If you’re reading this, you might be a winner!

And if you aren’t reading thing, you definitely are NOT a winner. 

So we pulled numbers out of a hat, and we have our winners in the TeamGunBlogger / MyGunCulture Ultimate Concealed Carry Giveaway! 

They are… 

First Prize: TeamGunBlogger Twitter follower Stand-Fast America

• DeSantis Superfly holster for pocket semiautomatics
• DeSantis EZ-Rider II RH Belt/Portfolio holster
• DeSantis Apache RH Ankle Holster
• Book: The Rookie’s Guide to Guns and Shooting, Handgun Edition
• Book: The Insanely Practical Guide to Gun Holsters

Second Prize: My Gun Culture Twitter follower Mike Clinton

• Book: The Rookie’s Guide to Guns and Shooting, Handgun Edition
• Book: The Insanely Practical Guide to Gun Holsters

Third Prize: My Gun Culture Facebook follower Tom Jeffries

• Book: The Rookie’s Guide to Guns and Shooting, Handgun Edition
• Book: The Insanely Practical Guide to Gun Holsters

If you’ve won, know someone who’s won, or just like to think you’re a winner, we’ll be contacting (or have already contacted you) regrading shipping. 

Thanks to everyone who entered, and stick around, because apparently Tom has something ELSE up his sleeve. Hmmn, I wonder what it is…

Wait, did we say the Ultimate Office Concealed Carry Giveaway was ending soon?

We’re not done yet! 

Tom McHale from MyGunCulture.com has graciously anted up two more prizes, so now we have a Second Prize and a Third Prize. 

2nd Prize and 3rd Prize are a paperback copy of The Rookie’s Guide to Guns and Shooting and a paperback copy of The Insanely Practical Guide to Holsters. 

So that’s a chance to win 6 books, 3 holsters and a night out on the town with Kate Upton*, all for just liking Teamgunblogger or MyGunCulture on Facebook and/or following us or him on Twitter. 

And because of all this extra added awesomeness, we’re adding on another week to the contest: Now we’re shutting the whole thing down at midnight on September 8th. 

This is it, though. No more added prizes. No more dates with supermodels. You’ve got until September 8th, and that’s it, this is over with, so enter now. Kate Upton is waiting for you.

*Note: Kate Upton not included 

 

Why do you need a gun safe?

So you’ve gone out and purchased a gun for home self-defense. 

Fantastic. Understanding that you’ll be your own first responder and doing something to protect yourself is the most adult decision you’ll make in your life. 

Having a gun in your home is great first step, but a gun isn’t a magical self-defense charm. Owning a gun doesn’t protect you: Owning a gun, knowing how to use it and having it available for use if, God forbid, you need to use it protects you and your loved once. If you keep your gun unloaded and in the box it came in, it’s going to be hard to get out and load if it’s needed. This is why quick-access gun safes have become a popular way to keep a gun safe in the home, and it’s something I use myself in my home to keep my self-defense firearm accessible and secure. 

There’s a bunch of people who don’t like this option, though, because they worry about how long it’ll take to access their gun in a safe if they need it, and prefer to keep the gun loaded in a nearby dresser or nightstand drawer. I can understand it, but such concerns leave out an important fact: Things get moved around inside your drawer. 

It’s 3:30 in the morning. You’ve heard a noise downstairs. You’re afraid. You want your gun. It’s in your nightstand drawer. 

Find it. 

Compare this to a quick-access safe. The gun and only the gun is in it and I know the gun will be there when I need it. No searching, no fumbling around and hoping I don’t grab the trigger by accident, just beepbeepbeepbeep and I’ve got my gun ready to go.

That’s just one of the reasons why I prefer keeping my gun in a quick-access safe rather than an unlocked drawer. These are two more reasons why I use a safe: My sons. They’re great kids and they’ve been through the Eddie The Eagle gun safety program, I know they know how to be safe around guns because I’ve trained them and watched them do it for myself. 

However, the consequences of them forgetting to leave a gun alone just once are just too great for me to not lock up my guns. Yes, I trust my sons. Yes, I know they know how to stay safe around guns. No, I am not relying 100% on those two facts: I keep my guns in a locked container because I know where they are and I know they are safe, and I recommend a quick access safe to everyone who has a gun and has kids or is concerned about the safety of their guns in their home. 

Announcing The Ultimate Office Concealed Carry Giveaway

When I said “Free Stuff”, I wasn’t kidding. Announcing…

Here’s the deal. We have three great holsters for pocket semi-automatics to give away, along with two funny and informative books on concealed carry. From now until midnight Arizona time on Labour Day (or Labor Day to all my non-Canadian friends) each “Like” and “Follow” on either our Twitter feed or Facebook page is one chance to win, and each like or follow on MyGunCulture‘s Twitter feed or Facebook page is another chance to win, so with four clicks of the mouse, you’ll have four chances to win.

And to think people play the lottery instead of following us on Facebook. Our contest doesn’t even require you to spend HOURS scratching off a square on a ticket! 

