Concealed Carrying: Everything You Need To Know - Complete Guide 2021

Carrying a firearm means nothing if you don’t employ good practices. Concealed carrying is a big decision with potential life or death consequences. We never know what kind of baddie or situation we’ll be up against which is why we need to prepare ourselves to the best of our ability.

There are so many facets to concealed carrying that everyone should be aware of. From the different ways to carry a concealed handgun, the array of holsters, actually practicing with your gear to the legal aspects of obtaining and having a concealed carry weapon permit. We’ve written about it all and want to help you access that information more easily. Below you’ll find brief summaries of blogs we’ve written on a variety of concealed carry topics with links to them as well (click on the photos).

Identifying how you want to carry

As you may already know there are so many ways to carry a concealed handgun. Just don’t put that new piece in your pocket without a solid holster or you might risk shooting your femoral artery and bleeding out. These are our blogs which extensively cover some really great ways to go about concealed carrying incognito and in style.

Best OWB Holsters for Glock 19

OWB Holsters go “on the waistband” but that doesn’t mean you can’t conceal it! Some of the waistband holsters are definitely designed for duty purposes but there are others which ride quite high above the belt line, making it optimal for being covered by a sweatshirt, jacket, or blazer. Check out what we think are the best OWB holsters for Glock 19s here.

Best IWB Holsters for Concealed Carry

IWB holsters go “in the waistband” or basically in your pants. In our opinion this is the best way to go about concealed carrying. It may not always be the most comfortable but it is definitely the safest option to keep your literally on your body without risk of someone taking it away from you. That’s why we don’t like open carrying and if not absolutely necessary will opt to IWB carry over putting our carry gun in a bag or backpack. Check out our favorite IWB holsters for concealed carry here.

The Best Concealed Carry Holsters For Women

From shoulder bags, to belly bands, corset holsters, and inner thigh holsters — women have a lot of options! There are definitely some really cool products on the market today that were initially designed for women but now are even used by men alike. We go over most of these products and advise what’s best for women to use and what to absolutely avoid. Check out our list of best concealed carry holsters for women here.

The Best Holster Positions for Concealed Carry

Honestly, it’s going to be different for everyone. Every individual is going to have a particular position that suits them best for their body figure, style of clothing that they wear or the activities that they expect to be doing. In this blog we go over the basic positions around the waist that people will wear both IWB and OWB holsters. See those photo examples in this blog about best holster positions for concealed carry.

How to choose a concealed carry gun

There are so many guns you could concealed carry so to choose, is understandably not the easiest decision. Technically you could if you can fit in your pants or a small backpack, that’s considered concealed carrying too! But for the purpose of advising the general public we reviewed the best 9mm striker and hammer fired guns on the market that we thought were most appropriate for everyday concealed carrying. To see the best concealed carry handguns in 2021, check out our blog on that here.

Legal: Update On the Constitutional Carry Movement

What is the constitutional carry movement? Well, we’re referring to what originally was a national reciprocity for CCW permit holders. The issue is that just because you have a CCW in one state doesn’t mean your neighboring state necessarily honors it and if caught you could be facing a felony. That’s why it’s so important to be aware of what your reciprocity map looks like for your particular state’s permit and to know where you “can and can’t” carry.

This inconsistency in how laws are enforced preys on those who are unaware of such policies and more often than not, law abiding citizens. But, pro 2A states have responded in kind to the Biden Administration’s attack on our Second Amendment rights. Read more about that in our blog.

How to practice

With the rise of ammo prices and previously bare shelves in stores across the country, the first thing to square away is your muscle memory. Train as often as you can at home by dry firing and timing your draws from concealment. Utilizing a shot clock would be a very good way to challenge yourself and help you track your progress and improvement.

As you work in various drills at home you can throw in some Snap Caps to simulate malfunctions, time yourself with speed reloads using a spare magazine, or other training tools such as chambered laser rounds which can show you the quality of your trigger pulls. There are plenty of even fancier options, but more on that to come in a future blog soon...