I have seen a recent trend in off-duty and concealed firearms carry that strikes me as dangerous. The proliferation of smaller, more powerful handguns has spurred a wave of creative carry ideas that are potentially lethal to the user.
I would say these carry methods tend toward the “holsterless” gun. Two examples of this are the carry clip and the pocket wallet.
Carrying a handgun without a holster is nothing new. Traveling back to the Old West, you may see revolvers stuck sideways in a belt. Sepia photographs from those days are flush with cowboys, lawmen, and ruffians proudly displaying their guns this way.
Massad Ayoob wrote about a holsterless waistband carry method in 19th century Mexico that let the civilian vaquero ditch his handgun, at the approach of the mistrusted Federales, without wearing the incriminating holster and belt. It was called “Mexican Carry” and is not derogatory.
These things of the past aside, several companies are now marketing clips that can be affixed to the receiver of a handgun to allow the gun to be slid into a belt or waistband sans holster. I find this to be very dangerous and ill advised.
This clip-it-in-the-waistband style was perhaps first popularized two decades ago by the Barami Hip Grip, which was a revolver handle with a slightly flared “wing” on one side which allowed you to tuck your Smith & Wesson or Colt snubbie in the top of the pants.
The modern adaptation of the Hip Grip has been a spate of clip carry accessories that bring this method to the auto-loading pistol. Because more and more of these small guns are being toted, more of these products are making it to market.
The purpose of a holster is not only to protect the gun (from the owner), but the owner from the gun. A proper holster, whether it is for the belt, waistband, pocket, or ankle, must cover the trigger and contain the firearm securely. A clip carried handgun has neither and is several steps closer to a negligent, and/or lethal, discharge.
A cousin to this hazardous method of carry is the “Pocket Pal” or “Pocket Shot” style of handgun wallet. Both of these are made for pocket carry of the gun, but leave the trigger exposed, so that the gun may be fired with the “holster” attached.
While this may seem safer than a clip because most of the firearm is encased, it still leaves the trigger accessible. Not only that, but the reciprocal functioning of the pistol’s slide is dependent on the holster not interfering in the action.
I have doubts whether users of these pocket wallets actually go to the range and shoot several hundred rounds through their guns, which are now contained in two slabs of leather.
These shortcuts solve problems that do not exist for truly committed practitioners of concealed carry. There is a dizzying array of gun holsters out there such that one can find that balance between safety, concealment, and comfort with just a little expenditure of time, money, and good sense.
Those in law enforcement and others licensed to carry concealed firearms must take their responsibilities very seriously. We can be our own worst enemies. Any measures that circumvent the safe carry of firearms are detrimental to life and limb and the trust bestowed upon us by our government.
Randall is a twenty-four year sworn police officer in a mid-sized Florida police department. He has been an FTO, K9 Handler, Detective, and SWAT Team Leader. He is currently the K9 Unit Sergeant and department SWAT Coordinator.
A carry method that does not completely cover the trigger guard is unsafe. How any rational person could dispute this boggles my mind.
Mike,
My jaw drops when I see someone with a clip like this on his/her gun. I will say it has a use if you use it to clip the gun to an actual pocket holster like an Uncle Mike’s or DeSantis Nemesis. Other than that, it is an invitation to triage.
Randall
I see more and more CCW holders trying to find a gun or holster to fit their clothing. IMO if you are going to carry, you will have to change your clothing to fit. With that, I don’t see how anyone would be able to draw from one of those designs fast enough to be effective. I get frustrated enough trying to get my wallet from my pocket! (GRIN)
I know the trend is to go smaller an smaller. My trend is to streamline and know my gear. I carry my G21 on and off duty. This limits my having to train with different firearms to remain proficient. Also makes for conciliating of gear.
Kyle,
I agree with you. CCF takes precedence over fashion. Glad to hear you off-duty carry that Big Boy 21! If you ever find the need, that .45 will git ‘er done.
Randall
I carry two pistols criss-crossed in my front waistband, with bandoleers of ammunition crossing my shoulders … what’s the problem?!
Aaron,
Is that with or without the stick-on handlebar mustache?
Randalll
With, of course!
[...] Dangerous Carry, one of the BlueSheepdog.com writers takes a look at dangerous methods of carrying a pistol. [...]
Randall – Great article. I can’t agree more about the safety aspects of carrying with an appropriate holster. Dale Fricke makes an interesting accessory that could help keep folks safer if they choose to carry without the holster. It is called the Zach and is designed to cover the trigger of your pistol to prevent a ND with holsterless carry. Those that are interested in carrying without a holster should 1. Reconsider and if that doesn’t work, take a look at a Zach. http://dalefrickeholsters.com/products.htm
Me, I use a holster.
