By Sam Hoober, Alien Gear Holsters
Some folks may recall the song “Don’t Take Your Guns To Town” by Johnny Cash. For those who have never heard it, we are all disappointed in your decision making and you need to get some Johnny Cash records. The song is about a kid who goes…to town…and is warned by his mother not to take – you’ll never guess it – his guns.
She turns out to be right. He acts like a fool and gets himself killed.
Speaking of which, an FBI agent got himself in the news for doing just that recently. The agent in question was wearing his duty pistol – or at least A pistol – while off-duty, and decided it was a good idea to go dancing at a nightclub.
While getting jiggy with it, he did a backflip and sent his gun to the floor. He tried picking it up, but pulled the trigger while picking up the gun to reholster it. Luckily he “only” wounded one of the other club goers.
This incident illustrates why it’s actually okay to leave your guns at home sometimes. Granted, if you’re going to conceal and carry, you should do so at all times that you are able to; it defeats the purpose of getting the permit and carrying if you don’t. However, what is also true is that there are definitely some instances when you need to leave your gun at home or, failing that, leave it in the car. Otherwise, you shouldn’t be where you are or doing what you’re doing.
In this instance, the off-duty agent was enjoying a bit of nightclubbing and dancing. Nothing wrong with those things; they’re fun, and he – and everyone else – appeared in the video to be having quite the good time until he pops a back handspring and drops his gun on the floor.
This is also a good time to mention that you should tailor holster retention to anticipated activity level. A good thumb break may have prevented this from happening. However, taking his gun off before hitting the dance floor would have too.
Obviously, this also applies to drinking. Don’t drink and drive, don’t drink and carry. He was at a nightclub and while (ostensibly) a professional law enforcement officer, there’s a chance the next stop after the dance floor was going to be the bar. Given that the joint he was at is the Mile High Spirits Distillery, according to Fox 31 Denver, those odds are pretty good.
Nothing wrong with that either, on its own. Chances are most people who will read this (and definitely the guy writing it) have tied one on (or maybe several) during a few special occasions in their lifetime (or stayed lit most of one’s junior year, in some instances) which isn’t unheard of in the least. Drinking and carrying is not, as it is both illegal and stupidly dangerous.
There’s some discussion if having one or two is acceptable, much like before driving, but the best practice is not to drink alcohol if you’re going to drive or carry. After all, if there’s no alcohol in your system…there’s won’t be any question about whether it affected your judgement. Therefore, if you’re going to drink, leave the gun at home.
And so on and so forth.
Obviously, one should carry whenever and wherever possible if one is going to bother getting a permit, a gun, a concealed carry holster and so on. It’s just that there are definitely some instances when you definitely ought to leave the gun at home, if not in your car.
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Sam Hoober is Contributing Editor for AlienGearHolsters.com, a subsidiary of Hayden, ID, based Tedder Industries, where he writes about gun accessories, gun safety, open and concealed carry tips. Click here to visit aliengearholsters.com.