Carrying Multiple Guns

[BarryinIN]

Today, I had what must be my zillionth conversation about carrying more than one gun. I don't know why this freaks people out so.

I'm pretty passionate about carrying multiple guns, and wrote a little thingy about this for an online magazine a couple of years ago. Here 'tis:

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"If I need more than this one gun, I'm somewhere I don't need to be anyway."

"Maybe if I were a cop I'd carry one, but as a civilian, I don't see the need."

"I've had this gun for ten years and shot thousands of rounds through it without a problem."

I've only scratched the surface, but these are excuses I've heard for not carrying a second (or third) gun. I find it interesting that most dismiss the idea based on a single reason, yet there are many reasons to carry one.

I will never understand there being so many people who would never consider stepping out the door without a handgun, yet the mere suggestion of carrying a spare gun sounds completely absurd to them.

People have too much confidence in their guns, plain and simple. They think people will stop their aggressive actions after a shot or two, and they think the gun will always work as well as they do on the pretty range on a sunny day. That would be nice, but it doesn't work like that.

Guns fail.

They are machines, mechanical objects, and all of them fail. I used to spend my days replacing airplane components that were made under more tightly controlled conditions than any gun, had received many more inspections, and saw much less stress than handling 30,000 psi cartridges being fired over and over. Such parts fail every day.

Airplanes have multiple systems and so do I.

Yes, I know plenty of guns go for years without so much as a stutter. Any one of them can fail at any time. Auto, revolver, a simple derringer, it doesn't matter- they can and will fail sometime. It might be next week or three owners from now, but it will happen.

Here is a sampling of broken parts I've saved in the past few years. Some mine; some from other people. These parts came from various guns- Glock, Browning, Springfield- but these parts are shown here because they have something in common. Everyone one of these parts failures was accompanied by the gun's owner saying something like: "I've never had a bit of trouble with this gun". They all break sometime.

I carry multiple guns to raise the odds of having one that works when I need it.

Yes, I know, you've practiced that slick malfunction clearance that will clear almost any malfunction, in almost any gun, in almost any condition.

A second gun will fix those malfunctions too.

Thinking your gun will never let you down or that you can fix it in a half second are common excuses for not carrying a spare, but here's one most don't think about:

Accessibility.

Tomorrow, at various times throughout the day, ask yourself a question- Can you reach your gun right now?

And by now, I mean now, that very second, without standing up, moving the chair you are in, or removing your seat belt?

Then think how it would go if you only had one hand free. If you are pushing someone off with your dominant arm, or a family member is clinging to by the wrist, can you get a gun out? How about if you are injured? Maybe you are sitting on the ground with your knees pulled into your chest with your hands clasped around your ankles and head ducked for protection while someone is kicking you. How's that snappy range fast draw now? It doesn't even need to be as bad as losing the use of an arm or hand. Sometimes, just restricting your range of motion by only a little bit can prevent you from drawing your gun normally.

Ever sit down during the day? Can you get to your gun? Quickly? Without moving around?

I can get to mine

It might not be my first choice of firearm, but it might let me get to something better

I have a back problem that gives me days where I don't move very well. Maybe I can't bend at the waist, or maybe I can't walk very smoothly It's nothing close to being immobilized, yet it's enough that there are times I couldn't access a gun from my hip holster because of it. If I'm seated with my gun pinned in place by the seat back and I'm not moving well that day, it would take me so long to get to that gun that I might as well be unarmed.

This is with a relatively minor setback. Imagine how it would be with someone standing on your hand, or with a knife blade jammed into your shoulder.

It doesn't take much to keep you from accessing your primary handgun- maybe just a grab of the wrist

It doesn't take much to change that situation either

I carry multiple guns is so I can spread them around. Maybe this way, I can get to one.

For those who rationalize their choice of gun (or number of guns) by saying "If I need more than _____, I was someplace I shouldn't have been", I say this:

How do you know what your gunfight will be like? Nobody else knows.

One can't know if they will live the rest of their lives without drawing a gun or if they will get in a gunfight within the next 24 hours. If you can't tell if or when, you can't tell what it will be like.

I carry multiple guns because I don't know how many I might need. Hopefully it's none, but I also hope it isn't one more than I had.

I also hear people say they could understand carrying a second gun if they were in LE, but not as a civilian.

I fail to see what difference that would make.

