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Car holsters
- Thread starter Mortimer94
- Start date
NES Thread: Direct Control?
That thread's your best bet for the general consensus (ranges from "it's unclear under state law" through "not a good idea" to "don't do it").
Past the arguments in the thread, consider what may happen in an emergency. I've been rear-ended at highway speeds (I was stopped in a long line of cars when someone in an SUV came over a hill and never slowed down) and had even secured items in my car thrown across the passenger compartment. I've also rolled a car (the long way, no less) and ended up upside-down and thoroughly confused while gasoline was running in from the trunk. In neither of those situations would I want to be looking for a handgun, nor would I depend on having the state of mind to even remember to try.
For that matter, even if you did remember to take it, consider the optics of the situation. Someone rear-ends you and you get out of the car holding a handgun (because you can't leave it in the car out of your direct control). I can't see any way that would be taken well.
While your overall point is good, in what situation would you have a gun in your car without having a regular holster on to put it in for when you get out of the car? Are you just hand carrying the gun in the morning to the car, and then planning on leaving it when you get to your destination?
Well, I wouldn't use a car holster regardless, so I haven't given it a great amount of thought. If I have a gun in my car it's either in a holster on my person or in a case.
Still, assume you have your body holster in a position that it has inconvenient or unworkable access while seated (after all, why else would you want a car holster?). You have the accident and the assumption above is that you can't manipulate the gun in/out of the holster while seated. So, you're going to have to get out of the car holding the gun one way or another. Sure, you'll then be seen putting it into the holster, but it won't be concealed at that point, and someone's likely to start bleating.
Ok, that makes more sense anyway. The way I carry it would be easier to have it in a car holster due to crappy draw sitting in my car, but I was thinking that unless the car was on fire (And thus I'd leave it there) I wouldn't get out until I managed to awkwardly put it away in my regular holster. I can see how someone else might get out first then put it away, causing a scene.
I think the part that gets me on this is that if I carry in a way that makes it tough to comfortably drive, or restricts my draw, then I am just trading one problem for another by employing a “car holster”.
I think a car holster could be set up to be just as safe, if not safer, than a holster on your person IMO, while improving both comfort and accessibility while operating your vehicle.
The trade off is the transition. Switching from an awkwardly placed (while seated) body holster to your car holster, and back again when your destination is reached, is a potentially dangerous operation all on its own just based on the mechanics alone. Add to that the fact that your attention is likely to be at least partially distracted from task at hand by the requirement to be extra aware of your surroundings given the secondary danger of being “spotted” by some loon in our present climate and the risk increases.
Not arguing one way or the other really, just offering my musings on the matter.
I think a car holster could be set up to be just as safe, if not safer, than a holster on your person IMO, while improving both comfort and accessibility while operating your vehicle.
The trade off is the transition. Switching from an awkwardly placed (while seated) body holster to your car holster, and back again when your destination is reached, is a potentially dangerous operation all on its own just based on the mechanics alone. Add to that the fact that your attention is likely to be at least partially distracted from task at hand by the requirement to be extra aware of your surroundings given the secondary danger of being “spotted” by some loon in our present climate and the risk increases.
Not arguing one way or the other really, just offering my musings on the matter.
