More Conceal Carry

Last night, at the last minute, we decided to go out to dinner.  I did not have my gun on my body at the time, but I was tired and not really in the mood to change and figure out what to wear, so I just grabbed my holster and gun and put it on.

I need to point out here that I have recently learned that the various states have vastly different rules on carrying, so this may be more of an issue for you than it is for me.

I generally carry concealed.  Once in a while if I am with other folks that open carry, I will too, but it is not my everyday carry method, however, in Virginia I could open carry if I choose to do so.

In Virginia it is legal to open carry or conceal carry (if one has a permit) and the brandishing laws include an intent to intimidate, so simply having the gun reveal itself should my shirt come up would not get me a brandishing charge.  What that does for me, is help me to not have to stress so much about “hiding” the gun.

I generally chose to conceal for a ton of reason, but that is another post.

So, back to the point…

After I got myself all situated, my husband said, “wow, you can’t even tell you are carrying”.

I took a look in the mirror and was pleasantly surprised that the gun did not really print.

No real cover garment or extra prep.  Just grab my gun and go, this I like!

It also goes back to the last post I wrote on conceal carry.

Now, I am going to say right now, these are not the most flattering photos of my backside, but in the interest of  sharing my experiences in the hopes it might help someone, I will post them anyway, but believe me, in real life my hiney is much cuter:)

This is what I wore.  I am only giving the details to let you see how doable this really is.  Size 6 skinny jeans with a small thermal shirt under a small regular cut t-shirt.  These jeans do have some stretch to them which is good because even though I am on the thinner side, I do have hips.  Even in the Crossbreed holster the gun tends to pull a bit and cause me some irritation on my hip bone.  The stretch of the jeans tends to lessen this a great deal.  I wear my gun at about 8:30 and not in the small of my back, so I think that contributes a lot to the hip bone issue.  If you carry more towards 6:30, 7:00, then you probably have even more concealment. 

 Of course, if you are reading a blog about guns and concealment and you know I carry my gun on my left side, well then yes, it is pretty obvious to you that, that print is a gun, but I do not think the majority of folks would think that and we were heading out the door, so I didn’t really check the picture, but I think when my shirt is pulled down a bit, it is even less obvious that there is anything under there, let alone a gun.  However, if one was uncomfortable with this amount of print, I think even the lightest sweater would be plenty of a cover garment.

5 thoughts on “More Conceal Carry

  1. Only another CCWer would suspect that it’s a gun and then only if she / he is looking for it.

    I agree that a non-gunnie (not necessarily an anti) if they even noticed would not think GUN! And a patterned T-shirt would make the outline even less noticeable.

    Love the blog, BTW

  2. Always good to have a carry method that you can quickly integrate into most wardrobes quickly and easily. Things happen where you might think you’re home for the night (or weren’t headed out at all) and suddenly need to go.

    I’m a non-smoker but I liken to friends who will go out late at night when their smokes run dry and they walk down to the corner store. They could encounter an unsavory-type or walk in on a robbery at the store.

    By making it easy to just grab a gun and holster and head out the door, no different than grabbing your wallet and keys is a good way to make sure you don’t get in a jam unarmed.

    For me its a j-frame revolver or a subcompact pistol and a pocket holster. My wife has a neat clip-style IWB holster that doesn’t need a belt.

    You shouldn’t have to be bothered to put on a full carry rig and concealment.

    Oh also I’m one of those guys who even when legal to open carry just prefers to carry concealed…but one thing to note is that when both concealed and open carry are legal, it means you can carry concealed, but not worry about printing or a garment slip.

  3. Warrior Knitter, thank you for your comment and nice words!!

    Weer’d Beard, what kind of gun does your wife carry in her clip style holster. I have a crossbreed that works without a belt, but with my Glock, I still feel like it needs the support of a belt, but I actually don’t like to wear a belt. I never ever wore a belt before I started carrying a gun. It would be nice to have the option.

  4. My Wife is a revolver lady, so she prefers a S&W J-frame airweight (She’s recoil sensitive too, but for some reason with that little bear of a revolver she shoots really well, I won’t argue with success or her comfort) The holster is a Galco Stow-and-go.

    Despite the baby-glocks being known as a “Backup gun” they’re really large and heavy for a quick-grab gun. Especially given that you’re on the smaller side.

    BTW I’m not a belt wearer either. I find them to be horribly uncomfortable. Rather than change my entire wardrobe when I started carrying I simply started carrying in a shoulder holster or in a pocket.

    FYI if you haven’t seen them these ladies make EXCELLENT videos on concealment options for a woman’s body.


    As helpful as I can be, women’s bodies and clothing are vastly different than men’s so other women will give far better advice than I ever will.

Comments are closed.