The internet is a great tool, and some media make and effort in getting the stories right. However, a great many "facts" are not told with total disclosure of the information and/or how it was gathered or what was included. Just by making a slight tweak in the poll's or numbers changes the information dramatically. So, too is the use of words that should not be used in the proper context. Below I will attempt to try and clear up some of the smoke that has hazed over the information and point out some insight. All the numbers, statistics and facts are real, for sake of space and time, I have not included them, but can be found at "WWW.GunFacts.info". As well many can also be found by "digging" through the FBI and CDC archives, put on a pot of coffee. So let's delve into the adventure.
Myth- Since Sandy Hook shooting, there have been 96 school shootings.
The study included College campuses (47%), Suicides attempts (18%) and cases where no one was injured (27%). A great many of the information is unrelated to school activity or actually occurred near it. If you dig deeper into it, some of the case's occurred at facilities where "students" was at that was not school property, or was leased for use by school do to size or renovation, and the incident that took place had nothing to do with the "students".
Myth- Each day there are 13 children killed by firearms.
This statistic is skewed by using the word "children". A "child" is usually defined as birth till puberty. But a great many statistics figure in are actually teens and up to 24 year old's. When you do it that way the figures will go up a lot, just by realizing that a great many of the teen's are in Gangs or gang related shootings. Fact is that in 2012 411 children (14 and under), little over one per day, died from gunfire. This combined homicides, accidents and suicides. According to the CDC over half of all homicides of victims aged 15-19 are gang-related, but still accounted in the "child" stats.
Suicides, which are included, account for 26% of deaths. Keep in mind that 1,446 children per year die in transportation accidents. Abuse and neglect of children by parents account for 80% of all child deaths (1,274), which dwarfs firearm deaths.
Myth- More children die from firearms in U.S. than anything else.
Keep in mind that 411 children that die from firearms, that 1,917 children die from Malaria (a disease eradicated in U.S.) each day around the world.
Myth- The system works, citizens are the issue.
This is not heard as much as once was. Especially, when you realize that the system is broke. A great many criminals are out long before they should be, let alone break out. Everyday, 15 men, women and children are murdered by convicted felon's that are in supervised parole/probation programs, in U.S.
Myth- School shootings are an epidemic.
Well, the fire school shooting that took place in 97-98' year, took place only after the 1995 Gun Free School Zones law was enacted, which banned guns within 1,000 feet of a school. Wow, is that a shock? In an 8 year period, states that do not have "right to carry" laws had 15 school shootings. But, there was only one in states that allowed citizens to carry firearms. Light bulb? The best example is what happen in Pearl, Mississippi, after the 1995 1,000' law went into effect the vice-principal, a man who carried his firearm everyday, had to store it in his vehicle a quarter of a mile away. In, 1997 there was a shooting, he ran to his vehicle, retrieved his firearm, dismissed the school and held the assailant till law enforcement could get there. Two young students laid on the floor of his school. Would him having his firearm been the deterrent? Could he of saved one or both if it was on him?
Myth-Trigger locks are a good deterrent to keep children from firearm accidents.
I never have been a fan of trigger locks and now you may see a few of the reasons. Consumer Product Safety Commission found that of the 32 models they tested, that 31 could be opened with a paper clip, scissors or tweezers. There was a 12% increase of fatal accidents in California once they enacted the "trigger lock" law, in 1994. The State of Texas, which did not have one such law, saw a decrease of 28%, instead relying on education. A trigger lock can be picked and/or broke by a child 7 years old or younger. Before the law, there was 80 million people who owned firearms and only 44 child accidental deaths under the age of 10, or .00001%.
Myth- Youth violence in America sparked by firearms.
Non-firearm youth crime rate in the U.S. is twice that of 25 other modern western nations. Look's like a violence problem, not chosen tool problem.
Myth- 1,300 children commit suicide with firearms.
Again, as we already talked about the "children" ages is skewed. Worldwide, the suicide rate is static, and the U.S. is lower than many other countries where firearms are banned, period. There will always be suicide in society, no matter what the tool is. It is interesting to note that female's usually choose poison or other (71% are by hanging or suffocation) form as to not disturb "beauty", while male's usually seek more grotesque means. Suicide rates in states that have passed mandatory 'safe storage" of firearms are virtually unchanged from states who did not.
