Do vests SCREAM gun?

[mbt2001]

I guess I am getting lazy or something, but living in Texas during the summer makes carrying anything difficult. Anyway, I have been foregoing my IWB holster for a regular High Ride holster (El Paso Saddlery). I have been wearing a 5.11 tactical vest and then thought that it may just SCREAM gun. Considering that most people wouldn't notice a drunken Gorilla running around, I didn't think about it too much until I read a recent article on how Fanny Packs and Vests really announce that you are carrying. I don't wear a Fanny pack...

I also like the tactical ability of vests, esp the 5.11.

I was thinking about getting a Fanny Pack... In PINK

 

[dev_null]

Do vests SCREAM gun?

They do to me, as do fanny packs on guys who don't look like rollerbladers, but that's because I'm a gun-type. Probably doesn't mean anything to sheeple. No idea if goblins are savvy enough or not.

 

[MidnightRambler]

I wear a leather Coronado vest, sometimes even in very hot weather. No one in my city that's seen the vest has ever had a clue, or let on like they did if they did know what it was for. Not even cops or other gun people.

 

[pax]

Mine don't.

Yours might.



pax

 

[shooter429]

Maybe

I think it depends a lot on who is observing you and what you are doing. People who are in the know will likely make the connection. The average joe in the grocery store likely not. If you are at the range, everyone will know. I have worn them in the summer and while walking in a park, have been asked by an officer if I also had a gun on. Nobody else ever asked or seemed to even notice.

I think they are well worth the risk though (assuming you are legal). The worst it can do is bring up the question in a trained person's mind. So what.

Shooter429

 

[Old Dog]

Twenty odd years ago, long before the current state of common concealed carry due to the advent of shall-issue laws, there were many folks who often sported what were then known as "photographer's vests," "safari vests" or "traveler's vests."

I used to see them often (to be sure, usually worn by white males) in various spots in Southeast Asia, the Middle-East and Africa.

Now, these vests are sold in Banana Republic, Sportsman's Warehouse, REI, Cabela's and all over.

Does wearing the vest mark one as possibly carrying a firearm? To some, it might seem a dead giveaway. To most, not at all. I chuckle when I hear these vests referred to as "shoot-me-first" vests. And I still wear my Woolrich, Columbia and 5.11 vests all over, and I really don't think I stand out too much up in the PacNorthwest. Who really cares, after all?

I simply love all the pockets. And as a side benefit, yeah, they are cool and cover one's pistol well.

 

[White Horseradish]

A vest is no longer a common dress item for a man. They do not necessarily scream "gun", but they do make you stick out in most environments. The photographer/fisherman vest somewhat less, those goofy "concealment vest" things they advertised in Shotgun News quite a bit more.

Do you really want to attract extra attention?

 

[jeepmor]

Nope

Never even crossed my mind, but I'm a live and let live type. An obvious attitude or twitchiness is much louder, especially when silent. Now I'm going to be watching out for vests....nah, oregon is the fleece capital, summers are short, you can always wear concealing clothing here.

No worries, most people that do notice appreciate it, I do. Honestly though, I've never noticed.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

They do to me, as do fanny packs on guys who don't look like rollerbladers, but that's because I'm a gun-type. Probably doesn't mean anything to sheeple.

This also means you are seeing people with guns when they don't carry guns because you think that because you know some gun folks wear vests and/or fanny packs to carry guns, everyone in vests or fanny packs must be carrying.

The true give aways are when vest and fanny pack wearers don't actually use their vests or fanny packs for anything normal. I laugh when I see a weight laden fanny pack being worn by a person such as a woman who is carrying a purse into which I have seen her access money, phone, keys, etc. or a guy I see with a wallet in the back pocket, cell phone on the belt, and keys in a front pocket. You have to ask, what is in the fanny pack?

Also, wearing the boxy brown or black leather fanny packs doesn't help. Roller bladers were mentioned - good example, but also tourists and hikers. When do you see them with these really ugly boxy fanny packs?

The same holds for vests. Why do folks wear vests with 400 pockets and then not use any? Camera folks, hunters, and fisherfolk actually carry stuff in their vests.

For city life, I carry stuff in my fanny pack and vest. I use them. They look like I use them. When my kids were babies, I had the coolest darned babybag any other male parent had ever seen. In my hunter's vest, I was able to put 3 or 4 diapers in the rear map/game/sandwich pocket. Wipes, cream, powder were in front cargo pockets. A bottle of milk in one waterbottle pocket and a bottle of juice in the other. Other pockets contained snacks, toys, etc. With things like diapers and wipes inside your vest, you can carry that minigun that is being discussed as for sale in another thread right now and nobody will know it. There are no pink or polkadot baby blue diaper bags for Double Naught Spy to carry.

Why don't we suspect women and their purses more? Simple. Women really do carry stuff in their purses. We see them use their purses. If you don't use a vest or fanny pack for things other than concealment or carrying of guns, others pick up on the fact that there is no reason for you to look silly, but a camera guy doesn't look silly with camera gear and a vest or a guy in a fanny pack pulling out his cell phone from the pack to answer it.

