Have you ever been in a public location where someone notices your “concealed” handgun and stares at it for an uncomfortably long period of time?
Have you thought about how you might handle such a situation if you encountered it?
I was walking around a big outdoor street festival in a neighboring city last weekend. It was a great event. The city blocked off all the streets around the main town square. They set up a couple of stages for musical performances. There were dozens of food trucks, places where one could buy an adult beverage, a play area for little kids, and a vendors area filled with local artists. It was just a fun small town Texas festival.
I often criticize the police/security at these types of events, but I couldn’t fault the local PD for how they handled this festival. All roads leading to the event were blocked with both police cars and large city service trucks. It would be very difficult to pull off a vehicle run down attack. There were an abundance of both cops and paramedics patrolling the event. Everything looked very well planned from a logistical and counter-terrorism perspective.
As I was walking around, I was moving toward a small group of cops doing perimeter security for one of the concert stages. One of the cops made eye contact with me and then her eyes went on radar lock to my appendix carry pistol. I don’t know how she did it, but she spotted my gun.
There were no restrictions barring me from carrying a gun at the event. I wasn’t breaking any laws. I was wearing shorts and a loose, thin T-shirt. I was carrying my Glock 19 very low, with the grip partially below my waistband (appendix position) in a PHL-ster Enigma. I knew it was going to be a busy, crowded event and was carrying more deeply concealed than usual. I wasn’t printing at all.
I really don’t know how she spotted my gun, but she did. As I walked closer to her, she was staring directly at my holstered pistol. She eventually broke out of her stare and we made eye contact again.
Here’s my question for those of you who carry concealed firearms. What would you do or say to acknowledge the person who spotted your gun, make them feel safe, and get them to stop trying to stare at/identify your piece?
You don’t have to say anything. If you are legally carrying, it’s no one’s business. You could just ignore the stare and keep walking. With all that said, I don’t want the cops thinking I’m a problem. If a private citizen spots my gun, I don’t want them freaking out or making up some outlandish reason to call the police. I want people around me to stay calm and think of me as a friendly person who isn’t a threat to anyone.
I chose to verbally engage the switched-on cop.
I stopped in my tracks. I looked at the cop and said “Hi. I saw you looking at me, is my zipper down or something?” I moved my hands to check my pants zipper. She seemed a little embarrassed that I called her out for looking at my gun. She was on top of her game and replied “Oh, sorry. I was just zoning out. It’s been a long shift.”
I kept walking and said “I hope you have a great night.”
She spotted my gun. I called her out in a non-confrontational way to force her to stop staring at the bulge in my waistband. She followed the acceptable social script and denied looking at my gun. We both went our separate ways without any drama. I’m going to call it a win.
Do you have a planned response in the event you catch someone staring at your concealed handgun? If you are legally carrying it probably doesn’t matter. But you may not always be carrying within the strict letter of the law. It may be a good idea to have a couple of pre-planned responses to reduce social friction and the amount scrutiny someone is displaying. You aren’t trying to create problems. You want to have a pleasant evening. Some verbal dexterity and social fluidity can reduce your “threat vibe” and ensure that everyone stays chill and has a good time.
I like the “zipper” question. It works well for an appendix carried pistol. It subtly implies that the person is looking at your groin without confronting him/her in an aggressive manner. It will almost always cause a person to feel guilty about looking at your waistline while providing them with a face-saving and non-confrontational reason to justify their attention.
If you are carrying behind the hip you can always say something like “My wallet/phone is always falling out of these pants pockets. Am I about to lose it again?”
No matter where you are carrying you can casually brush yourself off and say “I can never eat/drink something in a place like this without spilling it all over myself. Do I have something on my pants again?”
My female readers can probably act a bit more confrontationally if a male is placing too much scrutiny on your waistband area. Loudly saying something like “My eyes are up here” while pointing at your face will usually embarrass a male and cause him to stop looking at your gun. This is kind of the “nuclear option” and may thrust you into a confrontational situation if you use it with the wrong person or in the wrong environment. Proceed with caution when using that one.
It’s a good idea to notice who is noticing you in a public place. It’s a good plan to have the verbal dexterity to stop a person’s unwanted attention without provoking a confrontation.
Your homework is to come up with a few lines like the ones I described above to re-direct attention away from your firearm should it attract unwanted attention in a public place.
If you are reading this on Patreon, please comment below if you have any other good responses to share with the folks reading.
Every article needs a photo to draw social media attention. This is just a random photo of really bad concealment. My gun in the incident I described was far less visible than this one.
