Fantasyland! by John Farnam
September 20th, 2007 by Syd
19 Sept 07
Fantasyland! This from one of our instructors, a gun retailer in OK:
I had a curious conversation yesterday with a young couple in our store. He has purchased several pistols from us and has a state CCW permit. She ‘doesn’t believe in guns.’ Both were in the shop.
He confessed that he carries his concealed pistol (S&W M&P) with an empty chamber! He went on to say that he never chambers a round in his holstered handgun, because he has children, and it’s ‘just not safe to carry a loaded pistol near them.’ ‘Besides,’ he continued, ‘all I have to do is rack the slide. Then, I can shoot. Right?’
I asked him bluntly, ‘Who promised you that both your hands will be available when you need your pistol?’ He stammered and squirmed. ‘You may be pushing those children of yours behind cover while trying to draw your pistol at the same time. You might find a home-invader on top of you doing his best to stick a screwdriver into your eye. As you fend off the screwdriver with one hand and draw your pistol with the other, how will you persuade it to fire then? ‘ I concluded, ‘Who don’t carry loaded pistols needn’t bother carrying at all!’
By now, his wife, having lost all of her color, looked at me and said, ‘I’m SO glad we don’t live in YOUR world.’ I replied unapologetically, ‘There is only one world, my dear, and we’re all currently immersed in it, right up to
our necks!’”
Lesson: Many still foolishly entertain the fantasy that pistols possess an inherent, magical ability to repel evil, and that mere proximity grants one a violence-free existence! Again, they act poorly, because they think wrongly. “Emotional thinking” is not thinking at all!
In high school, my trigonometry teacher referred to the “Wishing-Will-Make-It-So” Theorem so often used by some of my classmates. It wasn’t acceptable even among children, and should be less so among (at least “professing”) adults.
In the novel, “1984,” emblazoned in raised letters above the entrance to the “Ministry of Truth” is:
Slavery is Freedom
War is Peace
Ignorance is Strength
Sound familiar?
/John
The 9mm in my front pants pocket has a chambered round.
It has one every day.
I carry it concealed every day.
Enough said.
I’m really surprised this man owns a gun at all. He obviously knows nothing about them, and I seriously doubt if he has ever had a whit of training in the defensive use of a handgun. Farnam’s comments were spot on; I hope they sink in to this likely-well-intentioned-but-confused fool…and his wife.
—357
I could not agree more, that a gun without a loaded chamber is a setback. HOWEVER, I counter this with the need for absolute safety, especially with concealed carry. The spate of safety-less handguns that are arriving on the market today is indeed scarey. “Passive safety” they call it. In other words, if I don’t pull the trigger it won’t go off. And then they give us a hair trigger pull. Bang.
So here, after much deliberation and investigation is what I have come up with. It is MY PERSONAL level of comfort and means nothing to anyone else except as food for thought.
1. When I duty carry my gun is on my belt with muzzle aimed generally in a harmless direction (down). I will carry with one in the chamber, cocked and locked. Condition One.
2. When I carry concealed, ON MY BELT, with the muzzle aimed generally in a harmless direction (down) I will do the same. Always.
3. When I carry concealed INSIDE THE WAISTBAND or in a method that will point the muzzle generally in an unsafe direction; i.e. at my vitals or at someone else’s vitals I will either carry a gun that has POSITIVE SAFETY, such as a 1911 with thumb and grip safety… and one in the chamber, cocked and locked. OR, if the gun does NOT have a POSITIVE SAFETY I will carry without one in the chamber.
To this end, I have purchased a few NEW guns for IWB carry, my favorite of which is the H & K P7M8. The P7M8 is a squeeze cocker… squeeze the grip it is cocked and will discharge when the trigger is pulled (light trigger pull at that time). Or I will carry one of my smaller 1911’s that has both a grip and a thumb safety. To me, the grip safety is a passive safety device. The thumb safety, on the other hand, requires me to perform a positive action aside from a trigger pull to discharge the weapon.
THIS is MY personal level of comfort. What does it mean? It means, simply, that I am comfy carrying Glocks, XD’s, S&P’s, etc., but only on my belt OWB pointed at the ground and especially not at my vitals when sitting down. Concealed IWB? Never. I will use my HK P7M8 or equivilantly safe weapon for that.
Will I never own or use a Glock, an XD, an M&P? Not at all. I own and love them all. I just will not carry them concealed IWB when I may need to sit and have them pointed at my vitals. I do not believe they are sufficiently safe.
It is a matter of level of comfort. If one can choose a weapon that is safer in a particular method of carry, why not do so?
