5 reasons you’re carrying your EDC wrong

Do you carry a gun regularly? If so, there’s a good chance that you’re probably doing at least one of these things that you shouldn’t be doing. Here are five reasons you’re carrying your gun incorrectly, and how to fix them.

1. Your belt is a piece of s***

good belt and bad belt

Look at these two belts. The one in the middle that’s all nicely rolled up is from Fossil. It’s not a gun belt. It’s not reinforced, and under the weight of any gun larger than a NAA Black Widow it sags. It’s a perfectly fine belt…if you’re not carrying a gun. If you are carrying a gun, it’s a piece of s***. The other belt, the one that’s around it? That’s a gun belt. It’s a leather belt that’s been reinforced with an inner layer of kydex so that it doesn’t deform and doesn’t sag. I can’t roll it up, because it’s too rigid. It is a great gun belt, and also looks quite nice. Get a good belt.

2. Your holster isn’t made specifically for the gun you’re carrying

Ruger GP100 Galco holster

There’s a lot of nonsense on the internet about how you need to “dress around the gun.” Hell, I’m guilty of it sometimes. And it’s true to a certain extent that you probably can’t conceal a full size revolver under a skin tight Nike Pro Combat shirt. But you know what you can do? Conceal a full size revolver under a hoodie. The reason I can do that is I use a proper holster that’s designed specifically for the gun, not some piece of s*** “Universal” off the shelf garbage. Those garbage nylon sacks are great for keeping your guns in while they’re in a range bag, but they’re not real holsters. They make it harder to conceal the gun, they don’t give you good retention, and when you pair them with a junky belt you’re not helping yourself.

3. You think you’re a sheepdog

basement operator

Are you a sworn law enforcement officer, a member of the military, or a firefighter? If so, you can legitimately call yourself a sheepdog. Otherwise, shut the hell up. You’re not a sheepdog. You’re just a dude. And there is literally nothing wrong with being “just a dude.” When you get this idea in your head that you’re carrying a gun to “protect your community” you’re going about it the wrong way. Carrying a gun should be a boring, mundane, thing. You get up, you put your pants on, your clip your knife in your pocket, you buckle on your gun. The same as buckling your seat belt. You don’t do it because you’re cool, you do it because you’re a responsible adult who takes care of his own safety. If you think you’re carrying a gun to be the defender/savior of the innocent, you should go down to your local recruiting station and join the military. Or see if you can join your local police department.

4. You’re constantly touching your gun under your concealment garment

boss am I printing

STOP TOUCHING YOUR DAMN GUN I PROMISE NO ONE CAN SEE IT. But you know what they can you see? You fiddling with your damn shirt, thinking you’re super sneaky. You’re not. You look suspicious, constantly adjusting your shirt like that. Calm down. If you have a good holster and a good belt and understand that you can’t wear form fitting extra smedium t-shirts, no one can see your gun. If you are printing like a mofo, go back to one and two, get a better holster and belt, and stop shopping at baby Gap for your clothes.

5. You can’t walk a mile and you’re 100 pounds overweight

IMG_0472.JPG

So you’re carrying a gun to defend your life from a dangerous assault that statistically speaking is probably never going to happen, but you’re morbidly obese and can’t walk from the couch to the fridge without getting winded. Okay then. What’s your plan for when you get a heart attack? Shoot the plaque out of your arteries with that HK45 you can’t conceal? I mean this 100% – if you’re serious about self-defense, you need to be serious about your health. I’m not saying you have to run marathons or become a champion crossfiter, you don’t need to be able to deadlift 300 pounds, but you know what? You should probably be able to walk three miles at a reasonable pace without nearly dying. You should be able to last more than 15 seconds in a physical confrontation. But if you have trouble moving your enormous, bloated carcass off the couch? GTFO, you’re not serious about self-defense.

How many of these sins are you committing? If it’s just one, you’re probably okay. If it’s more than one…you need to fix yourself.

65 Comments

  1. Whew 0/5!! I’m killing it!

    1. Ares Aegis belt
    2. G19 in a Raven eidolon
    3. Unless I know you, you’re probably on your own bro!
    4. I don’t care if you can see it under my shirt but you can’t (see #1 and #2)
    5. I’m forgoing the marathon this year because I just don’t have time to train for it! Much easier to do the 1/2 and just work on doing it sub-2hr. Who has time for 5hr training even once a week!? Let alone twice!

    1. Under 2? Easy. 5 hours? Yeah, who has time for that? Even my ultra running friend only does 26, under 4.5 hours, once a week. Hah!

  2. This piece is titled HUMOR, so apparently all this is a joke, right? If it’s not a joke, then why is titled humor? I can only guess, it is so one does not take all the name calling too personal . . .

