Ms. Dawn,
I think this might be something you can use but don’t know the best place to post it. I also feel confident the USCCA may already have something similar from Beth, Michael or the magazine. Feel free to edit or delete, what ever you feel is best.
2019 Part #9: Off Body Carry.
Stone’s Notes (190417)
One more foolish thing to make us all look bad. A man in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, shot himself and his daughter by accident. Tim (22) was in the parking lot of a Chuck E. Cheese’s last Saturday (04/13/19) changing the diaper on his daughter. It is believed Tim had placed his firearm into the diaper bag before leaving home. It has not been noted if Tim was a Concealer Carrier permit holder or not. If not, he was carrying illegally. Alabama does not have Constitutional Carry and, if I recall correctly, it has no training requirement to get a Concealed Permit.
According to detectives; Tim was in the seat of a 4 door Dodge. His daughter was on his lap and he was trying to change her diaper. As he reached inside the diaper bad which was on the floor of his vehicle, the gun discharged. While the original report made it sound a bit like JFK’s magic bullet, the police later determined the bullet went through Tim’s leg, then his daughter’s leg before lodging in Tim’s chest. This does seem reasonable if he had leaned forward to retrieve something from the bag on the floor. The type of firearm was not mentioned but I expect it was a semi-auto with a round in the chamber.
There were reportedly three other adults in the car. While the daughter is expected to make a full recovery, Tim will not, he died from his wounds (or perhaps from the embarrassment) Monday.
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I know most of us practice on-body carry in a holster, however there are some who carry in a hand bag or book bag or some other type of off-body carry. But this is similar to the earlier write up I sent out on the jogger who was carrying in his waist band without a holster and would be similar to carrying in a pocket without a holster. If you do, you really need to think about this.
First, I am not an advocate for State required training, but I am a strong believer that if a person plans to carry a firearm, they need training. More than just the basic CCDW class, they need what many concealed carriers would call common sense training. What most of us took years to learn, we can share with others and also point them to places like the USCCA, PDN, NRA and a few others that do offer good advice and guidelines.
I do not believe there is anything wrong with carrying with a round in the chamber of any good quality modern semi-automatic. Or, for that matter, the 1911 style or most WWI era and up handguns. These guns all have one or more safeties on them, which, when properly carried, will prevent accidental/negligent discharges. There is a difference but most often it’s the latter.
Still, when it comes to off body carry or pocket carry there needs to be some type of trigger guard placed on the firearm. This can be a holster made for pockets or Inside the Waist Band or inside purse pockets. Also, if it is in a pocket or purse, there should be nothing else stores in that compartment or pocket even when there is a trigger guard or holster.
In my bedside safe you will find a ‘MIC’ style trigger guard fastened to the rear of the safe with a short lanyard. It is designed to pull free of the firearm when it clears the safe by about four inches. The firearm (a 1911 – yes, I’m getting old) also has a round in the chamber and the manual safety set. I recommend this set up for any purse or bag carry. It makes it impossible for anything to get inside the trigger guard until the firearm is withdrawn from the container. The same applies to the pocket carry, a ‘MIC’ can be fixed over the trigger and the lanyard can be connected to your belt.
I have seen similar devices (Fixxer, UM Tactical, Clip Draw, MIC, FoxxShot) selling for about $15 to $25 on line. It is also a good reason to visit a gun show, which is where I got mine years ago. I can think of no reason a person who can afford a firearm cannot afford a trigger guard (or holster for that matter) if they plan to carry the firearm.
This was an avoidable tragedy. It makes the entire pro-gun community and concealed carry community look bad. The last thing we need to fight is more bad press.
This is another reason some of old heads, grey beards if you will, need to talk with the folks just starting out. To remind them of the importance or the responsibility that come with the right to defend our life and the lives of others. None of us has all the answers, but I know what has worked well for me, and I’m still open to learn. I hope we all are.
Practice regularly, practice often.
Be ready to protect what you love.
Stone