JLStorm said: what type of dress do you personally recommend. Im sure a gun and a suit would go well together, but thats a bit much. I still wouldnt change my dress because I work in what I wear, and nice clothes arent appropriate in my field, but Im just curious.
I rarely wear a suit myself; only in appropriate circumstances do I dress in such attire.
I don't advocate a specific manner of clothing style. I do advocate looking at walking about society armed as an entire package. The package includes more than the gun, holster and belt.
I'm suggesting the image we present has an effect on people. We know this to be true on many levels, and we ourselves make those first impressions with others we meet. All I'm suggesting is look at your clothing style, and then insert a gun into the picture. What would you conclude about someone dressed as you are, who had armed himself? Go to the mall, or anyplace people congregate, and watch people. Observe who, if they stood before you armed, would look like part of the problem, and which people look like they might be a victim.
Consider also that if you use that gun, what you look like that day will be preserved in perpetuity for the DA, the judge at the bail hearing, the nighty 10 news o'clock release, and anyone else dealing with the case to see attached to the front of your file folder. The more you look like someone people can identify with, and say to themselves subconsciously, "Hey, he looks like one of us," I suggest the better chance you have of making that next first impression as good as it will go.
Conversely, how many times have you seen that mug shot on the nightly news, or that perp walk footage, and said to yourself, or even out loud to your wife for that manner, "Yeah . . .
HE looks like a real winner." Does it mean all that much? Maybe, maybe not. That's a decision we must all make for ourselves.
I am saying that your appearance will influence a first responder to make an immediate mental connection to what he can identify you with in his worldview. That may be the only communication you get to make with him. He may not be able to hear you, or may not listen to you if he could understand your explanations. Those decisions are literally made within seconds, and its at an unconscious level.
So, when I say you'll have to find a way to work that out, it means just that. You'll have to just find a way to work that out.