Five deadly concealed-carry mistakes
New gun owners should avoid these common mistakes, which can get you killed, sued or incarcerated.
Carrying a concealed handgun is not fun.
Anyone who tells you they enjoy the experience is probably somewhat of a novice.
If you do it right, a concealed pistol dictates what you can do, what you can wear, where you can go and a lot more. Besides, it’s not comfortable, regardless of the holster.
To the point, there’s something far more important than holster selection or other technical details. Carrying a concealed firearm is a heady responsibility.
It means that you’ve made the decision to use deadly force to protect your life or the life of another.
If you’re not ready to do that — to aim center-mass at another human being and pull the trigger — you shouldn’t be carrying a pistol.
That, friends, is my Number-One concealed carry mistake.
1. Carrying a concealed pistol when you’re not prepared for the responsibility.
It sounds almost too easy — buy a handgun, take a class, get a CCW permit, start carrying. Heck, our industry makes it easy. In some states it’s almost an assembly line type of process. In my humble opinion, therein lies the problem.
For most people. just lining up the sights on another human being is impossible during a gunfight. Studies have shown that soldiers and law enforcement officers have trouble too — actually aiming when the fight is for real.
Shooting someone is even more difficult for most folks, although there are certainly a few exceptions — they’re called gunfighters.
If you are going to carry a concealed firearm you need to understand that there may come a time when you have to use said firearm, and you need to be ready for that day, God forbid it ever arrives.
Think this through from different perspectives — moral, religious, ethical and, quite frankly, from your spouse’s perspective.
If you can’t accept this responsibility, don’t carry.
2. Not understanding the law — not knowing when you’re authorized to use deadly force.
While the specific laws vary from state to state, most statutes permit you to use deadly force only to protect your life or that of another. That’s it. Note that it doesn’t say anything about protecting your stuff. And stuff — your property — gets a lot of well-intentioned folks into trouble, and by trouble I mean criminal charges and/or civil liability.
Case in point: If you hear someone breaking into your backyard storage shed in the middle of the night, can you run out and shoot? Nope. You can’t shoot someone over your stuff.
Case in point: If you see a shoplifter fleeing a store with an armload of stolen jeans, can you use deadly force to stop them? Nope. You can’t shoot someone over someone else’s stuff either.
There are far better and safer remedies.
Call 911. Tell the police exactly what you saw. There’s certainly nothing wrong with being the world’s best witness.
Another way good intentions can get a concealed carrier into trouble is when they brandish their handgun — when they point it at someone to stop some mischief.
There’s a legal term for pointing a pistol at someone — aggravated assault — and it’s a serious felony in all 50 states.
Concealed carriers aren’t cops. We don’t need to make arrests or thwart crimes in progress. We don’t need to yell warnings, such as my former favorite: Freeze or meet Jesus!
Our lane is very narrow. We should stay in our lane and only take action when someone’s life is at risk.
To do otherwise invites criminal charges and civil lawsuits.
3. Having insufficient training — only the bare minimum.
I train with 3-inch and 6-dots at the range — nothing fancy, but it works extremely well. I also dry fire at home religiously.
I take classes at every available opportunity — whenever someone offers. It’s one of the big perks of this job.
Unfortunately, too many concealed carriers take only the minimum amount of training required to get their CCW permit, and then they stop.
Sad, that.
In Florida, state law only requires that an applicant for a CCW license demonstrate proficiency with a handgun. Over the years, some “instructors” have allowed students to demonstrate proficiency by shooting a BB-gun into a bucket of sand. Fortunately, these “instructors” are a dying breed.
Good riddance.
Nowadays we live in the Golden Age of firearms instruction.
As a result of our never-ending wars, we have an incredible instructor cadre — men and women with real-world experience — actual warriors who are passing on the skills they learned from gunfights, not textbooks.
There has never been a better time to be a student, so there are no excuses for not continuing your training. Besides, as a concealed carrier you should want to train more. It’s fun and rewarding — and the reward could very well be your life.
4. Choosing the wrong gun, gear.
If I had a dollar for every time I was asked — “What type of pistol should I buy for concealed carry?” — I’d be carrying a Staccato 2011 with an optic.
Buying a pistol is a personal decision. It would be like me telling someone what kind of shoes to buy. However, there can be serious ramifications if you go cheap and get it wrong.
Generally, I’d recommend buying the largest-sized handgun you can conceal comfortably, from a quality American manufacturer, usually in 9mm.
I’m a big guy, so I can conceal a full-size handgun. Over the years, I’ve carried a Browning Hi-Power, Glock 17, Beretta 92, 1911, Springfield XD .45, and an H&K P7M13. If you can conceal a full-size pistol you’re lucky.
Larger guns are easier to control — you can get more meat on them — so they’re easier to shoot, and they usually hold more ammo, and there’s no penalty for have ammo left over after a gunfights.
Smaller pistols, at least for me, are more difficult to shoot quickly and at greater distances because they’re harder to hold and have shorter sight planes.
I have seen what happens when someone carries some cheap nonsense — they jam, they break and they let the shooter down.
Above all, a concealed carry handgun has to be dependable, and dependability doesn’t come cheap.
Don’t skimp. It could mean your life.
The same rule applies to holsters.
Buy a good one. I strongly recommend Kydex, especially from BlackPoint Tactical — the best I’ve found.
If you buy something cheap, your handgun may not be there when you need it.
The only other accessory I recommend for a defensive pistol is a white light, because most shootings occur after dark.
I have heard nonsense for years from novices who worry that a light will “give away their position.”
This may be true for soldiers on a battlefield, but it’s not true for civilians in a dark alley or a parking lot, so I’ll take my chances with enemy snipers.
It just makes sense to have a quality light mounted on your pistol, because you have to clearly see and be sure of your target or you shouldn’t pull the trigger.
5. An improper mindset — the most deadly mistake.
Want to know what has killed more cops than anything else?
Denial.
It’s also one of the biggest hurdles for a concealed carrier to overcome.
I define denial as an inability to accept the current tactical situation. In other words, it’s an inability to understand that someone is trying to kill you, and that you have to react immediately with accurate fire or you’re going to get shot.
It’s also been called the inability to “switch on.”
Switching on sounds easy — you encounter a threat and then react, right?
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, because there are other stressors that can delay your response: an argument with your spouse or kids, conflicts at work, money woes or even a big meal and a cocktail or two. When your mind wanders, you’re not in the moment — you’re not switched on — and your response is delayed.
The bad guys don’t have this problem. They know exactly when they’re going to strike, and they’re ready for it. Usually, we’re not.
There are a lot of opinions on how to counter this — on how to switch on.
For me, the best way is by looking at people’s hands — anytime you’re out in public.
It’s the basis for threat identification. If there’s no weapon, there’s no immediate threat. Train yourself to do this.
It can be a lifesaver.
As always, thanks for your time.
Lee
If you want to train yourself to react to a real world situation, make sure you draw your weapon in training when your heart rate is elevated and your breathing is laborous. That's what it's like when the bullets start flying. Your heart will be pounding and breathing elevated. Then when the day comes where you have to draw your weapon in a real situation, your adrenaline won't make you clam up because your brain is making a decision it's already used to under duress. I learned this from a Special Forces Commander in Afghanistan. Great article Lee. I'm definitely getting my money's worth with this subscription.
Excellent article, Lee. It's been a long time since Vietnam, so I am a little rusty. I like to think that if push comes to shove, I will react automatically. But this not a war zone, yet, and there are a lot more factors to consider. Thanks for the wake up call.
Rick Black Elk