Fun Friday Gear Review - Concealed Carry Handgun

You have a life outside of work. We work hard and play harder. Fun Friday gear reviews are about great stuff that helps improve our experience. These are unbiased and real world tests from a wanna be adventurist who works more than he plays. I hope you use these posts to define “your own brand of success” outside of work.

Ok, so I realize that this is not necessarily “outside of work” and it may not be “fun stuff” but this information could save your life and that of those most important to you. As a business owner, you deal with strangers every day. the odds are that you will never experience deadly violence or armed robbery. It is also true that you will likely never be in a deadly car wreck but we all wear seat belts, use airbags, antilock brakes etc. Your ability to protect yourself, and your customers, against deadly criminals is something you should take seriously.

Concealed Carry Handgun laws were enacted to help law-abiding citizens carry self-defense weapons without alarming ignorant or otherwise uninformed citizens. Most states require extensive education and training for anyone who wants to carry a concealed firearm. The training course includes weapon safety, legal regulations, training in the use of the firearm in self-defense situations and more. Here are some of the elements of a good concealed carry handgun:

Concealable and comfortable to wear in everyday life.
Effective in stopping inevitable serious or deadly harm to you or others.
Quickly deployable in situations where seconds matter.

There is no perfect self-defense weapon. Avoid the debate over revolver or automatic. Avoid the useless debate over which caliber is best. Avoid arguing with anyone who wants you to not use a firearm for protection. Remember that the Right to Bear Arms is one of the few rights specifically enumerated in our Constitution. Most of these debates are held by people who have rarely fired any type of firearm at anything.

The bottom line is this: If it is uncomfortable or complicated then you will not carry it. If you do not carry it then you cannot use it to save your life. If you buy too large of a caliber then you cannot handle it which means you will not hit your target. Shooting takes practice. Practice must be enjoyable or you will not do it. The handgun of choice must be something that you enjoy shooting for practice. Practice and safety is your responsibility as a gun owner.

As newbies, my wife and I ended up with four handguns for concealed carry self-defense. The first two we purchased were highly regarded for their smaller size and effectiveness. We quickly discovered that the size of the weapon was not the only factor. The size of the owner should be the first consideration. My wife, a smaller framed person, found anything but the smallest handgun uncomfortable to wear in a holster. This is especially true in warm weather where less clothing means less solutions to conceal. I, a not so small person, found the popular handguns to be bulky when jogging or cycling.

Our solution was to purchase a second set of handguns specifically for use in warmer climates or when even a small amount of added weight is an issue. The first two handguns are what we carry in winter months and the second set is what we carry in summer. Further posts will provide more detail of each of these fine firearms. Here is what we own: