It’s amazing to me how poorly many of my fellow police officers conceal their off-duty gun. It’s as though they are content with any garment as long as it drapes over the gun to some degree. Perhaps this cavalier attitude stems from the idea that anything is less conspicuous than carrying their full-size duty pistols while on the job. What many fail to realize is that there’s a big difference between their gun being covered and being concealed.
Successful concealed carry requires more than mere fabric covering your handgun. The better you hide the fact that you’re packing, the more likely you are to maintain the element of surprise, which plays a huge role in most armed confrontations. Concealed carry is about finding the perfect balance of concealment and accessibility. Too far in either direction could be detrimental to your health.
I’ve carried a concealed handgun for more than 17 years and still experiment with different combinations of gun, holster and cover garments in attempt to find a better way to conceal a particular gun while at the same time ensuring I can access it in a hurry.
The maxim “dress around the gun” is well-known in concealed carry circles. The idea being that with substantial enough attire one can adequately conceal any type of handgun. The problem here lies in that your mode of dress must be congruent with what others are wearing to avoid drawing undue attention.
I have to admit that as a rookie police officer I didn’t give much thought to concealed carry clothing, and in the beginning I toted a full-size Glock in a fanny pack. I’m pretty sure fanny packs fell out of fashion about the same time as acid-washed jeans and aviator sunglasses, but, nevertheless, my fanny pack enabled me to conceal my gun plus a couple spare magazines and still be able to draw either relatively quickly. Of course, that I wore that pack at all was cause for suspicion—of my fashion sense, if nothing else.
Consider this timelier example of a concealed carry fashion dilemma. In North Dakota in February, a heavy jacket might enable you to easily conceal a full-size concealed carry pistol worn comfortably in an outside-the-waistband holster. The jacket wouldn’t garner any extra attention because everyone else would be dressed similarly. But that same jacket would be an epic concealed carry failure if you wore it in California on a warm summer day. Sure, your concealed carry gun would be hidden, but you’d likely be miserable, and the mere fact that you were wearing such inappropriate attire for the environment you were in would surely bring unwanted stares.
http://www.handgunsmag.com/concealed-carry/dressing-for-concealed-carry/#ixzz4XCnh6VXr
