might also be a non-use.
Pocket carry is fine IF you’ve got enough working brain cells to handle a firearm. Yes, you should use a pocket holster but there are several out there that cost less than a delivery pizza.
Also, ANY gun that is pocket carried should either have a longer DAO style trigger or a reliable manual safety. Small frame revolvers and small auto’s like Kahrs come to mind here (yes, those are what I pocket carry). If the safety drifts off on it’s own that gun has issues and shouldn’t be pocket carried until it’s been repaired or replaced.
I’ll second the question of what type of gun the father was carrying that a toddler was able to pull the trigger while standing in down range of. Think about the angles involved here. I suspect Dad was carrying something that required a manual safety that may not have been engaged. I’m not familiar with them but what is the trigger pulls like on the tiny Beretta and Taurus auto’s?
Steelheart
Depends.
F’rinstance, a small revolver or un-chambered automatic in a coat pocket with no kids in the mix: why not?
A Glock with one in the pipe, kids or no: mabel not so much.
Depends.
TO: All
RE: Oh…Great…..
The gang-bangers are going to just LOVE this one.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Flee at once….all is lost….in California….]
TO: All
RE: THIS….
….is sounding like the way President Nixon’s secretary managed to erase some of the tapes, as she was—off hours—a professional contortionist with Circus Soleil.
Piston in pocket. Double-Jointed Child with Rubber Bones reaches in and triggers it. Shooting itself in the chest.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[The Truth will out….]
Hmmm… “they” ARE getting a lot of mileage from it…
In TTAG’s post “The Truth About Philly Po-Po’s Gun Room” on seeing the picture all i could see was mostly shotguns that the liberals advocate as an adequate home defense weapon but then where did the evil “Assault rifles” that criminals use go?and what are home defense guns doing where guns used for crimes must be kept?Is defending ones home a crime then?
If this story is true then the driver whose gun it was is partly to blame. Who in their right mind gives a loaded gun to someone who obviously had no idea how to handle a gun? Only a fool would do such a thing.
Wait so an idiot who doesn’t know guns, is given a gun by an idiot who didn’t make sure the first idiot knew it was loaded, the first idiot proceeds to mess around with a loaded gun, shooting and killing the second idiot, while a third idiot who watched this whole thing without speaking up runs and calls 911.
My god the gall of this man. It would be easier if we just ban idiots.
Holbert … Holvert? needs a quick correction.
If I pocket carry my Sig p238, it’s always in a holster. They’re cheap. Even if you choose a $200 exotic custom pocket rig, the protection they provide is well worth it.
Even then, nothing else goes in that pocket.
Anything else would be irresponsible at best, and completely negligent at worst.
Pocket carry is best accomplished if you use a pocket holster.
Depending on the type of gun, the pants, and the construction of the pocket I think pocket carry is fine if there us nothing else in the pocket and it fits the gun like a holster.
-D
This didn’t happen. I have it on good authority that it’s illegal to carry a pistol or a rifle into a bank in Canada. And since we have many instances of gun free zones effectively stopping the bad guys, at least the ones literate enough to read the signs, we know that this has to be a fabricated story. maybe a movie company was filming a crime movie and people misunderstood what they saw.
yep and remember 40 percent of all guns sold have the same 3 background checks …
I think in this day of the interwebz a lot of people are fooling themselves when they think their gun purchases are secret. Even if you got a completely off the books gun out of great uncle Milt’s closet after he passed you need ammo and other support for the gun. With computer programs telling people they’re pregnant just based on their buying habits I doubt there’s much about our guns the government doesn’t know.
Unless you’re completely off the grid and have been so your entire life you’re not fooling anyone. What protects us is sheer numbers and orgs like the NRA and SAF. There’s just too many of us.
In TX (if your and FFL) seller needs is your drivers license to prove you live in the state. With that the seller has met his responabibity as a seller.
“You also need to disarm completely, because loaded/unziptied weapons aren’t allowed in the show at all, nor are loaded magazines. So everyone with a cary gun probably leaves it in the giant, open, unpatrolled parking lots and walks around with wads of cash on them. Because safety.”
I went to my first gun show in years and I thought how ridiculous this was. So I worked out a law abiding plan, since that’s the kind of guy I am. Take a snub .357 in a rug with you and a box of ammo in your pocket. Check it at the door. If some crazy mass murderer decides today is his day, I can be up and running in about 10 seconds. Probably not nearly as fast as 50 other vendors would be on ’em. When you leave the show, load up outside the door. Oh yeah, and bring a friend as an extra set of eyes and ears.
I don’t know how other people manage to dance the dance to be afforded our “shall not be infringed” rights.
