And Other Concealed Carry Options

Carrying a small arm that you have to conceal is a concession most of us make. Of course we would rather have an open carry, which would make life much less complicated, and make all of us a lot more comfortable in our choice of carrying options, but the bottom line is that our small arm makes us fee comfortable, and safe.

In an emergency situation we will have with rare exceptions,  seconds to react and defend ourselves or we could  face serious injury or death. Whether it be in our own homes, in a dark parking lot at grocery store, or out  hiking we want safety, and we want to know that we can get to our carry at a moments notice. The  speed at which we can access our carry may be all that can save our life – or someone we hold dear.

Handgun Conceal And Carry Options

Part 2

You have decided to purchase a handgun and carry it under the legal requirements of the state you live in. You have also decided to carry your handgun in a holster designed to be attached to the belt or your pants in the waistline area. We referred to this as waistline retention in a previous article. Overwhelmingly, this is how most civilians choose to carry a handgun, and it is the preferred method of most criminal justice professionals. But how safe is it? We are faced with a double-edged sword. Carrying a handgun or other defensive weapons using waistline retention allows for quick weapon acquisition and stronger defense – yet you remain vulnerable to these same items being removed quickly by an adversary. We need to look deeper into issues surrounding self defense shootings.

Statistically, over 70% of physical altercations end up on the ground. Although speed will prevail with an adversary while standing, speed does not prevail on the ground; size does. On the ground a bigger and more powerful adversary has the outcome in their favor. Now picture this: you are on the ground fighting with an adversary while attempting to protect your handgun from the adversary’s grasp. Using waistline retention for a handgun may add an additional risk in this scenario.

Primary consideration: waistline retention is good for quick weapon acquisition and defensive strength, but presents great opportunity for an adversary to take these weapons away.

Lesson in high stress situations:
Most people being confronted with lethal force decision-making will experience high stress. Also known as the Fight or Flight Syndrome, high-stress situations trigger an incredible reaction between the brain, the body and emotions.

There is a relationship between performance and stress. When there is no stress, there is no great performance. When there is great stress, there is great performance. When there is huge distress there is a marked decrease in performance, which becomes unreliable. Typically under high stress, the first thing to deteriorate is cognitive function – the ability to make decisions. This has implications in reference to the method a handgun is carried.

The sympathetic nervous system is activated when the mind detects a potential threat to survive. It reacts by mediating the involuntary responses to alarm by speeding the heart rate, raising the blood pressure and dilating the pupils of the eyes among many other things. This system opposes and overrides the parasympathetic nervous system, which regulates many body functions, in order to provide the body with the necessary capabilities to fight or flee from danger. In doing so, however, the body loses its fine and complex motor skills. These skills require complex cognitive processes and small muscle mass groups including hands and fingers. Eye-hand coordination, precision, tracking and timing are effected. However, the gross motor skills are increased; a cognitively simple process requiring very little decision making. Gross motor skills are typified by push and pull movements with the arms and legs.

The question now becomes; under high stress, is it wise to carry a handgun or other defensive weapon in a manner that requires complex decision-making and fine or complex motor skills in order to acquire them? Locating and drawing a handgun, or retrieving other defensive weapons depends on the holster/holder and method of carrying these items. Some holsters/holders require the owner to unsnap, push down and then twist or some other combination of movements. These are fine, complex motor skills. Attempting to accomplish these movements under distress is very difficult because fine and complex motor skills are greatly diminished or have disappeared altogether.

Imagine the decision-making process and fine or complex motor skills that are involved in retrieving your handgun from your waistline, locating the pepper spray in your jacket pocket, and grabbing the kubaton from your front pants pocket. Locating these items in one area is a much simpler cognitive process that requires fewer fine and complex motor skills. As stated earlier, herein lays one of the advantages of carrying these weapons using waistline retention. Your handgun is in a snap holster on your belt, your pepper spray is sitting in a holder with a Velcro cover on your belt, and a kubaton is tucked into the pants at the waistline. There is not a lot of complicated cognitive decision-making going on if you decide to grab one of these. Acquiring these under high stress will for the most part require gross motor skills – primarily using the arm and hand to locate the item, pull it out and aim it or employ it. Again, it depends on the complexity of the holster or holder.

Primary consideration: The method chosen for carrying defensive weapons, including handguns, should be such that in order to retrieve them requires very little cognitive function (decision-making) and utilizes gross motor skills.

2008 Terry Hipp

By: hipper

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Terry Hipp is a career veteran of the Criminal Justice System. He serves as the CEO and Sr. Director of Training & Education at Assault Prevention LLC. For more than 25 years, Assault Prevention has helped individuals, groups, and organizations proactively plan for successful mitigation of unexpected violence and emergencies-and as a result, bring about a sense of control to their daily lives. He may be contacted at: AssaultPrevention.ORG

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