So, Occupy Broad Ripple With Guns has, as could have been predicted, caught the eye of the local media. I haven't decided if I'll be attending or not, but their heart seems in the right place: This isn't some Curtis Sliwa-esque vigilante patrol, but a pro-gun public outreach thing to raise awareness that folks are allowed to protect themselves in Indiana.
I did note one thing in the video with dismay, if also a total lack of surprise: Folks if you're going to be carrying your heaters out where God and the TV cameras can see them, is it asking too much to get you to spend as much on your holsters as you did on your shoes? Seriously, you're wearing a nice sports coat and look all cleaned up and presentable and your heater is in some horrible $9.99 nylon & velcro sausage sack with Irish pennants dangling from the seams.
(Next Week's Rant: Why did the cops go from nice basket-weave leather to ballistic nylon? Kids these days, get off my lawn! In my day, nickels had pictures of bees on them!)
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51 comments:
When Coach and Hartmann start making holsters, they will.
DeSantis. They make a perfectly serviceable, nice, presentable Mexican goat leather holster for less than fifty bucks.
Well, at least it was a SIG-Sauer in that Passport failbag and not an XD or Taurus...
(Is it really snobbery when it costs pretty much the same to do it right?)
pdb,
Beyond the tacticool aspect, it's that, by inviting the TV cameras, you have turned your gun into a fashion accessory.
To be all clean and scrubbed and combed and dressed nicely and then to have your pistol bobbing and sagging in a gun show airsoft holster just bugs me. Maybe it's just me.
In the news story, I was amused that they needed the Hipster pizza boy to give the counter-argument...which just so happened to be framed in the No-Shit-Sherlock talking point of "Guns and Alcohol Don't Mix".
Yeah cause Us carry guys are totally in favor of people getting legless whilst strapped.
Man what's the state of things for the antis? Isn't Paul Helmke back there now? Couldn't they have lobbed the softball at them?
Nylon holsters... the ultimate fashion faux pas.
Dammit, now I need a classy goin' to church leather holster -- I'm kydex all the way at the moment.
Preempting next week's rant: apparently because duty gear in nylon is considerably lighter than gear in leather. They're still running around with ten to fifteen pounds of crap hanging off their duty belts, but ounces make pounds.
Secret Squirrel,
"Dammit, now I need a classy goin' to church leather holster -- I'm kydex all the way at the moment."
Well, you could get colored kydex to complement your wardrobe, I guess.
And aren't there companies that do sporty-lookin' faux carbon fiber finishes or something? It may not look "dressy", but it'd at least make "business casual". ;)
Another good option is Don Hume... Under $50 for the open top, or $52 for the thumb break version...
http://www.gunnersalley.com/product/H721SALE/Don-Hume-Double-Nine-H721-Belt-Holster.html
(not affiliated in anyway, I've just bought two Don Hume holsters from em for good prices and service)
Personally I have the open top for my dressy holster
Well, thank you for making my plans for me Saturday night, PB. :)
(If it were Sliwa-esque, they'd be prowling the back alleys and dark parking lots on the fringes, where the bad stuff was happening, not smiling and shaking hands in the bright core which is safe as houses.)
My fashion plan includes a freshly scrubbed M1936 belt in OD#3 supporting full-flapped 1942 Boyt leather.
I do seek advice on deployment of the leather tie-down. Is it de rigueur to employ the thigh-circle motif, or may I retain the classic faux hangman's noose?
Otherwise, khakis, button-down oxford cloth from L.L. Bean, Sperry Topsiders over wool by WigWam.
"Always be noticed; never be conspicuous." That's me.
Note To Self: Go to Kinko's. Print a hundred copies or so of a simple little broadsheet explaining how to get a Hoosier toter's permit...
I had thought all this time that "Broad Ripple" was a facetious pet name for a place with a name like "Grand Rapids" or some such. Little did I (never having been in your area) know that it was a REAL name for a REAL place. I found that more startling than the story. Does Indiana require a permit for carry? Concealed or open?
Cheap leather is cheap leather - I'll take functional plastic over it any day. You get what you pay for - at least I do; I pay for good leather and good workmanship, which rules out Galco and DeSantis for me. Haven't seen Hume in some time - they used to be OK but then so did Bianchi - back in the dawn o' time.
