Ever been made when NOT carrying?

F

FUD

Moderator
I carry a firearm with me all of the time unless I am prohibitted to do so by law. Due to the nature of my job (Senior Software Analytical Telecommunications Technician Team Leader -- fancy title for computer nerd) I always carry a pager (so my boss can reach me 24x7) and a cell phone so that I can quickly respond to an emergency ("hey fud, the datacenter is down"; "turn the power switch back on"; "oh yeah, thanks").

Depending on where I'm going, I adjust my mode of dress and choice of firearm for the occasion. I've always felt that carrying a pager and a cell phone helped to distract from the slight bump here or there from my firearm ("slight bump" NOT "printing"). However, the other day I was at a place where I could not carry. A LEO kept stairing at me. Walking around and looking at me from different angles. I realized that the pumps that made him ill at ease were the pager under my shirt on the one side and the cell phone on the other. As luck would have it, I got beeped. When I pulled up my shirt to get the pager, out of the corner of my eye I saw the LEO quickly turn toward me with his weak side -- the way that I would do if I was preparing to reach for a gun. Checking the number, I reached for my cell phone on the other side and responded to the page. Once the LEO observed all of this, he left the general area and began paying attention to other folks there.

Maybe I read too much into things (I've been accused of that in the past), but this got me to thinking ... Has anyone ever been made (or almost made like me) when NOT carrying?

Share what you know, learn what you don't -- FUD
fud-nra.gif


[This message has been edited by FUD (edited July 30, 2000).]
 
Once a few years ago I was at a bar with a cell phone on my belt under a polo shirt when a bouncer subjected me to a walk by groping. I just looked him in the eyes and said "it's a phone". He noddded and walked off. I admit I was a little put off by this until I thought about it and realized he was just doing his job. Since I'm in security I can understand where he was coming from.

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Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans. Robert E. Lee

Beware the three D's: The dumb, drunk, and deranged.

Chadintex@hotmail.com
 
FUD My Friend;

With all due respect, being a former LEO and
having been on an "excutive protection" team,
let me state that we are taught to observe
the unusual. If I'm in charge of moving a
"high profile" individual for example; my
course of action would be the same, as protecting the President of the United States. First of all, I would want to know
our destination, expected human contact's,
mode of travel, type of function (V.I.P.
dinner, speaking engagement, fund raiser-etc)
hotels/motel's involved; just as some examples. With all that said, if the individual being protected wants to stop
by the Galleria Mall for example; then this
is something you kind'a expect, but can't
really prepare for!!! :eek: So therefore,
everyone is seen as a threat; unless they
are a member of the excutive protection
detail. :)

I believe in your case, this LEO must have
been performing private security duties, or
was on routine "Foot Patrol"? :p At any rate,
he may have been trained for an excutive
protection assignment, and was testing his
abilities? You stated, that once your pager
and cell phone was identified; then the LEO
moved on, scanning other individuals. That
would indicate to me, that in today's society
he has been trained very well, and that he was properly using his "eye contact" instinct's. :D He saw the "bulge" on your
person, as being a possible threat. Once
you "cleared" the bulge, the threat was
over. Hope this helps some.

Regards,
Ala Dan, Life Member N.R.A.
 
Even as a correctional officer, I sometimes find myself visually shaking people down at the mall or or other public places. You get so used to using your eyes at work that it's hard not to do when not at work.
 
Yeah!... When my wife and I were still dating she used to frisk me all the time to see if that was a gun in my pocket :rolleyes: or ... well, you know. ;)

Nuthin like gettin "made" when you ain't packin (a gun)... :D

Mikey :cool:
 
Monkeyleg, I meant to say "bump" instead of "pump" -- good catch. Sorry about the confusion.

[This message has been edited by FUD (edited July 30, 2000).]
 
Actually, I got made while carrying today! By a cop!