[...] BlueSheepDog: I have seen a recent trend in off-duty and concealed firearms carry that strikes me as dangerous. The proliferation of smaller, more powerful handguns has spurred a wave of creative carry ideas that are potentially lethal to the user. [...]
You should also note that possession of the holster you’ve shown here without an ATF tax stamp is a felony.
The ATF classifies any holster that is designed to partially encase the weapon, but allow the weapon to be fired from it without drawing from the holster; as an AOW.
It’s idiotic… but the ATF is frequently so.
I’m not an attorney and I don’t play one on the Internet, but supposedly there’s a written opinion from the ATF stating that the holster in question does not create an AOW (even though the law seems to say so).
For myself, I’d say don’t use any holster with an exposed trigger or trigger guard, and if you ignore that advice and buy the stupid thing, make sure you have either a tax stamp or a letter from the ATF saying that you don’t need one.
Well, I was (and have the paperwork in to be so again), a Class III dealer; and unless the ATF tells me otherwise, I’m going with what they told me before.
Something about wanting to avoid prison.
Supposedly it’s a modified grip in their eyes.
Chris,
The “wallet holster” pictured is a new design by Desantis. Because the slide is exposed, ATF says the AOW classification does NOT apply like the traditional wallet holsters which covered the slide and concealed the entire handgun.
Ahhh… if they have a memorandum of understanding for that I’d love to see it.
Talk about arbitrary and capricious.
Chris,
Not so arbitrary and capricious when you look at the totality of circumstances.
ATF’s stance is that the older “traditional” wallet holsters completely conceal the firearm while still allowing it to be fired from within the wallet, thus making it a similar to a gadget gun/AOW. The new Desantis product leaves the slide exposed and identifiable, thus different ruling. Desantis has posted the ATF letter on their website in .pdf format (see the second page of the document):
http://www.desantisholster.com/store/attachments/files/ATF%20Style%20110.pdf
Contrast to a 1976 ATF letter on wallet holsters:
http://www.titleii.com/bardwell/atf_letter18.txt
and another letter from ATF on wallet holsters circa 1996:
http://www.titleii.com/bardwell/atf_letter19.txt
Paul,
Thanks for reading! A Zachhaeus looks interesting. Much like a kydex neck sheath for a small defensive knife. Like you, though, I will still use a holster.
Randall
I purchased one of those clips for my lcp. After putting it on my gun, i ran into a few problems with it. 1) it sits so low in the waistband or pocket…it defeats the purpose of quickly trying to access your weapon. 2) the frame replacement pin does not seat itself flush on the left side. Wich ends up digging into your thumb knuckle. 3) i personally feel the clip is not worth your safety and others.
I’ve pocket carried with a snub nosed .38 — and always with a pocket holster. A well designed pocket holster works so well (and draws so well) that I can’t imagine what problem they are trying to solve with these exposed trigger jobs.
Massad Ayoob summed it up years ago — good guys use holsters, bad guys shove it in their waistband. There are strong reasons for both sides, and everyone who carries should think about them.
I carry my pistols in Comptac MTAC holsters and they work great. I carry a full size Beretta 92 in winter and a Sigpro 2340 in warm weather. I carry the Sigpro wearing jean shorts and keep it fully concealed under a t-shirt. There is no justification whatsoever in cutting corners on safety. Sooner or later, somebody going to get hurt or killed with these shortcuts.
Nice article. I can’t imagine carrying an autoloader without having the trigger protected. How anybody can think these devices are worthwhile and not dangerous beats the heck out of me.
Maybe with a firearm with a manual safety but such safeties should be depended upon to prevent an ND, the only safeties that matter are the one between your ears and the trigger. Using a pocket holder with an exposed trigger demonstrates that the safety between your ears has failed.
The only people dumber than CCW holders when it comes to carry is some cops. The number of cops who don’t carry at all is staggering, the ones who carry stupid is even more mind boggling. I preach to my troops all the time to dress around the gun. (In the interest of full disclosure, when I was younger and dumber I used Mexican carry at times)
Speaking of Massad Ayoob, in an old article, he opined that one way to tell good guys from bad guys was the style of carry (Good guys used holsters, Bad guys – Mexican carry). My experience has been more along the lines of gun people using quality holsters, non-gun people use crap holsters or Mexican carry.
I could understand holsterless carry with a double action only pistol such as a quality revolver or something like the AMT Backup. It is ironic that firearm instructors first lessons include never relying on a selectable safety, yet two pieces of leather sewn together is superior to 1000 years of firearms engineering. With that said I use a holster along with my selectable safety pistol or my DAO pistol as I prefer redundant layers of safety. I engage the safety when disarming as well though its not necessary. As for the Glock crowd they admonish the “complexity” of select safe pistols yet they are totally comfortable relying on several parts functioning in unison to fire their pistol I guess sales pitches really do trump real knowledge of mechanics.