  3. “So you’re carrying a gun to defend your life from a dangerous assault that statistically speaking is probably never going to happen, but you’re morbidly obese and can’t walk from the couch to the fridge without getting winded. ”

    Can the church get a freakin’ amen.

    Too many dudes and dudettes think that having a safe full of guns means they’re ready for The End of Days, despite being seriously overweight.

    News flash-heart disease is the number one killer of people in America, not nuclear ordinance. Who needs a massive end of the world crisis when most people will keel over after a half mile walk ?

    “I’ll just bug in”. OK ,Mr Prepper. What happens if your building is flooded/damaged by earthquake/ rendered uninhabitable via gas leak ? Sooner or later, you gotta walk.

    1. The gun isn’t just a crutch for the unfit. I’ve been traveling outside the country more and more and you just can’t have a gun. I know I can handle myself with a gun, but apply sketchy second world situations without one, and yea, the gun is crutch everywhere. There is a chance when you need one you won’t have it.

      I’ve been doing some but not nearly enough unarmed combat. But even living in a nice place, I really don’t get the gun is the end all mentality.

    2. You may think of me as overweight and useless, but much the same as you carry 200 rounds of extra ammo, I am packing 150,000 calories of energy. That’s right bitches. I have reserve energy for when you wuss out. Eat it.

  4. Yeah, this isn’t anti-gun in any way. I’m totally going to tell all the 70+ year old guys at the local cafe to give up their guns because they can’t walk 3 miles at a reasonable pace, so they aren’t serious enough for gunnuts. Screw them, in a wheelchair, you’re not serious either, gtfo….

    1. I really like it when people take reasonable points completely out of context by applying them to narrowly specific scenarios.

  5. Hell yeah #3.

    A handgun exists to get you out of a fight (and ending it if necessary.) If you’re using it to get into a fight, even a righteous one, you’re probably doing it wrong.

    That’s what long guns are for.

  6. when it comes to holsters, I’m curious what you think of the Safariland 578 Pro Fit? I agree with you on using holsters specifically built for the gun…. my guess is safariland got sick of all the emails asking why they don’t make such and such for such and such…. so they jumped the shark a bit and came up with this…. I’m having a hard time computing “safariland makes great stuff” with “here, buy this universal holster.”

      1. Not helpful. Get yourself one and give me the scoop! Basically, I’m just annoyed I can’t find a decent duty holster for VP9 and don’t have any of your close enough suggestions….

  7. I’m inspired by the pic of the big guy. He looks to be in the 4-500# range to me, not 300.
    I think I should gain some weight and conceal an 18″ barreled pistol grip shotgun in an abdominal skin fold. Maybe the mossberg mariner since it will be resistant to corrosion. I won’t care if it prints much because nobody wants to look at your belly for long when you are 400#.

  8. all good points in my opinion.any thoughts about concealed carry in a so called tactical vest?

  9. If you take offense to any of these it’s because the truth hurts and hits a little too close to home. And the guy comparing 70 year old men to fat asses?? Way to completely miss the point…

  10. What type/brand of belt it that? I’ve been looking for a stylish leather gun belt for a while. I like the looks of that one.

  11. Ok let’s go down this list:
    1. Boston leather Sam brown.
    2. Blackhawk CQC (and I actually do practice with it and know how not to shoot myself– sad that needs to be said… maybe a #6: know how the hell to use your gear?)
    3. not anymore I hung up on my duty belt long ago and now I just wish to be left alone.
    4. Nope I tend not to want to grope my own hip. :p
    5. Am I technically obese… Probably but i can also do 90+ minutes on the elliptical (running pace, but actually running on the reg hurts my rebuilt knees) and I can bench somewhere near my body weight.

  12. OK, you got me on number one. thanks for the tip, I have been looking for a better belt.

  13. So Will says he’s not anti gun. Supporters of the 2nd Ammendment shouldn’t discriminate against classes of people. That kind of thinking is no different than: you can’t own that gun, magazine, ammo, accessory etc…
    Truth is a senior citizen benefits more from carrying than a younger person. A younger more physically fit, stronger person might be able to run away from danger; when an older or disabled person has to stay and fight.

  14. Let’s see, a Gunner belt, custom Kydex fit to my Sigma, refer to myself as a Porcupine but am in poor health. 1/5, but then again I carry due to health issues so there’s that. 😉

  15. #3 is bullshit. You might as well say the Second Amendment is about a collective right.

  16. “become a champion crossfiter, you don’t need to be able to deadlift 300 pounds”

    Neither of these things are actually impressive for an adult male. Great article though, more people should put thought into this stuff.

    1. Did you really just say that being a champion CFer isn’t impressive? I guess it’s common in your world for males to be able to run a sub-20 min 5k while being able to deadlift well over 500lbs and also rep out 20+ muscleups on a pair of rings.