Myth- The Columbine massacre would of been prevented by stricter gun control laws.
The two boy's who did the shooting broke 20 firearm laws in getting the weapons of choice. Two of the shotguns and one rifle used was purchased by a girlfriend (who passed background check) and the TEC-9 was already banned. One has to ask themselves, would 21 broken law's of mattered?
Myth- Children should be kept away from "Guns" for there own safety.
This is a huge misunderstanding and lack of education only hinders the problem. Parents that educate there children and get them firearms demonstrate parental responsibility. "Children" who get firearms illegally are twice as likely to commit street crime (24%) than those given a firearm by their parents (14%). Interesting note, homicide rate in the 1950's was almost half of that in the 1980's among "children". When they played cops and robbers, toy firearms and BB rifle's and many before puberty had a small caliber hunting rifle. It seems that they had an understanding of what violent acts would do and detered from them.
Myth- Children are hurt by guns than any other means.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), children are 12 times more likely to die in an autombile accident than firearm related homicides. In 2001 there was 72 accidental firearm deaths for children under 15, as opposed to over the 2,100 who drowned. Children are 29 times more likely to die from drowning than by firearms. Teach you kid's to swim!! Want to keep your children from being criminals, CDC says, that boys who own legal firearms (trusted with responsibility) have much lower rate of delinquency and drug use.
Fatal firearm accidents for children declined by 83%, while number of handguns per capita increased over 41%. Homicides of children under the age of 13, 82% was done without a firearm.
Myth- If it saves the life of one child, it is worth it.
2.5 million times each year or 6,846 times a day, private citizen's use firearms to prevent crime, to include rapes, aggravated assault and kidnapping. How many children's lives was saved using them lawfully? I think the number of innocent children saved outweighs the few.
Well, there is some of the statistics. If you read them carefully and do some of your own research I think you will find what I have. The issue is not firearms. The issue is as follows:
1) Lack of education- young people are curious, so why not take away the curiosity and educate them.
2) Family time- Children who have proper upbringing by parents and family do not get involved in trouble or crime.
3) Violent exposure- Educating children and/or limiting them to violence does enhance the right/wrong mentality. Informing them that what they see in the movies and T.V. is not how it is in the world goes along way.
What better way to spend time with youth's than in the field after game, or on a proper firing range. Spending quality time together, educating and giving them memory's that will be cherished.
Keep the future of America safe, educate them and teach them of responsible firearm handling and marksmanship.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Friday, January 1, 2016
To Chamber or Not?
When it comes to Concealed Carry there is a lot to it, a few of them we have discussed in this blog and more to come. To a great many people this is new and have many concern's. This of which is good, as it show's that it is not being taken lightly, and nor should it or any facet of it. Every part of any rescue equipment should be scrutinized in detail, till the person is confident in it's capabilities and limitation's. One such thing of which is often asked during a CCW class or advanced training is "when I carry should I have a round in the chamber or not?". In all honesty, when a student asked me this, especially at an advanced level, I think "why would you not!". But, the rescue equipment you carry and/or use has to be your decision (only you can decided what is best for you). However, you must become educated on the matter. Keep in mind that all the information that I offer in this article is my opinion only, from experience. I would never recommend that a person do something they was not comfortable with and/or trained officially on.
Having a semi-automatic pistol with a cartridge (correct name) in the chamber is know and "locked and loaded", or slangly called "one in pipe". Following all 4 firearm safety rules (law's to me), we have inserted a magazine into the pistol, closed the slide, permitting a cartridge to chamber and go into battery. At this point the firearm is ready to be discharged and/or holstered for use. Some may ask, "why does this concern come up?" The reason is that people understand and respect that the firearm is in a position to cause harm. This is a healthy thing and show's great understanding and respect for that matter. The reason a great many people are "scared" or "skeptical"
comes down not to lack of comfort (which we should never be 100%), but confident and educated on how the firearm will "go off".