Hope you dont mind my long story, but I’d like to share my experiences with m/c as a police officer.
I worked a So Cal large city for 20+ years and when young on the job, i worked vice for 12 months. One of the dangers of vice in a warm weather environment is that as an undercover operative, wearing a button up shirt untucked or a light jacket over your t-shirt screams cop… I carried a 2″ 38cal 5-shot, it was the only gun I could conceal in my waistband and not have a large bulge show through my t-shirt. One of the older guys gave me the “holster” he used during his time as a u/c… it consisted of a piece of a wire hanger shaped like a tight “S”… with one end longer than the other and the longer end covered in a cloth tape on both sides of the “S” to protect the barrel on inside/outside. the smaller portion of the “S” hooked on to the waistband of my levis… so even if discovered, i could articulate to the crooks my reason for this “holster”.
The real reason for it was so that the gun would not slip down my pants as I walked to the loc where the crooks hung out. I found out that it would keep my gun in place even if I had to scale a fence/wall and while running up or down stairs.
I didnt feel comfortable carrying without a holster, but it was all there was for such a detail… I knew I had to use much more care in carrying it that way. As I grew up on the job, other u/c positions came up i was lucky enough to work them….our dept began to allow us to carry semi-autos in the early 90s, the 92F was the first one…and it was a large 9mm! How to carry that in an u/c capacity?… the “S” holster with a longer piece of wire hanger.
I had to draw my gun many times while in the presence of crooks when things went sideways, and never had an issue with it…
I still carry sans holster, i have a “clipdraw” attached to my SW 45…it brings the profile of my gun to almost nil… I cant tell you how often I see the “tell-all” pistol grip sticking out from the outline of a person in line or at a restaurant… I just hope in my mind it’s a good guy… These days, I find myself working private/executive security details where “business attire” is mandated, I wear a pancake holster with a suit jacket covering…no problem there, but I still carry my 2″ 38 at the 10 o’clock position, as a back up…with my “clipdraw”…
I still have my “S” holster, now just a bit of memorabilia from my time on the job…
I’m aware that my trigger is open and being conscious goes a long way… You hear of many coppers with holstered weapons having an accidental discharge…sure, you hear of crooks having n/g’s while CCW’ing without a holster, but hardly ever of any coppers sans holster…
“I have doubts whether users of these pocket wallets actually go to the range and shoot several hundred rounds through their guns”
I know I’ll be excoriated for saying this, but this is absurd. The whole point of using firearms is that they are easy to use with minimal training. If you know guns and you’re careful with them, then you don’t need to constantly be shooting them.
It’s perfectly reasonable for certain occasions to carry using any of these methods. If you do it every day then you have a greater chance of a mishap, there are plenty of people who have done this without mishap for quite a long time. Accidents happen, but most of the time they happen to people who are knuckleheads.
Shooting is a perishable skill. If you don’t practice reguarly (draw, marksmanship, the whole package) you will fail.
Amen, Mike! Pulling a trigger is easy – shooting accurately, under stress is not.
Carrying a gun requires a commitment to ongoing practice and training. That doesn’t necessarily mean “constantly” shooting, but it does mean more than going to the range once a year.
I’m not a police officer and I can’t speak to undercover officers’ needs, but with that one exception if you carry insecurely you are a knucklehead and you’re asking for trouble. If you carry with a safe holster that covers the trigger guard, and if you keep your booger hook off the bang switch (especially while holstering), it’s pretty hard to have a negligent discharge.
“Covering the trigger”? When you carry a long gun, what do you use there? And why?
CarlS,
I am a frequent hunter, and in my patrol duties I have my patrol rifle (RRA LAR-15) with me in my patrol vehicle.
When hunting I am carrying the rifle/shotgun in a ready position in case the animal/bird I’m looking for pops out on my way in or out of the hunting area. When I’m stationary the rifle/shotgun is still held in a ready position. On the few occasions that I have the long gun over my shoulder on the sling, I have made sure that my outer wear does not have anything to snag the trigger.
While on patrol my rifle remains cased and unloaded until needed (wish we had dual locking mounts for the shotgun and rifle but we don’t). When I’m carrying the rifle I have a single point sling that allows the rifle to hang in front of me. However, like above, I almost always have the rifle in hand and firmly in control. The few times that the rifle is hanging I’ve done my best to make sure that it is in a position where there are few or no items on my duty belt to snag the trigger.
Obviously in both situations above the safety is on until ready to shoot. I think in the handgun situation you’re presented with a completely different animal. Putting something in a pocket or waistband without further protection invites “Murphy” to the party. Every day movements and the typical accessories kept in pockets create a real risk for a negligent discharge. Even with a manual safety the potential is real that the safety could be disengaged and then something snags the trigger. Carrying in the waistband even creates the real possibility that the handgun will slip and fall down the leg.
