Sunday, June 14, 2009

Disarming Yourself

How to?

Ok, for you regular CCW people. You are carrying in your preferred method, and during the course of the day you go to a school to get your kid, or a court house to submit a building permit, or a church to eat some pot luck, or something. You have to go there, but you can't be strapped. Most every state as SOME prohibited place where you can't carry. And while most Conceal Carry gunnies avoid those places on principle as Victim Disarmament zones, nevertheless sometime you have to go there.

What do you do with the gun?

I ask because I was in Pennsylvania a weekend ago. I can CCW there, but I have to exit, and later re-enter, Maryland. And so there is a transition.

If you carry in a Man Purse or a Fanny Pack, it's easy. Take off said geek bag and leave it in the car hidden someplace. For you Don Johnson types with your ankle holster, it's also easy to take off the holster and leave it in the car, all without anyone seeing or knowing what you are doing.

But some holsters are more involved. You have to go into contortions to remove the whole IWB holster, unbuckling your belt and pants and twisting about. At least for some. The holsters with snaps are probably easier than the clippy kind. And forget about getting the Serpa Paddles off without some serious yanking.

If you have a snubbie revolver in your front pocket, your contortions are almost as bad, from sitting in the driver's seat of your Miata.

If you un-ass from your car, you are out in public taking your gun off, and even more easily 'made' by the general public.

So what is the procedure? YOU are sitting in the courthouse parking lot and gotta leave your hog leg in the car, but would consider it a 'bad idea' for all those 5-0's to see your gat. What do you do? How do you get the thing off? Where do you secure it in the car? How do you make it so you don't attract attention? In high school, hormone enhanced boys just carried their books in such a way to hide... things... How do you hide disarming?

6 comments:

JB Miller said...

I plan ahead.

If I know I am going to have to drop and lock in the trunk I wear a rig that will make that easy.

At times I leave the gun and keep the holster on. Nothing wrong with a concealed, empty, holster.

Mostly I avoid places that don't allow carry.

Anonymous said...

I pretty much agree with JB.

When traveling, I usually stop at the last exit before the state line and disarm there. When about to enter a criminal empowerment zone, I park as close to the physical premises as possible while still obeying the law. I leave the holster on because I'd just have to go through the hassle of putting it back on when I leave the totalitarian state or area I'm about to visit.

Generally speaking, by leaving the holster on, I can generally get the gun out and put it away while sitting in the vehicle and without attracting undue attention.

If you're gun is so hard to get out while sitting in your car that you can't do it without being a contortionist, I'd submit that your mode of carry isn't practical for your mode of travel. If you can't get it out while in your car, you're effectively disarming yourself any time you're in it, whether while driving, sitting at a red light, in a parking lot, whatever.

BTW: Be careful about that whole "just take the man-purse off and leave it in the car" thing. In some states, in order to be considered "transporting" the weapon rather than "carrying a concealed weapon", it has to be unloaded in the case, in some states the case has to be locked and in some states, the ammo has to be in a separate case.

That mainly applies when traveling in a state that doesn't recognize your permit, but it is something to keep in mind.

Earl said...

I check my pistol with the security guards. Especially the courthourse senario- just find out which door they do the turn in and lock up and use that door.

Some of the other places one isn't supposed to carry don't really check - remember National Parks? Libraries, schools, Churchs (?)so one can carry and be quite quiet about it.

Carteach said...

I'm a teacher.... and when I work the heater just has to stay home. No help for it. I had this discussion with our building administrator (on good terms).

Other days, I never really go anyplace I can't be armed. On occasions when I travel out of state, I bone up on their laws.

Fer instance... should I be traveling west into oHIo, I leave the chamber empty while I carry, and before the state line I dump mag and store the pistol in my purse in the back seat. The mags go elsewhere. This meets with oHIo's silly laws.

The holster just stays on my belt. I've even worn it into school, when it was too much trouble to take it off at the house.

Anonymous said...

I use a High Noon Bare Asset and it's clip goes on and off with no problem, I don't carry in the office so it goes on and off at least 4 times a day.

James R. Rummel said...

Looks like just about everyone has said what I was going to. Your problem is that you want to keep the gun and holster together at all times. What for? Put the gun somewhere in the car and just carry an empty holster.

If I'm parking the car and have to leave the gun for awhile, then I simply put it in the glove box.

Like you, I've had a similar problem while traveling across state lines. If I have to go in to a state where my CCW license is null, then I put a small gun case under the front seat when I start out from home. Stop at the last rest stop on the highway before the state line, unload the ammo into the glove box, secure the gun in the case, and place the case in the trunk. All legal.

Note that I don't bother to take off the holster unless it is going to be a few days before I can get back to somewhere civilized where my right to carry is recognized. If it is going to be more than a few hours, I might think about taking the holster off for comfort's sake. Otherwise I just leave it on.

James