Ten Mistakes You're Making As A Concealed Carrier

If you're a concealed carry permit holder, you may be doing some things wrong. Whether you're new to concealed carry or an old hand, you may be guilty of some of the things we cover in this episode.

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Transcript

 If you’re a concealed carry permit holder you’re probably doing some things wrong. If you’re new to concealed carry, this will make you aware of some of the things you need to pay attention to so you don’t develop bad habits. If you’ve been carrying for years, you may not realize you’re doing some of these things. In any event, we’re going to cover the ten most common mistakes I’ve seen. And believe me, this isn’t an all inclusive list. We’ll probably be doing a couple of episodes on this. So let’s get to it. 

1 - You’re Not Carrying Every Day 

The number of people who take the time and expense to obtain their carry permit and then don’t carry amazes me. You have sat through a class, taken a test, shot a qualification course, obtained your permit, and your gun sits at the house. And the reasons people don’t carry whenever and wherever they legally can amaze me even more. 

 The most common reason people don’t carry is because it’s uncomfortable. Now I get it. Having a gun on your hip isn’t comfortable. It’s heavy, it digs into your side, whatever. Suck it up. A gun isn’t meant to be comfortable, it’s meant to be comforting. With the proper belt and holster, once you get used to carrying a gun you won’t even notice it. The comfort factor isn’t a bar to carrying. 

 I’ve also had people tell me they carry when they think they might need it. Think they might need it. If I think I might need a gun, I’m probably not going to go there. I’ve had to go places and do things where I definitely knew I would need a gun, and on a scale of one to ten I would give this a zero, would not recommend. And if someone can accurately predict when they will need to carry a gun, I want to take them to the Quickie Mart and buy lottery tickets. 

 Putting your gun on should be just another part of getting dressed. You certainly never want to leave your house without it. 

 2 - You’re Wearing the Wrong Clothing 

Like it or not, when you carry concealed your clothing is also a part of your kit, so choose it accordingly. 

Pants that allow for an inside the waistband holster, or belt loops properly spaced to position an outside the waistband one are what you’re going to want. You’re also going to want a proper gunbelt, one that will support the weight of the gun and keep it properly positioned. Your shirts should be of a material that doesn’t cling to your gun and spare ammunition if it’s your cover garment. For shirts I’m a big fan of patterns. I particularly lean towards Hawaiian style prints, as the pattern tends to break up any outline of the gun that may happen should I reach for something. 

 That’s not to say you can’t conceal a gun wearing a suit and tie in something other than a shoulder holster. I’m not a particularly big guy, but I’ve carried a double stack 1911 in .45 ACP in a tuckable inside the waistband holster in suits and tuxes and the gun was effectively hidden. 

 Along with concealing your gun, you don’t want what you wear to attract any attention to you, and especially single you out as a gun enthusiast. 

The next time you’re out in public, pay attention to how people are dressed. Pay particular attention to anyone wearing a t-shirt with a design or words on it. Count how many are gun related. Does the guy with the silhouette of an AR15 on the back of his shirt attract your attention? How about the Ruger phoenix? Gun manufacturers brand names and logos like Smith & Wesson, Colt, etc.? 

 Worse yet, what about the ones with phrases on them? ”We don’t call 911” over the silhouette of a pistol? “Forget the dog, be afraid of me.” Can you imagine being involved in a use of force incident wearing something like this? This would be your mug shot photo. This would be pointed out to the jury at your trials, both criminal and civil. Is this how you want to come across? 

We all own t-shirts that have something to do with guns on them. I know I have a closet full of them. But the only place I wear them is to the range. If I have to make a stop between the range and home, I have something to wear over or instead of them. The object is to not make yourself stand out in public. You want to be the gray man. I know the only thing I want people to remember about me is my awesome goatee. So leave the “kill them all and let God sort them out” t-shirt for your range sessions. 

 You’re also not going to be making any fashion statements if you’re going to effectively carry concealed. Sorry guys, but the skinny jeans and smedium shirts that make you a hit at the club just aren’t going to cut it when it comes to carrying a gun. I don’t own a pair of pants that fit me without an inside the waistband holster attached. And while getting pants a size or two too big doesn’t attractively display my derriere, (And yes, it’s as awesome as my goatee.) they do the job of hiding the gun, which is why I got them. 

