Why does printing matter?

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Are you referring by chance the outline of a gun may present if carried unholstered in a pants pocket or some other article of clothing A light jacket perhaps. If so then it’s sorta of blown it’s cover. So to speak.
 
If that’s what he means, then the problem is if it’s printing you’ve lost the “concealed” part. Even though you have the firearm concealed other people can notice it. Me personally I have my ccw permit so as long as I’m in a place that allows concealed carry I don’t care if it prints or what others think.
 
I carry an LCP in my right front pants pocket. With jeans it’s not that noticeable. With dress pants or chinos a bit more An observant gun person would notice, like SP-14 I not overly concerned about it.
 
The management at my work is on the liberal side. I carry a LCP or P32 every day. If my carry gun doesn't print and nobody ever knows I am carrying the issue of carrying will never come up and it will never be a problem.

In general day to day errands (back a few weeks ago when there was such a thing) I worry less about printing but I still make a very concious effort to not advertise the fact that I am carrying a gun.

If I wanted to advertise the fact that I am carrying to make a statement I would open carry. Instead I prefer to be anonymous and keep my concealed carry piece concealed. There are a lot of people who are nervous around guns and the people who carry guns... why rile them up for no reason?
 
MikeInOr said:
The management at my work is on the liberal side. I carry a LCP or P32 every day. If my carry gun doesn't print and nobody ever knows I am carrying the issue of carrying will never come up and it will never be a problem.

In general day to day errands (back a few weeks ago when there was such a thing) I worry less about printing but I still make a very concious effort to not advertise the fact that I am carrying a gun.

If I wanted to advertise the fact that I am carrying to make a statement I would open carry. Instead I prefer to be anonymous and keep my concealed carry piece concealed. There are a lot of people who are nervous around guns and the people who carry guns... why rile them up for no reason?
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A good point really. Could be down right confrontational in these uncertain times.
Not printing but learned the hard way not to carry a piece in the small of the back shoved under the waistband. Loose summer shorts standing at the cashier window in a local car dealership. Felt the piece start to slip. by the time I reached around it had slid down my leg and thumped on the carpet.
A salesman walking by laughed out loud.
 
In prisons (institutes of higher education for the criminal element) I imagine printing is one of the things the inmates would discuss. I don't want to be the first target in a bad situation because I was printing.
 
It may, or may not be an issue. Every situation is different. MOST people just aren't observant enough for it to matter in most situations. And the ones who did notice would just think it was a cell phone. But in some situations I DO NOT want anyone to have a clue that I'm armed.
 
I don’t like it for retention reasons.

If your gun is printing and you are in line at a gas station, its a fairly easy grab for the ex con or teenager behind you. If I were criminally minded I could have swiped a few.

I’ve gone to AIWB almost exclusively for this reason.
 
Even though concealed carry may be legal, some uninformed snowflake may call the police. If you are lucky, it only result in a waste of the LEO's time and yours.
Fifty-two years and nobody has spotted mine yet.
 
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sparkyv said:
This used to matter to me, anymore not so much
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I tell people to conceal carry like they are carrying $100,000 in cash - Don't be noticed.

Some people may not care or notice but you don't want to attract any unwanted attention, just in case.

Be safe.

ApacheCoTodd said:
Because *printing* means your concealed-carry is not.
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Bingo, especially for times when it REALLY matters, like when you have to save your life or lives of others.
 
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Well, I don’t know if I can explain the issue “exactly” of not, but it would make me uncomfortable if my carry gun was printing so badly that the people in the pew behind me at church noticed my gun when we have to stand up. I don’t think they do though, and if they did, they’d probably just think I was carrying a cell phone on my belt. Besides, when we stand up at church, we’re supposed to be looking at the preacher, or the screen that has the words to the hymns on it - not the hips of the people in the pew in front of us.;)

Just kidding around - mostly. I really do think worrying about printing is a bit overdone. There are two guys (besides myself) in my small American Legion post that I know carry. One of them open carries a Kahr 9, and the other open carries (usually) a full-sized 1911. At last month’s meeting however, I thought I noticed the 1911 guy wasn’t carrying, which surprised me. But when I looked closer, I could see the bulge under the guy’s loose-fitting shirt. Here’s the thing though - I was looking for it. Someone who wasn’t looking for it would probably have never noticed it.

On the other hand, I’m 5’11”, and 200lbs, but the 1911 guy whose gun was barely printing under his loose fitting shirt is a head taller, and probably has 70lbs on me - under just a loose fitting shirt, a full sized 1911 would probably “print” a lot worse on me than it does on him.
 
There’s three reasons it matters to me.

Open carry is fine in my state, so printing has no legal implications. However there is a tactical advantage in my opinion to bad guys not knowing you are armed.

Second, it’s no one’s business if I’m armed or not. It’s my business only.

Third, people are a pain in the ass in general. I don’t feel like talking to cops and having my time wasted when some dial happy liberal decides they think me carrying a gun is an imminent threat.
 
Concealing a firearm is polite in some circumstances. Keep good cover and there's nothing to see, carry a super redhawk owb to Christmas at grandma's , you'll be judged. I live in Illinois , no open carry and snowflakes like crazy. I carry a big gun (most of the time) but I keep it covered , never been an issue. No one's looking at you unless you give them a reason.
 
I agree. Not one time have I been outed, I'm just not overly concerned about it as if it's not even there. I wonder how many times a guy has outed himself by being overly concerned and drawing attention to themselves?
LiveLife said:
I tell people to conceal carry like they are carrying $100,000 in cash - Don't be noticed.

Some people may not care or notice but you don't want to attract any unwanted attention, just in case
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1) It would make some people uncomfortable, so "no printing" = "nice manners".

2) What HB said: If your gun is printing and you are in line at a gas station, its a fairly easy grab for the ex con or teenager behind you.

2.5) If I need to use it to stop a violent assault, I want its use to be a surprise. The opposite (see above) would be if its obvious presence actually caused the violent assault.

3) I drove across the country this summer. Some redneck in Tennessee or somewhere was open carrying in a BBQ restaurant. People were looking at him like he was a real (*your favorite insult goes here*). All he really had to do was untuck his shirt so as not to make a spectacle of himself.
 
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