Milt Sparks, Frontier Gunleather and Pocket Concealment Systems (Baltimore) have proven to be worth the money they cost. My "dress-up" rigs from PCS for 226 and 1911 are finished in a nice cordovan color. They don't get a lot of use since I no longer wear suits often.
pcb- no need to go hatin on XD's - I still carry mine more than anything else.
Jim - there's a guy in my town who's running the same rig - though he pairs it with a MarPat kilt and campaign cover...
"DeSantis."
Unless it has a name on it, like Coach, or Chanel, or Louis Vuitton, and it can be ordered in colors to match your dog, ain't nobody gonna be seen with them. Besides, black nylon is tactical, don't you know?
The first of the major designers to begin offering holsters with their name emblazoned which cost about $1200 each will make a killing.
{coughs} Dragon Leatherworks.
If you're looking for great looking holsters that won't break the bank, look no further than Dennis...
{/end commercial}
How dare they make their presence known on television sans a properly-accessorized barbeque gun! ;-)
I used to blame the people for their holster choices but then I started to notice that a lot of shops will gladly carry $1500 kimbers but not good holsters.
In my town all the gun shops carry good name brand sidearms but none of them carry decent holsters. I have to order all of mine over the net.
Sometimes people will stuff their heaters in what is available. Especially if they are new and uneducated to holster etiquette.
Well, thank you for making my plans for me Saturday night, PB. :)
You'll be posting pics of you with your barbecue gun/holster at the event, right?
jf
Colt 1903 in stingray from TheHolsterSite.com, bay-bee!
Gewehr98,
"How dare they make their presence known on television sans a properly-accessorized barbeque gun! ;-)"
Why bother to putt on a nice belt or shoes, then?
Hell, go on TV with your fly unzipped and holes in the knees of your jeans for all I care.
Boat Guy: The campaign hat would be tres chick, but I have none. My head gear will be a heliotrope gimme cap emblazoned in red with "Death Before Dishonor."
This accessory gun scenario is getting more common. I may have to step up the "get accessory gun" TODO item.
If I could find grips I liked for a Ruger speed six that would help.
Just be glad they haven't decided to get one of those Maxpedition Black Nylon Turses....; )
But yeah, I guess it's kinda hard to find a Leather Holster and Belt in Rare Dark Earth anymore.
Seriously, if you're going to be making a Public Statement to change the Public's Mindset, Neat and Clean and Classy is the way to go. Or else you'll might be mistaken as one of those damn "Occupiers", and that won't help the Cause.
aczarnowski - you might ask Tedd at Blu Magnum about your Speed Six. He makes GREAT grips for S&W's and Ruger SA's. Don't know if he does Ruger DA's but you can't beat the workmanship and appearance.
Moonbeam killed OC here.
While I admit I'm not familiar with Indianans general level of dress or grooming, I have a hard time believing that Chin Moss spent more on any part of his wardrobe than he did on his holster.
Dennis from Dragon Leatherworks makes Talon Holsters for the Sig P225 he's carrying for $100.
For open carry, I use a Blackhawk CQC SERPA-3 holster. Its nice and functional, and in Carbon Fiber, looks pretty slick.
This guy is the poster child why the "straights" don't take our rights seriously. Jesus wept. Would it have killed him to clean up a little bit before becoming the mouthpiece for the movement? Until someone with some goddamned sense steps up we're doomed. Doomed.
Here in Va we know all about "BBQ guns".
If you're running down to the store and carrying concealed, sure, Uncle Mike's nylon sausage sack all the way.
But if you're going out to dinner you need some leather, or at least a nice Phobus Kydex.
"Uncle Mike's Sausage Sack"? Really? Did I just write that?
I wish I lived near there, instead of on the other end of the country. I'd show up wearing a Hi-Point on general principle.
This is what happens when gals get involved in the RKBA movement.
Suddenly, we guys are told that we need to develop some fashion sense.
I am less concerned with what the holster looks like than with the fact that those cheap holsters are unsafe. Guys probably got FMJ loaded too.
PB,
"Also, it would be interesting to see the take of the resident LEO's..."
Did you not read the linked article?
"It is legal as far as we're concerned for people to carry their guns if they have a valid permit," says IMPD Officer Catherine Cummings.
Anon 7:52,
Keep appealing to 49% of the populace. Tell me how that works out for you.
As the esteemed Professor (a.k.a. "Instapundit") is fond of saying, the courts will only follow where the culture leads.
You can help change the culture, or you can rage against the dying of the light. Your call.
Gimme five bees for a quarter... Good job on the Abe Simpson reference.