3 - You Keep Adjusting Your Pants 

Remember the pants size and proper gunbelt we just talked about? Yeah, if you’re constantly having to adjust your pants and slide your gun back where it needs to be, you’re going to attract attention to yourself. When I was in law enforcement, this was one of the fastest ways for me to determine if someone had a gun on them. Of course, criminals weren’t real big on holsters, and usually just jammed the gun in their waistband, but the grab and shift move always caught my eye. 

 So don’t do it. Get pants that fit and a gunbelt that does its job. 

 4 - You Keep Checking On the Gun 

This is always the tell of a new concealed carrier. They constantly reach down and touch their gun to make sure it’s still there. Trust me, if a couple of pounds of metal or plastic decides to part company with you, you’re going to notice. The only time you should touch your gun in public is to draw it. Which brings us nicely to our next point. 

 5 - You’re Not Practicing Drawing From Concealment 

You don’t ever practice drawing your gun from concealment. When you go to the range, if you even use a holster it’s an outside the waistband one with no cover garment. This is not how you carry concealed, is it? The military has a phrase, train how you fight. Granted, they don’t follow this, but the sentiment behind it makes sense. 

 When you go to the range to train, train as you would fight. And as a concealed carrier, the first thing you have to do in a fight is get your gun involved. This means, you guessed it, drawing from concealment. Clearing your cover garment and drawing your gun needs to be muscle memory. It needs to be something you can do without looking, because you need to keep your eyeballs focused on the threat. And it takes some practice. So train to draw from concealment. Invest in a shot timer, and practice drawing and firing one shot at your target. Keep track of the times, and you’ll see significant improvement in a short period of time. When you get to around a second and a half from the beep to the shot you’re getting close. 

6 - You’re Not Training With Your Concealed Carry Gun 

And when you train, train with the gun you actually use as your everyday carry. Yes, yes, you can certainly shoot that Glock 34 with the five inch barrel very well. But your carry gun is a Glock 43 with a three and a half inch barrel. And I’m willing to bet you’re not as fast and accurate with that as you are with the 34. 

So while you’ll definitely get that nice dopamine hit from shooting tight, down zero groups with the 34, it’s not going to prepare you for when the balloon goes up and you have to employ that 43 for realsies. The gun is going to move differently in your hand than that big 34. Your sight alignment is going to be more critical due to going from a seven inch sight radius to a five inch one. (Yes, that couple inches makes a big difference.) These are adjustments you don’t have the time to make when you’re, you know, fighting for your life. So train with what you carry. 

7 - You’re Not Doing Enough Dry Fire Practice 

Are you even doing dry fire practice? This is by far the most productive, cost effective training you can do. You’re not burning gas going to and from the range, you’re not burning up ammo, and you’re ingraining the basics. You can spend fifteen minutes a day five days a week and get over an hours worth of cost free training a week. 

 This is an excellent way to hone your sight alignment and trigger press. With the addition of a laser trainer you can see where your shots would have landed, see your times, and track your progress. It also makes it more of a game so it holds your concentration better. I use the Strikeman system. I’ll put a link to it in the show notes. 

 8 - You’re Only Training For Marksmanship 

You’re going to the range, not drawing from a holster, standing flat-footed and shooting groups. And that’s it. And while this is fine, and one range session should be devoted strictly to the fundamentals of marksmanship, you need to train for the time you may have to employ your weapon in a defensive situation. 

A real gunfight is a chaotic mess, very far removed from a pleasant day at the range shooting groups. Your opponent may be moving. There may be more than one bad guy. There may be bystanders or obstructions. And all you’ve practiced is shooting groups while stationary. No moving and shooting, no using cover, a target wide open, no shooting from retention. You don’t practice reloading, malfunction drills, shooting one handed. 

If you’re carrying concealed you need to be prepared for the day you have to stand between evil and innocence. Train for real life scenarios. It’s not hard, and just takes a little imagination on your part. Read about actual shootings that have taken place, and recreate them on the range. 

