My First Time Being Uncomfortable Being Around Someone Carrying a Gun

[taliv]

There must be many thousands of shoulder holsters in us daily and I don't recall hearing a single account of "Glock arm" or bystanders suffering any worse than other types of carry in gunfights but as is the High Road tradition those cites will soon be rolling in I'm sure.

i've personally witnessed an ND by a guy with a shoulder holster who was touching his gun while it was inside the holster, while the range was cold and people were downrange. while the bullet didn't land anywhere that would cause the incident to make the news, that was only dumb luck. it could have been very bad as it was pointed in the direction of a house with children inside and fortunately hit the ground between the shooter and the house instead.

Being in a shoulder holster untouched by human hands is no different than the gun being in a gun case.

a gun resting in a case is safe. i'll grant you that a gun resting in a holster is also safe. however, what is different is the propensity for people wearing shoulder holsters to want to show off their gun, or play with it, etc. when a guy is walking around like the one described in the OP, my first thought is one of my favorite Far Side cartoons.


when somebody walks into a gun store with a shoulder holster, I leave.

 

[RX-79G]

I'm reading this thread sitting in one of the barstool height chairs at a fast food restrurant. I have Khar PM40 in a pocket friction holster. You can trace a line from the muzzle to the back of another patron's head. Pretty standard. Holstered/cases/racked firearms often point right at people.

Mike

I can hardly feel uncomfortable enough to complain about what I can't see. Thank you for keeping your gun concealed.

 

[Flintknapper]

RX wrote:

Do you want to be standing behind someone with a shoulder holster when they do draw?

No....no one wants to be covered by the muzzle of a gun when it is being handled. And I don't see anyone arguing that.

One advantage to hip carry is that you are almost never pointing the gun in a bad direction, even as you draw.

Somehow this thread has morphed into a discussion comparing different modes of carry.

A shoulder holster means a 180° sweep, which will include your left arm.

NO! Again we have someone parroting this misnomer, because they don't know the correct way to draw from a shoulder rig. Please read the attached thread in a previous post of mine.

If every person around someone open carrying a shoulder holstered gun started saying "Please don't point that at me", he'd stop openly carrying that way.

No, he wouldn't. And I wouldn't either. I will always strive to be civil and will even take the time to discuss with someone...their concerns. But I will not alter my mode carry for the sake of someone else's unreasonable beliefs/fears.

But we are too polite with open carrier's because we also fear they might be nuts.

Seriously? Wow!

 

[RX-79G]

Here's a better choice. Controls the muzzle better, and is so darn fashionable:

There is nothing "intellectually dishonest" about not liking having a gun pointed at you - especially when you can't see what the person's hands are doing.

 

[GarySTL]

The county police that fly the helicopters use shoulder holsters with the horizontal format. I've stood behind them in line at a fast food place with no worries.

 

[Good Ol' Boy]

I am not a fan of shoulder carry, but it is not because of the manner in which it is carried, but rather the deployment if it were needed.

That being said, I'm much more likely to be injured at the local indoor range I frequent 1-3 times a week than by someone who's carrying a holstered firearm in public.


I've pretty much stopped going to gun shows because of the amount of people and poor muzzle control. But even in the handful of LGS's I frequent, it seems as if once the person holding the firearm has cleared it, where the muzzle goes after that is a non-issue. This goes for not only patrons but employees and even owners.

I've come to the conclusion that it's just something you have to deal with on occasion if you're going to be around guns. I do NOT think that's the way it should be, but it is the way it IS, at least around here. You either get over it or limit yourself to being around guns.

 

[Flintknapper]

I can hardly feel uncomfortable enough to complain about what I can't see. Thank you for keeping your gun concealed.

Are saying firearms scare you?

Actually, if you think about it....if a weapon is concealed, you can't know if its pointed at you or anything else. How it is being carried (holster or not). What type of weapon it is (multiple safeties, Revolver, Semi-Auto).

With Open Carry...at the very least...you can react as you wish.

Such dissension among gun owners over things like mode of carry. The anti's don't really have to try all that hard anymore. We will tear ourselves apart at this rate.

Leaving this thread now.

 

[shuvelrider]

While on both deployments to the middle-east, I'd say that half of the air crewmen carry their weapons in the horizontal shoulder rigs. I would just step to the side a bit if I was behind them in a chow line, Usually in conversation with them, they would say it's what was issued to them. Saw a lot of Galco holsters like that.

 

[Rock185]

Yes, I do have a concern. Never enjoyed looking into the muzzles of loaded guns. I was a flight supervisor in a big city Air Support unit. The pilots all wore their guns in the horizontal type shoulder holsters over their flight suits. Got used to it, but can't say I ever got comfortable with it........ymmv

 

[X-Rap]

i've personally witnessed an ND by a guy with a shoulder holster who was touching his gun while it was inside the holster, while the range was cold and people were downrange. while the bullet didn't land anywhere that would cause the incident to make the news, that was only dumb luck. it could have been very bad as it was pointed in the direction of a house with children inside and fortunately hit the ground between the shooter and the house instead.


a gun resting in a case is safe. i'll grant you that a gun resting in a holster is also safe. however, what is different is the propensity for people wearing shoulder holsters to want to show off their gun, or play with it, etc. when a guy is walking around like the one described in the OP, my first thought is one of my favorite Far Side cartoons.


when somebody walks into a gun store with a shoulder holster, I leave.

I have no idea what the guy was doing by touching his gun but I'd be interested in what gun and holster he had but I must say I've heard of ND's from guys fiddling with pocket carry as well so I don't think it's exclusive to shoulder holsters.

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[bikemutt]

Minor difference; most don't carry loaded guns in gun cases. The plastic one even have lawyer-language suggesting not carrying a loaded gun in the case.

 

[taliv]

of course it's not exclusive to shoulder holsters. people ND all the time with belt holsters. but when they do, they'll hit themselves or the ground, instead of someone else.

 

[X-Rap]

I don't fiddle with my guns in public and I've got some pretty solid views on what happens with some when a gun is drawn for cause in public so I don't feel I am any more a menace than some of them.
It's not my favorite method but on long trips driving or on a MC I find it preferable.

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[RX-79G]

Are saying firearms scare you?

Actually, if you think about it....if a weapon is concealed, you can't know if its pointed at you or anything else. How it is being carried (holster or not). What type of weapon it is (multiple safeties, Revolver, Semi-Auto).

With Open Carry...at the very least...you can react as you wish.

Such dissension among gun owners over things like mode of carry. The anti's don't really have to try all that hard anymore. We will tear ourselves apart at this rate.

Leaving this thread now.

Yes, guns do concern me because they are dangerous and people are f'ing stupid - and prove it all the time.

I also hate going to the indoor range. I've had a hot range called when I was downrange at an outdoor range. Then I witnessed a man shot at a gun show by a gun dealer handing off his CCW with the chamber still loaded. Most recently, I saw my RO at IDPA DQ'd for his gun firing after "unload and show clear".


I support all of your right to own a gun, despite some of you also being idiots who really should be trusted with a gun, car or children. That's the price of freedom - tolerating ALL of the people in your society.


So you'll pardon me if I don't give rubber stamp approval of every moronic thing my fellow gun owners decide to shove down everyone else's throat.

 

[Robert]

Name calling instead of thought out arguments? Yup, we are done here.