It often results from not having the proper information or being led astray. Firearm's manufactured today are far and above better than they where 10 years ago, let alone 30 years ago. They must meet a great many standards and test's. People often hear that the "pistol just went off" or "it fired on it's own". This is just not the case, keeping in mind that there is always a chance a manufactured item could have a bad run, of which they do constant recall's to wane on the side of caution. What we hear about are not accidents but negligent discharge's. Upon deeper investigation it is found that "something MADE the pistol fire". Usually, the finger "snake's" into the trigger, or some other item pressed the trigger. Either way there was a negligence on the part of the person using it. As, I have already stated manufacturer's put the firearm's through test. One such test a firearm must pass is what is known as the drop test. They purposely drop firearms, then measure if they would discharge or not. If it does then it is corrected before it can be allowed out the door. This test is done everyday on pistol randomly picked from the "lines" to ensure safety and quality control. But what keep's the semi-automatic from discharging without pressing the trigger?
A semi automatic pistol that goes off without pressing the trigger in known as an "inertia discharge". This basically means that the momentum of force caused the firing pin to move forward into the primer of the cartridge. As an extreme example of understanding, take a a retractable ink pen. Take apart and remove the spring then put back together. Now, as you tilt or move the pen back and forth, the momentum is transferred to the ink cartridge (firing pin) and it moves freely with no resistance. In essence, this is what happens with an inertia discharge, the firing pin is moved with enough force to strike the primer of the cartridge and the pistol discharges. So, we have a firing pin spring that does two things for us. One, it returns the firing pin to the previous setting for discharge again. Then two, it offers us some resistance to minimize the above. This is how "older" semi automatics was designed (circa pre-1930's). Modern semi automatic pistols have several different designs that keep the inertia discharge from happening. One is the insertion of a "positive inertia firing pin block", that must be disengaged to allow the firing pin to move forward. Another method which is used is to have a "light firing pin" with a "heavy firing pin spring", which will keep the inertia firing from happening. This is another reason to ensure that your firearm is maintained and/or have a check-up (we discussed in another article). There are other methods manufacturers use, but I will let you research what your's has. But, as you can see firearm makers engineer the pistol against the inertia discharge, so the only way it should go off is the pressing of the trigger. Which is why almost all have external safeties.
As I have already mentioned, almost all modern semi automatic pistols have an external safety of some sort. They come in many different forms, designs and few have multiple. A quick story, years ago a few friends and I was shooting. In between session's one of my friends (a huge shotgun nut) notice that my pistol was in my holster and the hammer was back (a 1911 design). He looked at me and said, "you know that your pistol is loaded and hammer is back" with big eyes. I smiled and said, 'yes I know and it is fine, it is the safest pistol in the world this way in my opinion". He looked at me with that look of doubt. The four of us then gathered around a table with clear and empty pistol's and had a detail discussion on the pistol's we had and how thing's worked (little more in detail than we are here). Afterward, they understood the capabilities and limitation of the pistol's they had and by end of day was confident in carrying. So why the story, because it leads back to external safety devices and I wanted to share with you. Let us look at three of the most popular external safeties that modern semi automatics have some come with multiple, some models are offered with and without:
Trigger- when it comes to the trigger of modern semi automatic pistols they can be broke down in roughly two categories, 1911 and GLOCK.
A 1911 design does not have a trigger safety which lends itself to be a more accurate trigger (in my opinion this design needs to have one or more of the other external safeties). The GLOCK design, named after the company who pioneered it, is used universal in the polymer pistol designs. When you look at the trigger, you see on the face, what looks like a smaller hinge sticking out. This is the "trigger safety", it must be depressed to allow the trigger to move rearward, to allow the striker to fire the pistol. One key thing is that "something" must depress this, for it to move. If it is not depressed the trigger in essence is "locked". You can try this with a safe firearm by trying to press the side of the trigger, without depressing it, it should not move.
Thumb- this safety is usually located on the left side of a semi automatic pistol (though many manufacturers are making them ambidextrous now). The thumb safety is designed to "block" the striker/hammer from moving to the firing pin. In the 1911 design it does this in two ways, one is that it keeps the hammer from falling, and two until the trigger is pressed keeps the sear from disengaging. At anytime your sight's are not on target/threat, the thumb safety should be in the "ON-SAFE" position. You will notice I did not say in the "up" position. The reason why is manufacturers have different designs, some work opposite. A careful reading of your owners manual will explain which you have, if don't have a manual, contact the maker and they will let you know and/or give you one. If nothing else contact a firearm instructor and he/she should be able to explain it to you.
