Hey guys, Miranda here, and today I have
my friend Kayla.
She has some great questions about
concealed carry options for women,
so we jotted down a few of the questions
here, and we thought, you know, like Kayla,
I'm sure a lot of you have the same
questions,
so we're just going to go ahead and
answer some of those today. One of the
first questions I wanted to ask you
is should I carry on my body or in a
purse?
The thing to remember is that most
self-defense situations are very fast
and violent. If you look at statistics
and actual events,
they're over in seconds, from the
realization that you need to defend
yourself to when it's over.
So with that in mind, you want to carry
in a manner that you can access your
firearm quickly.
Waistline carry in a holster - that's what
I do - I think it's probably the best
option, if you can comfortably carry and
conceal your firearm.
Now I'm aware most women care more about
fashion than the average man who carries
a gun,
so many of us decide to carry in a purse.
Off body carry is not ideal,
but I'd rather you carry in your purse
than leave your gun at home.
Do you recommend a purse that's
specifically designed for concealed
carrying, or will any old bag do?
There are a lot of great concealed carry
purse options out there,
but you can also just carry in your
regular purse. The thing I would
recommend is that you have a spot
designated
strictly for your gun. Don't throw your
lipstick, your sunglasses, your hair brush
in there.
You want to be able to reach in and grab
your gun every time.
So does that mean I should get a smaller
gun like this,
or a full-size gun? 
So if you're going to carry in your purse,
carry a proper gun. There is absolutely
no need to carry a tiny pistol
if you're going to put it in your purse.
You know, get a decent sized gun that's
easier to shoot, it's more accurate.
One of my biggest pet
peeves is when women are going to carry
in a purse, and they grab a tiny pocket
pistol. You know, if I'm being honest, most of us carry bags
big enough one of these guys would fit in there!
What are your thoughts on revolvers?
I hear a lot of men telling me that I
should get one of those guns.
Yeah, you know, revolvers are great guns,
they're reliable
and simple, and there aren't a lot of
things that can go wrong with them
that pulling the trigger again won't fix,
but the issues I have with revolvers,
besides, you know, the obvious lower
capacity and slower reloads,
it's the fact that they deliver all the
recoil back to the shooter.
You know, with a semi-auto it has an
action, and much of the recoil goes into
operating that action,
whereas with the revolver, all that
recoil is fed right back to you.
I've actually noticed that, and also with
revolvers I've noticed they have a
really long and heavy trigger pull.
Is that something you've experienced?
Yeah absolutely, so revolvers have a
heavy 10 plus pound trigger pull when
shooting them double action -
you can see it's a bit of a struggle - and
in most self-defense situations you're
not going to have the time
to cock the hammer, and take advantage of
that light trigger pull.
You're going to shoot the gun double
action, and that heavy trigger pull can
be troublesome, and cause you to be less
accurate with your shots.
You know, we've had many ladies go
through our training classes who come in
with a revolver that their
"Uncle Larry" recommended for them, and
they leave wanting a striker-fired
semi-auto by the end of the class.
With that being said, I've seen
semi-automatics that also are double
action. Is that something I should steer
away from?
So again, these require more training to
be proficient with. They're great guns,
and have a few advantages, but for those
who don't want to shoot a lot, or don't
have time to train a lot,
they add complexity that can be
troublesome in that fast, violent
self-defense situation.
What about manual safeties? I've been
told I absolutely need a gun with a
manual safety,
and I've been told the exact opposite. 
So I'm not a fan of manual safeties.
It's just one more thing to have to
train through and think about when your
life is on the line,
and once that adrenaline hits, and you
have to defend yourself or someone else,
your ability to think and deduce and
reason is gone.
It comes down to muscle memory, so if you
haven't trained
hundreds of times to click that safety
off, then there's a pretty good chance
that it'll slow you down when lives are
on the line.
And you know, not to mention that some of
these manual safeties take considerable
strength to disengage them.
Your safety is between your ears, it's
not some lever on a gun.
So what gun should I buy?
So first off, it has to be reliable,
and I mean extremely reliable. The last
thing you need is to be clearing
malfunctions in a life and death
situation.
It needs to be a gun that's fun to shoot.
You know, if you don't enjoy shooting it,
you're not going to want to carry it.
I personally prefer striker-fired
semi-auto 9mm's.
You know, I carry a Glock 43, I love to
shoot it,
but there are tons of great options out
there from many reputable dealers. There's Glock, Springfield Armory, Smith &
Wesson, H&K and so on.
What about racking the slide?
I have really small weak hands, and
that's something I'm really worried about.
Yeah, some ladies do have trouble with
the needed hand strength to rack a slide,
but honestly it is much more technique
than it is strength.
You can check out our video "How to Rack
a Slide", and they kind of go over that in
more detail.
Also, Smith & Wesson is making a
handgun that they've used some clever
engineering to lighten up that slide
pull,
it's their Smith & Wesson EZ line
and they're very easy to rack.
You keep mentioning 9mm's. Why
not a .380 or something
even more powerful than that?
So I think a 9mm is a good compromise
between stopping power and recoil. You know, sure,
a .40 or .45 has more
terminal energy, but I want you to buy
something that's fun
and comfortable to shoot. You know, guns
that have a lot of recoil tend to cause
the shooter to flinch,
and then your shot becomes less accurate.
As far as the .380 goes, they are less
powerful than a 9mm, and they
cost
twice as much to shoot. You know, we shoot a lot around here, and
9mm ammo is about half the
price of a .380.
Well, Miranda, thank you for answering all
my questions! I'm really looking forward
to going out and buying my first
concealed carry handgun.
Yeah, make sure you choose your gun
because it's what you like, and you can
shoot well. Don't go with 
something because "Uncle Larry"
said it's the gun for you.
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