For me it's a necessity. I live in a urban environment with lots of folks that are uncomfortable around guns (putting it mildly). I have a ccw and that means the gun has to stay concealed. I'd love to carry a bigger gun, but doing so increases the chances of someone seeing me carrying. My Smith 637 or Guardian .380 disappears on me and no one is the wiser. I'm about to buy a Kahr K9 and it might prove to be the bridge between a mouse gun and a duty gun. We'll see.
It's a mixture of both. My PX4 subcompact holds the rounds of a full size, but in a small size. It's easier to conceal, but still useful. And I feel plenty safe.
I normally carry a Colt Officers Model .45 in a IWB holster every season but summer, I can wear a sweatshirt and it's concealed. In the summer I carry a Ruger LCP but don't like it as much as my OACP. I don't feel "unsafe" but prefer the 1911.
i pocket carry a keltec32 most days because i work in an office setting and its just too much trouble to carry anything more (i do have larger guns nearby however).
I don't have my license yet, but I'd rather carry a smaller gun. For the simple reason I don't want people knowing I have a gun on me. A bigger gun gets the cool factor I guess, but that's it. I don't want to advertise to theives I have a gun and Im sure it makes people uneasy being around someone who has a gun.
I feel no less safe if I only have the LCP with me, but most of the time I also have a larger, more powerful gun with me as well.......namely my XD40. Many times I just have the XD and leave the LCP at home, mainly just because I don't like the feeling of having stuff in my pockets.
For the most part I take the LCP in order to have something accessible while driving. Get in the car, take it out of pocket and put it in center console. Put it back in pocket when at destination. My car has those wrap-around supportive bucket seats and it's pretty hard to get to the XD while driving.
WV Gunner, if you conceal it properly no one will know you have a larger gun unless you tell them It takes a little while to get comfortable with carrying a larger gun, but it's absolutely possible.
I carry a S&W 442 with CT grips and I can have it on me no matter what clothes I'm wearing or where I'm heading to. I don't feel the need for a full size but don't knock carrying one either, I have a IWB holster for my G17.
I have practiced with my 442, can shoot it just as good as my other guns and therefore feel confident with my shot placement capabilities and what some would say is a lack of enough firepower (it only has 5 shots of .38 +P).
Same here. When im at home and in the house the XD45 is on the night stand and is my main handgun for home protection. My CCW is a DB9 and thats what i carry everywhere i go because it disappears on me and is so much easier to carry and conceal than the much bigger XD.
convenience --- I don't like having to dress around my gun. It's just easier to put the LCP in the pocket. I feel perfectly safe with the LCP, I even felt safe wit the P32 when I had it.
Yep. When I first got my CCW I knew then I wanted a primary and a BUG. A few months ago I decided that I did not need a BUG and just needed better situational awareness. The more I went about my daily routines the more I felt uneasy about not having my BUG so I got another one.
So long story short, I carry a Glock 27 as my BUG or when I need deep concealment and my primary is just too large to conceal in a particular outfit.
For me it's convenience. A full size gun gets heavy when carried every day, day after day. A lightweight snub is adequate for most social issues I might encounter, and yes, I feel fairly safe with it.
I carry a surplus Sig P6 (9mm) which is supposed to be a compact.
It was holster worn when I got it and who knows how many rounds have been thru it but I carry it in preference to my other larger and smaller handguns (both in actual size and in caliber) because despite the fact that it is old and ugly I shoot it better than any other gun I own. I discovered this by accident when shooting popup steel targets at the range.