By Sam Hoober, Alien Gear Holsters
At the risk of appearing self-serving, one of the most critical pieces of gun safety gear is actually a decent holster. Yes, that’s coming from a guy who works for a holster company, but it’s still the truth.
I wouldn’t exactly say “I don’t care who you get it from, just get one” because I do have a natural bias there but the idea is something like that. (You could look at us first, though. Just saying.)
The reason why it’s critical that you carry with one is for two reasons: retention and trigger protection. Unsecured pistols and unsecured triggers are two of the biggest contributors to accidental shootings, along with not observing the four rules of firearm safety. Similarly, this is also why off-body carry and pocket carry should be avoided if at all possible in most cases.
Granted, a lot of people have pocket carried snubnose revolvers for many years. However, it is also the case that snubbies and other double action pistols have a much heavier trigger pull than today’s pocket plastic fantastics (10 to 15 pounds for the typical revolver vs 5 to pounds for a Glock 43, Bodyguard or similar pistol) which prevents the trigger from being pulled accidentally.
Or does it? A recent news article in the New Jersey Daily Record reports of a coin vendor whose PPK accidentally discharged at a coin show in Parsippany, N.J., in May 2016. It was in his pocket, and apparently being jostled around was sufficient to discharge the pistol. For those unaware, the PPK and PPK/S are double-action/single-action handguns. The vendor, one William Wetzler, Jr., is facing charges of carrying without a license and also reckless causing of injury, as a bullet fragment struck a fellow vendor.
Another recent example occurred in Clinton, Tenn., according to Knoxville NBC affiliate WBIR, and to a person who should have known a lot better. An off-duty correctional officer with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department was carrying a pistol in a pocket without a holster when it discharged while he was in a Walmart (naturally) on May 18.
And so on; plenty of examples of accidental or negligent discharges whilst pocket carrying are out there.
Additionally, off-body carry is likewise a bad idea. Purse carry for women, while uber-convenient, is actually not a very good idea for the exact same reasons why pocket carry (at least without a pocket holster) is not the safest way to carry a gun.
For instance, USA Today reported on May 26 that one Debra McQuillen of Philadelphia, Mississippi, was at the Lakeland Family Medicine Center in Jackson, when she dropped her purse and discharged the gun she was carrying, wounding another woman in the medical center. Granted, McQuillen had stolen the firearm and was carrying illegally. She was arrested for possession of a stolen firearm, illegal concealment and simple assault. Oddly enough, that happened just one year after a similar incident occurred at a different hospital in the same city in April 2016; a woman dropped her purse while carrying a pistol at Merit Health Central Hospital, which discharged the pistol. The bullet grazed her 2-year-old’s face, according to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.
Additionally, off-body carry in a purse, messenger bag, laptop bag, briefcase or backpack poses the risk of said bag being stolen. A Miami-Dade police officer was carrying her badge and Glock duty pistol in her purse, which was stolen after she set it down while at the beach, according to NBC Miami. This isn’t a female issue, either; a Secret Service agent in Washington, D.C., lost his sidearm, badge, handcuffs and radio to a thief who stole it from the back of his car in December 2015, according to CNN.
The car was parked outside Secret Service headquarters. The agent wasn’t named, but works (or at least did at the time!) on the Presidential detail.
If you must pocket carry, do so with a pocket holster. Doing so guards the trigger but also ensures the sights won’t snag, making for an easy draw from concealment. However, it remains the case that the safest and best way to carry is with a holster on your person.
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Sam Hoober is Contributing Editor for AlienGearHolsters.com, a subsidiary of Hayden, ID, based Tedder Industries, where he writes about gun accessories, gun safety, open and concealed carry tips. Click here to visit aliengearholsters.com.