Opinion
Pistols in Pockets!
A company is making a line of small, concealable carry pistols. Cobra Firearms includes an over-under Derringer in its list of products.
This small pistol has been accused of not being drop-safe, as it has been implicated in at least two cases where pants in whose pocket it was placed were thrown on the floor, ostensibly causing the pistol to discharge, injuring the owner.
I have no opinions on any of these cases, as I don’t have a set of facts, and I am unfamiliar with Cobra’s product line. I personally don’t own any.
However, we should all be warned against throwing pistols, any pistol, unprotected into pants pockets, handbags, etc.
For a personal defensive pistol to be truly useful, it must be loaded when it is carried upon the person. The practice of carrying pistols with no round chambered is confined to the realm of idiots.
That being the case, a carry pistol must be carried and secured in a suitable holster, which completely encapsulates the trigger guard and thus isolates and protects the trigger, making the trigger inaccessible when the pistol is holstered.
Such holsters can be on belts, ankles, or incorporated into handbags.
The point is that pistols rattling around loose in pockets, briefcases, handbags, etc., are a veritable invitation to catastrophe, no matter what kind of pistol is involved, and the practice is thus highly not recommended by any competent instructor I know of, including me.
When you decide to go armed, you need to get serious, with serious gear and serious training. Otherwise, my sincerest recommendation is that you abandon the whole idea.
/John
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About John Farnam & Defense Training International, Inc
As a defensive weapons and tactics instructor John Farnam will urge you, based on your own beliefs, to make up your mind in advance as to what you would do when faced with an imminent lethal threat. You should, of course, also decide what preparations you should make in advance if any. Defense Training International wants to make sure that their students fully understand the physical, legal, psychological, and societal consequences of their actions or in-actions.
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I don’t disagree with the authors points on pocket pistol carry but he missed the most obvious point…in the two cases mentioned it said, “…the pants were thrown on the floor”, therefore I would suggest that whether you carry your pocket pistol loose or holstered in the pocket, don’t go stripping your pants off and throwing them on the floor… she’ll wait!
Some states carrying a handgun not in a holster is a crime. Always use a holster, even if you pocket carry. Open carry is legal in Texas for holders of a LTC, provided the handgun is in a shoulder or belt holster.
Carry a lightweight snubbie or a small 380 double action auto. More shots, much faster into action, and not going to shoot your junk off.
The safety on my S and W bodyguard .380 is a little hard to take off but that makes me a little more comfortable carrying it in my pocket. There places that you go and clothing that you wear that makes it hard enough to conceal just the gun. Concealing the gun and a holster would be even more difficult. I know where the safety is located and can disengage it pretty easily. Guns without a safety would be a terrible risk to pocket carry unless you kept the chamber empty.
; Many derringers carry instructions to carry half/cocked; NOT fully cocked or hammer down. A friend of mine, now deceased, was five time New York State police pistol champion. He said one went off in the police station; after which instructions were given that officers who carry derringers should have them on half/cock.
It would be good if modern derringers had hammer blocks like modern single action frontier style revolvers. Older single action revolvers were best carried with an empty chamber.
“a carry-pistol must be carried and secured in a suitable holster, which completely encapsulates the trigger-guard and thus isolates and protects the trigger” Mr. Farnam: Doesn’t it seem like you should reword this so that it applies only to glocks and other pistols lacking any safety systems other than a trigger lever that goes off automatically at the slightest touch of the trigger? This says for everything at all times, but it obviously cannot apply to all firearms, for example SA revolvers(trigger does nothing until hammer cocked), Modern DA revolvers such as every one made since the 1970s, and even… Read more »
Mr. Farnam calls everybody who carries condition 3 an idiot and then turns around and gives his blessing to everyone who carries in condition 1 so long as that condition 1 firearm is secured in a safe holster and then it is placed in: a pocket, a briefcase, or a handbag, etc. The denigration of condition 3 carriers is supposedly due to the Impossibility of bringing the condition 3 firearm into use in a timely manner. Perhaps someone should perform a comparison of the two and see which is faster in reality. I don’t think I have ever seen such… Read more »
Condition 1, or 3, is a choice for the individual. After 6 years in the military, 2 1/2 years as a city cop, and the next 40+ as a minister, I choose condition 3 for my current carry weapon. With my background, my current church asked me to carry as part of our safety team. If an armed person comes in our church, none of the 10 or more men carrying weapons are to confront the individual with their weapon. If an imminent threat is made, or a shot is fired, the shooter will be put down. My carry weapon… Read more »