BOCH: Are you new to concealed carry?

by John Boch
Congratulations.  You’ve decided to take proactive action to keep your family safer in getting a carry license.   At the same time you’re a little uncomfortable about carrying a gun. It’s okay.  You’re not the Lone Ranger.

You’ve been conditioned for decades that carrying a gun is unlawful.  You think everyone will spot that subtle lump under your clothes and instantly know you’re packing heat and it’s going to be a big headache.

You’re not alone.  I carried a gun lawfully in Illinois, via fanny pack carry, for fifteen years before I got my Illinois license.  Lord, what a fashion faux pax that fanny pack was.   Yet, I still wasn’t completely at ease carrying a loaded gun in my home state.  The first time a Bloomington cop was in line behind me at a fast food joint was just a tad uncomfortable.   I figured the cop would see my Gat under my white polo and I’d have some explainin’ to do.  He never noticed.

You’ll discover people – or “sheeple” – are terribly oblivious to the clues that people are carrying guns.  “Example?” you ask.  I saw a guy walking through a restaurant with his shirt tail caught over his gun and nobody noticed.  Another time, it was someone I didn’t know shopping at a Wal-mart.

There’s no need to be nervous that someone’s going to pay attention to a slight bulge under your shirt or in your pocket much less know what it is.  Unless, of course, you’re a fetching female (or named Caitlyn) wearing skin-tight jeans or yoga pants.  In that instance, some might notice a strange bulge under your pants and recognize it as a gun.

Having said that, if you find yourself in a prohibited location by an honest mistake, you would want to be extra diligent about making sure you are well concealed – as you’re heading out to put it in your car, of course.  Other than that, concealment need not be perfect.  Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough.

Other tips:  wear quality gear on a quality belt.  You’re going to spend a Grant on a high-quality leather or nylon belt with stiffeners built in.  It’s a buy once, cry once affair.  It’ll keep all your gear tight against your body while you go about your business and it’ll last for years unless it shrinks – if you know what I mean.

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Make sure your gun will stay in your holster and your holster will stay on your belt.  Why?  Because you don’t want to have it come out of your holster while you’re running into a store in the rain, or rolling around on the floor playing with your kid or grandkid.  Or heaven forbid, to fish it (gun, holster, magazine, or all of the above) out of a toilet or worse, a porta-potty.

If stuff is prone to falling off your belt inappropriately, Mr. Murphy will show up when you’re trying to pull up (or take down) your pants in the cramped porta-john that’s 120 degrees on a hot summer day.  Your piece will go “ker-plunk” and you’ll have a very sinking feeling.

Even if your mag pouch falls off your belt at a relatively innocuous place such as the fitness center locker room, it will invariably skitter under the 75-year-old man standing there naked, dripping with sweat.  Don’t ask me how I know.  It is terribly embarrassing on several levels.  “It sure is cold in here, isn’t it?  Could you pass that back over to me, pretty please?”

“What’s that sonny?  I can’t hear you?”

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Speaking of potty techniques…

If you’re in a public restroom, you may find it necessary to unholster your firearm.  Why?  A host of reasons, including the dividers being high enough that your neighbor can see more than your shoe as you’re doing your business.   If you do this, it goes in your underwear after you’ve dropped your pants, not on the back of the toilet or on the hook on the backside of the door.  Your hands are an equally prohibited location.  This is not the time to fondle your (loaded) gun.

When you’re done with your business, put your gun in your holster and carefully pull up your pants.  If you have to pull up your pants first, hold the gun under your armpit as you carefully get your pants on.

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Maintain your gear.  It’s not something you need to do on an daily basis, but it’s something to do monthly, if not weekly.

Your holster is probably going to have screws in it for tension adjustments or attaching belt clips or loops.  If you’re pro-active, you’ll Lock-tite those suckers.  If you’re more reactive (I’m guilty), you’ll need to check to make sure the screws aren’t backing out / coming loose from time to time.  No big deal, so long as you check.

Clean your gun now and then as well, slaying those dust bunnies and ensuring you have fresh ammo at least once each year.

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If you’re one of those people who think it’s safer to carry with an empty chamber, and train yourself to rack the slide upon drawing, I’m telling you to STOP.  You’re training to fail.

The average deadly force encounter takes place at about six feet or less – patty-cake distance (and more often in low light).

How long does it take a bad guy to close from six feet?  How long will it take you to run the action on your pistol – assuming you’ve got both hands available to do so and you aren’t guiding a loved one away, or fighting off an attacker with your support hand?

Go watch some surveillance, dashcam and bodycam gun battle videos on YouTube and watch just how fast gunfights unfold.

Don’t train to fail and die.

Train to survive and win.  Carry your gun with a round in the chamber.

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Concealed carry badges?  Save money and aggravation:  don’t do it.

Yes, your CCW badge might cause a cop to hesitate before shooting.  Here’s a better idea:  drop your gun and put up your hands if challenged by a cop.  If you reach for your belt to show your piece of tin, your life will be rich in lead supplements.

Every day you carry a CCW badge, you risk catching an “impersonating an officer” charge – a felony in Illinois.

Don’t set yourself up for problems and trouble.  You don’t need no stinkin’ badge!

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Practicing off-body carry, such as in a jacket?  Don’t forget and leave it behind somewhere!  Doing so may cost your license if you’re lucky.  If some kid finds it, you may lose more than your license.

For the ladies, purses are popular over more traditional carry methods favored by guys.  Clothing styles for women, especially “cute” clothes, often provide few opportunities to secret a sidearm.  There are options though, such as the Nickel and Lace “Spanx with holsters” undergarment or the “Can Can Concealment” rigs which are basically belly-band holsters made for ladies.

As women are pretty much inseparable from their purses, the risk for “forgetting” a packing purse somewhere is almost non-existent, but at the same time ladies must be sure unauthorized people – such as kids or grandchildren – don’t have access to the purse at home or at relatives’ homes.  Ladies, don’t just toss your heater in your shoulder-bag to roll around between lip gloss and eyeliner pens.  Get a purse built for concealed carry with a dedicated compartment for the gun.

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We all know that carrying a gun can protect us from violent attack and potentially even save our lives and those of our family members.  With practice, it will become an everyday, routine, non-event for you as it is for the other 12.8 million Americans with carry licenses.