Grip- originally, this design was distinctive to the 1911 design pistol but has recently being used on other design's as can be seen on a Springfield Armory XD design. On the back strap, you will see a piece of metal or plastic that stick's out a little. This grip safety works by the natural gripping of the pistol. It is done in a few ways, but in essence when the safety is not depressed, the trigger will not be allowed to move rearward. As with the trigger safety, care must be taken as to not allow "other" things to depress it.
The 1911 design pistol is equipped with both a thumb and grip safety for the reason when "locked and cocked", a round chambered and the hammer back the pistol is ready to fire. But, can only do so, with both the safeties being disengaged. It is of important note, that this design with round in chamber, hammer should not be let down manually. It was designed to be carried "locked and cocked".
Decocker- this is a safety that allows for a cartridge to be chambered, then by depressing allows action to be reset in safe mode. This as with is done in many different ways. This design can easily be seen on the M9 Berreta pistol and is adopted by many more. This design in almost always seen in a pistol that can be fired in Single action/double action mode. As when you first Load and make ready, the firearm is in single action. Then by pressing the decocker it is safely returned to double action mode. Which goes from the light 4-7 pound trigger pull to the double action 10-15 pound.
There are a few more but this cover's the vast majority. One key note must always be remembered, that a firearm that has all the internal and/or external safeties is a machine. Without proper care and maintenance can and will fail. For this reason we will never totally rely just on them and ALWAYS APPLY THE 4 FIREARM SAFETY LAWS!!!! This is also why you should never remove or tamper with a safety.
Okay, now we understand that a semi automatic pistol that is of quality manufacturer and maintained is inherently safe from having an Inertia Discharge. That truly the only way that one can go off from having a cartridge in the chamber is by having the trigger depressed. So, if you have a semi automatic in your possession and it goes up unintentionally, it would be because of negligence on your part. Either if it is because you have not maintained it and/or broke one of the laws. Around concealed carry, there is one thing that is not discussed much anymore but needs to be known, holster. Having a quality holster is critical and in my opinion look as part of your safety devices. A Quality holster will not only keep your trigger and trigger guard covered, but it should also do few other things:
Trigger- It should not only cover the trigger and trigger guard. It should be made to ensure that nothing can cause the trigger to be moved in the holster. With Kydex and quality leather holster this is never and issue. But with a thin material something could do that.
Fit- Your holster should fit your firearm and cradle it. When you move around the pistol should not move up or down, which could lead to the trigger being exposed.
Retention- You holster should hold the pistol securely! It should not easily come out of the holster. With a safe firearm, you should be able to hold your pistol upside down and shake it several times with out it coming out. If it does, then you need to adjust the tension and/or purchase another holster.
Design- If you have one of the above external safeties, the holster should not impair there function. An example was a friend bought a holster that he really liked for his pistol. He carried it for a few months, then attended a class I taught. As the class went on, I stopped him and showed him the issue. What had happen, was the holster design was disengaging the thumb safety with certain movement. This is not a good thing.
Okay, we now know that we can see that a semi automatic pistol can be carried in a proper holster in a safe manner from inertia discharge and/or us following the 4 safety laws. But, is it really necessary to have round in the chamber? Do you think that you will have time to load a cartridge in the chamber, when you are in a situation that merits it? Let's look at some quick real world state:
Time- the average person draws from concealed in 2 seconds. The average person can cover 21' in 1.5 seconds.
Distance- The average distance of a defensive situation is 3 to 10'.
Stress- Unless you have had extensive training and/or been in many situations in your life, the stress will be astronomical. Unless you practice the proper procedure at a minimum of 2000 repetitions (average person takes for muscle memory) you will not do it.
Think about this, there is a reason why law enforcement officer's carry their pistol in the "open carry", it is to gain access quicker.
Would you have a spare tire in your trunk and wait to inflate it with air, when you have a flat? Would you have a dull knife on you for everyday task's and wait to sharpen it when you need to cut something? This is the same way with having the rescue equipment on you in the form of a personal defensive pistol, it has to be ready when it is needed.