My wish? I wish they would stick a manual safety and/or a grip safety on my Glock, my XD, my M&P, my Colts, etc. I would love nothing better than to carry my Glock 26 or Glock 30 IWB (Inside Waist Band) instead of OWB. It makes for better concealment and a safer carry IMHO. But, that is just me.
One in the chamber? Not mandatory as some would have you believe… but it sure is nice when one hand is otherwise occupied. It can make the difference between winning and losing in a fight for your life. And, after all, isn’t that why we are carrying? That gun should never appear unless one is in a fight for one’s life. Or that of a loved one.
Just my take.
By the way, when I refer to “duty carry” I do not mean to insinuate that I am in law enforcement, the military or any other field that would require me to carry a weapon for my livlihood. I am merely making an observation in the third person… i.e. should I be required to carry a gun in the performance of my duty, it will likely be ON MY WAISTBAND in a Level 2 or Level 3 POSITIVE RETENTION HOLSTER, etc. and thus a level of safety higher… as it is safer from being taken from me, having my clothing caught up in the trigger guard, having a twig poke the trigger, or whatever. I am not in a line of work that requires me to carry a firearm; I hold concealed carry permits from several states and do carry legally while stateside and these are simply my observations.
IMHO, I would only carry a firearm I’m willing to carry with one in the chamber. So, while I agree that the safetyless guns bother me, I have an easy solution: Buy a firearm with a safety. For instance, 1911’s come in all sorts of sizes and calibers, and they have manual safeties and grip safeties. BHPs have safeties. Some M&Ps autos have safeties.
In the end a firearm carried on a daily basis without a round in the chamber is useless. If you’re not happy carrying brand x with a round in a chamber, find a brand you are happy with carrying with a round in the chamber.
I’m certain someone will say: “1911’s with one in the chamber are dangerous. Glocks with one in the chamber are dangerous. They don’t make a handgun that’s safe to carry with one in the chamber.” To which I reply–Bah, Humbug. If you don’t think so, then design one you’re happy with, and convince someone to build it. IMHO, what you want is already on the market, someplace, if you just spend some time looking for it.
Russ
When I injured my back, I couldn’t feel my fingertips. I literally couldn’t tell when my fingers were on the safety or trigger of my beloved M1911’s. That’s when I rediscovered the snubnose revolvers. The triggers were heavy enough that I could feel them, and I didn’t have to struggle with a slide. Even though the little revolvers don’t have a manual safety, the heavier trigger eliminates a lot of the anxiety associated with the “passive safety” guns. I have since healed and bought an XD in order to learn it, but I’m still not as comfortable with it as I am with either the revolver or the M1911 with its positive safety.
Love My 1911 A1 GI
I do as my Marine Corp Dad taught me.
“If I can not reach a loaded gun, I’m a dead man”….
Chambered, Cocked and Locked 1911 .45 with grip and thumb safety for me.
End of pontification, and I have NO “dilemma” or inner struggle about it at all. Some things are just simple. This is one of them.
My comment here is probably not without bias, as I was an early student of John’s, and thoroughly believe in what he teaches. But, I was not a semi-auto fan when I went to his course. I was a revolver guy, and thought that carrying loaded SA pistols was just dangerous. I took both a COLT 1970 model .45 auto, and a S&W revolver to the course, Just in case, but had decided that I would let John convince me that I could handle and shoot that auto safely. He did. It is now my principal defense handgun, although I still have my revolvers for certain cercumstances.
I think this guy who confromted John needs to take a good Self Defense course, or consider carrying a revolver instead of a pistol with the chamber unloaded. Right now he’s carrying around a paper weight. An unloaded handgun is an expensive club, at best.
FYI,
The XD has a grip safety.
I too carry with one in the chamber. My finger is my safety.
In my world, a semi-automatic is considered a two handed gun, in that one hand holds and fires the gun, the other hand is needed to rack the slide or clear a jam. A revolver is considered a one handed gun, only one hand is needed to fire the gun, a miss fire, pulling the trigger again brings up a fresh round. An empty gun is called a club. It is a puzzle that this man’s wife tolerates a gun. And her comment to the gun shop owner shows she lives in a fanticy land or has her head in the sand.
When I was in the US Army MP Corp (’74-’89) we were ordered to carry our M1911A1’s with five in the mag and an empty chamber with the hammer down. Is it still the same in the service today (non-combat conditions)? But today, I carry MY M1911A1 “Lock ‘n Loaded” with the safety engaged. I agree with Berg Jay, “An empty gun is a $300 club!” Esprit de Corp!
mlampert, please have any opinion you like but do not try to spread that manure as ‘well thought out logic’. You are a dangerous person.
