Off body carry?

There’s a thread about carrying in a car and a lot of suggestions for off body carry while in the car.

I’ve done and have trained with an expert on how to effectively carry off body.

Would you off body carry when not in the car? And if so, what advice do you have for others who are considering it?

I personally would never off body carry although I certainly understand the problems woman have today when it comes to carrying and understand their decision to do so. My advise to someone considering it is, don’t. If someone is going to do it anyway I’d just offer the standard advise. Use one dedicated pocket for the firearm. Meaning nothing ever ever goes in said pocket but the firearm. Invest in a sticky holster and use it. Just because it’s in a pocket doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be holstered. I’d also caution someone about the liability of off body carry. If you leave your purse behind it’s not just the loss of all your stuff it’s the loss of your stuff and a potential wrongful death law suite. But I’m guessing you already knew all this.

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@Dawn I personally would never off body carry, but I am interested in what the expert said and what advice did he/she gave.

Interested for my wife.

In the general public i never carry off body. Out in the woods i may have it in my pack.

I never thought I would off body carry. Too many things to go wrong.

Then I was offered the once in a lifetime opportunity to do the USCCA Proving Ground. It was amazing - and scary. They had me off body carry in a convenience store in the middle of the night.

The nice thing about off body carrying was I could have my hand on my gun and no one would know. No issues with brandishing or threatening behavior cause my hand was in my bag.

I would never carry in a regular purse. The gun has to be holstered and secure. Otherwise it’s a dangerous situation.

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When i leave work, i have my sidearm with me… then i go to workout, and transfer it to my gym bag… when i leave the gym at 1-3 in the AM… I have my hand on my weapon ready to go… but thats the only time i would…

Purses are a double edge sword, you can pack as big of a gun and as many magazines as you wish to haul around and never have to change your wardrobe. However it’s off body and all the challenges and risks involved with that. No matter what the discussion there will always be give and takes, and what works for each person is unique.

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I would not recommend off body carry for a lot of reason. The main reason is carry in a purse or back pack the gun could have moved around in the purse or back pack which could impact critical time to react to a possible threat, also if it not in a secure holster there is always run the risk of a accidental discharge. There a several carry options for men and women for carrying on the body. I have seen how you can effectively conceal a gun even in yoga pants. But if you are someone who wants to carry off body. I would recommend you do your research and select the right equipment and train.

To clarify, I’m not saying throwing a gun in a bag and calling it off-body concealed carry. There are purses and backpacks specifically designed for it - holster included. And I’m definitely not advocating leaving a carry purse unattended at any point in time.

Here’s an example of what I’m referring to when I mention carrying in a purse. The holster is secured in place based on how you carry the bag. And before you can say it’s just velcroed in, you’ve got to try to pull the velcro off! It’s tough stuff. The holster is not going to move unless you really want it to.


Picture from this site: http://womenconcealedcarry.com/holsters/best-concealed-carry-purses/ Not an endorsement or review of the purse or website it came from, just an example of what I was referring to.

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It has to be hard to carry as a woman. My wife wants super flared pants to come back so she can ankle carry. We dressed up to go to a wedding this summer and she struggled to find a place for a gun. I’m thinking about buying her a derringer as a present, so she can be comfortable carrying while dressed up. She’s the gun counter manager at cabelas, so I’d probably visit ROR to look for one.

Off body is a great way to carry in certain situations, @James. Has she tried it ever? You definitely keep very good track of where your purse/bag is.

FYI ROR does have a few in stock. :wink:

And you can also find them on Amazon.

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She is opposed to off body carry, and I’m a smart enough husband to not buy her a purse, and she has aggressively hinted that she wants a derringer, and likes the way they feel. I think I might just swing up there this weekend. Take a look at guns, and shooting classes.

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I don’t off body carry. One of these days, if my wife becomes comfortable with the idea of carrying s gun herself, she probably would. She already uses a crossbody style purse, so, it would just be a matter of her getting a purse like the ones from Gun Toten’ Mama.

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I may be a bit late in this conversation but as @James mentioned, i am very opposed to off body carry. IMO, carring a purse is an instant target. What is in a purse? Money. Wallets, credit cards, checks, etc. Then theres house/car keys, cell phones, jewelry…everything up to the kitchen sink. Purses are a catch-all and criminals know this. Now, add a firearm to that. Theres no way to cancel/freeze a firearm like you can a bank account. There is a large and actively growing market for holsters. Besides your common IWB holster with belt clips, there are options for ankle carry, belly-bands, even garter belt holsters (which is what i wish i had for that wedding we got dressed up for). A firearm isnt always comfortable, its comforting.

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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.

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

A Mexican person. Mmmmm. It’s sounds like he made you feel some type of way. Sorry to hear about that, but my question is who doesn’t carry a firearm or a pistol. Clock and one in the chamber or 5sluggs ready to fire after the first one puts a hole in some if they didn’t know no better. Us that are members of different types well, wish to never have to reapply my life for no or there mistake. Or not taking real life not as a result or something :thinking: just mine or own business. I stay focused on my 12 an 6 to make sure that I am willing to defend myself and my family and my house even if I have to a few before I put down my target.zzzzzzz…