Okay, we understand all of the above and still you are not sure of having that cartridge in the chamber of a semi automatic pistol and feel uneasy. One thing many people look at and I hear them say is "I will just carry a revolver". To me that is great, a revolver has a great many positive attributes to it. It holds five or more cartridges, it is always ready, if is less likely to have malfunctions. The double action revolver has been around for well over 100 years and has and still does prove itself. But understand that a revolver has no external safeties, but you can get a semi automatic without them too, so mute point. There is only really two possible disadvantage to a revolver that I think many people forget about. One, is that the double action revolver has a heavier trigger pull (which is great for defensive situation) but lack's the accuracy without practice. Two, if an older model double action revolver (where the firing pin sticks out of the hammer) an impact to the hammer can cause a negligent discharge. Which this can be fixed by carrying on that chamber empty. There is no free lunch, everything has trade off's and why you must make the decision that is right for you and only you.
So, let me offer this advice and something that I do to ensure safety and confidence on a design that is new to me. Why not become educated (hope I helped) and prove it to yourself? Purchase some snap caps or dummy practice cartridges for your caliber pistol. Ensure that your pistol is clear and safe, then load the Dummy cartridges and chamber one. Around your home, wear the pistol and do your everyday activities. If you posses and only if you do, a concealed carry license, carry it legally this way for a while. In a safe place check once and while, to ensure that your external safeties are still engaged. Look to ensure you are maintaining retention and holster qualities. Beside gives you time to safely practice your drawing technique. I recommend you do this with any pistol you carry be it a semi automatic or revolver, but again as stated above only when you are trained and comfortable (legal too). I hope this has given you some information and enlightened you on a topic that often goes misunderstood and not discussed a lot. To many conceal carrying a defensive pistol is new. It should never be taken lightly and their is much that must be learned and mastered. Feel free to comment.
Train as if your life depends on it,
Todd R. Mendenhall
Having a semi-automatic pistol with a cartridge (correct name) in the chamber is know and "locked and loaded", or slangly called "one in pipe". Following all 4 firearm safety rules (law's to me), we have inserted a magazine into the pistol, closed the slide, permitting a cartridge to chamber and go into battery. At this point the firearm is ready to be discharged and/or holstered for use. Some may ask, "why does this concern come up?" The reason is that people understand and respect that the firearm is in a position to cause harm. This is a healthy thing and show's great understanding and respect for that matter. The reason a great many people are "scared" or "skeptical"
comes down not to lack of comfort (which we should never be 100%), but confident and educated on how the firearm will "go off".
It often results from not having the proper information or being led astray. Firearm's manufactured today are far and above better than they where 10 years ago, let alone 30 years ago. They must meet a great many standards and test's. People often hear that the "pistol just went off" or "it fired on it's own". This is just not the case, keeping in mind that there is always a chance a manufactured item could have a bad run, of which they do constant recall's to wane on the side of caution. What we hear about are not accidents but negligent discharge's. Upon deeper investigation it is found that "something MADE the pistol fire". Usually, the finger "snake's" into the trigger, or some other item pressed the trigger. Either way there was a negligence on the part of the person using it. As, I have already stated manufacturer's put the firearm's through test. One such test a firearm must pass is what is known as the drop test. They purposely drop firearms, then measure if they would discharge or not. If it does then it is corrected before it can be allowed out the door. This test is done everyday on pistol randomly picked from the "lines" to ensure safety and quality control. But what keep's the semi-automatic from discharging without pressing the trigger?
A semi automatic pistol that goes off without pressing the trigger in known as an "inertia discharge". This basically means that the momentum of force caused the firing pin to move forward into the primer of the cartridge. As an extreme example of understanding, take a a retractable ink pen. Take apart and remove the spring then put back together. Now, as you tilt or move the pen back and forth, the momentum is transferred to the ink cartridge (firing pin) and it moves freely with no resistance. In essence, this is what happens with an inertia discharge, the firing pin is moved with enough force to strike the primer of the cartridge and the pistol discharges. So, we have a firing pin spring that does two things for us. One, it returns the firing pin to the previous setting for discharge again. Then two, it offers us some resistance to minimize the above. This is how "older" semi automatics was designed (circa pre-1930's). Modern semi automatic pistols have several different designs that keep the inertia discharge from happening. One is the insertion of a "positive inertia firing pin block", that must be disengaged to allow the firing pin to move forward. Another method which is used is to have a "light firing pin" with a "heavy firing pin spring", which will keep the inertia firing from happening. This is another reason to ensure that your firearm is maintained and/or have a check-up (we discussed in another article). There are other methods manufacturers use, but I will let you research what your's has. But, as you can see firearm makers engineer the pistol against the inertia discharge, so the only way it should go off is the pressing of the trigger. Which is why almost all have external safeties.