 One of the best things you can do for yourself is join IDPA. That’s the International Defensive Pistol Association. Find a range that conducts IDPA matches and shoot in them. The stages you will shoot are scenarios you may encounter in real life. Many are taken straight from the news. You’ll learn to move and shoot, reload under pressure, shoot moving targets, and a host of other skills you’ll find you need to work on. 

 Another thing you can do if you go to the range with a partner is load each other’s magazines. Put the random dummy cartridge or fired case in the stack so you can practice clearing malfunctions. Being able to react to a problem and get your gun back in the fight quickly may save your life some day. 

9 - You’re Not Carrying Extra Ammunition 

We’ve all heard the “rule of threes.” You know, the average gunfight takes place at three yards, you fire three shots, and it’s over in three seconds. It’s a crock, if nobody has told you that yet. So armed with this knowledge, you’re probably carrying just what your gun holds, right? Let me tell you the few things wrong with this. 

National averages of three, three, and three are wrong. Look at accounts of recent shootings, and pay attention to the amount of shots fired and distances involved. Also, if you want to go by averages, the odds of you being in a gunfight, depending on where you live, are pretty low. So if you are in a gunfight, the averages are already horribly against you. 

 Now I know you’re saying, John, I don’t worry about that. I’ve got twelve, fifteen, seventeen, etc. rounds in my gun. I’m good to hook bro. But you’re really not. 

I either carry a double stack nine millimeter or a double stack forty five. I also carry two spare magazines on me. So with sixteen in the gun and two fifteen round magazines I have forty six rounds of “leave me the hell alone” to bring to a fight. I’ve been in gunfights, and have learned that the only time you have too much ammo is when you’re on fire. See, you never know how many opponents you may face, how many rounds your opponents may take before they are no longer a threat, or, let’s face it, how many times you may miss. So that reload or two can be wonderful things. 

 Especially if you carry a semiautomatic pistol, you need spare magazines. The first point of failure in a semiauto is the magazine. If the one in your gun suddenly decides it doesn’t want to play nice anymore, wouldn’t it be grand to have another one you can replace it with and get back in the fight? 

 You revolver guys especially, carry extra ammo. You can get speed strips that sit in unobtrusively in your pocket and give you the ability, with practice, to reload your revolver almost as fast as using speedloaders. 

 10 - You’re Not Getting Additional Training 

I’m not saying this just because I’m an instructor. I teach the South Carolina concealed carry course, and I’ll straight up tell you all it does is prepare you to pass the written test and the range qualification. And while I teach a lot more than the state requires, it doesn’t prepare you for a gunfight. In class I’m big on situational awareness, and trying to keep you out of a gunfight. But for time constraints and to be competitive with other instructors I simply don’t have the time in an eight hour class to teach people how to be gunfighters. 

 And if all you’ve had in the way of training is what is necessary to qualify for your state’s permit, you’re really not ready either. You need to get training from a qualified instructor so you can develop and hone the skills that may be required of you in the real world. You’re not going to get this from watching YouTube videos or taking on-line courses. You need to have an instructor there to stop you from doing things wrong. One of the biggest challenges I have with students is correcting bad habits they have made muscle memory because they were self-taught or had someone inexperienced teach them. Save yourself time and money and have someone teach you the right way the first time. 

That will do it for this episode. And after talking through it I’m definitely going to have to do two or three more on the subject. Take a hard, honest look at yourself and see if you’re doing any of these things. If you are, take corrective action now. 

Hopefully you’ve learned something from this. If you have suggestions on this topic or one you’d like to hear about, please by all means let me know. Put it in the comments section if the app you use has that feature, send me an email or text, use a carrier pigeon or smoke signal, whatever it takes. I’m actually very responsive to comments, and extremely appreciative of anything that would help me make this podcast better and offer more value to the shooting community. 

 We’ve got the first six south Carolina concealed carry classes for 2023 scheduled. You can view the class calendar at our website, https://tacticalpirate.com and register for classes at shootingclasses.com. I’ve put links in the show notes. 

As always, if you enjoyed this podcast consider letting one of your like-minded friends know about it. We’re listed in all the major podcast directories, or you can listen in at our website. Until next time, shoot safe, be safe, and have a great Thanksgiving.