When we start to carry, we go through the initial dorky phase of “Oh my God! What if somebody notices!” followed by “I wanna go full spheres to the wall” and carry the biggest gun with 17 spare magazines, 3 tactical knives, 2 tactical lights, quikclot, camelbak and a wrench set. Eventually we start shedding crap till (if we are smart) we find the proper balance of utility and comfort.

In my particular case, I have two rigs: one with the full size sidearm with 2 spare mags for a total of 48 rounds, a small knife, a regular-size knife and a trusty Surefire 6P upgraded with Cree LED. The gun goes on a custom-made leather pancake holster that could not be more comfortable and a Bianchi double stack double leather mag pouch. Th rest of the items go in different vest pockets making it my Man-Purse. And no, a vest does not scream “He’s got a gun!” to anybody walking the streets. This set up is used when I am not working and I dress comfortably. Being comfortable is also a good way to conceal: if you don’t twitch, and contort, you attract less attention to yourself.

Unfortunately my most comfortable set up is also the one that takes the longest to put on and take off which makes it rather inconvenient for where I work right now. Basically other than the inside of your vehicle, you have no private place to set yourself up for a proper disposition of your kit plus it is one of those private enterprises not illuminated in the way of allowing its workers to carry on the job.

For a while I was carrying the only fast set up I had: a .357 magnum snubby in an El Paso Saddlery Snap-Off Elite holster (turned out to be a piece of crap I had to repair) with three speedloaders in a vest pocket. But when the wife finally gave me permission to buy her a new Kahr CW9 and allowed me to lease it from her, I figured I wanted to try it as a carry piece for a while. Initially I was going to go with a Dragon Leatherworks Quantum IWB-OWB Combination Holster, but I realized that it would have been mistreated by the tossing-under-the-seat thing I do when I get to work and that would have been a crime. At least i know it is a crime codified in Tennessee with no statute of limitations. I have family there so I didn’t wanna have a warrant for my arrest. I will get that holster for another gun, Dennis makes some great leather stuff.

So I went plastic. I figured that even if buying a decent brand, it would stand the abuse better and I would not feel guilty. I ended up going with a Comp-Tac Paddle Holster after reading the reviews and checking the price. I also bought the Twin Mag Pouch to carry a couple of extra mags and bring the total to 24 rounds as I was lucky to procure 2 Kahr 8 round mags with extensions from MidwayUSA. I did have to use the heat gun to mold the kydex some make the holster grip my pants & belt a bit better, but now I can kit up in about 2 minutes and take everything off in sixty seconds.

Is it a compromise? Yes. Do I feel under-gunned? Not really. I have shot the Kahr enough to feel it will not go Tango Uniform and realized and accepted that for some stupid reason I shoot this gun much better strong hand only and practiced accordingly. Thanks to IDPA matches, I don’t feel weird shooting Strong hand so I am ahead of the curve there.

Mission Determines Gear. In our civilian case would be Life Determines Gear. About the same difference. There is not one single gun that does everything perfect or covers all possible life scenarios. Sometimes you must compromise and come up with an alternative that provides you with an acceptable measure of defense.

I still carry the rest of the stuff in my vest. And no, I do not carry a tomahawk. I leave it inside my truck with a really ugly & menacing CRKT fixed blade.

PS: Another Tennessee law; bad guitar picking in Nashville can get you the Death Penalty. Seen it happen.