      I’m not sure who you’re hanging out with, but I can count the number of people I personally know who can do those things on 1 finger…and it’s not me by a long shot.

      The CF hate is so strong with some people that they refuse to even acknowledge how impressive the top competitors are…but to each their own. Good luck with your myopia.

  17. 1. Fail. Have a gun belt, but don’t use it on a day to day.
    2. Pass: I ha e weapon specific holsters.
    3. Pass: I’m not John McClain in Diehard.
    4. Fail: I adjust but I try to be inconspicuous. Probably need a better gun belt.
    5. Fail: Definitely not in my best combat shape.

  18. Sadly, I consider myself a 2 / 5. I know I’ve checked my shirt way too often even though I try not to.

    And I’m almost 300 pounds. I was a powerful 275 until I tore up my shoulders. Now that I can’t lift, I’m packing on the pounds. But I carry now more than ever because my ability to do unarmed combatives has been adversely affected.

  19. My only beef here–and with many others who have a list of sheepdog categories…please stop listing military with law enforcement. Other than military police, perhaps, military is not home and mall armed defense training. I was Army. First Infantry Division in Vietnam, but it was not until three years after I was out before I ever fired a handgun. Over thirty years before I owned a semiauto, got pistol training, and got a CHL. Military training is following orders, rifle accuracy and tactics, and nothing like self defense from thugs. In most military jobs (MOS in mil-speak), there is almost no gun training beyond basic and only annual rifle qualification. So the only real sheepdogs are LEOs, and we need to thank them at every opportunity. As to my obligation? If it’s just me, it is to get the heck out of there and tell the story. If me and family, my obligation is to get them out and, if necessary, eliminate the threat.

  20. I’m pretty sure Col Dave Grossman, who created the term sheepdog, would disagree with you. I am the”First Responder” for my family. It’s not a LEO, Mil, or Medic.

      1. Caleb,

        As far as I know, Col Grossman isn’t part of the sporting firearms industry. His specialty lies with educating those who face violence on a daily basis…something for which I am personally grateful. Your area of expertise is the “sport” of firearms, not combat. Why insult or dismiss someone who speaks on topic that you have no first-hand experience? I would say that it’s beneath you, but you always seem to enjoy stirring the pot; good for “ratings” I suppose.

        1. A lot of what Dave Grossman claims about combat and killing has been directly refuted by people who have actually been in combat and killed people. I am not an expert on combat or killing, but everyone knows that, and I don’t claim to teach that kind of stuff. Grossman bases a lot of his work on the work of Marshall, which has been thoroughly discredited; and his own personal combat experience is zero. I find that bothersome. It’d be like me telling you how to make IDPA master…if I was only qualified as a sharpshooter.

          Plus his whole “hur dur video games are t3h bads”

  21. Am I a sheepdog if I’m a Veteran ?

    Am I a sheepdog if I’ve inserted myself in situation where a person was being harmed by multiple attackers, even though I was unarmed ?

    Just wondering.

  22. I pretty much agree with your point. However I’ve always thought of “Wolf, Sheep or Sheepdog” as a personality type, not a job description.

    YMMV

  23. Ah, the old elitist “I’m a cop or a soldier, and you’re just a dude with a gun so I know better” crap. Again. Let me count the ways LEOs and soldiers have screwed themselves and each other because of that holier than thou mindset. Wait, not enough numbers (but here’s a very recent example: http://www.blightsandsirens.com/gunfire-erupts-between-rival-tactical-instructors-nobody-hurt/). I happen to know a lot of cops, and not one of them have ever told me that they carry to protect civilization, or even their small corner of it. They have told me they carry a gun for the exact same reason I do (and I’m just a dude!): in case something bad happens; i.e. being prepared. And if you want to be a sheepdog—if you actually BELIEVE yourself to be a sheepdog—you have a serious problem; the same problem we see every day when “good guys” let power go to their heads and ruin or end someone else’s life. Assuming the role of sheepdog presupposes that a) people require herding because b) we’re all incapable of rational judgment (and YOU are? just because you’re a sheepdog?) and otherwise would be a rampaging mob (look out the window and tell me how many riots you see right now (you don’t, because most of us just want to get along, and even when we don’t, the presence of LEOs doesn’t really seem to be much of a deterrent, does it?), and c) that through some reason known only to yourself you are entitled to control the people around you. Good luck with that.

    1. You realize that Blight and Sirens link is fake, right? Not being able to figure that out sort of undermines your whole argument. Well, that and the fact that I never said any of the things you’re accusing me of saying. But you go punch those straw men right down!