When I moved to Maryland in 1989, I was a little surprised to see people at shows selling handguns and long arms, with a little sign saying, “Private Sale”. A couple of years later, you had to be a dealer to sell from a table, but people still walked around the shows with signs on their backs, still selling handguns privately. Finally, in the fall of 1996, all secondary sales had to be documented and approved through the State Police.
I hear this sort of crap a lot… I just look at them and pray they’ll get some self-awareness or shame… doesn’t happen.
That guy with the lopsided hat & mustache thinks I don’t know he has been after my daughter, hasta la bye bye, comrade, Randy
could someone please direct me to the law that says an ffl can release the firearm after seven days, im going to try it, i have msp background check and finger print cas at the ready and a federal clearence, proof of no history, i need a link to the legal writting the law as it is written the sooner the better
My home defense options are inspired by the old west: make sure your long gun eats the same stuff as your side arm. I home carry my 1911 and keep a HiPoint .45 carbine at an easy to access location. I know there are a lot of snobs out there who would turn their noses up at the mere mention of HiPoint but I love that old club. Cheap as hell and reliable so I can just leave it in place without having fuss over it every so often. Heck, I think its been over 8 months since I last looked at it. And if it develops spot of rust… hey, it’s a HiPoint. No biggie.
That, plus big 230gr hollow points in the mag leaves me with a nice, secure feeling too,
I say lets drop of Quinn in a gang infested area of Chicago, with out body guards, on a warm clear weather weekend night and then see how he feels about CCW. And if he suddenly changes his mind in favor of CCW make sure he only has 7 rounds in his magazine.
No, numbnuts. Guns don’t go off because you idolize or mythologize them. You can make puppy dog eyes even a loaded gun all you want, and it won’t shoot anybody. You killed your friend because you were pointing the gun at him, loaded, while fiddle-f*cking with the hammer.
I would have a lot more respect for politicians if they simply said, “My bad, I was wrong on this,” rather than toss up the same old sorry excuses trying to cover their asses while failing to acknowledge their stupidity.
When, not if, the vote comes up again let’s see how he votes. Even if he was to vote against the bill he authored I would be suspicious as to whether he gets it or not.
“some apprehension”?
Never pocket carry without a pocket holster.
Not to start something here but there is some good news. Reruns of The Rifleman are airing on AMC, I think they’re also doing Raw Hide; they do a Saturday marathon. Also, Discovery just started what appears to be another gunshop show to replace American Guns called Wild West Alaska. It was on my DVR just last week and came on right after Sons of Guns.
“Why Do The Philadelphia Police Have 1,356 Full-Auto M-16s?”
The answer must be what I’m always hearing: Because they’re meant to kill as many people as possible in the shortest possible time.
Russia, where the media are the ones who most need a CCL. Good ol’ Putin. I lived there during the Yeltsin admin when Boris was going through PM’s and other faster than he could go through his vodka. Many young Russians at the time didn’t care how authoritarian a leader was if he could just restore some sense of stability….he didn’t have to be for liberty, ethics, or personal responsibility, just stability. Putin rose through the ranks like the crafty ex-KGB devil his is, and delivered. Now the next set of young Russians realize the cost paid, but they can’t ditch him.
We had two stabbings that made the news here in Albuquerque the last 24 hours. Yesterday a man went crazy at the end of a church service and started attacking the choir. Today I heard something about a double stabbing. I caught the end of it so I didn’t catch all the details.
Is it bad that I didn’t think about the victims? My first thoughts were “good thing a gun wasn’t used because that would give ammo to gun grabbers.” See what the MSM and progressives have done to us?
All I’m gonna say about this is the opening theme song to this is probably my favorite on t.v. now, aside from SOA
If ammo ever becomes plentiful and affordable again, I’d like to get involved with this. Nice shooting there!
My family members all the time say that I am killing my
time here at net, however I know I am getting familiarity everyday
by reading such good content.
Here’s the real deal on pocket carry.
1. Use a holster that’s in good condition.
2. Don’t have 1 in the chamber around kids, ever. The reason is because when you sit down you are most likely pointing a loaded gun at them.
3. However, when I am without the kids and I am going into an area that feels a little less safe, i will put one in the chamber and reholster before I get out of the car. When I get home, before I get out of the car, I go back to no round in the chamber. And yes, I can pull out my gun out of my pocket and put a round in the chamber faster than most can untuck their shirt with one hand and pull out a loaded firearm or reach down and pull their pants leg up, or reach into their pants as if they are a public pervert and draw a loaded weapon.
4. Don’t carry anything in that pocket but the holster and gun.
Pocket carry is the best combination of practical, fast, and comfortable to me. I hope you find you like it too. Just be safe and smart.