My BagMaster shoulder rig has served me quite well carrying a 220 Sig or 454 Casul. I use it when hunting in the jungles of Florida where every step is a potential hazard with snags and brush. Leather would get wet and deform in a heart beat.
Everything has it's place.
I also have nice leather for show and go public use.
Never ever go without a holster though ! It must have full trigger protection with restraint to hold that Hog leg in place.
Last night I had a discussion with Mrs. Shomes about this. If the OBRWG folks are focusing on public outreach and education they need to keep in mind an important component of this: IMAGE. The Department of Social Engineering. . . er . . . the MSM has successfully embedded certain stereotypical images in the minds of the general public and another fat middle-aged white guy like myself carrying around Broad Ripple is likely not going to help the Cause. On the other hand folks like Tam and my wife might have more of an impact in changing the way people think.
PB,
"Beware of false prophets."
How many shooting shows are on prime time TV compared to ten years ago? How many states issue carry permits compared to ten years ago?
It ain't the '90s anymore, PB, we are winning this culture war.
All true, Tam. But it's not due to actions like this one...which could hurt more than help.
It ain't the 90's, but that's when the sleeping giant was awakened, and he was pissed...and he is us. Since Fla was early into legal carry I have advised everyone I met and believed could handle the responsibility to carry and learn to use deadly defense.
And that, not self-promoting individuals of questionable motive and history, is what will rid Broad Ripple of its thugs; the uncertainty in the minds of cretins of whether this old guy or that little lady might just whip out a Smif if forced.
If we want to keep on "winning this culture war", we better choose our allies and our activities carefully.
PB,
Speaking of Florida's CCW laws, wich are, like those of Texas, trapped in the '90s like a fly in amber, have you considered joining Robb in some of his efforts to remove the ridiculous "must conceal" provision?
"it's not due to actions like this one...which could hurt more than help"
Beg to differ PB, few of the early activists were as polished as many toady, but they got out there and led the way.
I'm wondering how many of the "general populace" really understand/know/care that this guy isn't wearing the ne plus ultra in holsters.
Hell, most of the time when I OC the "general populace" doesn't even notice. They really SHOULD 'cause I'm usually wearing some really cool piece when I OC (sigh) ;-)
Tam, good call on revamping some fo the early laws
Tam,
An absurd aside is that OC wasn't illegal in Fla, and therefor was defacto "legal", before the adoption of concealed carry.
But the sleeping giant, once awake, hasn't stopped his rant; let's hope the efforts of Robb and others who have labored for years in thankless obscurity will remove that stupid oversight/provision, among many other infringements of Constitutional freedoms both within and without this particular culture war.
Still, I am leery of this action and its promoter and do not see how it can advance the cause but do see how it might retard it.
OTOH, if the word gets out that The Tam will be there passing out info and styling that lovely hunnert-year-old masterpiece encased in gorgeous dead-creature hide, and especially if that not-altogether-clueless teevee reporter shows up, that could be a positive event, not to mention very cool.
What is the dislike of the Gurdian Angels system? On the surface I see concerned citizens patroling there neighborhoods? A training system of first aid and how to interact with LEO. While I read on the blogs "Be a sheepdog" or "My weapon is for protecting me and mine." Not much on being proactive. For legal reasons I understand avoiding conflict.
Dad was in Civil defence back in the day. I thought that was similar to the Guardian Angels, in some ways. Guardian Angels "patroling" with a plan of action appears superior to a one time open carry walk with no plan.
Anon @ 11:28
Sliwa is a self-important attention whore who, last time I checked (back in the '80s), discounts armed self-defense.
Admittedly they came out of gun-free New York but for him it isn't about individuals taking care of themselves so much as it's "the community" watching out for each other.
Which are not mutually exclusive but seem to be in his eyes, when he can be bothered to go from self-promotion to theory.
Again, I haven't paid much attention to the Angels since their first decade so I could be operating under old and false perceptions.
An open top,pancake type holster,is an easy thing to get. You can even make it yourself,if need be.I have two that I swap out for every day carry of my VZ-82.They both show wear, but have never failed me. It was a cost/availability decision, because nobody makes one.Well, CZ makes one, but across the pond.The point should be that it isn't rocket science. Take's about a day.
And no, I am not a maker of holsters. My sixth grade teacher got me a kit,from ----- when I was in grade school.Previous post was NOT an ad.
What is this "nylon kydex??
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