TexasCHLforum.com

Okay, did the first conceal in public today. I received my CHL a little sooner than I had anticipated, so I've been negligent in my preparation. Since the weapons I have are not going to be my final carry solution, I don't want to spend a bunch of cash on holsters. I'm waiting till after Christmas, I'll then upgrade my .380 and 9mm, and purchase some high end holsters to accomodate the new pieces. I ordered and just received of couple of Don Hume's. I purchased an IWB for the .380 and an OWB for the 9mm.

Thereby my dilemma. Going through the wardrobe, I just couldn’t get anything working. IWB with my .380 was just too tight, and with OWB and the 9mm everything printed more than I was comfortable with. Frustration set in, so I just threw the holstered .380 in the lowest pocket in a pair of cargo pants and set off the Wally World and Lowe’s. The mission among others at Wally World was to find some cheap britches that I could experiment with IWB. Concealing in the bottom pocket of my cargo pants really sucked. By the time I got to my third stop and my second Lowe’s, I left the .380 in the car because I got tired of it bouncing off the side of my leg.

My question is regards to printing. Why does one not want to print?
A. Is it that one doesn’t want unnecessary LEO attention?
B. Is it illegal?
C. Or is the attempt to keep from getting outed by a little tike yelling “he’s got a gun”, when you’re in the express checkout lane?

If it is C. only, I’m beginning to think I really don’t care. If it’s all of the above, then I’ve got some work to do. Hindsight being 20/20, I should of just left the 9mm on my side and struck off.

P.S. The official Wally Walk will take place when I receive the carry purse I ordered for my wife. We went through the process together, so we'll do a "Dual Wally". Dual Wally's with the wife are so much fun, if you know what I mean....

If you need some good quality, cheap concealment clothing I got some great stuff from here

http://www.lapolicegear.com/closeouts.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As for printing...I believe that it isn't illegal, however, you probably want to avoid as much attention as you can get.

edit: The pants I just got from them the other day I manged to secrete :

1 Glock 30 SF + 1 spare mag
1 Springfield XD9 + 1 spare mag
1 Bersa 380 Thunder + 1 spare mag
1 knife, 1 wallet, and a credit card clip

Of course it felt heavy but my wife couldn't even tell I had anything on me....except the credit card of course but that is just intuition!

One could almost think I was going to church!

steking wrote: My question is regards to printing. Why does one not want to print?
A. Is it that one doesn’t want unnecessary LEO attention?
B. Is it illegal?
C. Or is the attempt to keep from getting outed by a little tike yelling “he’s got a gun”, when you’re in the express checkout lane?

I'll let someone else answer those questions.

I can tell you from my experience , you should go up one size on pants to accommodate IWB carry.
Also , a good wide stiff belt makes a huge difference with OWB and IWB carry.

USA1 wrote:
I can tell you from my experience , you should go up one size on pants to accommodate IWB carry.
Also , a good wide stiff belt makes a huge difference with OWB and IWB carry.

USA1, I was in your town today. Have you ever been pulled over by Tomball PD while carrying? If so, how did the stop go?

People worry a lot but I don't know anyone who had a problem because they printed.

steking wrote:

USA1 wrote:
I can tell you from my experience , you should go up one size on pants to accommodate IWB carry.
Also , a good wide stiff belt makes a huge difference with OWB and IWB carry.

USA1, I was in your town today. Have you ever been pulled over by Tomball PD while carrying? If so, how did the stop go?

Not yet ...knock on wood. But I don't anticipate any problems when it does happen.

Kevinf2349 wrote:If you need some good quality, cheap concealment clothing I got some great stuff from here

http://www.lapolicegear.com/closeouts.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As for printing...I believe that it isn't illegal, however, you probably want to avoid as much attention as you can get.

edit: The pants I just got from them the other day I manged to secrete :

1 Glock 30 SF + 1 spare mag
1 Springfield XD9 + 1 spare mag
1 Bersa 380 Thunder + 1 spare mag
1 knife, 1 wallet, and a credit card clip

Of course it felt heavy but my wife couldn't even tell I had anything on me....except the credit card of course but that is just intuition!

One could almost think I was going to church!

Thanks for the link, they do have some nice stuff at very reasonable prices. Did you have to wear suspenders to keep your pants up?

steking wrote:Thanks for the link, they do have some nice stuff at very reasonable prices. Did you have to wear suspenders to keep your pants up?

