Lesson for New to carry

[longtooth]

Drs appointment yesterday on my store bought knee.
After the normal Qs & As, walk for me, back peddle, & X-rays, we get to the twist, pull, prod & feeling part.
Dr. says, You have so much starch in those pants I cant really fell what I want to. can you drop your trousers so I can feel of your knee?

I have been carrying 24-7 since 2001 so this has happened before. Sooner or later it will happen to you. I carry a Springer Champion. 4" 1911, OWB. It is now show & tell time. Well, lets get it in the right order & it works better. It is "Tell & Show Time."

Me - Yes sir, but I do have a Texas Concealed Handgun Liscense & I am armed. When I take my vest off we will have a pistol showing.

Dr - OK, that is cool.

I unholster, vest on top of it, mag, & flashlight, on top.

DR. - Finger push, prod, more knee bends, knee cap check & OK, all looks real good, see you in a yr now.

Rearm & while doing so I get more Qs about mag & flashlight than gun. We talk CHL a little & Dr is interested so we are now working on a private class for him, PA, wives & a few other family members.

A few lessons for New to Carry folks:
Act like it is normal for every one to have a carry weapon on.
State that you have "A Texas Concealed Handgun License" & are armed. They may not know what a CHL is. Not OK, but, I have a gun.
Move to a safe area of the room, disarm & cover it if possible. This will keep a nurse or technition from walking in & getting scared.
Rearm making sure all safety rules are followed. KYBHOTBS (keep your bugger hook off the bang switch) Always point in a safe direction, no sweeps.
Dont get conversation distracted. If you cant do it & talk, dont talk til you are through.

There have been several threads on here about Drs office visits. Across the board Drs have been very receptive to patiences that are legally armed.
Texas has a VERY COMMENDABLE record on carry since '95.
We are all responsibe for keeping it that way. One careless neglegent discharge would erase 15 yrs of "at-a-boys"
LT

[Teamless]

Nice outcome LT! and Great way to explain it

State that you have "A Texas Concealed Handgun License" & are armed. They may not know what a CHL is. Not OK, but, I have a gun.
Move to a safe area of the room, disarm & cover it if possible. This will keep a nurse or technition from walking in & getting scared.

Another lesson learned by me today (for future reference of course)
See, this is why I love to read this forum, so much knowledge

[Fire1141]

This is the type of real world scenarios that would blindside some of us. Thanks for telling how you handled it. Nice work.

[USA1]

This is the type of real world scenarios that would blindside some of us.

During my last doctor visit the nurse asked me to remove my shirt for an EKG.
I didn't have a gun in my waistband like I normally would have,(I had one in my pocket) but if I did, I would have had to
somehow inform her of it before removing my shirt.

I like the way LT handled it..Calm and cool.

[davidtx]

I recently started with a new chiropractor and had to remove my weapon before treatment. He was cool and handed me a basket to put all my stuff in. He's from California and had some questions about Texas CHL. I knew he was a Muay Thai instructor and had trained most of his life, but on a recent visit we talked about knives and he showed me all the scars on his hands from disarming guys in the hood he grew up in. I guess I need to invite him to the range soon.

[cougartex]

[SecedeTX]

At least you did not go with the "excuse me while I whip this out" line.

All kidding aside, it was a very level headed way to deal with it. You never know how other people will recact to guns. Having grown up around them my whole life, it is hard for me to understand adverse reactions.

[fm2]

A few lessons for New to Carry folks:
Act like it is normal for every one to have a carry weapon on.

Absolutely! Great advice, thanks for the input.

[aggie06]

Unfortunately, I did the same thing last week. I was getting a physical and somehow I hadn't thought through how to handle the "turn your head and cough" test without disarming. I was more nervous than anything, worried he'd immediately run out of the exam room because of the crazy guy with a gun, but I told him I was licensed to carry a concealed handgun. I disarmed, leaving the gun in the holster, and placed it on the counter. No visible reaction from the doctor, but I wish I had seen this thread and thought through the scenario beforehand. Lesson learned.

[A-R]

Well done as always, longtooth

And kudos on picking up a potential CHL student ..... I need to make a doctor's appointment soon, something's gotta be wrong with some part of me - gotta recruit some future students

[KFP]

I'll echo LT's lesson. A good friend of mine is getting married this summer and I'm in the wedding, so naturally I needed to be fitted for a tux. I went in having decided that I would explain if asked, but act like it was nothing out of the ordinary unless it was brought up. The gentleman taking my measurements got to my waist, touched the grip of my pistol, and simply said, "Do you always have that on?" I replied, "Yes, Sir." Clearly he had dealt with it before and perhaps carries himself, but I greatly appreciated his discretion. There were other customers around, so he was able to get the information that he needed, and not alert anyone else.

[stevie_d_64]

I have been carrying 24-7 since 2001 so this has happened before. Sooner or later it will happen to you. I carry a Springer Champion. 4" 1911, OWB. It is now show & tell time. Well, lets get it in the right order & it works better. It is "Tell & Show Time."

Same thing happened to me at the Dentist office...They were going to put me under for an extraction, I told him I would have torun out to the truck to put something up...He said are you afraid me or the girls will take your wallet...I said no, and he asked what I needed to secure...Well...I took a chance, and showed him...He was absolutely cool with it and he locked it up back in his office till I came around after the procedure...

Next thing I know he and I are walking down the front of the office towards ProDefense where he had been wanting to buy a pistol for a while...He just didn't have someone to guide him on the purchase...

So I guess it depends on who your Doctor is I suppose...

[BroTyler]

I guess you could say I might be one of those doctors one day. I still just get worried about what can happen, such as with Jerome Ersland (the pharmacist who defended his pharmacy). I appreciated my friend guiding me on a gun purchase, though.