 

[Srigs]

Unless your fishing or actually hunting or going to or coming from... Yes it does!

Good news in Minnesota most people out side the large cities look like that!

 

[Alan Fud]

A vest is no longer a common dress item for a man. They do not necessarily scream "gun", but they do make you stick out in most environments. The photographer/fisherman vest somewhat less, those goofy "concealment vest" things they advertised in Shotgun News quite a bit more.

What about a jean vest with deep inside pockets?

 

[LAK]

Well, at one time a vest would have screamed "Nikon!". These days I am inclined to think they do have pistol written all over many of them; especially in a warmer or hot climate.

-----------------------------------------

http://ussliberty.org
http://ssunitedstates.org

 

[Just_a_dude_with_a_gun]

To me they scream "camera toting tourist" or "Fisherman"

 

[Manedwolf]

In this area? Yes, it does. In any city or surburban area, unless you're wearing a large SLR case as well and have notepads sticking out of some pockets, it looks out of place. Especially in t-shirt weather, to me, it's as out of place as someone wearing a parka.

I would think that those concealment Carhartt jackets might be a better idea if it's cooler out. Everyone ignores those. Or just have a tailor do something to a casual A&F or Banana Republic sport coat to wear with jeans. A good leather jacket like a (real) A2 is good, too, since the heavier leather prevents a print.

But in hot weather, I'd say the least obvious, to me, would be a Smartcarry/Thunderwear for a small pistol, small-of-back under an open, loose overshirt, or a casual carryall satchel like the kind Old Navy sells.

 

[Rumble]

I have never noticed a person wearing a vest. Being a gunnie now, someone wearing one of those "out of context," if you will (I don't know--a hunting vest at the opera, say), might suggest to me that they're carrying. But honestly, I can't think of the last time I saw someone wearing any sort of vest or fanny pack.

 

[TrapperReady]

Now, these vests are sold in Banana Republic, Sportsman's Warehouse, REI, Cabela's and all over.

I take it that you've not been in a Banana Republic store this millennium?

 

[Henry Bowman]

I also like the tactical ability of vests

To what tactical "abilities" might you be referring?

 

[Freddymac]

Not as much as a fanny pack.

 

[lawboy]

Where I live, a vest is out of place. I don't think it screams gun, so much as it screams "Fashion Police!" I don't own one because they are just plain, how shall I say, unfashionable, especially for professional, white collar types like myself. My method has always been to strive to conceal my guns in clothing that is the same style as what I wore before I started carrying. It has worked out well for me. The largest adjustment has been simply maintainig a separate set of clothing for carrying that is larger in size than what I were when not carrying to accommodate the IWB, and to hand down past my waistline a bit more. That is all. The vast majority of people are just plain stupid. When you add unobservant, uninformed and don't give a damn, a gun even halfway concealed might as well be on mars to most people.

 

[pax]

DNS ~

Good post.

pax

 

[mbt2001]

To what tactical "abilities" might you be referring?

Well, it allows me to carry my light, spare mags, pepper spray, et cetera. I have one in my bug out kit, which basically becomes an LBV of sorts. I have looked for some kind of modular system for belt, but about all that is out there is Duty Belts and Pistol Belts and those are not possible to conceal. Any other modular gear, like maxpedition pouches, really do not have the ease of use that the vest does...

Anyway, that is what I meant.

 

[wheelgunslinger]

In the motorcycle events that I frequent, every guy who spent 15 grand and has ridden 15 miles has a leather "biker" vest. Used to be that a guy wore a vest to show his colors and conceal his guns. Well, one or two of his guns, anyway.
So, I'm kinda used to seeing vests these days on riders. I don't think anything of it. But, I always assume that there are at least one or two guys who are packing in the crowd.

Once, in the bike shop where I worked, I made (identified) a gaggle of SBI (North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation) chaps. One had a fishing vest on, on wore a square fanny pack, and one was printing a 1911 through his polyester knit shirt and had two wallets (1 for money, 1 for the badge). They were in looking at bikes on their lunch hour or something and could not have looked more out of place with their "concealment" tackle.
So, yeah, the wrong vest in the right place sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

[Shipwreck]

Yes - everyone I see w/ one is carrying - I can usually spot a bulge if I look long enough...

 

[Trip20]

Vests scream nothing but poor fashion sense if you're not on a bike, hiking in the woods, or standing in a stream with a fly rod. This is why you will stick out like a sore thumb at the mall.

It has nothing to do with whether or not you look like you have a firearm. People will repeatedly take notice of you because you look silly.

Fanny packs are a little more acceptable due to their use by busy soccer moms and emasculated fathers perpetrating the idea of the "man-purse"... but it too screams poor fashion sense, not to mention it looks mighty dorky.

 

[Byron Quick]

Reckon I look dorky then. That's alright, underestimate me, Mr. Goblin, please. I live in eastern Georgia. It gets just a tad warm and humid here. I wear either a vest, a Hawaiian shirt, or in cooler weather a safari style jacket.

Vests and other garments do not shout 'gun' to me for the simple reason that I assume everyone is armed as a matter of operational doctrine. Possession of functioning hands is what does it for me.