Massad Ayoob - Gun Digests Concealed Carry Clothing & Gear eShort

The clothing you wear is obviously going to be critical to discretion and comfort when you are carrying a concealed weapon. Its all a little more subtle than big coats hide more hardware easier than small coats.

First, its a given that concealed means concealed. If only 5 percent of the gun is exposed, does that mean its 95 percent concealed? No, it means that if someone can see that youre carrying a gun, even if only a small portion of the gun or the guns distinctive outline is visible, the gun is 100 percent exposed and 0 percent concealed.

Here are a few random tips from 47 years of carrying a concealed handgun

Learn from LAPD. I hate to keep invoking Hollywood, but get some of the old videos of Jack Webbs Dragnet series. Youll note that most of the time, hes wearing black slacks and a tweed sport coat. In the old days of poorly dyed holsters, black dye would wear off the leather and stain the trousers. It didnt show up on black cloth. The solid hang of relatively heavy tweed tended not to outline a holstered handgun, and its patterned appearance tended to break up printing outlines of a gun beneath the fabric. We see a similar effect with untucked Hawaiian print shirts, checkered garments, etc. Unlike a typical shirt, a tweed or corduroy sport coat has enough substance to its material to often mask the strapping of a shoulder rigs harness, too.

With more casual jackets, something like a plaid hunters coat works great. The black and red checks catch the eye, and divert attention from gun-shaped bulges.

You dont need James Bonds or Mike Hammers tailor to conceal your firearm.

Simply get the suitcoat or sport coat slightly larger, i.e, size 44 if you normally wear a size 42. You will get just enough more drape to cover a good-size fighting pistol. You will appear to have gained a few pounds through the torso, but wont look like a little boy wearing his daddys clothing. This is true of any gun-concealing outer garment, not just sport jackets or suit coats.

Leave the front of the suit coat or sport coat unfastened as much as possible. This will give a natural, concealing drape to the garment, and will allow the fastest access. With the garment closed in front, youll have to open it (or pull it up, difficult if not impossible in a garment whose hem falls as low as a sport coats). If the garment is fastened, fabric is pulled tightly over the gun and tends to outline it, in addition to the slower draw.

Outside pockets of sport jackets and suit coats are a lousy choice for pocket guns. They tend to bulge and sag obviously. Inside breast pockets are a little better, but they will constantly be bumping against your chest and will probably work best in that location with pocket holsters.

Depending on your generation and locale, the term windbreaker can describe two different garments. The short Eisenhower jacket and the heavier bomber jacket are less than ideal choices for gun concealment because they are generally cut to stop at the waist or just below, which increases the chance of a hip holster becoming exposed. These styles also tend to have elastic bottom hems, which are contraindicated if you have a gun on or in your belt because the elastic feature pulls the fabric in on the gun and outlines it rather than hiding it.

Nylon jackets of the style known in some places as warmup jackets are better, because being hip length garments their bottom edges fall much lower, affording better gun concealment.

With any jacket that can close top to bottom, you want to make sure that the bottom portion can be unfastened while the top part remains closed. On a chilly day, when comfort (and sometimes, avoidance of pneumonia!) demands that the chest be covered, you want to be able to get the area below the stomach to clear so you can reach a gun at your strong side hip. If the coat is zipper front, you want two-way zipper design that can let you unzip the belly part beforehand so you get at that hip holster. If the garment is button front, all the better; button over the chest, but leave everything from the lower edge of the rib cage down unbuttoned.

Nylon windbreakers tend to be straight cut and therefore have a straight-down natural drape that conceals large handguns very well. Caution: Many such windbreakers will have a drawstring at the bottom. Remove it! The loose end of the drawstring can find its way into the trigger guard as you re-holster, setting the stage for an accidental discharge! Dont just tie a knot in the end. Dont just shorten it. Remove the drawstring!

Later in this chapter, well discuss garments specifically designed for concealing guns. Right now, lets touch on the common fishermans vest or photographers vest.

These hit the pistol-packers fashion mainstream in the 1980s. Light and comfortable depending on material and cut, they give more freedom of movement for things like fist-fighting or shooting from an Isosceles stance than any regular jacket, since they generally dont bind at the shoulders when the arms extend.

Watch out for many of the true lightweight vests, which have mesh on the back and sides for comfort. The gun and holster can become visible through the mesh. Theyre probably not ideal for shoulder holsters, either, since the harness straps can become visible at the armhole of any sleeveless vest. I only know one top gun guy who ever wears a shoulder holster with just a vest, and with a badge and ID card in one pocket, hes not particularly concerned about concealment anyway.

There is a very popular belief in the gun culture that because so many of our kind wear these vests, they have become a mark of the gun carrier. Some call them shoot me first vests.

I dunno about that. Ive been wearing them for more than twenty years, and never had that sort of problem. Ive seen them worn (and sold!) in airports. The many pockets and high comfort factor make them great traveling vests. Youll see them all over the place at Disney World and other gun-free zones.

Ive never heard of a documented case of a shot him first case in which a good guy was shot by surprise by a bad guy who made him as such. The only such case Ive ever seen was fictional.

Remember the first Star Wars movie? Princess Leia and her bodyguards, who are wearing a uniform that includes a vest that looks remarkably like the ones under discussion, are fighting a losing battle against the Storm Troopers of the evil Empire led by Darth Vader. When the last vest-wearing good guy is shot on sight by the Storm Troopers with ray guns, the princess is captured.

But that happened long, long ago, on a planet far, far away

Vests, like other garments, should be purchased at least one size large, and side vents are to be avoided. Make sure they go down far enough to conceal a hip holstered gun: a surprising number of these, especially the cheap ones, are cut to waist length rather than hip-length.