I`ve been working in gun shops and as a NRA instructer most of my life. I have heard that line many times myself..and it always seems to come from younger… Yuppie type couples. Where the wife finally agreed to have a gun in the house but under her conditions only. They also usually say ” Oh I guess i`ll wear a seatbelt but not with a dress.” I`m always amazed by the American Dumbass.
I was speaking with a CCDW instructor this morning that related to me an interesting tale. He told me of a young lady in one of his classes that brought her Taurus revolver to use in the live fire exam. As part of the exercise, the instructor collected her piece to do the safety check and had to return to her to ask for the key in order to unlock the action. She responded with “what key?”
Seems she had been carrying this thing illegally in her purse for 2 years! Turns out her boyfriend, who had bought it for her, thought that she (maybe he?) was safer that way. In consideration of the fact that she hadn’t shot it once in those two years, he may very well have been right!
See http://www.kc3.com/self_defense/gun_or_defensive_tool.htm for some more of my comments on the subject.
I saw a snivel from a friend who forwarded a preview of Dr. Phil’s 09/24/07 selection regarding a woman who’d had bad luck with her chowd(sic)and a handgun. You gotta wonder about that kinda household. I was raised with loaded guns in the corner of the kitchen, my kid’s had the same opportunity as hers, (w/loaded guns thru squad level auto-weapons)but my kids started shooting at a tender age w/my supervision. I was in the military entirely thru their childhood and into their adulthood. My rule was, and is, to treat all guns as if they were/are loaded and do not point a gun at anything you did not want to fire at. Anyway, when they have these type of things on tv, it seems they never compare apples very fairly nor have very knowledgeable people to represent the firearms side of things as compared to knives, electrocutions, motor vehicles, ladders and such are more common to households than guns. They point to gun ownership as largely wackos and use some off the wall examples of why noone should have a gun. Some good points here by most of the other post’r’s.
To carry a concealed loaded, cocked and locked pistol, you must have your full trust and confidence in its safety as well as in its reliability. The answer to this is PROPER and REGULAR MAINTENANCE. A professional armorer/gunsmith is the only option you have. Remember, pulling on the slide to load the chamber may seem to be an eternity in a combat situation. Believe me…… I was in that predicament 2 decades ago. Fortunately, the perpetrator was too nervous to make a proper aim and make my wife a widow. BTW, I’m from the Philippines.
My humble thoughts on “the other hand is needed to rack the slide or clear a jam.” I hope the descriptions in the original post are only a reminder for most of you to have one handed clearing and racking as a part of your regular training routine. With dummy rounds for added safety, I practice racking the slide between the knees or using the rear sights against a belt or hip. I figure a contact discharge during an arms length struggle is more likely to cause a failure to cycle, and also likely to require my weak hand to stave off further attack.
BTW, with regard to the original topic, my strategy is to have ANY gun that is accesible (body, car, or home) ready to fire, and everyone in the house is trained to that. Any gun that is not ready to fire is cased and put away, so as not to be grabbed in an emergency. My preference is loaded traditional double action semi-auto pistols with no external safety, never more than arms length away. Ruger P90DC and Kel-Tec P11 top my favorites: double action, long trigger pull, double strike… grasp gun, point at what needs to be stopped quickly, pull trigger. The holster serves as the safety - nothing pulls the trigger until I do.
My biggest concern W/ carrying one in the chamber has always been that I thought it was hard on the gun to be continually cocked having done some research I find that it isn’t that hard on the gun basically if you havetime to draw and rack the slide you really aren’t in a life threatening situation, My only caveat to this is that some of the articles I’ve read on this sight specifically recomend that you NOT leave your personal defense gun in condition one at home to minimize the possiblity of waking up in the middle of the night and shooting your wife in the butt by mistake, so my rule is in the house condition three ( magazine in empty chamber) out of the house condition one
meanwhile, back in the real world, how many of these chappies who claim “I always carry a round in the chamber of my pistol” utilize pump action shotguns (with empty chambers) and never think twice about the fact that not only will they have to use both hands to rack a round into the chamber, but each time they fire an additional round to boot.
I’ll be 43 soon, and have yet to see anybody carry a fully loaded pump 12 guage…
The reality is that some people may have a valid reason for what used to be called military carry. That’s for them to decide, not Mall Ninjas or Chairborn Rangers.
I know of at least one 1911 toter who survived a firefight who not only carried empty chamber then, but still did later.
I feel anybody packing a hammerless auto like the Glock, the MP or the others with a round in the chamber is asking for an Accidental Discharge, considering those guns have firing pins half cocked…