No...the free belt they sent with them did the job very well. In fact I don't even own any suspenders...........yet.

Printing isn't illegal, unless your shirt is so tight that it looks like a kydex holster: molded in the shape of a handgun.

LEO's _may_ notice, but civvies won't, at all.
If they notice anything, their first thought will be "Cell Phone" or something, not 'handgun'.

I've carried OWB in a t-shirt. You can bet that there was a oddly shaped bulge on my shirt, but no-one said anything to me at all.

If you have any kind of button down shirt wear it with a T-shirt and jeans or kaki shorts and dont tuck the button down in leave it out. Problem solved and you should be able to wear your 9mm very easily. I have never had an issue even carrying a full size 45. Heck go to a thrift store they have tons of button down shirts if you are hurting for cash. Whats cool about dressing like this is that you look totally normal not like a undercover cop. I love the 5.11 pants/tactical pants but the wife doesnt care for them and I think they may draw more attention to you. Especially if you wear some kind of tactical boot with them. I do like them though.

There's a difference between "printing" and "a lump under the shirt."

To quote from a post from three years ago:

Sometimes folks go through a wee bit of "stage fright" or self-consciousness when they first carry in public: "Is it printing?" "Will anyone notice?" No matter how carefully you dress, you can feel like everyone is staring at that new lump under your shirt/waistband/belt, that is so very obvious to you. And if it feels that large and obvious to you, then naturally, it must be obvious to everyone around you, right? ("Mommy, why does that man have a big lump on his side?" "Shush, dear, it's not polite to stare." )

Unless that "lump" is very clear upside-down "L" shape, most folks won't make the connection with "gun." Those that do, are likely folks who carry themselves, or who know someone who carries.

If you're still uncomfortable with it, this weather now is ideal for putting a loose, unbuttoned shirt or a light vest/jacket on over top of your other shirt. You can also add other "lumps" such as a leatherman or cell phone next to the holster clip and further obscure the outline.

I'm only 5'2", but I routinely carry a Sig P250 or Colt Commander in an OWB holster this way.

>I've carried OWB in a t-shirt.

Actually, this is my standard carry, and I've not had a problem. And I'm carrying a fullsize Browning hi power. I switched to the Browning when I realized a compact Glock was harder to conceal because of the wide, brick-shaped slide :-)


No loud Hawaiian shirts for me :-)

ghostrider wrote:>I've carried OWB in a t-shirt.

Actually, this is my standard carry, and I've not had a problem. And I'm carrying a fullsize Browning hi power. I switched to the Browning when I realized a compact Glock was harder to conceal because of the wide, brick-shaped slide :-)


No loud Hawaiian shirts for me :-)

I have a Hawaiian shirt that is So Loud, my wife refuses to go anywhere in public with me wearing it.

It's awesome... I just wear it on the days she's scheduled day-long shopping trips for.

Most of my button ups, though, are subdued. I only have that one Loud shirt :)

The legendary dangers of printing are overrated. Just carry what you want, however you want to, and make a reasonable attempt to conceal it. Then carry 24/7 and quit worrying about whether anyone can tell if you have a gun on or not. If you exhibit anxiety about it, your anxiety will be more readily apparent to an observer than will be the source of your anxiety — whether or not you are printing.

I recall one of our members — forgot who it was — who was standing in a line at a burger stand, waiting to order. He had an unknown hole in his shirt, and the butt of his pistol was visible through the hole. An LEO stopped for lunch and stepped up behind him in the line. Realizing that the exposure was unintentional, the LEO placed his hand on our member's shoulder, leaned forward, and whispered to him that his gun was showing. They wound up eating lunch together and talking guns.

Now, I'm not willing to risk exposing my gun "accidentally" to test that with other LEOs, but that said, the fears that new CHL holders have about printing are a bigger problem than the actual printing itself. So as the saying goes, strap it on, conceal it, and forget about it.

printing isnt illegal.
PC 46.035 (a) states "A license holder commits an offense if the license holder under the authority of [their CHL] and intentionally fails to conceal the handgun.

Intentionally.

The Open Carry folks argue we need open carry "because you can get popped for printing" which just really isn't so, unless you're printing so badly that you've got a gun-shaped outline on your clothes.

In my experience, nobody notices unless they actually SEE a gun. So many people carry smartphones that that most people assume thats what the lump is.