Skin That Smokewagon--Two Guns Better Than One?

Let us discuss some fundamental truths about packing heat for self-defense. First off, if one is not licensed, do not do it. If one cannot be bothered to spend a relatively small amount of time and effort getting legal, then one probably is not responsible enough to carry a gun anyway. Legal armament is the whole point here.

Carrying a weapon is a big responsibility, both to the armed citizen and everyone around them. While I firmly believe the right of free people to keep and bear arms is the most sacrosanct of human rights, I also believe that exercising those rights imposes responsibilities as well. When one votes, one should be educated about what they are voting for. Those who carry guns are not only stepping up and protecting themselves, they are also claiming responsibility for everyone around them. So it is imperative the armed citizen be extremely well-educated about weapons and their safe handling.

I will not go into a lengthy dissertation about the rules of gun handling in this post. I’ll leave it with the most sacred and fundamental of safety rules: every gun is loaded, and should be treated as such. Do not point it at anything that you would mind having a bullet hole in.

So how does the armed citizen go about being armed? Therein lies the difficulty. I cannot think of many places where a private citizen is allowed to carry a weapon openly. The police have it easy in this regard. They get to carry big autos right out in the open. Private citizens do not get that luxury. Most jurisdictions require the weapon to be concealed. This raises quite a few problems.

I think one should carry as much gun as possible under the circumstances. There is a correlation between bullet size and stopping power. So the idea is to have the biggest gun possible under the circumstances.

Clint Smith, the owner and operator of Thunder Ranch, has pointed out that a handgun is really not the weapon of choice in combat. He rightly states a rifle or shotgun is superior to a pistol. However, we cannot go around toting rifles and shotguns in public. That leaves the armed citizen with a handgun of some sort, and that handgun needs to be concealed.

I live in Texas, and this state tends to be hotter than hell at least 10 out of 12 months in the year. It is fairly easy to conceal a big handgun in a belted holster under a jacket or sweatshirt. It seems to be the easiest and quickest to draw a weapon from a belted holster. So I think the jacket/belt holster combo is the perfect concealed rig. Texas citizens do not get to wear that too often, however.

That leaves a Texan with few options, each of which are not as good as carrying a belted holster.

There is the inside-the-pants rig. This seems to offer a good way to carry a fairly large handgun concealed with an untucked shirt. There are a few problems with this sort of rig. First, it requires sticking a holster and gun into the waistband. That tends to be uncomfortable, no matter where the gun is placed. A full sized weapon tends to be pretty bulky, no matter the make or model. Manufacturers make all sorts of promises, but none have lived up to the hype of a small, concealable, lightweight and safe gun yet. I hold out hope.

Secondly, there is a tendency for the shirt to ride up, exposing the gun. This creates all sorts of problems, most of them legal in nature.

The second option is a holster inside the waistband, which can have a shirt tucked over it. Sounds great, does it not? The problem here is that draw time is significantly hampered, and one still has the bulky problem to deal with. Plus, it can look as though one is packing some sort of weird medical device when using a full-sized weapon. There is usually a bulge to the discerning eye. The best of these rigs appears to be the Pager Pal, but it works best with a smaller handgun. And the draw time is still much slower than it would be from the belt.

The fanny pack and its ilk conceal weapons perfectly. They just do not fit in anywhere outside a computer convention at a summer theme park. So what does the well-dressed citizen who packs heat actually carry?

The pocket holster is one of the most concealable options out there. Draw time is pretty rapid, and a good pocket holster is pretty much invisible. The problem here is that a full-sized weapon is out of the question with this option. A very small pistol is the only choice here, and it had better be lightweight as well. The problem with lightweight pistols is that recoil is bad in major calibers. That leaves the armed citizen with carrying a smaller caliber, such as .22, .25, .32, .380, or some such.

The best option with a pocket holster seems to be a lightweight .38 Special revolver, preferably hammerless. There are .357’s available in that configuration, but they tend to kick far too much to be accurate in these small packages. Most people can handle the .38 with little or no trouble, and there are a variety of great small revolvers out there. Smith and Wesson comes immediately to mind.

However, a small revolver is limited in ammunition capacity before reloading. Usually five shots is the limit. Hopefully five shots should be more than adequate, but one never knows. Since most weapons these days are ten shot or better automatics, a wheelgun shooter is at a bit of a disadvantage.

It would seem a person choosing to carry a small, limited capacity gun needs to have a backup, full-sized automatic concealed elsewhere. Carry the small piece, but in case of an extremely nasty situation, have a large capacity auto waiting in the wings. In other words, use the small gun to provide fallback cover to the big auto.

Here endeth the pontificating. Any disagreements or other thoughts on the subject? Any commentary would be welcome.