As I have already mentioned, almost all modern semi automatic pistols have an external safety of some sort. They come in many different forms, designs and few have multiple. A quick story, years ago a few friends and I was shooting. In between session's one of my friends (a huge shotgun nut) notice that my pistol was in my holster and the hammer was back (a 1911 design). He looked at me and said, "you know that your pistol is loaded and hammer is back" with big eyes. I smiled and said, 'yes I know and it is fine, it is the safest pistol in the world this way in my opinion". He looked at me with that look of doubt. The four of us then gathered around a table with clear and empty pistol's and had a detail discussion on the pistol's we had and how thing's worked (little more in detail than we are here). Afterward, they understood the capabilities and limitation of the pistol's they had and by end of day was confident in carrying. So why the story, because it leads back to external safety devices and I wanted to share with you. Let us look at three of the most popular external safeties that modern semi automatics have some come with multiple, some models are offered with and without:
Trigger- when it comes to the trigger of modern semi automatic pistols they can be broke down in roughly two categories, 1911 and GLOCK.
A 1911 design does not have a trigger safety which lends itself to be a more accurate trigger (in my opinion this design needs to have one or more of the other external safeties). The GLOCK design, named after the company who pioneered it, is used universal in the polymer pistol designs. When you look at the trigger, you see on the face, what looks like a smaller hinge sticking out. This is the "trigger safety", it must be depressed to allow the trigger to move rearward, to allow the striker to fire the pistol. One key thing is that "something" must depress this, for it to move. If it is not depressed the trigger in essence is "locked". You can try this with a safe firearm by trying to press the side of the trigger, without depressing it, it should not move.
Thumb- this safety is usually located on the left side of a semi automatic pistol (though many manufacturers are making them ambidextrous now). The thumb safety is designed to "block" the striker/hammer from moving to the firing pin. In the 1911 design it does this in two ways, one is that it keeps the hammer from falling, and two until the trigger is pressed keeps the sear from disengaging. At anytime your sight's are not on target/threat, the thumb safety should be in the "ON-SAFE" position. You will notice I did not say in the "up" position. The reason why is manufacturers have different designs, some work opposite. A careful reading of your owners manual will explain which you have, if don't have a manual, contact the maker and they will let you know and/or give you one. If nothing else contact a firearm instructor and he/she should be able to explain it to you.
Grip- originally, this design was distinctive to the 1911 design pistol but has recently being used on other design's as can be seen on a Springfield Armory XD design. On the back strap, you will see a piece of metal or plastic that stick's out a little. This grip safety works by the natural gripping of the pistol. It is done in a few ways, but in essence when the safety is not depressed, the trigger will not be allowed to move rearward. As with the trigger safety, care must be taken as to not allow "other" things to depress it.
The 1911 design pistol is equipped with both a thumb and grip safety for the reason when "locked and cocked", a round chambered and the hammer back the pistol is ready to fire. But, can only do so, with both the safeties being disengaged. It is of important note, that this design with round in chamber, hammer should not be let down manually. It was designed to be carried "locked and cocked".
Decocker- this is a safety that allows for a cartridge to be chambered, then by depressing allows action to be reset in safe mode. This as with is done in many different ways. This design can easily be seen on the M9 Berreta pistol and is adopted by many more. This design in almost always seen in a pistol that can be fired in Single action/double action mode. As when you first Load and make ready, the firearm is in single action. Then by pressing the decocker it is safely returned to double action mode. Which goes from the light 4-7 pound trigger pull to the double action 10-15 pound.
There are a few more but this cover's the vast majority. One key note must always be remembered, that a firearm that has all the internal and/or external safeties is a machine. Without proper care and maintenance can and will fail. For this reason we will never totally rely just on them and ALWAYS APPLY THE 4 FIREARM SAFETY LAWS!!!! This is also why you should never remove or tamper with a safety.
