Holsters, Pocket Guns and Common Sense

Everyone is responsible for his own salvation. That's one of Rich Grassi's basic tenet of life, though he makes no claims to have coined the phrase. Grassi, a former LEO and the editor of The Tactical Wire, recently penned an article entitled Thoughts on Discreet Carry. In it he discussed a number of things, including pocket carry and AIWB (“appendix inside the waistband).  More significantly he addresses the issue of carrying a gun in the proper holster, something which should be obvious but is unfortunately still sometimes an issue — particularly with AIWB and pocket carry.

Says Grassi, who has been carrying a gun AIWB since long before many current appendix carry proponents have been alive,

“The so-called appendix carry is older than the cartridge firing handgun. It has been considered, at various times, ‘felon carry,' ‘vice carry, [and] ‘narc carry.' The original Bruce Nelson IWB, now called the ‘Summer Special,' was a holster he designed as a neutral cant to carry a Colt Commander in front of the hip under an untucked shirt.

In a previous life, I used one of the suede clip-on IWBs — a Bucheimer-Clark that sat low inside the waist — to carry a Model 60 S&W ‘off-duty.' The chances of actually re-holstering without first removing the holster from the trousers was nil. Young at the time, it never occurred to me I could need more pistol and I wasn't alone in carrying the minimum.”

Later in the article he addresses pocket carry and the reality of a sterile pocket.

“Nothing else goes in the pocket, just the gun that's inside the holster. Ed Head, Gunsite Rangemaster and fellow writer, notes that reholstering requires removing the empty holster from the pocket, replacing the gun into the holster, then pocketing both. That's quite true with many, if not all, holsters. I've had good luck reholstering in the pocket with the Mika Pocket Holster and with the Safariland Model 25.

Others, like Galco, DeSantis and some very small makers, require the gun to be reholstered outside the pocket. A number of makers produce outstanding pocket holsters, more than just ‘a pouch in the pocket.'

One maker designs pocket holsters specifically for the pockets in which you seek to wear them. Jeans with top loading pockets are different from slacks with ‘slash' pockets and some guns will show through the pocket's opening unless the gun is tipped forward. To get a specific holster for that specific need, you need Pocket Concealment Systems.”

It's a great article and one many of us could do to take to heart. You can read it in its entirety right here. Ultimately there's no way to refute this statement:

“Use a holster to carry a gun. There's no reason not to. To carry a gun in a pocket, first make sure the pocket will have nothing but the gun – and the pocket holster. As to wearing in the ‘appendix' position, that's your call. If you foul up, it can really suck. So don't.”

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