I was buying smokes at my regular store, and was standing in line. I was carrying a Taurus TP-22 in a pocket holster in my shorts, and when I squatted down to get my brand from the shelf, I must have printed really conspiciously.

As I was walking to my car, the cop stopped me. I knew what was coming the second I turned around and saw him, hand on gun. Just played it cool, no sudden moves, showed him my driver's license and CCW.

Then we had a quick chat about guns in general. Nice guy.

This incident makes me SERIOUSLY reconsider my preferred carry mode. I had always thought that my pocked holster did a pretty good job of breaking up the outline.

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Beware the man with the S&W .357 Mag.
Chances are he knows how to use it.
 
I was in Washington, D.C., standing in line to enter the Library of congress. My little Kodak camera was in a small belt pouch (not a fanny pack.) I could see security really eyeing it carefully, and when I got close they pointed to it and asked me rather aggressively about it. Because I never carry CCW I guess I didn't realize what was going on until later.
 
I wear a pager on my right hip -- a rather large one because it also does e-mail. Under an untucked shirt, it can look a bit like a concealed weapon. One of the ex-cops in my motorcycle club asked me about it once.

On the other hand, it rides just in front of where a holster goes, so if someone is eyeballing me I can push the shirt back just far enough to get the pager and check it, and they might think, OK, no gun, just another piece of Yuppie jewelry.
 
It is a really really pathetic state of affairs where you feel unsafe carrying a concealed weapon knowing that a cop might see it and harass, or even attack you over it. Cops are supposed to be your friends, the guys that help you legal gun owners keep this society functioning properly. It would help if a many LEOs were trained that sudden movement is not justification enough for lethal force (I know I know, many of you LEOs know that, but most I have met do not). It disturbs me that if a cop sees I have my handgun, even if I have it legally, that he may freak and do something stupid, leaving me dead or worse. That shouldn't even be a consideration.

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I twist the facts until they tell the truth. -Some intellectual sadist

The Bill of Rights is a document of brilliance, a document of wisdom, and it is the ultimate law, spoken or not, for the very concept of a society that holds liberty above the desire for ever greater power. -Me
 
I must admit that I feel like I get "made" every once in awhile. However, I'm usually only asking for it whenever I leave a "print." [new terms for me] However, since I usually only carry a full-size 9mm Witness PS its often hard to conceal. Carrying in a in-pant holster under an untucked shirt, it can [and will] show on occassion.

However, I've never caught any trouble (even around security or police), save a few troubled looks maybe. Maybe it is all about your general appearance/personality.. maybe not. Who knows.
 
Heh - I got the hairy eyeball at a local grocery this past weekend - I normally carry a nice purple Uncle Mike's buttpack with cell phone, and other crap in it... The security guard didn't even look at it... But a guy two folks behind me in the checkout was giving it a really hard look...
 
I'm always being suspected of packing a Desert Eagle in a Thunderwear rig. It makes it difficult for me to show the Brooklyn Bridge to prospective buyers. Anyone else have this problem?
 
i got into the Washington archives with an ASP in a rolled up newspaper and a spyderco merlin inside a pack of smokes.
 
Just do the best that you can to conceal. Be aware of your surroundings, but don't be paranoid...

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NRA Life Member
Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners(MCRGO)
 
There are sometimes when I won't carry, so I wear one of those Blackhawk urban carry fanny packs that says "hey this guys carrying". I put a little paperback book in the gun compartment, and yes I have recieved some peculiar looks and interesting reactions. Pretty funny actually.
 
Paranoid! Every time I walk into the local Wal Mart store...the house cops pick up my scent like voracious hound dogs. Must be some crooked b------ that looks like me or something. I've never stolen a damn thing from them. These characters are pretty easy to spot as a few decades ago I myself worked in a chain department store. I walk in the PA goes...code 1186 section A, and before you know it they are on my trail. Guess they think I'm packing...heh! Or maybe they know I can't walk or run very fast.

Jim
 
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