I have a friend who, like me, is “into guns.” We talk about the latest and greatest hardware out there. We go to the range together. He’s a good pistol shot and wants to get better. He understands the rules of gun safety and lives them every day. The biggest difference between us is that when I am finished with a practice session on the range, I make sure my defensive pistol has a round in the chamber and is loaded to capacity with all the safeties engaged, then I put it in a holster on my person.
My friend, on the other hand, places his empty gun in a case, then puts the case in his vehicle and drives off. If you ask him (and I have), he’ll say that yes, he is concerned about his personal safety. That’s why he bought a pistol and why he practices with it. He’ll also acknowledge that yes, carrying it unloaded in your car or tucked away in some hard-to-reach part of his home is not optimal. He knows that if he needs to defend his life or the lives of his loved ones, it’ll be in the blink of an eye, and as such, that empty, unloaded gun that’s way out of reach might as well be in Nepal for all the good it will do him. However, despite knowing all of this in his head, he does not carry on a regular basis and doesn’t make concealed carry a part of his lifestyle.
The First Step Is Taking A Step
Here’s a clue for all of you in a similar situation: No one, in the history of everything, ever accidentally fallen into carrying a pistol. It takes effort and intent to drag around a pound or more of lead, steel and maybe polymer around with you every day and keep it out of sight of those around you. This is true of almost everything around you, though. No one fell into being a good cook; it takes effort to learn how to prepare food in a creative, tasty manner. No one ever fell into being a good musician; every rock star can tell you about the hours and hours of practice they put into honing their craft. If you understand that you are your own first responder and want to take charge of your personal security, the only way to do it is to do it. Take that first step, and carry your pistol on your person in a safe holster with a round in the chamber.
There are ways to make this first step a bit easier. The first is to carry your pistol in your holster around the home as you go about your daily routine. After all, we didn’t learn to drive on a freeway, we learned on the streets in our neighborhood that we were used to. Same thing here. Get comfortable with your gun in a comfortable environment. This has the added bonus of giving you a chance to find out if some of your choices about holster, belt and pistol are less than optimal.
Once you’re comfortable carrying inside the house, it’s time to take it on the road. Avoid the temptation to install a car holster in your vehicle. Think about it: Police officers drive around all day long and carry a pistol while doing so. Yes, they have a long gun secured in their car for emergencies, but their everyday carry gun is carried on them every day, in a holster on their belt, not stored in a car holster somewhere. Why? Because they know that if they need their pistol, they will need it rightthisverysecond, not after a lengthy process of returning to their car and retrieving wherever it was stored. We say “When seconds count, the police are just minutes away,” so the fewer seconds it takes you to get your pistol, the better.
Walk The Walk
Once you’re in your car, your destination for this journey will be your local big box discount store. Years ago, when I started my concealed carry journey, we would talk about “The [Big Blue Box Store that Shall Not Be Named] Walk,” which was a trip to a certain big-box store (that we all know…) done with the specific goal of getting used to the feeling of having your pistol discreetly on your person, ready to go.
The “walk” is simplicity itself. Go into the store. Walk to a back corner of the store, like the dairy department or something similar. Select a product for purchase there (I tend to gravitate to the ice cream section, which explains why I’m 30 pounds overweight…). Take it to the front and pay for it. Walk out of the store.
Once you’re in your car, reflect on what happened. Did anyone notice you were carrying? Were there any incidents with your firearm, or was it just a normal day doing a normal thing?
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that when you do your Big Blue Box Store Walk, it’ll be just a normal thing for everybody around you, but a big deal for you.
And nobody will notice, because nothing happened. However, you have just made concealed carry a part of your lifestyle.
Keep it up.