Dean Weingarten: My Everyday Carry Guns

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- My everyday carry is a Glock 17 in a Fobus retention holster. It was fitted with Glock factory tritium night sights when refurbished by a Glock armorer a few years ago. A spare magazine is carried in a narrow pants pocket. The ammunition is 115 grain Triton +P 9mm hollowpoints. When a need for more concealment than easily achieved with the Fobus arises,  the deeper concealment pistol is a Smith & Wesson 337 Scandium revolver with a 3 1/8 inch barrel, adjustable sights, and Crimson Trace grips. Various holsters and concealment methods are used. It is rated for .38 Special +P loads. It is loaded with 125 grain Federal +P Nyclad hollowpoints. Spare ammunition is carried in two HKS speedloaders.

The subject of everyday carry necessarily starts with a clear understanding of what the objective of carrying the firearm is.  This is a highly personal decision, with numerous purposes and combinations. Each person needs to consider their own objectives, risks, benefits, the environments they will be in, and choose accordingly.

For this correspondent, the primary objective is political, with a secondary objective of defense of self and others, dominated by deterrence over tactical surprise.

I ordinarily carry openly. Open carry is more politically effective than concealed carry. The two methods complement and reinforce each other. Both have advantages and disadvantages. I have often practiced both at the same time.

Open carry is an effective statement the carrier has Second Amendment rights. Those rights limit what the government can do. The carrier is not afraid to assert those rights and enforce them.

Open carry is a direct political assault against Progressive philosophy. It is bold, strong, symbolic, protected, political speech.

The Glock is an obvious choice. There are reasons Glock became known as the most common police handgun in the United States. The Glock is, essentially, a highly modified Browning design. The Glock 17 is the handgun John Moses Browning would have designed if he had modern materials and manufacturing methods available a hundred years ago.

Glocks are notoriously tough and reliable. Any everyday handgun is going to be subject to wear and abuse. If the gun and holster do not show wear, the person who carries them is living a very protected and limited lifestyle, or they do not actually carry the gun very much. Examine guns and holsters carried every day by police. After a few years, they all show wear.

Working guns and holsters inevitably suffer finish wear. Glocks are tough and don’t win beauty contests. They just work and work and work.

Politically, Glocks are iconic as a serious working gun. They are not barbecue guns, nor are they particularly cheap or expensive. They are the Ford 150 of pistols. To those who notice, a Glock openly carried in a retention holster places the person carrying it with those who carry guns professionally.  It is a politically useful image.  If you look at a Ford 150, it is not hard to tell if it is a work truck or a tough suburban tot transporter.

The Fobus holster is similar to the Glock. It is tough and it works. After a decade of near-constant use, it will need to be replaced. It is inexpensive enough so the occasional replacement does not break the bank. The retention feature is not the highest or the lowest but provides much more security than most holsters. It is cheap insurance for someone openly carrying.

This correspondent does not spend much time in high-risk environments. Most criminals prefer easy prey to hardened targets. There are documented cases of criminals foregoing crimes because the potential victim was armed. As Sun Tsu wrote:

“The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.”

Pistol snatchers are very rare. It is a very risky proposition. They almost never target people who avoid confrontations and who work to be aware of their environment, who avoid crowds, and cover up the pistol if close proximity becomes unavoidable.

It is desirable to prevail in tactical street conflicts without fighting. It is more desirable to win political battles without war.

Ongoing technological and political advances have this correspondent considering alternative everyday carry options.

It may be the subject of a separate article.

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.