If a law enforcement officer draws their weapon, it is no more or no less likely to fail as yours. The ammunition expended may be more or it may be less, just like any other gunfight.

I would argue that, if anything, the average citizen may have more need for a second or third gun than the average LEO. Regular people are almost always surprised, being jumped from the shadows in blindside attacks for example, so they almost always start from way behind the curve. By the time they need a gun, they could very well have the use of only one hand, be face down on the ground, or worse. An LEO is usually responding to an incident that has already taken place. Even if their attack comes as a surprise as in a traffic stop that goes downhill, it isn't a complete surprise. They should have at least some alertness about them and therefore respond a lot earlier in the cycle, instead of recovering from an initial beating. How about you, if you walk in on a break-in when you come home?

A second or third gun makes a good reload too.

We all like to think that we never miss. We draw and fire at that nice flat piece of cardboard, fill it with holes, and wonder how the PDs of major cities manage only a 10-20 percent hit rate.

The answer is simple. It's because we are shooting at a flat piece of cardboard.

Turn that target at an angle as if it is extending a gun arm toward you, make it run around erratically and duck now and then, put a car or person between you, let you run around that object trying to get a clear shot, and fire a few bullets in your direction and see how your shooting is.

And besides, some people don't cooperate and stop as soon as they are shot.

You won't need that many rounds? You won't shoot enough to reload?

An instructor I like often tells a story of a Highway Patrolman who pulled into a truck stop and surprised both himself and a truck driver who was in the process of kidnapping his ex-wife. A gunfight soon began that never put the participants more than 8 feet apart. The officer ended the fight with the 16th and final shot from his sidearm.

The instructor tells this story in a way that makes you think the officer fired so many rounds because couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Then he tells you the rest. The truth is he displayed excellent marksmanship, achieving hits with something on the order of 13 or 14 out of 16 shots fired.

Why did it take so many? Poor shot placement? Poor bullet performance?

No, every bullet went where it should have and did what it was supposed to do.

The problem was that the officer was never presented with a vital target until the very end. The kidnapper was behind cover of some sort, whether part of a truck or the building structure, so the officer had targets like a boot heel or maybe an elbow to shoot at. He nibbled away at the kidnapper, holding him in place and shooting what was available until something better came along. A shot to the elbow might cause the arm to flail out for a shot to the bicep. That might expose a shoulder. He kept going until he got it done eventually.

Some people might say that if the person is not right in front of you, there is no life or death reason to be shooting. I don't know about you, but if someone drags my kid behind a wall and all I have to shoot at is his boot heel or elbow, that's what I'm shooting at until I get something better.

The amount of ammunition one carries is a discussion all to itself, but remember: There are many reasons to fire a lot of rounds besides shooting poorly.

I carry spare magazines and practice reloading, but I can get a second gun into action faster than reloading the first one. I never thought so until I checked with a shot timer, and it's true. I would shoot my gun empty, reload, and shoot again. Then I would shoot the gun empty, pull another gun, and fire a shot from it. The time was always better drawing the second gun. The magazine has to be obtained from concealment and then put in the gun, but the second gun is ready when drawn.

This brings up the question of which is better: A slightly quicker, but usually harder to shoot backup; or a slightly slower reload of the gun that was your first choice? The situation might dictate, but a BUG gives you the choice at least.

And just because you think the gun is empty, it might not be empty. It might be broke. Or empty and broke. A second gun fixes both empty guns and broken guns.

It might not always be the best solution but it does simplify your training if, whenever you get a "click" instead of a bang, you go straight to Gun #2.

One final thought is that you might not be the one who needs your second gun.

Don't misunderstand, I am not in favor of passing guns out to total strangers, but I have handed a second gun off to my wife before. She might not have a gun with her for any number of reasons when we've stopped for a restroom break while on a long drive. It has been nice to have a "spare" to leave with her as we take turns waiting with the kids.

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to come up with scenarios where we would have to quickly split up to gather our kids. If it happens when we are away from home (likely) and she left without a gun (likely) and I have more than one (likely), she can be armed before heading off.

Even if she leaves the house without a gun, if I'm around, two of us can be armed quickly.

People go around every day with one gun, feeling well-armed. They might be well-armed, until something goes wrong. And things have gone wrong or you wouldn't be in a gunfight.

They might have all the confidence in the world in their one gun and that's fine.

I don't.