Bullseye: My Problem with Concealed Appendix Carry
Advantages of Concealed IWB Appendix Carry
SUMMARY
There are advantages to appendix carry of a handgun for concealment. But the possibility of an unintended discharge is the reason why the first rule of gun safety is to always point a weapon in a safe direction. The emphasis is on “always.” Not “most of the time” or “unless.” Always.
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George T. Williams is the Director of Training for Cutting Edge Training in Bellingham, Wash. He has been a Police Training Specialist for more than three de- cades, as well as an expert witness in fed- eral and state courts nationwide and a widely published author for more than two decades. Mr. Williams develops and presents revolu- tionary concepts within integrated force training solutions through a problem-solving format, functionalizing police skills and tactical training. He may be contacted at
gtwilliams@cuttingedgetraining.org.
A
As explained in the article, with some modi- fi cations, the immediate advantages of the Appendix Carry are: 1. Greater protection of the weapon. Whether it’s in a crowd or a suspect attack- ing your weapon, there are biomechanical advantages to protecting your handgun if car- ried in the front waistband. In a crowd, you need not fear someone bumping into steel as is common when carried on your gun-side hip because people don’t normally collide at belly level face-to-face. If there is a disarm at- tempt, you are stronger pressing the weapon into your body in front of you than you will be if it is at your side. Additionally, your torso will fold forward during this eff ort, creating a mechanical block of both your hand(s) and your torso to removing the weapon. 2. A more covert deployment. Because there is less tell-tale physical motion in drawing the weapon—the gun-shoulder rising and/or the gun-elbow fl oating out to the side—it may be far safer to draw in a situation where the larger motion required to draw the handgun from a gun-side carry is likely to provoke fi re. Addi- tionally, the non-gun hand’s eff ort to lift and clear the shirt is far less noticeable. 3. Easier to deploy in a fi ght, either stand-
recent argument for the advantages of the inside-the- waistband (IWB) Concealed Appendix Carry came across my virtual desk. The author did a good job making his case for carrying a concealed handgun inside the belt at the belly. There are several distinct advantages to carrying the weapon at the front of the waist rather than at the side or rear on the gun side. But, I won’t carry my concealed handgun in front of my waistband.
My problem with the Concealed Appen- dix Carry is the NRA’s Firearms Safety Rule #1: Don’t point a fi rearm at anything you aren’t willing to destroy or kill. Pointing your weapon at your nether region when you draw or holster your handgun is inviting tragedy. And everyone I’ve ever seen when holstering or drawing from the front waistband, includ- ing me, directs their muzzles at their impor- tant parts. So I don’t do it. Maybe you might want to reconsider your carry options.
31 The Police Marksman Mar-Apr 2015
ing or on the ground. If deadly force is needed when locked up with the suspect, either on your feet or, especially if grappling, the Ap- pendix Carry permits safer and quicker draws than traditional gun-side carry positions. Note: In this single point, I disagree. Teaching defensive tactics for more than 30 years and Tactical Duty Knife classes since 2000 where offi cers are trained to draw weap- ons in deadly force situations during intense physical confl ict, there is no real problem with drawing from a gun-side carry position (other than the suspect fouling the draw in some manner). However, drawing from an Appendix Carry can be problematic based on the context of the fi ght and the body position of the offi cer. If the offi cer’s torso is curled forward from eff ort or simply by positioning, then the Appendix Carry is a much more dif- fi cult draw for the same biomechanics that make it superior for weapon retention—the torso blocks the draw from the holster. Ad- ditionally, if the suspect fouls the draw as or after the weapon leaves the holster and the
weapon is pressed against the offi cer’s belly, the offi cer is now a fi ve- to eight-pound trig- ger press from being disemboweled (Rule #1). 4. T e Appendix Carry is faster than any other carry position. T ere is no question of its speed compared to other concealed carry positions. Because of its more central positioning, there is less travel time for both hands. T e non-gun hand lifts the shirt on the midline and the gun hand moves natu- rally forward to the grip. It is much faster than gun-side carry where the non-gun hand must travel across the body to lift the shirt while the gun hand (and shoulder) must make larger, longer moves to fi rst reach the handgun, then lift it far enough for the muz- zle to clear the holster. 5. T e Appendix Carry is easier to conceal. Unless obese, the Appendix Carry is less likely to print through a shirt, especially if the shirt is untucked. It’s not even close to other waist carry options for concealment.
Appendix Carry and the Possibility of Unintentional Discharges T e fi rst fi rearms rule we all learn is to point the muzzle of a weapon in a safer direction. T at means that no matter if it fi res either intentionally or unintentionally, no one—in- cluding the shooter—will be inadvertently in- jured. I’ve learned this after a long life: having any fi rearm pointed at any part of me is not a good idea. Pointing it at a region of my body that is critical to survival is worse. On the fi rst day of 7th grade wood shop,
our teacher, Mr. Burroughs, told us to look at each of the machines in the shop. He said each machine had an “automatic cut-off fea- ture”: Any part of our body that machine touched, it cut off automatically. Having never matured beyond junior high school (so my loving wife tells me), I think of the muzzle of any weapon in the same fashion: Any part of my body or anyone else’s it points at, it shoots off . T e IWB Appendix Carry puts the muzzle
to an area that contains your femoral triangle as well as your…parts. T e femoral triangle is the area from your pubic bone (actually, in- guinal line) down the inside front of the leg to approximately four inches below, and in- cludes your femoral artery, vein, and nerve, as well as your great saphenous vein. A gunshot
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