All of this will go to the lucky winner:

A DeSantis Superfly holster for pocket semiautomatics

A DeSantis EZ-Rider II RH Belt/Portfolio holster

A DeSantis Apache RH Ankle Holster

A paperback copy of The Rookie’s Guide to Guns and Shooting, Handgun Edition

A paperback copy of The Insanely Practical Guide To Gun Holsters

That’s a prize packaging worth more than, umn, well, a lot. And all of it could be yours if you jump on board our Twitter feed, Facebook page or MyGunCulture’s Facebook page or Twitter feed. 

Look, you’d have to be an idiot or Nancy Pelosi not to do this. Or both. So do it. 

Holster Review: Desantis E-Z Rider II

Advantages: Holds the gun and magazine well, fast on the draw, flexible carry options.
Disadvantages: Not a lot,really.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

One of the carry methods I wanted to test out for my article on concealed carry in the office was off-body carry, specifically a day-planner or portfolio holster, and the DeSantis EZ-Rider II fit the bill nicely.

The EZ-Rider II offers more than just off-body carry, though, as it comes with a detachable paddle attachment that allows it to be carried on the belt as well. The holster easily holds my KelTec P3AT and fits my S&W Shield as well. The included magazine pouch is too big for the skinny and short P3AT magazine, but it easily holds double stack magazines that it was made for.

The holster is made from ballistic nylon, with a leather backer and plastic paddle for belt carry, and was surprisingly fast to use. The zipper was easy to grasp and open (although an additional pull would make that task easier) and I found it was fast and easy to get the gun out and into play from the holster. 

How fast? Well, let’s compare the time it took to draw and shoot at a target from the EZ-Rider II to a the time needed for a tuckable inside the waistband holster. 

Average Time to Draw and fire one shot

Seated
IWB (Tucked): 4.77
EZ-Rider II: 3.43

Standing
IWB (Tucked): 3.23
EZ-Rider II: 3.30

And this is what that looks like in action. 

I was pleasantly surprised by this holster. If you’re looking for something different in a holster, or if you’re looking at trying off-body carry and want something that’s fast to access and easy to carry, I’d suggest you give the DeSantis EZ-Rider II a try.

Concealed Carry in Business Casual

I have some thoughts about carrying a firearm in an office environment, and what holsters work better when you’re dressed up over at Shooting Illustrated.

I’ll have a review of one of the holsters on Tuesday, then a big announcement on Thursday you don’t want to miss.  

What’s coming up on Thursday? Two words: Free stuff.

Play the odds

Look around the room you’re in right now: Chances are, if you’re in a building that’s been built in the last 30 years, there’s either a smoke detector, fire alarm or a fire extinguisher within a few feet of where you are. This is a good thing, because losing everything in a fire just sucks. Our society recognizes this, and mandates the installation of such things to protect our health and safety. (As an aside, if you have a gun in your home, you probably should have a fire extinguisher as well, because the fire department takes just as long (or longer) to get to your home as the police department does). 

But what are the odds of a fire happening in your home compared to the odds of you being a victim of a violent crime in your home?

The answers may surprise you. 

According to the CDC, in 2009, someone died in a fire every 175 minutes, and someone was injured in a fire every 31 minutes. A scary thought indeed, which is why all those smoke detectors make sense. But if those odds makes you nervous, the chances of you being a victim of a violent crime should freak you right out. 

• A burglary is committed once every 10 seconds
• Violent crimes happen once every 20 seconds
• One of out five homes will experience a break-in 

So why is protecting one’s family and property with a smoke detector something that the government encourages (and even mandates) yet protecting one’s family and property by means of a firearm something that the government discourages (and even bans)? 

You’re not paranoid for wanting to own and carry a gun. You’re just better at math than most people. 

Considering Off-Body Carry? Consider this.

I recently had a chance to try out a few options for off-body carry in the course of writing a recent article on concealed carry for Shooting Illustrated. The testing showed that it was easy to access my gun and quickly engage a target when the gun was stowed in a bag or Day-timer. This came as a bit of surprise to me: I’ve always carried on my belt or in my pocket and up until then, I never really considered off-body carry as a way to way to keep my gun out of sight.

I found out, though, that IF your bag is close by you, can get a gun into action pretty quickly. Not as fast as my daily carry untucked t-shirt, and not fast enough to pass the Federal Air Marshall test, but pretty fast nevertheless.

I’m still going to carry on my person whenever I can because that’s what I’m used to, but now that I know I can draw from a computer case or messenger bag with some degree of speed, I’d look at off-body carry as a way to carry a second gun or a bigger gun if I’m carrying in a pocket, and I’d definitely follow the 3 rules of off-body carry that noted gun writer and TV host Michael Bane laid out in his concealed carry DVD.

1. If you’re the kind of person who consistently loses their car keys, glasses or other important items, don’t do it. 
2. Once you’ve made the decision to carry off-body, the bag/purse with the gun in has to go with you everywhere. 
3. You have to “Go to the gun” earlier in the encounter than you would with a belt or pocket holster.

Numbers 1 and 2 are unique to off-body carry: If I carry on my belt or in a pocket, that gun stays in its holster all day long, and I know where it is at any given moment, something may or may not be true with a bag or case that I’m carrying, which means you have to know where your bag is every moment of the day, and that includes the restroom, the dinner table, you name it.

And number 3? Well, going to the gun early is just a good idea, no matter how you carry.

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