  24. I EDC a Beltman belt, that good enough? Crossbreed holster, as mentioned above. I live in my own damned basement 😛 When I’m wearing my jacket, it actually does pull my shirt up and make my EDC visible. Not that I care that much, being in a state with pretty reasonable laws, but I’ve been called on it. My problem with walking is not my weight, it’s the herniated disks, the sciatic nerves, and the rheumatoid arthritis. I am, however, at least as able to protect someone in my community as one of the “professionals”. Not that I’m employed currently in a profession that’s sworn to an oath, but I will put myself between the bad guys and the innocents just as much. I don’t need your permission to call myself a sheepdog.

  25. There is a big difference between being old and frail or being a lard ass who refuses to exercise but still insists they will save humanity in the apocalypse. One is natural and unavoidable, the other is a lifestyle choice. (Yes a choice, unless you have an actual medical condition which predates your obesity and not as a result of your obesity you chose to look like that).

    These all have a grain of truth in them and we’ve all met extreme examples of them which is what makes it funny.

  26. Ok, this will be seen as a dumb ass question, which is why I haven’t asked it on PF.com, but since you brought it up and mentioned sagging here goes. I’d like to know how a proper belt is supposed to work? I have a very popular brand of belt with the reinforcement option that people use for carrying. It sags and conforms to my pants, belt loops and body shape (athletic). I have the same version in a cheap knock off and it doesn’t do either of those things.

    1. Probably not, but it fits my pattern. I’ll write an inflammatory clickbait post like the 5 Reasons one, then I’ll follow it up with an actual thoughtful post. Sadly, no one will read the thoughtful post, and will instead latch on to a few lines here and there from the inflammatory one.

  27. You are picking your kids up from school. They’re both in the car and you’re abut to pull out of the parking lot to drive home. Suddenly you hear gunfire coming from inside the school. What do you do?

    1. Call 911 and get my kids to safety. Their safety is my primary concern. I sure as hell don’t go play lone ranger in the school and leave my kids defenseless in the car.

      1. STAY INSIDE THE DAMNED CAR (preferably get out of the way for the cops… And to safety)!!!!! The last thing they need is some numb nuts with a gun playing wild card (and oh by the way getting smoked by the cops because they’re after a guy with a gun… Like oh say YOU!!!)

  28. I agree with everything. I do think people have different interpretations of what a “sheepdog” is. If I was heading to my home improvement store and saw some big dude absolutely beating the living crap put of some defenseless female then I would probably stop and help. That doesn’t make me a “sheepdog”. If me and my whole family were at WalMart and some psychotic wacko started shooting people then my family’s safety is my ONLY concern, whether I have to employ my concealed firearm or not.

    However, if we’re talking an invasion by the commies or the muzzies, then I know sitting in my home and waiting for them to come to my front porch does not make any tactical sense. That’s what my rifle and rolling gear are for. In that sense I guess you could use the term “sheepdog”… But that is not a self defense situation. That would probably be called “being an American”. I am a veteran and train with my weapons regularly. And by “train” I don’t mean just shooting at paper.

  29. I really like my Dickies belt that I bought at WalMart. Either that or the nylon belts that came with my Propper Lightweight Tactical Pants. Since I use a belt clip on my P32, I don’t use a holster. The screws on my LaserGuard get pretty rusty but Crimson Trace just sent me some new ones, gratis.

    A friend of mine wrote a really good blogpost about the term ‘sheepdog.’ For anyone who loves freedom, it’s actually a pejorative term. Sheepdogs control the herd much more than protect it. You have to actually have seen real sheepdogs in action to understand that.

    http://www.provocateuratlarge.com/2012/08/the-sheepdog-fallacy-im-armed-citizen.html

  30. So your article is about how you are carrying your EDC wrong and you made some valid points 1 – 4. Then it looks like you got lazy and instead of bringing up a valid EDC concern you decided to basically say… fat people who horde guns should get thin. So people who are overweight shouldn’t carry to protect their family or their own lives because they “obviously” have a large struggle with weight? Does this make carrying pointless for the obese? You brought up a topic totally irrelevant to your own topic. Fat people who horde is evidently a problem with our EDC carry. Why not say smokers are carrying their EDC wrong.

    1. At no point did I say overweight people shouldn’t carry. What I did say is that overweight people who carry but don’t do anything about their weight aren’t being realistic.

    2. I may be wrong in this but it seems to me that the point Caleb is trying to make is two fold:
      1. It makes no sense to be concerned enough to spend a grand plus (gun, holster, belt, class and permit fees) to carry but not take a realistic look at where your risks are.
      2. Thinking about your average obese man (let’s use my numbers for example 6′ and 260ish)… Exactly how well can that man defend himself? I’m my case decently well I can do 90+ minutes on the elliptical and can bench press pretty close to my body weight… But perhaps if I couldn’t I may want to reevaluate my life choices.

  31. Actually, I find that the thinner I am, the harder it is to conceal. Fat creates lots of bulges and a firearm is just one more.

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