Not having positive control of the firearm (like the long gun examples) creates the need to have the weapon stored in an appropriate holster – in my opinion.
I was talking about handguns.
Excellent post Randall. These kinds of clips and “holsters” strike me as incredibly dangerous. You said it best when you talked about how CCW holder who are serious about concealed carry would not have any of the issues these convenience items purport to fix.
I went on a large city P.D. in 1971 and even through 1993 most detectives just wrapped a few rubber bands around the handgrip of there model 36 S&W and stuffed it in the back of there pants, under the belt. I was one of them, while I never saw an issue due to this carry I now do use a pocket holster, wear cargo pants to carry my PM9.
I USED TO have a Kel-Tec P-32 that I tried to carry at the gym with a clip. I was using the weight machines, mind you, nothing too kinetic.
At some point I was horrified to realize the clip had slipped off my waistband and the gun was sliding down my pants leg.
I shuffled over to a wall so there was no one in front of me and, when convinced no one was paying any attention, palmed the gun and slipped it into a pocket. Discreetly, I hope!
After that, I got a good pocket holster.
I carried my Beretta 92F Mexican style for several years (also would sleep with it under my pillow until I started seriously dating and the ladies got freaked out). Always had the 6-pack abs/tight jeans and never kept a round chambered, as I always took time to review the situation at hand before grabbing the gun as so many do – Only time I had to go for it was once when I was eating in a fast food restaurant and a woman came in waving a gun. I took cover and was preparing to shoot her (if she started shooting) when she dropped the gun as local LEO’s were pulling up (they had chased her from a domestic dispute down the street) . Never had any problems with Mexican carry , but eventually went to an inside the pants holster when I started dressing nicer and did not want to wear the skin tight dress slacks. Noting wrong with Mexican carry if one is trained and knows how to properly handle a weapon.
Lesson 1 of proper carry training: Mexican carry is not proper handling.
A buddy of mine was a Michigan State Police Trooper for 8 years. I’m not sure if it was issued, but it was common practice for the Troops to carry their standard firearm in their duty holsters and a back-up snub-nose .38 revolver in their back pocket.
I’m a big fan of holsters – I carry my back-up in a body armor holster – but I can understand the MSP’s practice for the .38 – quick access in times of trouble.
I think they stashed the .38 while they were driving around to avoid the pain of sitting on it.
Thanks for all the dialogue, guys! Please feel free to share your thoughts on any of our articles. Richard and I were at the range testing some guns today and we were very happy that we are getting such support. Again, thanks.
Randall
Great article Randall,
If you cc or not, rule number 1 is, “be aware of your environment.” Bad guys don’t like people who are constantly checking their ‘six.’ If you carry, you have to protect your self from your gun, as you stated. And if your a ‘bobble head,’ you will have enough time to address any situation from a holstered gun. Having the bad guys laughing at you because you shot yourself while they rob your would only add insult to injury.
Agreed, Bill. Situational awareness is the cornerstone to good personal defense, armed or not. Thanks for your comments.
Randall
I hate to admit to it, but I carried an AMT 380 in a wallet holster (and practiced with it in said holster) in my left rear pocket for about 30 years, minus when I worked plain clothes and carried it on my ankle. I practiced with it and it was readily available to my weak hand should I have to use my strong hand to prevent a gun grab (that was my reasoning, anyway). I later started carrying a S&W 340PD off-duty with a clip and actually found it was more secure than some of the inside the waistband clip-on holsters I’ve tried. I was always careful when holstering and it was VERY inobtrusive. I only quit using it when I changed grips and it wouldn’t work with the Crimson Trace grips. I understand everything that has been stated but I humbly disagree.
Jerry,
It sounds like you have much practical experience with these kinds of carry. And we don’t mind the disagreement! We have thick skins. Thank you for taking the time to visit us and comment.
Randall
You’re welcome, and I have to add one more comment, though. The reason I bought the 340PD was simply because my USP 45C was dragging my shorts down because of the weight. I live in the desert and it’s awfully hard to carry something normal sized when you’re wearing shorts and a t-shirt. With the larger guns you pretty much have to carry on your side or behind your hip, but with a smaller one you can carry it more forward, making it less likely to “print.” I once went to CopsWest trade show and saw about a dozen young cops walking around with full sized weapons perfectly outlined against their too-tight t-shirts. Kind of defeats the whole concealed carry concept. I have made the concession of wearing loose shirts and the only time I tuck my shirt in is when I wear a tie. I sometimes pocket carry but it’s problematic because of all the other junk I carry (extra ammo, car keys, folding reading glasses because I’m old, etc.). Having said all that I will admit I used to carry a 1911 “Mexican Carry” for several years but I feel uncomfortable doing it now. I just don’t want to take the chance with that short, light trigger pull, so I use a holster when I carry it now.
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