Okay, now we understand that a semi automatic pistol that is of quality manufacturer and maintained is inherently safe from having an Inertia Discharge. That truly the only way that one can go off from having a cartridge in the chamber is by having the trigger depressed. So, if you have a semi automatic in your possession and it goes up unintentionally, it would be because of negligence on your part. Either if it is because you have not maintained it and/or broke one of the laws. Around concealed carry, there is one thing that is not discussed much anymore but needs to be known, holster. Having a quality holster is critical and in my opinion look as part of your safety devices. A Quality holster will not only keep your trigger and trigger guard covered, but it should also do few other things:
Trigger- It should not only cover the trigger and trigger guard. It should be made to ensure that nothing can cause the trigger to be moved in the holster. With Kydex and quality leather holster this is never and issue. But with a thin material something could do that.
Fit- Your holster should fit your firearm and cradle it. When you move around the pistol should not move up or down, which could lead to the trigger being exposed.
Retention- You holster should hold the pistol securely! It should not easily come out of the holster. With a safe firearm, you should be able to hold your pistol upside down and shake it several times with out it coming out. If it does, then you need to adjust the tension and/or purchase another holster.
Design- If you have one of the above external safeties, the holster should not impair there function. An example was a friend bought a holster that he really liked for his pistol. He carried it for a few months, then attended a class I taught. As the class went on, I stopped him and showed him the issue. What had happen, was the holster design was disengaging the thumb safety with certain movement. This is not a good thing.
Okay, we now know that we can see that a semi automatic pistol can be carried in a proper holster in a safe manner from inertia discharge and/or us following the 4 safety laws. But, is it really necessary to have round in the chamber? Do you think that you will have time to load a cartridge in the chamber, when you are in a situation that merits it? Let's look at some quick real world state:
Time- the average person draws from concealed in 2 seconds. The average person can cover 21' in 1.5 seconds.
Distance- The average distance of a defensive situation is 3 to 10'.
Stress- Unless you have had extensive training and/or been in many situations in your life, the stress will be astronomical. Unless you practice the proper procedure at a minimum of 2000 repetitions (average person takes for muscle memory) you will not do it.
Think about this, there is a reason why law enforcement officer's carry their pistol in the "open carry", it is to gain access quicker.
Would you have a spare tire in your trunk and wait to inflate it with air, when you have a flat? Would you have a dull knife on you for everyday task's and wait to sharpen it when you need to cut something? This is the same way with having the rescue equipment on you in the form of a personal defensive pistol, it has to be ready when it is needed.
Okay, we understand all of the above and still you are not sure of having that cartridge in the chamber of a semi automatic pistol and feel uneasy. One thing many people look at and I hear them say is "I will just carry a revolver". To me that is great, a revolver has a great many positive attributes to it. It holds five or more cartridges, it is always ready, if is less likely to have malfunctions. The double action revolver has been around for well over 100 years and has and still does prove itself. But understand that a revolver has no external safeties, but you can get a semi automatic without them too, so mute point. There is only really two possible disadvantage to a revolver that I think many people forget about. One, is that the double action revolver has a heavier trigger pull (which is great for defensive situation) but lack's the accuracy without practice. Two, if an older model double action revolver (where the firing pin sticks out of the hammer) an impact to the hammer can cause a negligent discharge. Which this can be fixed by carrying on that chamber empty. There is no free lunch, everything has trade off's and why you must make the decision that is right for you and only you.
So, let me offer this advice and something that I do to ensure safety and confidence on a design that is new to me. Why not become educated (hope I helped) and prove it to yourself? Purchase some snap caps or dummy practice cartridges for your caliber pistol. Ensure that your pistol is clear and safe, then load the Dummy cartridges and chamber one. Around your home, wear the pistol and do your everyday activities. If you posses and only if you do, a concealed carry license, carry it legally this way for a while. In a safe place check once and while, to ensure that your external safeties are still engaged. Look to ensure you are maintaining retention and holster qualities. Beside gives you time to safely practice your drawing technique. I recommend you do this with any pistol you carry be it a semi automatic or revolver, but again as stated above only when you are trained and comfortable (legal too). I hope this has given you some information and enlightened you on a topic that often goes misunderstood and not discussed a lot. To many conceal carrying a defensive pistol is new. It should never be taken lightly and their is much that must be learned and mastered. Feel free to comment.
Train as if your life depends on it,
Todd R. Mendenhall
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