Stay safe no matter where you go.

Let’s talk for a moment about a few other options for personal defense that DON’T involve a firearm. If you work in a location that bans “weapons” such as most knives and all guns, there are still a lot of self-defense options available to you. Here’s some suggestions that I’ve found might work in more restrictive locations, but as always, these are suggestions, and use them at your own risk.

First off, use your brain, and don’t do dumb things in dumb places with dumb people.

Secondly, have a good, strong, bright flashlight with you, and use it whenever you go out at night. That mugger in the parking lot might pass you by and find an easier target if you walk out of your building shining a flashlight that could light up a small neighborhood. In addition to this, that flashlight makes a DANDY striking tool if (God forbid) the worst happens and you’re attacked.

Thirdly, just because you can’t have a gun or a knife with you doesn’t mean you’re unarmed. Some options for self-defense besides a flashlight might be:

• Keep a can of wasp spray in your desk. It’s nasty, nasty stuff and foams up very nicely, blocking the bad guy’s vision and impairing his breathing.
• Fire extinguishers. Like wasp spray, they block vision and impair breathing and are 100% innocuous.
• A hammer. No one will bat an eye if you have a hammer in your desk for small repairs or hanging pictures, but they make a heck of a weapon if needed. War hammers were the weapon of choice in Western Europe for hundreds of years, so they should work for you, too.
• Multitool blades. No, they’re not a Spyderco or Benchmade, yes, they are better than harsh language, and no one will freak if you have a pair of pliers, a bottle opener and a nail file near you.

But as I said at the start, the most powerful weapon you have (and the only one you really need) is what’s in-between your ears. Situational awareness, or paying attention to what you’re paying attention to, will help you avoid the trouble in the first place. 

And no trouble is just the kind of trouble you want to have.

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. 

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.