[This post is part of our series, What I’m Carrying Now. If you’d like to submit a photo and description of the gun, holster and gear you’re carrying in the new world in which we live, send it to us at thetruthaboutguns@gmail.com with WICN in the subject field.]
Risk assessment and management is my profession, but it’s something that we are all doing these days. We try to figure out what potential threats exist as we try and get all our daily tasks accomplished, and how to best reduce the impact if one of those things happen.
Carrying a concealed firearm is a risk mitigation step that allows you to respond to an armed attacker and defend your life and the lives of others. In my opinion, the mitigation (in this case, the size of the firearm being carried) should be proportional to the threat.
I’ll be honest, most days before this whole madness kicked off I didn’t carry a firearm. I usually kept a Charter Arms snub-nosed .38 special revolver locked away in the car, but the only times I slipped it into my pocket were when I was venturing into one of the seedier or more violence-prone areas of the city.
That all changed as soon as the virus panic started. These days I’d say there’s more of a credible threat of robbery and violence. Record levels of unemployment and general uncertainty about the future can make people volatile and desperate.
I don’t see that kind of violence reported on a regular basis so I’d still call it a potential and not an active threat, but the likelihood that things could go sideways when you’re outside the home is steadily increasing.
As the threat increases so does my mitigation strategy. Instead of carrying only so often, now I strap up every time I leave the house. And I’ve increased the firepower I’m bringing to the gunfight as well.
No longer satisfied with five rounds of .38 SPL, I’m rolling with eight rounds of .45 ACP and another eight in ready reserve.
This is a Wilson Combat Bill Wilson Carry 1911 that RF gave me nearly a decade ago back when TTAG could barely afford our hosting fees. The 1911 is snugly carried in a Wilson Combat low profile holster.
Not only is it the prettiest handgun I own, it’s also the most accurate and reliable. While I might have doubted my ability to make a clean shot from more than a handful of yards with the snubby, I’ve got none of those concerns about the Wilson.
The gun is accurate as all hell and I’m reasonably accurate using it under stress. It’s slim and compact enough that I can carry it under a t-shirt without printing too badly, which means it’s about the limit of how much gun I can comfortably concealed carry.
In my opinion, this is the threat level we’re at right now. It’s credible, but still under the surface. And hopefully things won’t escalate any further, meaning that this gun can go back to being more of a safe queen.
But if they do, the next step for me is moving the SIG SAUER P226 Mk25 that I use as my nightstand/home defense gun up to being a full-time open carry handgun (sans suppressor, pictured above). And if things get really bad, then it makes me happy that I finally have my SIG SAUER MCX 300BLK SBR just the way I like it.