Man robbed with his own concealed handgun

Interesting story.
http://heralddemocrat.com/news/police-reports/man-robbed-his-own-concealed-handgun

There is a great discussion about this over on a Glock Forum I belong to.
http://www.glockforum.net/forum/off-topic-discussion/19625-those-think-little-printing-ok-man-robbed-his-own-gun.html

Here is the best post from that discussion which I think is good advice

Frankly, I think that how well (or not) someone is able to conceal a pistol is as much, or more, a matter of how well he's able to move while carrying, and how skillfully he knows how to, ‘dress around the gun’ Me? I carry a humongous Glock Model 21 along with a full belt load underneath one cover garment, or another. I can honestly say that it's been years since anyone has, 'made' me.

There's a few simple everyday carry rules that need to be follow. Do these things, and anyone can successfully hide a gun.

FOR EXAMPLE:

1. Don’t stretch or reach for things with your gun arm.

2. Whenever you bend over to pick something up, always bend your gun side knee.

3. Never allow someone else to hug you by placing his hands and arms underneath your own. Do this to the other person, instead.

4. Don't be an, ‘equipment checker’. If you need to be doing stuff like this; you're either inappropriately dressed, or wearing, or carrying, the wrong equipment. I can go, and frequently have gone, for 12 to 14 hours without checking or adjusting my, ‘belt load’. (Which is, often, considerable!)

5. Master the art of, ‘blading’ or, ‘three quartering’ others. Your gun side should always be bladed AWAY FROM the audience.

6. Never stand in a single file line with one person in back of the other. Instead, ‘blade’ yourself off to one side of the line. The same thing goes for sitting at places like lunch counters. If you’re carrying a pistol then you always need to be aware of who and what is behind you; and try to sit or stand in a place, or at an angle in which your gun will not be exposed to a quick grab.

7. Anytime you're not alone and the seating is cramped, or in rows, always place your companion on your gun side. Once, at a movie theater, I inadvertently got, ‘made’ by an older man who decided to sit right next to me. He brushed my pistol with his elbow as he sat down; and, then, he instantly knew that I was armed! The guy was no advocate of the Second Amendment. He was clearly annoyed; and, throughout the movie, he let me know about it, too. I've never forgotten the lesson! Nowadays, whenever I’m standing or sitting in a crowd like that, I’m either, ‘blading’ or one of my companions is next to me and protecting my gun side.

8. The very best place to conceal a pistol is IN YOUR HAND, and inside an outer pocket. The second best place to conceal a pistol is at 4 to 5 o’clock inside your waistband. However an accessibility and speed problem can arise when you're sitting. If you sit a lot the best place to carry - but not necessarily to conceal - a pistol is at either 10 or 2 o’clock, or else (if you're right-handed) on the inside of your left ankle.

9. I, also, wear brightly patterned or distinctively marked plaid shirts and cover jackets.

(Hawaiian shirts have become, something of, a hobby for me; and I probably have one of the nicest collections of authentic aloha shirts on the East Coast! So, who says baggy cover garments can't be fun? They are for me; and, consequently, I'm always able to go around with my shirt unbloused at the waist without attracting undue attention!)

10. Neither do I act, ‘armed’. I smile a lot; I’m naturally courteous. I tend to be socially deferential. I carry my neck and shoulders in a relaxed manner; and my arms are always loosely held.

I consciously work to assure that there are no body or behavioral, ‘tells’ about anything that I do - ‘Tells’ that might alert an observer to the fact that I'm usually heavily armed.

It’s been my experience that more alert people tend to watch the right hand side more than the left. (A behavioral characteristic that I've sometimes taken advantage of because I’m ambidextrous; and, with someone like me it’s often the left side that really needs to be watched.)

Successfully concealing a large sidearm all day long comes down to the consistent and proper execution of a series of personal habits and behaviors that need to be INTEGRAL PARTS of your daily patterns of: body dress, body language, and physical movement.

You've got to learn, ‘How’ to be instinctively cautious about the manner in which you dress, (My cover shirts and jackets are, all, a size too large!) as well as how subtly you habitually move your body. When everything is done right there is no: equipment checking, sagging belt line, or protruding gun butt to give you away. The extra magazines, the cell phone, knife, lighter, and unattached tac light are, all, ‘just there’.



What do you think?

I read the article.

The Russian Vernacular for that gun owner would be "идѝотскӣ"  (Idǐotski).

Sounds like an obsession to me. GRIN!

Every waking thought. Every place you move or sit. Everywhere you go. YUP it's an obsession.

If I was that obsessed I would be come law enforcement and just carry it on my belt.

My little ole two cents.

My son conceal and carries. For the past 6 months he has been obsessed by it. (I hope he out grows it.) GRIN! I do feel safer when he is around from other folks and yet there is a part of me that is concerned for grandkids and misfires. These are rare but they do happen

Mark Jones

I think that you kind-of HAVE to obsess about it, until it becomes Second Nature to you.

Nowadays, I am always aware of where my firearm is, but that was in 5 years of being in Uniform, 5 years as a Plainclothes Detective, and 12 years as Undercover Narcotics.

The interesting thing is that I, occasionally, surprise myself when I do NOT have my firearm, such as when I have locked it up, because I was doing my back exercises on the floor, or I changed trousers to do my laundry.

A misfire doesn't happen in the holster. Its when you pull the trigger and no bang. If your son is responsible he isn't flashing his piece around loaded. Holsters block the trigger too. Go ahead open carry Mark its usually legal with a permit and Ohio its legal without a permit. No need to be a LEO in most states to open carry. 

I have seen a guy in my store flash it when he reached to pickup a price sign on one of my open top freezer bunkers. Looked like Springfield XD. Two others I saw with empty holsters Idk why since Walmart permits carry. Passed an open carrier by the front door. Had an open carrier by my meat case. I usually say nice piece or nice Glock. I figure open carriers don't mind a friendly acknowledgement of my awareness of the gun. Those trying to conceal I may gently warn them I saw it and how to avoid detection if not surrounded by others. When I see o/c its usually level 2 retention with release button like officers use.

My throughts on this are anything can happen. How many times are you spotted by thugs and see no piece and may attenpt to mug you. How many times they spot one or see o/c and maybe turned off and leave you alone. No way to tell many don't admit when they were going to rob someone but were deterred by a gun. These stories are always used to turn ppl off to carrying a gun by portraying it as an everyday occurrence.

Claymore wrote:I read the article.

The Russian Vernacular for that gun owner would be "идѝотскӣ"  (Idǐotski).

You're right it. Your situational awareness has to be up. So many good things done by those carrying in the right place at the right time. Point out since it is Independence Day the early settlers and militia had to be ready at a moments notice. How obsessed were they?  They took responsibility for their own protection. LEO's have their place but its a free country we can't have a cop everywhere when we need one. As long S things like Orlando clubs and other soft targets are being terrorized we need to carry.