Unlike those cowboys we firearm owners can’t walk around with our side arm in a holster on a second belt hanging low down our waist. The second belt is genius because a firearm makes your pants fall down— not so bad now that I now have a flat stomach but back when I didn’t I’d be adjusting me pantalooms a lot.

Let me tell you a secret— Hollywood lies a lot— you know how Danny Craig runs around in a super skinny tuxedo and then pulls his faithful Walther PPK out of his shoulder holster when he needs it? Yeah, he’s not really carrying it because the pistol would do what we in the know call “print”— which just means normal people can see the lump your gun makes. Now the vast majority of the population are so not paying attention they don’t even notice “printing” but we gun owners do— in fact I was at an auction recently and a guy sitting five rows ahead of me was printing and I pointed it out, and sure enough when he reached up his shirt lifted and there was his pistol.

But back to holster problems. We do a clothing spring cleaning— I own a lot of firearms, despite what you might think most holsters are designed specifically for certain gun types although you can usually form a leather one to what you need. I have a lot of them and they become a nuisance.

Recently I switched my EDC (everyday carry) from a rather large Beretta 92FS to a very compact Sig Sauer P230.

Although I do have a stainless steel one like the one above I also have a black one, which is what I normally carry. Why? Because black blends in better— but there’s a downside to that— see below.

What can I say about the Sig Sauer P230? It’s an amazing little pistol— its very light but the primary reason I have two of them is after buying the first one and trying it at the range I could not miss the target if I tried— it was almost like a comedy skit— no matter what I did the sights were so good on this little warrior I hit dead center mass every single time.

Now the first one I ever bought was stainless steel like the above example. While I certainly like the look silver is difficult to hide on your clothing— because I carry outside the waistband (you can also carry inside the waist band but having a gun inside my pants is not something I’m akin to do) there is always going to be a bit of the barrel exposed for the most part. It’s not an issue if I’m carrying in a shoulder holster but that presents another host of problems— i.e. you cannot remove your jacket— and usually it’s a blazer that I’m wearing.

For the record- we have what’s called “Open Carry” in Massachusetts— what that means is as someone who has a license I am allowed to carry any pistol or shotgun openly without concealment— like the old west. While I know some people that do that I prefer not to let the bad guys know I'm armed— because you’ll likely be the first target. Second there are a lot of Liz Warren supporters who faint at the sight of a gun. I was shopping in a supermarket once, apparently two folks who believe cats should have constitutional rights spotted my pistol and “kept an eye on me”. They also called the Po Po to report “a man with a gun” at said market.

Thankfully the cops were well trained and as they arrived and Mrs and Ms Pearl Clutcher pointed me out the cops explained to them that “a lot of people carry firearms” nowadays. In fact, one of the Officers approached me, asked if I had an LTC (License to Carry) and when I told him I did he didn’t even ask to see it. He apologized and walked back over to them and I continued shopping.

As I used the self-checkout the Dynamic Duo still kept an eye on me— made me feel so SAFE and SECURE knowing they were on the job.

So I don’t open carry.

Okay, long meandering post— what is the problem? I’ll let you know tomorrow.

I bet you didn’t know Holsters were a problem

Speaking without any Prep